This paper exploits the concept of diversity using Omni-directional antenna at BS, where different users are communicating with BS from different locations but at same frequency in flat fading and frequency selective environments. The opportunistic communication method has been implemented using Matlab Rayleigh and Spatial channel model (SCM) developed by 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP). The main focus is on comparison of results using SCM and Matlab Rayleigh channel and is shown with the help of simulations that SCM provides an improvement in terms of bit error rate (BER) as compared to Matlab Rayleigh Channel. The BER performance of SCM systems is much better thereby showing an improvement of about 5dB in flat fading environment that happens because of exploitation of spatial diversity offered by SCM. In case of frequency selective fading environment there is an improvement of 2–3 dB for two users while using SCM as compared to Matlab Rayleigh channel by exploitation of diversity in spatial and time domain


Oxidative damage is present within the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and is observed within every class of biomolecule, including nucleic acids, proteins, lipids and carbohydrates. Oxidative injury may develop secondary to excessive oxidative stress resulting from β-amyloid-induced free radicals, mitochondrial abnormalities, inadequate energy supply, inflammation or altered antioxidant defences. Treatment with antioxidants is a promising approach for slowing disease progression to the extent that oxidative damage may be responsible for the cognitive and functional decline observed in AD. Although not a uniformly consistent observation, a number of epidemiological studies have found a link between antioxidant intake and a reduced incidence of dementia, AD and cognitive decline in elderly populations. In AD clinical trials molecules with antioxidant properties such as vitamin E and Ginkgo biloba extract have shown modest benefit. A clinical trial with vitamin E is currently ongoing to determine if it can delay progression to AD in individuals with mild cognitive impairment. Combinations of antioxidants might be of even greater potential benefit for AD, especially if the agents worked in different cellular compartments or had complementary activity (e.g. vitamins E, C and ubiquinone). Naturally-occurring compounds with antioxidant capacity are available and widely marketed (e.g. vitamin C, ubiquinone, lipoic acid, β-carotene, creatine, melatonin, curcumin) and synthetic compounds are under development by industry. Nevertheless, the clinical value of these agents for AD prevention and treatment is ambiguous, and will remain so until properly designed human trials have been performed.


RIO R&I International Country Reports analyse and assess the research and innovation system, including the main challenges, framework conditions, regional R&I systems, and international co-operation, including with DG JRC.


Introduction The overall aim of this study was to determine whether physical impairments – loss of range of motion and grip strength – could be used to predict hand dexterity functions in patients at 1 and 2 years after distal radius fracture. Methods This was a prospective cohort study. Hand dexterity was assessed at three different levels using the NK hand dexterity test. We used a manual goniometer to measure the active range of motion in the affected hand for wrist flexion and extension movements, and a J-Tech grip strength device to measure patients' hand grip strength levels. Assessments were performed at 1- and 2-year follow-ups. Separate multivariable regression analyses were performed to determine if range of motion predicts hand dexterity functions at 1 and 2 years after distal radius fracture. Results A total of 160 patients with distal radius fracture were included in this study. Range of motion (flexion and extension) and grip strength were both statistically significant (p < 0.05) independent variables in predicting hand dexterity functions at all three levels among patients after distal radius fracture at 1-year follow-up. Range of motion and strength levels accounted for 31%, 33% and 22% of the variance in patients' large, medium and small hand dexterity functions, respectively. At 2 years, grip strength remained the only statistically significant (p < 0.001) independent variable in predicting hand dexterity functions at all three levels. Conclusions Physical impairments (loss of range of motion and grip strength) have higher predictive values for large and medium hand dexterity functions, than small hand dexterity functions, in patients after distal radius fracture, at both 1- and 2-year follow-up periods.


Julia sets based on quadratic polynomials have a very simple definition, yet a highly intricate shape. Our contribution is to provide a visual explanation for this complexity. To this end we show the construction of Julia sets as a dynamic process, in contrast to showing just a static image of the set itself. Our method is based on the Inverse Iteration Method (IIM). We start with a disk, which is successively distorted. The crucial step is to show an animation of the effect of taking a root of a subset of the complex plane. We present four different approaches for this, using a Riemann surface, a corkscrew, a fan, and disks as metaphors. We packaged our results in an interactive tool with a simple interface, such that everybody can view and inspect these for different Julia sets. The results are useful for teaching complex analysis, promoting mathematics, entertainment, and, above all, as a visual explanation for the complexity of Julia sets.


LiNixMnyCozO2 (NMC) is among the most promising cathode materials for commercial Li-ion batteries due to its high electrochemical performance. However, NMC composite cathode is still plagued with limited cyclic performance, which is influenced by its structural stability during the cycling process. The cathode, which comprises of the active material, polymeric binder, and porous conductive matrix, often exhibits large structural variation during the electrochemical cycling process. This inevitably increases the challenge of measuring the mechanical properties of the material. Even though single crystal NMC possesses better stability as compared to the polycrystalline NMC, the electrochemical performance degradation of single crystal NMC cathode remains relatively unexplored. Different sample preparation methods are compared systematically in accordance to the previous report, and a new method of sample preparation is proposed. Nanoindentation instrument is used to measure the elastic modulus and hardness of the single crystal NMC particles. The measured elastic modulus and hardness of NMC particles, under different electrochemical environments, are dependent on a large number of nanoindentation experiments and statistical analysis of the result obtained from the carefully prepared samples. The sample preparation method is the key factor that can significantly influence the nanoindentation experiment results of the NMC particles. This work shows that the mechanical properties of the single crystal NMC particles degrade significantly with number of electrochemical cycles. The decreasing elastic modulus with the number of electrochemical cycles can be fitted using a two-parameter logarithm model.


This paper formalizes cross-space active learning on a graph convolutional network (GCN). The objective is to attain the most accurate hypothesis available in any of the instance spaces generated by the GCN. Subject to the objective, the chal-lenge is to minimize the label cost , measured in the number of vertices whose labels are requested. Our study covers both budget algorithms which terminate after a designated number of label requests, and verifiable algorithms which terminate only after having found an accurate hypothesis. A new separation in label complexity between the two algorithm types is established. The separation is unique to GCNs.


Migraine is a prevalent heterogeneous neurological disorder, enumerated as the eighth most disabling neurological disorder by the World Health Organization. The growing advancement in technology and investigation of various facets of cerebral metabolism in migraine has shed light to metabolic mechanisms in migraine pathophysiology. A growing number of clinical research postulates migraine as a reaction to oxidative stress levels that go beyond antioxidant capacity or cerebral energy deficiency. This has become an extremely attractive subject area and over the past years there has also been a sustained research activity in using ketone bodies (KB) as a novel potential migraine prophylaxis. Not much epidemiological research has been conducted to exhibit the efficacy of ketone bodies in abnormal metabolism in migraine pathophysiology. Therefore, a better understanding of ketone bodies in metabolic migraine may provide novel therapeutic opportunities. The goal of this review is to assess present understanding on potential migraine triggers, as well as how ketogenic interventions support metabolic disability in migraines and address the therapeutic importance of ketones in migraine treatment, accenting clinical studies (including neuroimaging and therapeutic studies). This review is intended to demonstrate existing literature on the effects of ketone bodies on metabolic migraine traits to guide the readership through current concepts and foster a perspective for future research.


Adiponectin has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity, regulate glucose and lipid metabolism and exert anti-atherosclerotic effects. This dissertation, designed as three research papers, aimed to examine relationships between diet, weight loss, insulin resistance and adiponectin levels among overweight/obese adults who were participating in a behavioral intervention for weight loss. Data from the ancillary study to the PREFER trial were used for two of the papers and secondary data analysis from the SMART trial was conducted for the third paper. Both parent studies were randomized clinical trials that included a behavioral intervention for weight loss. The first study compared the effect of a standard calorie- and fat-restricted diet and a calorie- and fat-restricted lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet on changes in adiponectin levels at six months (N=143). Weight loss was associated with increased total (â(s.e) = -0.71(0.27); P = 0.003) and high molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin levels (â(s.e) = -1.37(0.47); P = 0.001); however, they were independent of the diet type. The second study examined whether baseline levels or intervention-associated changes in adiponectin levels were associated with insulin resistance after six months (N=143). At baseline, we found significant inverse associations between total (â(s.e) = -0.26(0.05); P < 0.001) and HMW(â(s.e) = -0.38(0.09); P < 0.001) adiponectin levels and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA) independent of weight. At six months, there was a significant inverse association between changes in total adiponectin and HOMA (â(s.e) = -0.17(0.08); P = 0.04) that was independent of baseline weight and weight loss. However, the association between changes in HMW adiponectin and HOMA was not significant. The third study assessed the longitudinal relationships of weight, waist circumference and body composition with adiponectin levels after six and 12 months (N=133). A significant increase in adiponectin was observed with significant reductions in weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and percent body fat (P for all, < 0.001). Our findings provide evidence for the importance of weight loss as a significant public health preventive measure to enhance adiponectin levels among the studied population, which could impact the progression of atherosclerosis and subsequent cardiovascular disease.


Jasmonate is a plant regulator that plays an essential role in signaling pathway and triggering the expression of plant defense-genes in response to abiotic stresses. Hence, the effect of methyl jasmonate on quantity and quality of chamomile flowers under salinity stress was investigated with a factorial experiment, based on a randomized complete blocks design with three replications, in the research greenhouse of University of Zanjan. Five concentrations of Methyl jasmonate (0, 75, 150, 225 and 300 μM) was sprayed on chamomile plants which were growing under different concentrations of NaCl (2, 6, 10 and 14 dS/m). Results showed that the effects of methyl jasmonate and salinity were significant on all the traits. The highest values for plant height, total dry matter per pot, number and flower dry weight per pot and Flavonol-O-glycoside were obtained at 75 μM methyl jasmonate and salinity level of 6 dS/m. Flower yield and the amount of Flavonol-O-glycoside were decreased by increasing the salinity and methyl jasmonate concentrations over 6 dS/m and 75 μM, respectively. A significant positive correlation was revealed among all traits and dry weight of flower. Also, Flavonol-o-glycoside showed a positive and significant relationship with total dry matter per pot and flower dry weight. In general, concentration of 75 μM methyl jasmonate and salinity of 6 dS/m increased Flavonol-Oglycoside production of chamomile.


This study was conducted to examine the effect of Economic Value Added (EVA) and Market Value Added (MVA) and Its Effect on Stock Return. The research sample was taken from 5 transport company listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange that have been through the process in accordance with the criteria of sample or random sampling method. Data analysis methods used in the study panel data analysis method using Eviews program. Results showed partial EVA has no real effect, with significant values of 0.2661, while MVA and significant influence on Return Stocks with significant value of 0.0463 as indicated by the results of the test statistic t. While simultaneously or jointly Economic Value Added (EVA) and Market Value Added (MVA) influence on Stock Return, this is evidenced by the results of the test statistic f the significant value of 0.0382


A numerical method of estimating the strength of masonry arch bridges repaired using near-surface reinforcement is described. The method is based on plasticity theory and, under collapse conditions, the behaviour of the reinforced masonry is assumed to be rigid-perfectly plastic. The steel reinforcement used in the repair is considered as discrete elements in the analysis and the failure mode is idealised as an assemblage of moving rigid blocks separated by zones of displacement discontinuity. Minimisation of the derived collapse load produces the locations and shapes of the fracture or yield zones. Comparisons of the predicted collapse loads and crack patterns at failure show reasonably good agreement with the results obtained from model tests in the laboratory, however, further testing is required to obtain a better estimate of the effectiveness factor for masonry in compression. (A) For the covering abstract, see IRRD E100535.


The expression of transforming growth factor alpha (TGFalpha), amphiregulin (AR) and cripto-1 (CR-1) was assessed by immunohistochemistry in 83 specimens (59 primary ovarian tumors and 24 extra-ovarian carcinomas) that were obtained from 68 ovarian carcinoma patients. Within the 59 primary tumors, 54 (92%) expressed immunoreactive TGFalpha, 45 (76%) expressed AR, and 28 (47%) expressed CR-1. The expression of AR and CR-1 mRNAs in the ovarian carcinomas was also demonstrated by RT-PCR analysis. Seventeen extra-ovarian specimens (71%) were found to express CR-1, whereas AR and TGFalpha were expressed respectively in 21 (87%) and 22 (92%) extra-ovarian tissues. In 15 cases for whom both ovarian and extra-ovarian tissues were available, a statistically significant higher expression of CR-1 was found in extra-ovarian specimens. A statistically significant correlation was found between AR expression in the ovarian carcinomas and both low grade and low proliferative activity. Finally, expression of TGFalpha was predictive of longer progression-free survival. These data strongly suggest that the EGF-related peptides might be involved in the pathogenesis and outcome of human ovarian cancer.


Comparisons of the effectiveness of two common procedures for Coronary Artery Disease: Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) and Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG). Evidence indicates that CABG – the more invasive procedure – leads to superior long term outcomes for otherwise similar patients, though there is little consensus as to why. In this article, we propose a novel explanation: patient offsetting behavior. We hypothesize that patients who undergo the more invasive procedure, CABG, are more likely to improve their behavior – eating, exercise, smoking, and drinking – in a way that increases longevity. To test our hypothesis, we use Medicare records linked to the National Health Interview Survey to study one such behavior: smoking. We find that CABG patients are 12 percentage points more likely to quit smoking in the one-year period immediately surrounding their procedure than PCI patients, a result that is robust to alternative specifications.


A pentanucleotide TTTCA repeat insertion into a polymorphic TTTTA repeat element in SAMD12 causes benign adult familial myoclonic epilepsy. Although the precise determination of the entire SAMD12 repeat sequence is important for molecular diagnosis and research, obtaining this sequence remains challenging when using conventional genomic/genetic methods, and even short-read and long-read next-generation sequencing technologies have been insufficient. Incomplete information regarding expanded repeat sequences may hamper our understanding of the pathogenic roles played by varying numbers of repeat units, genotype-phenotype correlations, and mutational mechanisms. Here, we report a new approach for the precise determination of the entire expanded repeat sequence and present a workflow designed to improve the diagnostic rates in various repeat expansion diseases.


This volume constitutes the refereed post-proceedings of the IFIP WG 3.4 International Conference on Open and Social Technologies for Networked Learning, OST 2012, held in Tallinn, Estonia, in July/August 2012. The 16 full papers presented together with 3 short papers and 5 doctoral student papers were thoroughly reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers cover a wide range of topics such as mobile learning, social networks, analytics and recommendations, workplace learning, learning analytics in higher education, collaborative learning in higher education, and managing open and social education.


High-quality computer science education is limited by the difficulty of providing instructor feedback to students at scale. While this feedback could in principle be automated, supervised approaches to predicting the correct feedback are bottlenecked by the intractability of annotating large quantities of student code. In this paper, we instead frame the problem of providing feedback as few-shot classification, where a meta-learner adapts to give feedback to student code on a new programming question from just a few examples annotated by instructors. Because data for meta-training is limited, we propose a number of amendments to the typical few-shot learning framework, including task augmentation to create synthetic tasks, and additional side information to build stronger priors about each task. These additions are combined with a transformer architecture to embed discrete sequences (e.g. code) to a prototypical representation of a feedback class label. On a suite of few-shot natural language processing tasks, we match or outperform state-of-the-art performance. Then, on a collection of student solutions to exam questions from an introductory university course, we show that our approach reaches an average precision of 88% on unseen questions, surpassing the 82% precision of teaching assistants. Our approach was successfully deployed to deliver feedback to 16,000 student exam-solutions in a programming course offered by a tier 1 university. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first successful deployment of a machine learning based feedback to open-ended student code.


This paper explains hysteretic transitions in swirling jets and models external flows of vortex suction devices. Toward this goal, the steady rotationally symmetric motion of a viscous incompressible fluid above an infinite conical stream surface of a half-angle θc is studied. The flows analysed are generalizations of Long's vortex. They correspond to the conically similar solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations and are characterized by circulation Γc given at the surface and axial flow force J1. Asymptotic analysis and numerical calculations show that four (for θc ≤ 90°) or five (for θc > 90°) solutions exist in some range of Γc and J1.The solution branches form hysteresis loops which are related to jump transitions between various flow regimes. Four kinds of jump are found: (i) vortex breakdown which transforms a near-axis jet into a two-cell flow with a reverse flow near the axis and an annular jet fanning out along conical surface θ = θs < θc (ii) vortex consolidation causing a reversal of (i); (iii) jump flow separation from surface θ = θc and (iv) jump attachment of the swirling jet to the surface. As Γc and/or J1 decrease, the hysteresis loops disappear through a cusp catastrophe. The physical reasons for the solution non-uniqueness are revealed and the results are discussed in the context of vortex breakdown theories. Vortex breakdown is viewed as a fold catastrophe. Two new striking effects are found: (i) there is a pressure peak of O(Γ2c) inside the annular swirling jet; and (ii) a consolidated swirling jet forms with a reversed ('anti-rocket') flow force.


Knowledge management (KM) is a one of the major function in organizations since it can create, store, retrieve, and transfer knowledge. Nowadays, knowledge increasingly becomes the major resource. It is one of the main features for organizations to gain competitive advantages. Knowledge quality can enhance KMS quality. However, measuring knowledge quality in KM is challenge since there are no accurate measurement criterions, and it will raise an issued in accepting the quality of knowledge that delivered or gained from KMS in organizations. To enhance the quality of KMS, the dimensions of quality should be identified first and this require more research to better define these dimensions. KM metrics have been developed in the last decade but little work has been done on the quality dimensions of KMS, although there is general agreement that the success of KMS is dependent on its quality, there has not been much work on formally defining a comprehensive set of quality dimensions of a KMS. The big data new trend in research has also prompted knowledge management system to also incorporate the new defined characteristic of big data in defining new quality characteristics of KMS. The expected contribution is the definition of a comprehensive set of quality dimensions of a KMS.


ObjectiveA case study on the visual-material components of story map journals as visual, new media interactive health reporting used in population health surveillance. The story map journal is demonstrated an effective tool that visually reports, maps and tracks global support networks and health resources for post-polio (PPS) survivors.IntroductionHow are interactive story map journals situated within the genre of interactive, health science reporting? How can reporting information to public audiences be theorized through traditional and contemporary understandings of new media genres in technical, health and science communication (1-7). Although the polio vaccine has eradicated the disease in the United States, and 99% worldwide (8), PPS has emerged as a present-day condition that continues to affect many polio survivors years after the initial onset and recovery. Since the symptoms of PPS are oftentimes mis-identified as other illnesses, the diagnosis and management of disease is especially challenging for PPS survivors due to the limited knowledge of and access to PPS resources and support networks (9-11).In 2011, Esri created the ArcGIS story map initiative to meet a need for public audiences who sought how to critically think, better understand, communicate, and interact with world news events. ArcGIS is a geospatially-driven, new media platform that enables audiences to engage with interactive storytelling of news events. Public health and news reporting agencies are now turning to Esri and similar interactive, geospatially driven new media platforms for health and disease surveillance (12-14). Esri's ArcGIS mobile and web technology platform visually reports, maps and tracks population health data information. With the emergence of such new media applications, it is therefore important to recognize multimodal, visualization strategies that investigate how interaction design choices within the story map journal influence and engage public health audiences. In the field of technical and professional communication (15), applied concept of visual-material rhetorics is a useful mode of inquiry in the study of interactive story map journals. Propen's concept presents a new understanding of how researchers in disease and public health surveillance can analyze the effectiveness of text and new media technology in relationship to space, place, and geospatial mapping. More specifically, Propen's concept situates the visual-material as the applied use of text with visual, interactive multimodal components inclusive of images, video, and GPS/GIS mapping technologies.MethodsThis presentation includes a discussion of genre analysis as applied to visual-material components used to study the genre of new media-driven story map journals for the reporting of public and population health resources. Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS) is presented as a case study of how story map journals in population health can be used to create information about global support networks and resources for PPS survivors.ResultsThe story map journal is an effective genre of new media, interactive reporting in health and disease surveillance. The analysis alongside Propen's mode of inquiry demonstrates the effectiveness of visual-material components of story maps, and how PPS survivors and medical clinicians can use the story map journal to easily access, visualize, and interact with information about diagnosis and disease management, as well as find connections to local and global support networks.ConclusionsStory map journals as visual, interactive reporting should be considered when analyzing the accessibility and surveillance of health data for public audiences. The case study of PPS global networks and resources, provides one example of how story map journals can assist public audiences who experience difficulties finding support networks and public health resourcesReferences1. Andersen J. Genre theory in information studies: Emerald Group Publishing; 2015.2. Caquard S, Cartwright W. Narrative cartography: From mapping stories to the narrative of maps and mapping. Taylor & Francis; 2014.3. Group iW, Geisler C, Bazerman C, Doheny-Farina S, Gurak L, Haas C, et al. IText: Future directions for research on the relationship between information technology and writing. Journal of Business and Technical Communication. 2001;15(3):269-308.4. Propen A. Visual communication and the map: How maps as visual objects convey meaning in specific contexts. Technical Communication Quarterly. 2007;16(2):233-54.5. Propen AD. Critical GPS: Toward a new politics of location. ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies. 2006;4(1):131.6. Propen AD. Cartographic representation and the construction of lived worlds: Understanding cartographic practice as embodied knowledge. Rethinking Maps: Routledge; 2011. p. 131-48.7. Villanueva LS, Dolom MAC, Belen JS. Genre analysis of the "about us" sections of Asian Association of Open Universities websites. Asian Association of Open Universities Journal. 2018.8. WHO. 10 facts on polio eradication: WHO; 2017 [cited 2018]. Available from: http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/polio/en/.9. Cope G. Post-polio syndrome: The legacy of a long-forgotten problem. Independent Nurse. 2017;2017(4):21-4.10. Duncan A, Batliwalla Z. Growing older with post-polio syndrome: Social and quality-of-life implications. SAGE open medicine. 2018;6:2050312118793563.11. Muñoz FC, Morales MS, Faz MG, Ariza MG, Salazar JA, Burgos MV. Polio and post-polio syndrome, viewed by patients and health professionals in primary care. Revista espanola de salud publica. 2018;92.12. Partee RP, Lindsay JM. Esri's ArcGIS for Desktop Basic with Spatial Analysis: A Review for Medical Libraries. Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries. 2017;14(1):17-22.13. Rosner S, Hackl-Herrwerth A, Leucht S, Vecchi S, Srisurapanont M, Soyka M, editors. Opioid antagonists for alcohol dependence. Society for Social Medicine Annual Scientific Meeting & European Congress of Epidemiology; 2018.14. Fornace KM, Surendra H, Abidin TR, Reyes R, Macalinao ML, Stresman G, et al. Use of mobile technology-based participatory mapping approaches to geolocate health facility attendees for disease surveillance in low resource settings. International journal of health geographics. 2018;17(1):21.15. Propen AD. Locating visual-material rhetorics: the map, the mill, and the GPS: Parlor Press; 2012.


Cancer incidence and survivorship have had a rising tendency over the last two decades due to better treatment modalities. One of these is radiation therapy (RT), which is used in 20–55% of cancer patients, and its basic principle consists of inhibiting proliferation or inducing apoptosis of cancer cells. Classically, photon beam RT has been the mainstay therapy for these patients, but, in the last decade, proton beam has been introduced as a new option. This newer method focuses more on the tumor and affects less of the surrounding normal tissue, i.e., the heart. Radiation to the heart is a common complication of RT, especially in patients with lymphoma, breast, lung, and esophageal cancer. The pathophysiology is due to changes in the microvascular and macrovascular milieu that can promote accelerated atherosclerosis and/or induce fibrosis of the myocardium, pericardium, and valves. These complications occur days, weeks, or years after RT and the risk factors associated are high radiation doses (>30 Gy), concomitant chemotherapy (primarily anthracyclines), age, history of heart disease, and the presence of cardiovascular risk factors. The understanding of these mechanisms and risk factors by physicians can lead to a tailored assessment and monitorization of these patients with the objective of early detection or prevention of radiation-induced heart disease. Echocardiography is a noninvasive method which provides a comprehensive evaluation of the pericardium, valves, myocardium, and coronaries, making it the first imaging tool in most cases; however, other modalities, such as computed tomography, nuclear medicine, or cardiac magnetic resonance, can provide additional value.


The results of extensive all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of water- and methanol-solvated SPEEK (sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone)) are reported. In this Part I of the two-part article, we present results elucidating the key structural features of hydrophilic domains with varying water, methanol content, and temperature. With increasing hydration, the membrane was observed to swell appreciably and transform from a state containing a large number of water clusters containing just few molecules at low water content to very large water clusters encompassing almost all molecules at the highest water contents. In comparison with the results reported for Nafion, SPEEK was observed to be characterized by more isolated and smaller sized water clusters and less pronounced percolation than Nafion at lower water contents, but the percolation characteristics became comparable to Nafion at higher water content. Water confined in SPEEK showed less internal structure than bulk water or water confined in Nafion. With increasing water content, solvation of sulfonic acid groups was noted. The average sulfur-sulfur separation in SPEEK was found to be higher compared with the results reported for Nafion. The backbone of SPEEK was found to be more rigid and more hydrophobic than that of Nafion. These observations suggest that the nanophase segregation in SPEEK is less pronounced than that in Nafion, which may contribute to the diminished crossover characteristics of SPEEK noted in experiments on direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) and reported in Part II of this work.


The global electric power infrastructure is undergoing a dramatic transformation from a centralized, demand-following network to one that is more dynamic and consumer-interactive. This process requires a very large number of advanced sensors be deployed throughout the entire system. This manuscript documents the development of two enabling technologies for the realization of such large-scale monitoring networks. The first technology pertains to the idea of harvesting ambient energy to power wireless sensor nodes on overhead power lines such that these wireless sensors can be operated continuously without interruptions. A new type of piezoelectromagnetic (PEM) energy harvester is developed. The harvester is comprised of a bimorph piezoelectric cantilever with permanent magnets mounted on its tip. When placed near to an AC current source, the magnets couple to the AC magnetic field and excite the piezoelectric cantilever, which in turn generates a large electrical voltage output. The energy converted by the harvester is then rectified, stored and conditioned by a power conditioning circuit. The power is delivered to a wireless sensor platform at a regulated DC voltage. In this design, an enhanced magnetic coupling method is proposed and verified. A new closed-form lumped parameter model for the bimorph piezoelectric cantilever is devel- oped. The harvester is able to generate a raw power output of 500μW when the device is placed 1cm from the center of a 0.75 inch conductor that carries a current of 20A. At that level of power output, the device is able to allow a low-power wireless sensor node to collect and transmit measurement data to a remote device once every 10 seconds.The second research topic documented in this thesis is about non-intrusive electricity metering using remote energy sensing techniques. A stick-on energy metering system that can be easily installed on the surface of circuit breaker panels is developed. The system uses magnetic and electric sensor to measure the electromagnetic field produced by the energized conductor in each individual circuit. A signal processing algorithm is invented to accurately reconstruct the current and voltage waveforms from the measurement data. The installation of such stick-on devices does not require the use of electricians. Therefore, the overall cost of deployment is estimated to be one-tenth that of the state-of-the-art solutions.


Newborn infants, especially those born preterm, are at risk of infections in early life. In preterm infants, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a devastating inflammatory gut condition, and late-onset sepsis (LOS) are important causes of serious morbidity and are the commonest reasons for death after the first week of life. Fresh breast milk from the infant's mother reduces the risks of these serious pathologies in a dose-dependent fashion. Considerable effort has been expended to better understand which specific components of human milk are likely to exert the greatest functional benefits, particularly those that have immune modulatory or anti-infectious properties. Lactoferrin is a whey glycoprotein present in especially high concentrations in colostrum and early milk. Studies show that lactoferrin impacts on immune function and, through a multitude of mechanisms, reduces the risk of viral, fungal, and bacterial infections. Supplemental enteral bovine lactoferrin has been tested in a series of randomized clinical trials, many of which suggested important reductions in LOS in preterm or low-birth-weight infants. However, the largest trial to date - the Enteral Lactoferrin in Neonates (ELFIN) trial - recruited 2,203 infants and failed to show any significant reductions in LOS or NEC. Challenges in conducting clinical research and the translational relevance of these studies for clinical practice will be considered.


Resource constrained scheduling problem (RCPSP) Net present value Fuzzy set theory Vibration Damping Optimization (VDO) Simulated Annealing (SA) Resource-constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP) aims to schedule at minimal duration a set of activities subject to precedence constraints and the limited availability of resources. Considering net present value (NPV) is one of the modern approaches in scheduling projects in which the project is scheduled in such a way that NPV be maximized. This approach with deterministic parameters such as activities duration was analyzed in the previous works. Since estimating the activities duration in exact manner is far from reality, we utilize an approximate estimation approach in scheduling project under fuzzy environment. In this respect, earliest start times and latest finish times for activities considered as fuzzy numbers. Since the problem is NP-hard problem, a novel meta-heuristic called vibration damping optimization (VDO) is proposed to solve the mathematical model. To demonstrate performance of proposed VDO, simulated anneling algorithm is applied. We also applied bi-directional scheduling method in order to generate neighborhoods. The result shows that the proposed VDO is capable to solve the model.


To better understand the relationship between the transient myocardial ischemia seen during an exercise test and ischemic activity out of hospital, 39 patients with well-documented coronary artery disease underwent standard treadmill exercise testing (Bruce protocol) and 24 to 48 hr of continuous ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring during normal daily activities. A total of 245 episodes of transient ischemia were recorded in 21 of 32 patients with positive exercise electrocardiograms (group I), whereas seven patients with negative test results (group II) had no episodes of transient ischemia, during monitoring out of hospital (p < .01). Certain measures in the exercise test were related to the severity of ischemia out of hospital: there were more episodes and a greater total duration of transient ischemia per 24 hr of ambulatory monitoring in patients who developed ischemic electrocardiographic changes before 6 min of exercise (p ' .021) or at a heart rate of less than 150 beats/min (p = .005) and in those in whom these ST segment changes persisted for more than 5 min after exercise (p ' .016). In contrast, there was no relationship between transient ischemia out of hospital and the commonly quoted exercise variables: chest pain, total exercise duration, and the maximum levels of heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and double product. Thus, patients with coronary artery disease and negative exercise electrocardiograms are most unlikely to experience active ischemia during normal daily life. However, certain features of the positive exercise test, namely the exercise duration at onset of significant ST depression, the heart rate at this threshold point, and the persistence after exercise of these ischemic changes, are all related to the level of this disease activity during daily life. This may help to assess risk and explain why the early positive exercise test is an adverse sign for coronary events.


The electret filter is a potential component to remove airborne particles due to its high collection efficiency and low pressure drop. However, its filtration performance is gradually decreased by exposure to organic solvents, which limits the application of electret filters. The effect of ethanol exposure on the filtration performance of polypropylene electret filters was investigated experimentally to clarify the charge decay phenomenon in this study. Experimental results revealed that filter performance is strongly dependent upon the challenged mass and existing state of an ethanol solvent. The filter performance was drastically degraded by exposure to ethanol droplets generated from a solution with ethanol concentrations above 30%; however, it was maintained during exposure to ethanol vapors. This tendency was also seen in the surface potentials of the exposed filter media. In addition, we found that the critical challenging amount of ethanol droplets was in the vicinity of 0.045 g/cm2 to neutralize a tested electret filter in this study. Copyright 2015 American Association for Aerosol Research


SIR,-I would like to comment on your attitude to the prevention of coronary heart disease at a population level as expressed by you in your leading article " The Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease " (21 September, p. 689). You are discouraging about a preventive programme at a population level and you base a rather nihilistic outlook on the lack of certainty that such a programme might succeed and on the difficulties of its application. But we will never assess the value of the preventive approach in the field of coronary heart disease until we try it, and I submit that the accumulated experience of epidemiologists and clinicians would strongly suggest the logic and efficacy of prevention at a population level. In this regard I would agree with the view of J. B. Hickie' quoted by you. I do not question the reservations you make about the unproved significance of risk factors, about the efficacy of secondary prevention, and about patient co-operation, but it is regrettable that you should take such a discouraging attitude in this important public health field. If the time is not yet ripe to institute preventive measures on a national level, when will the time be ripe ? Surely it is not too early to start a public educational campaign based on the considerable knowledge of risk factors which has already accrued. To my mind coronary heart disease is a highly predictable disease, and, because many of the risk factors are manmade and capable of modification, it is preventable at a population as well as a personal level.-I am, etc.,


We investigate the impact of legislative reforms in merger control legislation in nineteen industrial countries between 1987 and 2004. We find that strengthening merger control decreases the stock prices of non-financial firms, while increasing those of banks. Cross sectional regressions show that the discretion embedded in the supervisory control of bank mergers is a major determinant of the positive bank stock returns. One explanation is that merger control introduces "checks and balances" that mitigates the potential abuse and wasteful enforcement of supervisory control in the banking sector.


In globalizing landscapes, Indigenous ways of knowing and being persist in their connectedness to specific geographies, even as they are transformed by migrations, both forced and voluntary, and dynamic exchanges. This paper presents narratives of Indigenous and ally scholars which explore what it means to enact language and culture reclamation from a place of hope—by Indigenous peoples, for Indigenous communities—and in connection with distinct historical, political, and geographic sites. By naming the identities the authors represent—Chickasaw, Nez Perce, Eastern Shoshone/Northern Arapaho, Hopi, San Carlos Apache and Euro-American—we use a framework of hope to counter damaging assumptions of homogeneity of Indigenous communities while also searching for common themes to advance an agenda of decolonization across positionalities. Understanding that Indigenous sovereignties are built on "contingency with the beliefs, and understandings of the past" (Grande 250), we interrupt settler-colonial narratives which portray Indigenous languages and cultures as deficient and vanishing. Further, through narratives, we explore how disciplines such as linguistics, anthropology, education, and cultural studies can be interwoven to highlight experiences of identity reconciliation, spirituality through language revitalization, and storytelling as narrative reclamation. A critical culturally sustaining/revitalizing pedagogy unifies the narratives and provides a framework for attending to "asymmetrical power relations and legacies of colonization" (McCarty and Lee 8). In this way, Indigenous narratives of persistence and optimism find relevance in the global and local here and now while emphasizing the relevancy of hope as a rooted practice of relationality in Indigenous language and cultural education. Sharing narratives of hope acknowledges the experience of colonization, while privileging the hope in Indigenous knowledge as a return to the community and generator of new narratives.


AbstractFollicular lymphoma (FL) is the 2nd most common type of lymphoma diagnosed in the Western World. Bone marrow (BM) involvement is an adverse prognostic factor in FL, routinely assessed by an arbitrary biopsy of the iliac crest. This study was aimed to investigate the role of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in identifying BM involvement by FL.In this retrospective, single-center study we reviewed the records of consecutive patients with FL at diagnosis or relapse who underwent staging/restaging workup visual assessment of BM uptake was categorized as either normal, diffusely increased, or focally increased. Quantitative BM fluorine-18-fluro-deoxyglucose (FDG) uptake was measured using mean standardized uptake value (BM-SUVmean). The diagnosis of BM involvement was based on either BM histological findings or disappearance of increased uptake at end-treatment PET/CT in patients who responded to treatment.Sixty eight cases with FL were included. Sixteen (23.5%) had BM involvement, 13 (19.1%) had a biopsy proven involvement, and 3 (4.4%) had a negative BM biopsy, but increased medullary uptake that normalized post-treatment. BM FDG uptake in these patients was diffuse in 8 (50%) and focal in 8 (50%). Focal increased uptake was indicative of BM involvement; however, diffuse uptake was associated with 17 false positive cases (32.7%). Overall, visual assessment of BM involvement had a negative predictive value (NPV) of 100% and a positive predictive value (PPV) of 48.5%. On a quantitative assessment, BM-SUVmean was significantly higher in patients with BM involvement (SUVmean of 3.7 [1.7–6] vs 1.4 [0.4–2.65], P < 0.001). On receiver operator curve (ROC) analysis, BM-SUVmean > 2.7 had a PPV of 100% for BM involvement (sensitivity of 68%), while BM-SUVmean < 1.7 had an NPV of 100% (specificity of 73%).Visual assessment of PET/CT is appropriate for ruling out BM involvement by FL. Although focal increased uptake indicates marrow involvement, diffuse uptake is nonspecific. SUV measurement improves PET/CT diagnostic accuracy, identifying additional 19% of patients with BM involvement that would have been otherwise missed.


Using the electrophoretic deposition (EPD) method, we prepared barium titanate nanoparticle (BT-NP) thin films by depositing BT-NP monodispersed in ethylene glycol monomethyl ether (EGMME) onto an electrically conductive substrate coated with polyacrylic acid (PAA). Deposition efficiency was increased compared to conventional EPD, and the uniformity of the film thickness was also improved as a result of the BT-NPs cohesion effect of the PAA coating on the substrate in addition to the electrophoretic deposition effect of the electric field. When low-molecular-weight PAA was used, the film was reinforced since PAA, which coats the substrate, diffused close to the surface of the BT-NP film during film formation. A crack-free BT-NP film was produced with a film thickness of several micrometers.


Pitch perturbations are well known to be significantly less in normal voices than in pathological voices. In the present work, it is shown that, in 48 pathological voices from a sample of 73, specific dysrhythmic patterns, usually intermittent, may be demonstrated by means of electroglottography: alternating rhythms, geminate rhythms, volleys, brady- and tachydysrhythmia's. They are a result of physical perturbations of the laryngeal oscillator, induced by specific pathological conditions. Their different occurrence in the various categories of voice disorders may contribute to a more precise etiological diagnosis.


In this article, the two authors present their opposing points of view concerning the likelihood that glucocorticoids will be replaced by newly developed biological agents in active, moderate to severe thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO). TAO is a vexing, disfiguring and potentially blinding autoimmune manifestation of thyroid autoimmunity. One author expresses the opinion that steroids are nonspecific, frequently fail to improve the disease, and can cause sometimes serious side-effects. He suggests that glucocorticoids should be replaced as soon as possible by more specific and safer drugs, once they become available. The most promising of these are biological agents. The other author argues that glucocorticoids are proven effective and are unlikely to be replaced by biologicals. He reasons that while they may not uniformly result in optimal benefit, they have been proven effective in many reports. He remains open minded about alternative therapies such as biologicals but remains skeptical that they will replace steroids as the first line therapy for active, moderate to severe TAO without head-to-head comparative clinical trials demonstrating superiority. Despite these very different points of view, both authors are optimistic about the availability of improved medical therapies for TAO, either as single agents or in combination. Further, both agree that better treatment options are needed to improve the care of our patients with active moderate to severe TAO.


In this paper, we propose a robot system, which combines a parallel manipulator with an adjustable gripper. The robot is able to grasp objects with different sizes and shapes without using an additional gripper. It consists of several fingers with contact elements which can be moved independently from each other to grasp the object. After grasping, adhesion forces, provided, e.g. by an electromagnet or a vacuum cup, ensure that the fingertips remain connected to the object to be manipulated. The resulting closed-loop mechanism, formed by the fingers of the robot and the object, features a kinematic structure similar to that of parallel manipulators. The Robot is now able to achieve manipulation of objects with six degrees of freedom by actuating exactly six joints. Such a parallel robot – gripper combination has many advantages over existing industrial grippers, often used for simple gripping tasks, existing mechanical hands with costly control architecture and parallel manipulators with fixed kinematic parameters.


In this talk I will present the group's recent work on single molecule transport. Our work uses DFT-NEGF methods to investigate the conducting properties of molecules placed between two metallic electrodes. I will first discuss the importance of linker chemistry and molecular chemical properties on elastic transmission. I will then briefly describe our recent efforts in mapping the different contributions to the inelastic vibrational signal. More information on IFIMAC Website The Environment Does the Trick In a Nature Nanotechnology News & Views entitled "The environment does the trick" Juan Carlos Cuevas discusses the recent discovery that single-molecule junctions can behave as diodes with high rectification ratios by exposing different electrode surface areas to an ionic liquid. In recent years it has been shown that single-molecule junctions can function as some of today's microelectronics components such as wires, single-electron transistors, and switches, just to mention a few. However, the realization of single-molecule diodes with sufficiently high rectification ratios has remained elusive over the years in spite of the great experimental and theoretical efforts. This situation is particularly perplexing taking into account that the proposal by Arieh Aviram and Mark Ratner in 1974 that a single donor-bridge-acceptor molecule could behave as a diode is often considered as the beginning of the field of Molecular Electronics. Now, Latha Venkataraman and coworkers, based at Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley, show in an article in Nature Nanotechnology that high current rectification at low operating voltages can be achieved in single-molecule junctions by carrying out the experiments in the presence of polar solvents. In particular, the researchers show that by exposing considerably different electrode areas to an ionic medium, junctions with symmetric molecules can behave as single-molecule diodes with rectification ratios that are an order of magnitude higher than previously reported.


The discrete-vortex model is applied to simulate the separation bubble over a two- dimensional blunt flat plate with finite thickness and right-angled corners, which is aligned parallel to a uniform approaching stream. This flow situation is chosen because, unlike most previous applications of the model, the separation bubble is supposed to be strongly affected by a nearby solid surface. The major objective of this paper is to examine to what extent the discrete-vortex model is effective for such a flow. A simple procedure is employed to represent the effect of viscosity near the solid surface; in particular, the no-slip condition on the solid surface. A reduction in the circulation of elemental vortices is introduced as a function of their ages in order to represent the three-dimensional deformation of vortex filaments, An experiment was also performed for comparison purposes. The calculation yielded reasonable predictions of the time-mean and r.m.s. values of the velocity and the surface-pressure fluctuations, together with correlations between their fluctuating components, over most of the separation bubble. The interrelation between instantaneous spatial variations of the surface-pressure and velocity fluctuations were also obtained. A comparison between the calculated and measured results suggests that, in the real flow, the three-dimensional deformation of vortex filaments will become more and more dominant as the reattachment point is approached.


The effect of acceleration and adeturon, a radioprotector, on the content of nucleic acids and the count, composition and osmotic resistance of white and red blood cells was investigated. Male mice of the H strain were exposed to +20G sub x for 5 min. The above parameters were measured 1, 24, and 48 hours after the exposure. The nuclei acid content decreased significantly immediately after the exposure and tended to return to normal afterwards. The leucocyte count was increased during all observation periods, and the erythrocyte count was decreased 1 hour after the exposure. Osmotic resistance of white and red blood cells varied in a different manner after the exposure. Adeturon administered at optimal protective doses (300 mg/kg) modified regulatory mechanisms of the animal body.


Online conversations can go in many directions: some turn out poorly due to antisocial behavior, while others turn out positively to the benefit of all. Research on improving online spaces has focused primarily on detecting and reducing antisocial behavior. Yet we know little about positive outcomes in online conversations and how to increase them—is a prosocial outcome simply the lack of antisocial behavior or something more? Here, we examine how conversational features lead to prosocial outcomes within online discussions. We introduce a series of new theory-inspired metrics to define prosocial outcomes such as mentoring and esteem enhancement. Using a corpus of 26M Reddit conversations, we show that these outcomes can be forecasted from the initial comment of an online conversation, with the best model providing a relative 24% improvement over human forecasting performance at ranking conversations for predicted outcome. Our results indicate that platforms can use these early cues in their algorithmic ranking of early conversations to prioritize better outcomes.


Accumulating evidence suggests that thyrotropin (thyroid-stimulating hormone [TSH]) plays some roles in immunoregulation by an extrathyroidal action. Because airway submucosal glands are responsible for nonspecific and specific airway defense, we tested the effect of TSH on feline tracheal submucosal gland using a whole-cell patch-clamp technique, immunohistochemistry, and reverse transcription/polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). TSH potentiated neurotransmitter-induced ionic currents significantly in a dose-dependent manner. Acetylcholine (10(-)(8) M)- and norepinephrine (10(-)(7) M)-induced inward current (I(i)), which we previously showed to be a Cl(-) current, were increased to about 3-fold the pre-TSH control responses, respectively, by 2.0 ng/ml TSH; and to 6- and 23-fold the control values by 20.0 ng/ml TSH, respectively. TSH alone was without effect up to 20.0 ng/ml. Follicular stimulating hormone only slightly affected the I(i) (1. 5-fold the control). Analyses with immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR failed to identify TSH receptors on the glandular tissue. Maneuvers to raise the cellular adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate also failed to mimic the TSH-mediated potentiation. The TSH effect appeared to be mediated by a signaling pathway involving tyrosine kinase because its inhibitors (genistein and herbimycin A) abolished the augmentation completely, and interferon-gamma, a tyrosine kinase activator, imitated the TSH action on submucosal gland. Thus, TSH may be an important regulator of airway fluid secretion.


Neglected mature 'Wichita' pecan trees were rejuvenated using various pruning techniques in 1997. Trees were pruned using proven horticultural techniques which included dehorning (cutting main scaffolds to within 2 feet of trunk) and cutting main scaffolds by 50%. To date the treatments have resulted in an increase in yield when compared to trees that received no pruning. In 1999 the grower has developed an orchard management program conducive to maximum production.


In this study, the static and creep properties of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (CFRP) are examined. Plain woven carbon fabric is used as reinforcement. As the matrix, epoxy resin is modified by using cross-linked rubber particles. Four weight contents (0%, 5%, 10%, and 15%) of rubber modification are used. Three point bending loading is applied to the specimen. Static and creep tests are conducted. The results can be summarized as follows. For epoxy resin bulk and CFRP specimens, the strength and maximum strain decrease by rubber modification at static bending test, but the reduction rates of the strength and maximum strain for CFRP are smaller than those of resin bulk specimens. For example, when the weight content of rubber particles for epoxy resin is 5%, the strength reduces to about 50% and the maximum strain reduces to about 60% in the resin bulk specimen, but the strength and maximum strain reduce to about 35% and 25% respectively in CFRP. For the creep test, the creep strain rate in the secondary state is improved for CFRP with rubber modification. When the weight content of rubber particles is big, the improvement of the creep strain rate in the secondary state is great. For example, for CFRP whose weight content of rubber particles is 15%, the creep strain rate decreases by 25%. When an environmental temperature is beyond 120 degrees centigrade, the creep strain rate at the secondary state increases rapidly for unmodified CFRP, but the creep strain rate for modified CFRP is not so increased. So, an effect of rubber modification is great in the high temperature environment. In the case when the environmental temperature is 190 degrees centigrade, a 5% modification is most effective. Consequently, the rubber modification method for CFRP is effective for creep strain in an elevated temperature environment.


This paper addresses the grey legal area of moral harassment at work under the Romanian legislation, with a focus on employer responsibilities deriving from claims grounded on such discrimination deed. It puts under spot light an issue that Romanian employers confront with on a daily basis and which has not been analysed and conceptualized up to the present. The author has relied on previous research she conducted with respect to moral harassment at work, with the aim to build legislative propositions to be further considered during the legislative process. The research outlines the currently applicable legal framework in Romania, as well as the status quo of the files submitted with the courts of law addressing moral harassment at work. The paper synthetises the conclusions of the observations made throughout the last 4 years in practice (court procedure). This paper highlights that, despite the efforts undertaken by the Romanian legislator in order to ensure protection of employees at work, the concept of "moral harassment at work" does not benefit from any regulation under the Romanian legislation. As a paradox, there is an outstanding number of court files initiated by (former) employees against their employers, grounded on mobbing, that usually go through the two-stage trial procedure (first phase of judgement and appeal), thus determining the courts of law to frame the concept of moral harassment at work based on related legal concepts (discrimination, harassment, psychological harassment). The study has implications for researchers, employees and employers, students and academics. This paper stands out as a first legal and practice research on the topic of employer responsibilities in moral harassment claims under the Romanian legislation.


Many of today's machine learning (ML) systems are built by reusing an array of, often pre-trained, primitive models, each fulfilling distinct functionality (e.g., feature extraction). The increasing use of primitive models significantly simplifies and expedites the development cycles of ML systems. Yet, because most of such models are contributed and maintained by untrusted sources, their lack of standardization or regulation entails profound security implications, about which little is known thus far. In this paper, we demonstrate that malicious primitive models pose immense threats to the security of ML systems. We present a broad class of model-reuse attacks wherein maliciously crafted models trigger host ML systems to misbehave on targeted inputs in a highly predictable manner. By empirically studying four deep learning systems (including both individual and ensemble systems) used in skin cancer screening, speech recognition, face verification, and autonomous steering, we show that such attacks are (i) effective - the host systems misbehave on the targeted inputs as desired by the adversary with high probability, (ii) evasive - the malicious models function indistinguishably from their benign counterparts on non-targeted inputs, (iii) elastic - the malicious models remain effective regardless of various system design choices and tuning strategies, and (iv) easy - the adversary needs little prior knowledge about the data used for system tuning or inference. We provide analytical justification for the effectiveness of model-reuse attacks, which points to the unprecedented complexity of today's primitive models. This issue thus seems fundamental to many ML systems. We further discuss potential countermeasures and their challenges, which lead to several promising research directions.


We study how confining the equilibrium hard-sphere fluid to restrictive one- and two-dimensional channels with smooth interacting walls modifies its structure, dynamics, and entropy using molecular dynamics and transition-matrix Monte Carlo simulations. Although confinement strongly affects local structuring, the relationships between self-diffusivity, excess entropy, and average fluid density are, to an excellent approximation, independent of channel width or particle-wall interactions. Thus, thermodynamics can be used to predict how confinement impacts dynamics.


ZnO is a promising II-VI semiconductor for UV applications although p-type ZnO is not yet available. Nevertheless it remains an alternative material for GaN and its alloy InGaN. For example, the exciton binding energy of ZnO (60 meV) is higher than that of GaN (21 meV). This allows ZnO to emit light at ambient temperature and interestingly, it increases the device brightness. Besides promising intrinsic properties, light-matter control and especially in the UV relies on the ability of material nanostructuring. We present here two different kinds of top-down process in order to nanostructure ZnO. The first one relies on Electron Beam Lithography (EBL) combined with a lift-off process and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) reactive ion etching (RIE). Nickel (Ni) has been used as a mask in order to have a high selectivity in the presence of C2F6 and O2 ionized gases. The etching rate used was 26nm/s in order to avoid roughness. The second process is called Direct Holographic Patterning (DHP). ZnO thin films have been holographicaly patterned for the first time by direct photodissolution in NaCl solution using laser interference lithography. Application of an electrical potential strongly increases the dissolution rate and decreases the pattern formation time. Both processes will be discussed in terms of their respective potential for light confinement in the UV.


There has been a dramatic reduction in perinatal mortality and the incidence of malformation among the offspring of mothers with IDDM, current perinatal infant mortality now being no worse among mothers treated at the best Scandinavian diabetes centres than among non-diabetic mothers (Table 1). Such improvement is dependent upon very well organised care facilities and information services, close cooperation with the diabetic gravida, and the availability of good medical treatment that does not unduly burden her economy. Among diabetic women, careful planning for pregnancy improves the chances of giving birth to healthy offspring.


The Australian & Overseas Telecommunications Corporation (AOTC), later Telstra, was established on 1st January 1992, as a government-owned corporation and as the national telecommunications carrier. At the same time the Australian telecommunications market was deregulated and network competition was expected to begin within several months. Studies had indicated that AOTC's inter-exchange network was perhaps five years behind similar networks in the USA and uncompetitive with the network to be built by the incoming competitor, Optus Communications (Optus). AOTC's first Chief Executive Officer, Frank Blount, was an experienced senior executive of AT&T, one of the most respected telecommunications businesses in the world, which had been operating in the highly competitive telecommunications market in the USA over the previous eight years. Blount decided that one of his highest priorities, if not the highest, was a major transformation of the AOTC's inter-exchange network. Within seven months the AOTC board approved Plan D, an interim hybrid strategy which broadly achieved what was required for the network to be competitive. Within fourteen months the Board approved the Future Mode of Operation (FMO), a strategy to achieve a fully competitive, almost fully digital inter-exchange network which would approach world parity within five years. The FMO strategy would leap a gap close to ten years within five years. This is the story of the rationale and planning to launch Plan D and the FMO, the building of the first competitive telecommunications network strategy in the Postmaster General's Department (PMG), Telecom Australia (Telecom) and AOTC (Telstra) in over 90 years.


Abstract This paper focuses on the BA in Business Studies (BABS) drawing on interviews with 31 lecturers across four representative institutions. The first section examines the impact of institutional trends on the BABS degree. Fragmentation and diversification of degree programmes is explained by reference to a post‐Fordist analysis of system‐wide change across UK higher education. The second section analyses the pedagogy of lecturers who contribute to a BABS degree. Lecturers with disciplinary roots in social science disciplines such as Economics or Sociology argued that their primary goal was to produce 'critical thinkers' better able to adapt in a post‐Fordist business environment. Other lecturers, who identify with subject areas more closely allied to the business context, such as Accountancy or Information Systems, favour a pedagogy emphasising student acquisition of technical knowledge and skills. These lecturers expect students to synthesise and select from a body of knowledge, rather than evaluat...


Image-based CSG rendering algorithms for standard graphics hardware rely on multipass rendering that includes reading and writing large amounts of pixel data from and to the frame buffer. Since the performance of this data path has hardly improved over the last years, we describe new implementation techniques that efficiently use modern graphics hardware. 1) The render-to-texture ability is used to temporarily store shape visibility, avoiding the expensive copy of z-buffer content to external memory. Shape visibility is encoded discretely instead of using depth values. Hence, the technique is also not susceptible to artifacts in contrast to previously described methods. 2) We present an image-based technique for calculating the depth complexity of a CSG shape that avoids reading and analyzing pixel data from the frame buffer. Both techniques optimize various CSG rendering algorithms, namely the Goldfeather and the layered Goldfeather algorithm, and the Sequenced-ConvexSubtraction (SCS) algorithm. This way, these image-based CSG algorithms now operate accelerated by graphics hardware and, therefore, represent a significant improvement towards real-time image-based CSG rendering for complex models.


Study 1a of Giessner and Schubert (2007) found a causal effect of vertical spatial cues on power judgments. Recent work showed that this was a false positive (Klein et al., 2018). Here, we test whether another paradigm (i.e., original Study 3a) can be replicated, and develop an adjusted paradigm of original Study 1a to clarify what kind of vertical spatial cues influence power judgments. Our current preregistered Study 1 confirms original Study 3a of Giessner and Schubert (2007). It shows that information about the power of a leader is represented spatially by placing the leader's box higher in an organigram. Our current Study 2 distinguishes vertical ranks from magnitude of vertical spatial difference without changes in rank. The original Study 1a and the failed replication manipulated only magnitude while leaving rank equal. We confirm the null finding here. However, we also find that vertical rank order does indeed affect power judgments, again in a preregistered study, and in line with prior work. In sum, building on earlier work and the failed replication, we clarify that vertical rank order, but not magnitude of elevation, are associated with power judgments.


The innate immune system of the brain is principally composed of microglial cells and astrocytes, which, once activated, protect neurons against noxious agents or lesions. Activated glial cells produce inflammatory cytokines that act specifically through receptors expressed in the brain, leading to the development of altered emotional and cognitive behavior. These behavioral alterations cease along with the synthesis of brain cytokines. When the level of expression of these cytokines remains high, they become toxic to neurons possibly leading to neuronal death, as observed in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. Omega-3 (n-3) type polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are essential nutrients and fundamental components of neuronal and glial cell membranes. Additionally, they have immunomodulatory properties. They accumulate in the brain during the perinatal period in a dietary supply-dependant fashion. Their brain levels diminish with age, but can be corrected by a diet enriched in n-3 PUFAs. The increasing exposure of the population to diets unbalanced in n-3 PUFAs could contribute to the deleterious effect of inflammatory cytokines in the brain.


Vaccum plasma sprayed tungsten coatings with an evaporated sandwich Re–W interlayer on graphite limiter blocks were studied after the experimental campaign in the TEXTOR tokamak. The coating morphology was modified by high-heat loads and co-deposition of species from the plasma. Co-deposits contained fuel species, carbon, boron and silicon. X-ray diffractometer phase analysis indicated the coexistence of metallic tungsten and its carbides (WC and W2C) and boride (W2B). In the Re–W layer the presence of carbon was detected in a several micrometres thick zone. In the overheated part of the limiter, the Re–W layer was transformed into a sigma phase.


BACKGROUND
 With conflicting information about COVID-19, the general public may be uncertain about how to proceed in terms of precautionary behavior and decisions about whether to return to activity.

 OBJECTIVE
 The aim of this study is to determine the factors associated with COVID-19–related concerns, precautionary behaviors, and willingness to return to activity.

 METHODS
 National survey data were obtained from the Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project, an ongoing cross-sectional weekly survey. The sample was provided by Lucid, a web-based market research platform. Three outcomes were evaluated: (1) COVID-19–related concerns, (2) precautionary behaviors, and (3) willingness to return to activity. Key independent variables included age, gender, race or ethnicity, education, household income, political party support, religion, news consumption, number of medication prescriptions, perceived COVID-19 status, and timing of peak COVID-19 infections by state.

 RESULTS
 The data included 125,508 responses from web-based surveys conducted over 20 consecutive weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic (comprising approximately 6250 adults per week), between March 19 and August 5, 2020, approved by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Institutional Review Board for analysis. A substantial number of participants were not willing to return to activity even after the restrictions were lifted. Weighted multivariate logistic regressions indicated the following groups had different outcomes (all P<.001): individuals aged ≥65 years (COVID-19–related concerns: OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.93-2.18; precautionary behaviors: OR 2.38, 95% CI 2.02-2.80; return to activity: OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.37-0.46 vs 18-40 years); men (COVID-19–related concerns: OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.70-0.75; precautionary behaviors: OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.67-0.81; return to activity: OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.88-2.12 vs women); taking ≥4 medications (COVID-19–related concerns: OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.40-1.54; precautionary behaviors: OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.20-1.555; return to activity: OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.69-0.81 vs <3 medications); Republicans (COVID-19–related concerns: OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.38-0.42; precautionary behaviors: OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.40-0.50; return to activity: OR 2.22, 95% CI 2.09-2.36 vs Democrats); and adults who reported having COVID-19 (COVID-19–related concerns: OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.12-1.39; precautionary behaviors: OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.52-0.81; return to activity: OR 3.99, 95% CI 3.48-4.58 vs those who did not).

 CONCLUSIONS
 Participants' age, party affiliation, and perceived COVID-19 status were strongly associated with their COVID-19–related concerns, precautionary behaviors, and willingness to return to activity. Future studies need to develop and test targeted messaging approaches and consider political partisanship to encourage preventative behaviors and willingness to return to activities.


Objective: Risk stratification continues to evolve in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Our aim was to further confirm the risk assessment strategy in our cohort and to determine the most reliable model. Methods: We enrolled incident patients with idiopathic PAH (IPAH), heritable, drug-induced, congenital heart disease (CHD), connective tissue diseases (CTD) subsets, and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) from January 2008 to February 2018. Data from the baseline and subsequent follow-ups within 1 year of diagnosis were included. An abbreviated risk assessment strategy was applied using the following variables: functional class (FC), 6-minute walk distance (6 MWD), N-terminal pro–brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) or BNP, right atrial (RA) area, pericardial effusion, the mean RA pressure, cardiac index, and mixed venous oxygen saturation. Three different methods were applied to categorize patients. Results: A total of 189 subjects (46±17 years, 23% male) were included. Sixty-one patients had died. The survival differed significantly between the risk groups both at diagnosis and during the follow-up. Patients with a low-risk profile had a better survival rate. An abbreviated risk assessment tool predicted mortality at early follow-up in the entire group and CHD, CTD subsets, and CTEPH, separately. An overall mortality among risk categories was significantly different according to each categorization method. The most reliable model comprised FC, 6 MWD, NT pro-BNP/BNP, and the RA area at the follow-up. Conclusion: The abbreviated risk assessment tool may be valid for the PAH subsets and CTEPH. Echocardiographic variables do matter. A model comprising FC, 6 MWD, NT pro-BNP/BNP, and the RA area at the follow-up could be useful for better prognostication.


: A major problem in the management of incidental prostatic carcinoma (T1) is that the biological potential of these tumors varies across individuals. In 1975, Jewett suggested separating T1 tumors in two subgroups, called A1 (T1a) and A2 (T1b). The publications reviewed herein demonstrate that it is difficult to identify prognostic factors of potential usefulness for making therapeutic decisions in an individual patient with T1 prostatic carcinoma. Histological examination of tissue removed by transurethral resection or prostatectomy for benign prostatic hypertrophy does not allow determination of the size of the carcinoma or of its histological grade. A large number of patients with incidental carcinoma of the prostate also have other, independent prostatic tumors, especially in the outermost areas of the gland. Consequently, patients with incidental prostatic cancer should have additional diagnostic investigations including repeated prostate specific antigen assays, multiple biopsies, transrectal ultrasonography, computed tomography, and, if called for, magnetic resonance imaging. The value of second-look transurethral prostatic resection (TURP) for improving the accuracy of staging is controversial. This procedure may be indicated only in a small subgroup of carefully selected patients. Flow cytometry analysis of tumor cells may be useful for making therapeutic decisions in patients with T1 prostatic carcinomas. The progression rate in untreated patients with T1a tumors ranges from 16% to 36% and the proportion of patients with residual tumors after TURP is 40% to 80%. Based on these figures, radical prostatectomy can be considered the treatment of choice in young operable patients.


Myocardial infarction is a leading cause of high mortality rates in Western countries. After ischemia, lost cardiomyocytes are replaced by fibrotic tissue, while remaining cardiomyocytes hypertrophy, both further impairing ventricular function. Current therapies consist of restoration of reperfusion and drug administration to attenuate chronic symptoms and prevent the development of heart failure. In recent years, the possibility of using stem cells to replace lost tissue has become a hot topic in the cardiovascular scientific community. We have recently isolated cardiomyocyte progenitor cells (CMPCs) from fetal and adult human cardiac tissue (Goumans MJ et al. Stem Cell Res 2008; Van Vliet P et al. Neth Heart J 2008; Smits AM et al. Nature Prot 2009). Upon isolation, CMPCs can be easily expanded and express several stem cell markers and cardiac transcription factors. Stimulation with specific chemicals and growth factors induces differentiation of CMPCs into smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells. We also found that while fetal CMPCs can form spontaneously beating cardiomyocytes, adult CMPCs appear to differentiate into more mature, quiescent cardiomyocytes in vitro. The adult CMPC-derived cardiomyocytes may therefore be more suitable for clinical application than their fetal counterparts. In contrast, the potential of fetal CMPCs to form additional mesodermal cell types indicates that these cells are an interesting population for studies on progenitor cell development. Several signaling pathways that are known to affect skeletal myogenesis are also involved in cardiomyogenesis. In this thesis we report our results on two of these mechanisms. First, we investigated the role of microRNAs (miRs). MiRs are non-coding, small RNA molecules that affect translation of messenger RNA towards protein and have been reported to regulate many developmental processes. We identified several interesting candidates that were differentially expressed between undifferentiated and differentiated CMPCs. These miRs could subsequently be used to improve CMPC differentiation efficiency. Second, we previously reported that stimulation of CMPCs with TGFbeta enhanced cardiomyogenic differentiation (Goumans MJ et al. Stem Cell Res 2008). We show here that TGFbeta induces hyperpolarization in undifferentiated CMPCs, leading to the formation of spontaneously beating cardiomyocytes. These results suggest a novel mechanism for cardiomyogenic differentiation. Transplantation of CMPCs or CMPC-derived cardiomyocytes in infarcted mouse hearts prevented cardiac dilatation and deterioration of cardiac function (Smits AM, submitted; Van Laake LW, Cardiac recovery by stem and progenitor cells, Thesis 2008). In addition, CMPCs differentiated in vivo into cardiomyocytes, smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells. However, the effect of hypoxia on CMPCs remained uninvestigated. Therefore, we exposed the cells to low oxygen levels in vitro and found that hypoxia results in increased proliferation. This was mediated by a pro-survival gene that, when overexpressed, further increased proliferation and inhibition of apoptosis. In conclusion, the isolation and characterization of CMPCs has allowed us to closely study their potential for both scientific research and clinical application. The results reported in this thesis may help to improve cardiomyogenic differentiation protocols and reduce the need for chemicals or growth factors to improve survival, proliferation, and/or differentiation in cardiovascular progenitor cells. Future exploration of these mechanisms may lead to a better understanding of cardiovascular cell biology and, possibly, therapeutic application of CMPCs.


Objectives: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) affects 11% of the population and can be associated with significant morbidity. Allergic fungal rhinosinusitis (AFRS) is a subgroup of CRS characterised by high recurrence rates which can be difficult to diagnose and treat. Early recognition may help optimise treatment. Others with severe forms of CRS include patients with asthma who are more likely to have nasal polyps and may have aspirin sensitivity, exacerbating their symptoms. The aim of this analysis is to determine the prevalence of aspirin-sensitivity and asthma in CRS sub-types including AFRS. Methods: Data for this analysis was taken from the UK Chronic Rhinosinusitis Epidemiology Study (CRES) which consists of a study-specific self-reported questionnaire about environmental, medical and socio-economic factors and incorporates the SF-36 and SNOT-22 questionnaires. Subjects were recruited from secondary and tertiary care clinics in Ear, Nose and Throat departments from 30 centres across the UK. Results: A total of 1,470 questionnaires were returned; controls 221, CRS without polyps 553 CRS with polyps 651, AFRS 45. The prevalence of self- reported aspirin sensitivity was 2.26% in controls, 3.25% in CRS without polyps 9.61% in CRS with nasal polyps and 40% in AFRS. The prevalence of asthma was 9.95%, 21.16%, 46.9% and 73.3% respectively. Odds ratio for aspirin sensitivity amongst those with AFRS 28.8 (9.9,83.8) p<0.000. Conclusions: Aspirin sensitivity and asthma prevalence are higher amongst those with polypoid disease and may be factors by which these patients can be identified. Aspirin desensitisation and reduction of dietary salicylate may be a therapeutic consideration for such patients. Combined management with ENT, Respiratory Medicine and Allergy specialists may be beneficial for patients with complex disease. This study has been conducted by and is presented on behalf of the CRES Group.


Peritoneal dialysis (PD) catheters maybe inserted surgically or percutaneously. Since 1997, 209 patients in our unit have had a PD catheter inserted percutaneously with fluoroscopic guidance. Data on all these PD catheters were collected prospectively on a PROTON computer database. 5/209 (2.4%) insertion attempts were abandoned. 204 catheters were successfully placed giving an initial technical success of 97.6%. 200/204 catheters were used for dialysis. 13/200 (6.5%) catheters developed early exit site infections; 12/13 were successfully treated and dialysis proceeded uneventfully. 3/200 (1.5%) catheters developed early peritonitis; 1/3 was removed as antibiotic treatment was unsuccessful. 10/200 (5%) catheters developed an early leak; 2/10 did not resolve with conservative therapy and were removed. 14/200 (7%) catheters did not allow sufficient fluid entry for PD; all 14 had migrated out of the pelvis and were removed. In total, 18/200 (9%) catheters were removed in the first 2 months due to these early complications. The remaining 182/200 (91%) were fully functional for PD. Technical survival (excluding patient death with a functioning catheter and successful kidney transplantation) at 1, 2, and 5 years was 77%, 61%, and 31%, respectively. Our 10 year experience of PD catheters inserted percutaneously with fluoroscopic guidance demonstrates a high technical success and a low complication rate. The data presented may be used as the standard for this technique.


This paper reports on the findings of a study designed to establish website-based self-management recommendations for sickle cell disease. Google and Yahoo search engines were used to search the World-Wide-Web. Purposive sampling was utilized to select 28 websites that met the inclusion criteria. Data were manually collected from health education materials and subjected to qualitative content analysis. Self-management was conceptualized as actions involving preventive health, self-monitoring, self-diagnosing, and self-treatment. The results show that the websites recommend more self-management actions for preventive health and self-treatment than for self-monitoring and self-diagnosis. Frequent oral fluid intake, limitation of overactivity, eating a healthy diet, avoiding extreme temperatures, and infections were the commonest preventive health recommendations. Daily pain monitoring and general bodily inspections were the most frequent self-monitoring recommendations. Commonly cited self-diagnostic indicators were fever, persistent pain, enlarged spleen, and leg ulcers. The use of analgesics and non-pharmacological measures were regularly cited for self-treatment. Most recommendations were assessed as clinically safe as they align with standards for sickle cell management. Nurses and other professionals should teach patients how to assess the credibility of websites. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


The objective of this study is to contribute towards understanding how welfare and justice discourses become apparent in institutional conversations where social workers involved in child protection have dual professional identities: that of helper and of gatekeeper. In this article we analyse a specific conversational practice in a particular child protection context: social workers asking questions about hypothetical situations in interviews with prospective adoptive parents. We show the nature of these questions in face-to-face interactions between social workers and prospective adoptive parents. In addition, we also analyse how the social workers manage to integrate aspects of testing the capabilities of the prospective adoptive parents while, at the same time, also helping them to become even better prepared parents. Using the method of conversation analysis makes it possible to analyse how the social workers are doing being a gatekeeper and/or helper without spelling that out.


A multi-protagonist family drama set in Auckland in 1987. Auckland is an ebullient city on the threshold of great change. Daniel, a golden youth born with a silver spoon has all he needs and everything in front of him but he just can't seem to grow up. The daily round of pleasure and diversion no longer mask the unpleasant realities of life and death. Everyone around him wants something he is not able to give; his best friend Ash wants his money, his mother wants her boy at home and his girlfriend Caroline wants all of him.

Ava is a young woman off to see the world and who is prepared to bend a few rules to get there. Still raging at her parents' divorce, fearful of being hurt again, she hides her feelings from herself and others and is not the easiest girl to know.

When Daniel's and Ava's paths cross there are consequences for both of them and Daniel may finally have to wake up.


This chapter provides an overview of the relationship between data and fundamental rights at the current point in time, and directions as to where and how this relationship might continue. At the basis of this relationship are the fundamental rights to privacy and free expression; however with the digital society being more pervasive, other fundamental rights, including freedom from discrimination and labour rights are now implicated by data. The role of private actors is prominent in discussions on data and fundamental rights given their key role in providing data infrastructure and services, in ways which may infringe users' fundamental rights. In addition, fundamental rights organisations themselves are turning to the collection and use of data to assist with their functions. All of these topics will be explained and discussed before concluding with an outline of some possible future developments for data and fundamental rights, including the implementation of new technologies such as robotics and their impact on fundamental rights and the extent to which existing rights are still appropriate for the current and futures scenarios, or whether new kinds of fundamental rights or new kinds of implementations such as the digital constitutional project need to be recognised.


Techniques for monitoring water-retaining earth structures are currently limited in their capacity to detect seepage-induced internal erosion (e.g. suffusion) in its early stages, or before serious damage
has occurred. Acoustic emission (AE) is widely used in many industries for non-destructive assessment of materials and systems, but despite its advantages it is seldom used in geotechnical engineering as the AE generated by particulate materials is highly complex and difficult to measure
and interpret. This project aims to develop the interpretation of AE generated by seepage-induced internal instability phenomena. A continuous, real-time AE early warning system for detecting seepage erosion mechanisms and processes will enable safety-critical decisions to be made. Laboratory testing with a large permeameter apparatus is being used to characterise and quantify the
AE generated by the hydromechanical behaviour of a range of internally unstable soils. Initial results show that key processes such as the internal movement of particles can be measured and interpreted using AE.


The Skp2 oncoprotein belongs to the family of F-box proteins that function as substrate recognition factors for SCF (Skp1, cullin, F-box protein) E3 ubiquitin-ligase complexes. Binding of the substrate to the SCFSkp2 complex catalyzes the conjugation of ubiquitin molecules to the bound substrate, resulting in multi-ubiquitination and rapid degradation by the 26 S proteasome. Using Skp2 as bait in a yeast two-hybrid screen, we have identified UBP43 as a novel substrate for Skp2. UBP43 belongs to the family of ubiquitin isopeptidases and specifically cleaves ISG15, a ubiquitin-like molecule that is induced by cellular stresses, such as type 1 interferons (IFN), nephrotoxic damage, and bacterial infection. UBP43 was originally identified as an up-regulated gene in knock-in mice expressing an acute myelogenous leukemia fusion protein, AML1-ETO, as well as in melanoma cell lines treated with IFN-β. The phenotype of UBP43 knockout mice includes shortened life span, hypersensitivity to IFN, and neuronal damage, suggesting that tight regulation of ISG15 conjugation is critical for normal cellular function. In this study, we demonstrate that UBP43 is ubiquitinated in vivo and accumulates in cells treated with proteasome inhibitors. We also show that Skp2 promotes UBP43 ubiquitination and degradation, resulting in higher levels of ISG15 conjugates. In Skp2–/–mouse cells, levels of UBP43 are consistently up-regulated, whereas levels of ISG15 conjugates are reduced. Our results demonstrate that the SCFSkp2 is involved in controlling UBP43 protein levels and may therefore play an important role in modulating type 1 IFN signaling.


A phosphorescent copper(I) coordination polymer with the sodium salt of 3,5-dimethyl-4-sulfonate pyrazole (HLNa) has been prepared and structurally characterized. The presence of the SO3Na substituent in position 4 of the pyrazole ring led to a 3D polymeric species in which an organic/inorganic/organic sandwich motif is observed and repeated along the a axis through zig-zag chains of linear coordinated Cu(I) ions. The inorganic core of the sandwich consists of a trapezoidal grid of Na-ions interconnected by μ-(κO;κ2-O′,O′′)-bridging sulfonates and bridging water molecules; H-bonds can be also found between water molecules and SO3− groups. In the solid state, the copper derivative showed an interesting phosphorescent behavior when irradiated with UV light, with a yellow emission (570 nm) and a good absolute quantum yield (ΦPL = 0.44), together with a remarkable Stokes shift of 2.50 eV.


A photonic crystal fiber based on a particular periodic arrangement of airholes and pure silica is designed for chromatic dispersion compensation. A two-concentric-core structure is obtained by introducing two different sizes of capillaries (for the airholes) and exhibits very high negative chromatic dispersion [-2200 ps/(nm km) at 1550 nm]. The variation of optogeometric parameters is also investigated to evaluate the tolerance of the fabrication. Finally, the bending influence on the modal characteristics shows that it is possible to tune the phase-matching wavelength over the C band by adjusting the diameter of the fiber.


This study evaluated the effects of brief training in how to lead organizational meetings. The training was based on an attendee-needs-based model of running meetings. Twelve mid-level managers completed the training. The study showed a significant pre to post increase in the number of needs-based behaviors displayed by meeting leaders and in attendee ratings of meeting satisfaction and meeting productivity. The results provide preliminary evidence that the training can lead to positive effects. The results also provide evidence in support of the needs-based model of running organizational meetings.


AIM: This study was aimed to determine the antifibrotic activity of Phaleria macrocarpa (PM) extract in liver fibrosis (LF) and its possible mechanism in the rat model.
METHODS: Sprague Dawley male rats were injected with 2 mL/kg BW of carbon tetrachloride intraperitoneally twice a week for 2 weeks, followed by 1 mL/kg BW for 6 weeks. Afterward, the treatments began from the 3rd week: Silymarin 100 mg/kg BW/day, standardized PM extract (Proliverenol) 75 or 150 mg/kg BW/day orally. Rats were sacrificed in the 8th week. Blood and liver were collected to analyze liver function, liver damage and fibrosis marker, oxidative stress markers, pro-fibrogenic cytokine, and antifibrotic marker.
RESULTS: Our study showed that the treatment of silymarin and PM resulted in the normalized activity of liver function, followed by the amelioration of oxidative stress, demonstrated by the decreased malondialdehyde levels and an increased ratio of glutathione and glutathione disulfide. All markers examined showed that PM extract has antioxidant activity due to decreased hepatic stellate cell activation. We also found a decrease in tumor growth factors-β1 and protein expressions of matrix metalloproteinases-13 in all treatment groups compared to the carbon tetrachloride group. There were tendencies of the decreased fibrotic area following improvements of biochemical parameters.
CONCLUSION: PM extracts ameliorate carbon tetrachloride-induced LF. The proposed mechanism is by overcoming oxidative stress and regulating pro-fibrogenic cytokine and antifibrotic markers.