Technological development is permanently advancing in the direction of miniaturisation and energy consumption reduction. One of the keys to this pathway lies in the integration of ferroelectric thin films into Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) applications. For this purpose, due to its large piezoelectric response, lead zirconate titanate is the material of choice in industry. To broaden the range of applications, substrates less brittle than the currently favoured silicon must be implemented into MEMS. In this work, lead zirconate titanate thin films on stainless steel substrates were both experimentally investigated and modelled.

Lead zirconate titanate thin films of composition PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 were grown on AISI 304 stainless steel substrates by pulsed laser deposition with {001} texture to improve their piezoelectric response. As demonstrated using X-ray and electron backscatter diffraction, the texture engineering is achieved through a selection of two buffer layers, Al2O3 and LaNiO3. The former buffer prevents the oxidation of the stainless steel substrate during deposition of the subsequent layers. The latter serves as both a bottom electrode and a growth template to promote the {001} texture of PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 thin films. The lead zirconate titanate thin films ferroelectric properties are improved through 2 mol.% Nb-doping, resulting in dielectric constants and losses at 1 kHz for a 200 nm thick film of 350 and below 5 %, respectively, before measurement of polarisation versus electrical field hysteresis. Following these measurements, the Nb-doped lead zirconate titanate thin films permittivity increases up to 430. With a thickness of 400 nm, the films exhibit a remanent polarisation of 16.5 μC·cm−2 and a coercive field of 92 kV·cm−1.

In the modelling, based on a ferroelectric switching criterion and the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, it was investigated how the vertical deflection of ferroelectric bending tongues behaves with a load at their free end. The model developed here bridges the gap existing in literature between the modelling of ferroelectric switching and the mechanical description of linear piezoelectric structures. Furthermore, the ferroelectric switching criterion model is improved by the inclusion of strain saturation at high fields, which is inherent to ferroelectrics. The model includes parameters describing the geometry of the bending tongue, its mechanical and material properties, the crystallographic state and built-in strain of the ferroelectric thin film and the applied electrical field to determine the vertical deflection for MEMS applications based on ferroelectric bending tongues.

In summary, the technically relevant {001} texture of lead zirconate titanate thin films on stainless steel substrates has been successfully engineered. The thin films, especially with 2 mol.% Nb-doping, are excellent candidates for MEMS applications on non-brittle substrates, in particular in sensor technology. Furthermore, the model established in this work indicates that ferroelectric bending tongues made of lead zirconate titanate on stainless steel substrates can develop sufficient vertical deflection for MEMS applications.


OBJECTIVE
Communication between the patient and physician is central to medical care. However communication skills in Turkey haven't been gained so much concern. This situation effect the national quality of health care. Here, we tried to perform some basic communication skills and to find the problems with the possible solution suggestions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was conducted for a month in general surgery outpatient department located in the slum part of Ankara with low socio-economic population. Basic communication skills were performed. The age, sex, education levels of the patients were obtained. Total symptom expression and interview time were recorded. Previous medical histories were asked. Interruptions including telephone, door knocking were noted. The questions of the patients at the end of the interview classified as hospital setting, nutrition and treatment.

RESULTS
Total 410 interviews were analysed. Mean symptom expression and interview times were 22.9 sec and 7.05 min, respectively. Educated patients, males and young patients expressed symptoms longer than the others (p<0.05). There were 174 interruptions in which total interview time signifantly increased than the non interrupted ones (p<0.05). Final questions about hospital setting were signifantly higher in illiterate patients than the educated ones (p<0.05). Awareness of medical history is higher in educated and young patients.

CONCLUSION
Basic communications skills can be performed whether in rural regions. Much more concern should be given to the education of communication skills. The obstacles in communication in medicine are low education levels, and unorganised health system.


Classical Poisson-Boltzmann theory represents a mean-field description of the electric double layer in the presence of only Coulomb interactions. However, aqueous solvents hydrate ions, which gives rise to additional hydration-mediated ion-ion interactions. Experimental and computational studies suggest damped oscillations to be a characteristic feature of these hydration-mediated interactions. We have therefore incorporated oscillating Yukawa potentials into the mean-field description of the electric double layer. This is accomplished by allowing the decay length of the Yukawa potential to be complex valued. Ion specificity emerges from assigning individual strengths and phases to the Yukawa potential for anion-anion, anion-cation, and cation-cation pairs as well as for anions and cations interacting with an electrode or macroion. Excluded volume interactions between ions are approximated by replacing the ideal gas entropy by that of a lattice gas. We derive mean-field equations for the Coulomb and Yukawa potentials and use their solutions to compute the differential capacitance for an isolated planar electrode and the pressure that acts between two planar, like-charged macroion surfaces. Attractive interactions appear if the surface charge density of the macroions is sufficiently small.


Reward-seeking behaviors can be potentiated by exposure to cues that have been paired with a reward. This phenomenon is called Pavlovian instrumental transfer (PIT). PIT-like effects are thought to contribute to relapse of drug intake upon exposure to drug-associated cues. PIT was shown to be enhanced by prior exposure to psychostimulants; however, the molecular mechanisms involved are unknown. We previously found that extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activation within the nucleus accumbens (NAc) critical for PIT. Here we examine a possible involvement of NAc ERK signaling in the potentiation of PIT by prior exposure to psychostimulants. Rats underwent Pavlovian conditioning to associate a tone with food delivery, then underwent instrumental training to press a lever for food, and finally were tested for PIT. After each Pavlovian session half of the rats were treated with amphetamine (1mg/kg; i.p.) and the rest with saline (1ml/kg; i.p.). Some rats received Pavlovian conditioning only to assess the effect of prior amphetamine exposure specifically on cue-evoked ERK activation in the NAc. To determine the importance of timing of amphetamine exposure in relation to the Pavlovian conditioning training, some rats were treated with drug or saline 6 hrs after the daily session. Amphetamine treatment after daily Pavlovian training increased cue-evoked NAc ERK activation, without affecting basal ERK activation or discriminative food cup approach. Amphetamine exposure caused a marked increase in PIT accompanied by an increase in cue-evoked ERK activation. There were no drug effects on basal lever pressing, inactive lever pressing, or discriminative food cup approach during the PIT test. The effect of prior amphetamine exposure on cue-evoked NAc ERK activation and PIT were observed when amphetamine was administered immediately after the daily Pavlovian conditioning but not when it was administered 6 hrs later. These findings are consistent with a role for cue-evoked NAc ERK activation in the enhancement of PIT observed days after repeated exposure to amphetamine. Potentiation dependence on the timing of amphetamine administration relative to Pavlovian conditioning argues against an explanation in terms of general sensitization but instead suggests a drug effect on the consolidation of the cue-reward association.


Focus Area: Integrative Approaches to Care The panel discussants will present on the outcomes of four recent pragmatic trials covering the spectrum of Ayurvedic medicine, yoga, and meditation as therapeutic approaches for both acute and chronic conditions. The presenters will discuss: (1) a pilot study of a whole-systems Ayurveda and Yoga Therapy intervention for obesity; (2) a comparative effectiveness randomized controlled trial of hatha yoga, physical therapy, and education for non-specific chronic low back pain in low-income minority populations; (3) an investigation of the therapeutic usefulness of Shirodhara (Ayurvedic oil dripping therapy) as a treatment for insomnia; and (4) a discussion of the evidence base supporting implementation of meditation interventions in schools and workplace settings. Discussants will present information on study designs, research methodology, and outcome measure selection to highlight special considerations in conducting research on whole medical systems that use multi-target therapies and focus on patient-centered outcomes. Ayurvedic medicine and yoga are characterized by low-cost, noninvasive interventions that can be usefully offered as part of an integrative medicine therapeutic approach.


Splenic B-cell lymphoma/leukemia, which is unclassifiable, includes low-grade B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders that do not fit into any other splenic lymphoid neoplasm based on current WHO classification. Presently, two provisional entities, splenic diffuse red pulp small B-cell lymphoma (SDRPL) and hairy-cell leukemia variant (HCL-v), are the most recognizable members of this group. SDRPL is an uncommon malignancy representing less than 1% of all non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Frequent clinical manifestations include splenomegaly and lymphocytosis. SDRPL is currently considered a diagnosis of exclusion and requires clinical and paraclinical correlation, including blood smear, bone marrow and spleen morphology, and the correct immunophenotype (typically positive for CD20, DBA.44, and IgG; and negative for CD5, CD10, CD23, CD43, annexin A1, CD11c, CD25, CD103, and CD123), and cytogenetic findings. Cyclin D3 is expressed in the majority of SDRPL in contrast to other types of small B-cell lymphomas. HCL-v is a less common disease accounting for 0.4% of all chronic lymphoproliferative disorders. It resembles classical HCL and SDRPL by diffusely infiltrating the splenic red pulp but is considered biologically unrelated. Splenomegaly and atypical lymphocytosis without monocytopenia are common. Distinguishing features of HCL-v include morphology, immunophenotype (the absence of CD25, CD200, CD123, annexin A1, and TRAP), genotype (wild-type BRAF), and prognosis.


It has long been appreciated that measles is a rare disease in the newborn infant due to passive transfer of antibodies from the mother to the fetus by way of the placenta. 1,2 It has been a part of pediatric teaching to point out that this immunity is almost absolute for the first five months and relative up to the 8th month. 3 Quite clearly, if the mother has never had measles, either clinical or subclinical, she will have no antibodies to pass on to her offspring. The first case in the American literature was reported by Smith in 1870. 4 From this time onward a total of 28 cases has been reported in both American and foreign journals. 5-20 No cases have been reported in premature infants so far as this author has been able to discover. This may be due either to intrauterine death or to extrauterine death


ABSTRACT One of the key features of today's global economy is an 'offshore world' of financial structures, institutions and techniques designed to provide secrecy, asset protection and tax exemption. While its worldwide impact is very significant, Africa is affected to an unusual extent by the strategies of tax avoidance/evasion, outward financial flows (both legal and illegal) and corruption enabled by the offshore world. This is corroborated by a number of quantitative studies of capital flight as well as by influential investigations such as the Pandora Papers, Panama Papers and Luanda Leaks. The offshore world's limited presence in the study of contemporary African politics, political economy and international relations is therefore striking. The purpose of this exploratory paper is to highlight this gap, provide a preliminary analysis, and suggest that the politics of African insertion in the global offshore economy merits more attention from scholars of African politics.


Nickel-base alloys are mostly used for high-temperature applications, many of which are heavily loaded safety components. The material properties highly depend on the microstructure, which, in turn, depends on the metal forming process and the heat treatment. FEM integrated microstructure models can satisfactorily describe the grain size development due to dynamic and static recrystallisation during a metal forming processes and the heat treatment. The simulation results obtained from modeled compression experiments are very promising so that consequently, simulations of more sophisticated processes, like multi-pass open die forging or radial forging, is the next reasonable goal. However, the computation times for the simulation of these processes are still unsatisfactorily long and thus, their application is deterred. To accelerate the simulations, a multi-mesh algorithm was implemented to the Finite-Element simulation package PEP & LARSTRAN/SHAPE. This method uses a Finite-Element mesh that is fine in the deformation zone and coarse in the remaining areas of the workpiece. Due to the movement of the tools during the simulation, the deformation zone moves across the workpiece and thus, necessitates a remeshing with a transition of the finely meshed area. A second mesh, which is fine over the entire volume of the workpiece, is used to store the nodal data and simulation results, which get transferred to the simulation mesh every time a remeshing operation becomes necessary. In combination with an adopted data transfer algorithm, this second mesh is used to minimize the loss of accuracy, if a previously finely meshed area becomes a coarsely meshed area. This simulation model can be used to optimize forging process chains with respect to grain size distribution as well as cost effectiveness and energy consumption.


We examine the relationship between money supply and asset prices. In particular, we examine the relationship between the money supply and the equity market in Japan, Switzerland, Singapore, Great Britain, and New Zealand. Since U.S. is the largest economy in the world, we also examine the relationship between U.S. money supply and other assets, namely gold, oil and three subsectors of the U.S. stock market (consumer staples, consumer discretionary and real estate). No long-run relationship is found when the Johansen test for cointegration is applied on the U.S. assets and money supply. Further, there is found no particular evidence that the latter variable is driving the price of these assets. Contrary, we find that the money supply and stock market of Japan, Switzerland, Great Britain and New Zealand are cointegrated during different time periods.


ABSTRACT Ooids in grainstones from the Spring Hill Member of the Pennsylvanian Plattsburg Limestone in southeastern Kansas were precipitated as both aragonite and calcite. Either phase predominated in different outcrops, in different units within an individual outcrop, in different grains within an individual sample, and in different portions of an individual ooid cortex. Selective diagenetic dissolution of aragonite cortices gave rise to a variety of fabrics reported from many other politic limestones. These include oomoldic porosity, sparry cortices, strings of spastolithic (deformed) and elephantine (trunk-to-tail) connected ooids, and displaced nuclei. These and other reported occurrences of fabrics which record the former presence of aragonite are not evenly distributed through Phanerozoic time. Rather, they predominate during times of general continental emergence. While this distribution supports the postulations of Mackenzie and Pigott (1981) and Sandberg (1983) that the dominant mineralogy of ancient marine limestones may have corresponded closely to positions of global sea level, fabrics of the Plattsburg Limestone demonstrate that evaluating changes in ooid compositions with geologic time is not a simple "either aragonite or calcite" proposition.


The effects of moderate irrigation rates on vegetative growth, vine evapotranspiration, yield, and grape and wine composition were studied during six consecutive seasons in a mature vineyard planted with Vitis vinifera cv. Tempranillo in Requena, Spain. Vines were spur-pruned and trained to a bilateral cordon. Rain-fed vines received a yearly average rainfall of 368 mm, of which 169 mm occurred from April to harvest. Irrigated vines on average received 86 mm per year of additional water applications. Irrigation increased vegetative growth and vine evapotranspiration. As a result, yield was 31% higher in the irrigated vines. This increase in yield was primarily due to larger berry size and was correlated with vine evapotranspiration estimated by soil water balance. Irrigation did not alter the balance between the vine demand and the supply as indicated by the similar level of yield to pruning weight and leaf area to yield ratios observed in both irrigated and nonirrigated vines. On average over years irrigation had some minor negative effects on wine composition. It altered the balance between malic and tartaric acid, increasing the former and decreasing the latter. Irrigation also led to an increase in wine pH that together with a slight decrease in anthocyanin concentration reduced color intensity by 18%. However, the effects of irrigation on must and wine composition were largely different among years, probably because of the different rainfall amount and crop levels. Thus, under high crop level, irrigation tended to mitigate the negative effects of increasing yield on wine alcohol content.


A prospective survey of 450 autopsies was conducted to determine the prevalence of colorectal dysplastic polyps in the population of the General Hospital of Mexico City. The colon and rectum were removed and examined for the presence of polypoid lesions; their size, location, and appearance were described. All of the lesions were examined and classified according to their microscopic diagnosis. Results revealed a single polypoid lesion in nine cases; four were classified as regenerative or inflammatory and five as dysplastic. Four of the latter were in females and one in a male; their mean age was 64 years. Macroscopically four were pedunculated and one sessil; all measured less than 0.6 cm; two were located in the transverse colon and three in the left colon. No hyperplastic polyps were found. After standardization for age, comparison with similar studies performed in other countries showed an extremely low prevalence rate for dysplastic colorectal polyps (2.7%) in our patient population, similar to one reported in Iran and higher than that found in the African Bantus, but it is one of the lowest when compared with European and US series.


Hydrostatic bearings are widely used in industry, including aerospace and energy sectors. Hydrodynamic lubrication mechanism has been well studied analytically and experimentally and various types of bearings were developed to provide increasing operating speed, load capacity, stability and efficiency for modern rotating machines. Hydrostatically lubricated bearings have principal difference (in comparison with hydrodynamic bearings) and their characteristics have been an area of continued research.
 The goal of this work is to develop a robust algorithm, which can predict hydrodynamical characteristics and dynamic stiffness and damping coefficients of hybrid and hydrostatic bearings with increased accuracy and which can be used for engineering/design purposes. The developed approach is based on Reynold's equations, where the unknown parameters are the rotor position and fluid pressure in recess pockets. Finite difference method in combination with the successive over-relaxation algorithm is used for a numerical solution of Reynold's equations. Newton's method is applied to solve the generated system of equations.
 Applying the developed approach, the effect of load influence on the hydrodynamical and the dynamic stiffness characteristics has been studied. Several hydrostatic bearing designs which are based on the published data were considered to compare the results calculated applying the approach with the experimental and theoretical data given in the literature. Performed study shows when journal eccentricity can't be neglected while simulating hydrostatic bearing characteristics. Simulations also allow for analysis of how different design/geometrical parameters and initial conditions (supply pressure) influence bearing performance characteristics.
 The developed approach can be utilized as a practical tool which allows for the prediction of performance characteristics of hydrostatic bearing with increased accuracy.


This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence and intensity of small ruminant Cryptosporidium infection and to investigate the role of potential risk factors associated with the occurrence of the disease in Ziway dugda district of east arsi zone, Ethiopia. Faecal samples were collected from 174 sheep and 210 goats under the age of one year. Samples were analysed using the sheather's sugar solution flotation technique and Modified Ziehl–Neelsen staining technique. 59 samples were found positive giving an overall prevalence of 15.4%. Significant difference (P<0.05,) was observed in the prevalence of small ruminant Cryptosporidium infection among poor, medium and good body condition animals (p-value=0.004), and in between diarrheic and nondiarrheic animals (p-value=0.002). However, all the risk factors considered in this study had no significant effect (pvalue>0.05) on the prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection. Regarding the intensity of the infection, 31 samples (8.1%) were scored as "high," 17 (4.4%) were scored as "moderate," and 11 (2.9%) were scored as "low," while the remaining 325 samples (84.6%) were "negative". The intensity of Cryptosporidium infection is significantly higher in small ruminants having poor body condition (p-value=0.038) and diarrhea (p-value=0.025). This study demonstrated the importance of Cryptosporidium infection in small ruminants less than one year of age and having diarrhea and poor body condition in Ziway dugda district of east arsi zone, Ethiopia.


- Abstract - Background: To evaluate the relationships between deterioration in insulin secretion and aggravated insulin resistance in patients with newly diagnosed prediabetes (preDM) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) according to the presence of metabolic syndrome (MS). Methods: We performed oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) on 322 drug naive subjects with a history of hyperglycemia of ≤ 3 months, and divided these patients into 3 groups, normal glucose tolerance (NGT), preDM (IFG and/or IGT) and T2DM. We also diagnosed these subjects with respect to MS according to ATP III criteria modified by Asia-Pacific guidelines and compared IGI and HOMA-IR in the 3 groups. Results: According to OGTT, 63 subjects were diagnosed with NGT, 81 with preDM, and 178 with T2DM. Using modified ATP III criteria, 218 (67.7%) subjects were diagnosed as MS. When compare groups stratified by the presence of MS, preDM and T2DM groups with MS showed significantly higher mean HOMA-IR and IGI than those without MS. When compare groups with respect to glucose tolerance, NGT, preDM, and T2DM subgroups in MS group showed significant higher HOMA-IR and lower IGI according to glucose tolerance. However, NGT, preDM, and T2DM subgroups in non-MS group showed a significant decrease in IGI but no significant difference in HOMA-IR as glucose tolerance worsened. Conclusion: Deterioration in IGI and aggravation of HOMA-IR are both important in the primary pathogenesis of diabetes in those with MS. However, IGI deterioration may be the only important factor in the primary pathogenesis of T2DM in the absence of MS. (J Kor Diabetes Assoc 30:198~206, 2006) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ━━


Detection of slow worms is particularly challenging due to the stealthy nature of their propagation techniques and their ability to blend with normal traffic patterns. In this paper, we propose a distributed detection approach based on the Generalized Evidence Processing (GEP) theory, a sensor integration and data fusion technique. With GEP theory, evidence collected by distributed detectors determine the probability associated with a detection decision under a hypothesis. The collected evidence is combined to arrive at an optimal fused detection decision by minimizing a cummulative decision risk function. Typically, malicious traffic flows of varying scanning rates can occur in the wild, and the difficulty in detecting slow scanning worms in particular can be exacerbated by interference from other traffic flows scanning at faster rates. Our proposed detection technique uses a window-based self adapting profiler to filter detected malicious traffic profiles with scanning rates greater than the low scanning rates we are interested in. Experiments on a live test-bed are used to demonstrate behavior of the technique.


Abstract 2,5-Furandicarboxylic acid is a platform chemical for the production of biobased polymers and materials. This study reports the synthesis of furan oligoesters via polytransesterification of dimethyl furan-2,5-dicarboxylate and linear α, ω-aliphatic diols with chain length ranging from C2 to C12, using immobilized lipase B from Candida antarctica (Novozym 435) in dry organic solvents. Dimethyl furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid (A) and 1,4-butanediol (B) were used as model substrates under different conditions producing a mixture of cyclic (CEOs) and linear (LEOs) ester oligomers up to decamers and dodecamers, respectively, with high yield. The size of the oligomers and distribution of the products is controlled by the initial concentration of substrates and temperature. While the shortest CEOs are the main cyclic compounds at 20 mM, the longest CEOs are formed at 175 mM. The chain length of the aliphatic diol co-monomers strongly influences the yield and the type of oligoesters formed. High substrate conversion of 90–95 % was obtained for C4–C12 diols, while in the case of ethylene glycol and 1,3-propanediol the conversion was moderate (i.e., 75 %). The product of the reaction between dimethyl furan-2,5-dicarboxylate and ethylene glycol (C2) and 1,3-propanediol (C3), respectively, consisted only of linear oligoesters. Longer oligoesters were obtained for alkyl chains higher than C4. The chain length and the abundance of oligoesters increases in the order: C2<C12<C10<C3<C8<C4 <C6. No substrate or product inhibition was observed in the production of furan-based oligoesters. The present biobased oligoesters are obtained via a green process and have potential application as macromonomers.


Water quality index (WQI) provides a single number that expresses the overall water quality, at a certain location and time, based on several water quality parameters. The objective of WQI is to turn complex water quality data into information that is understandable and usable by the public. A number of indices have been developed to summarize water quality data in an easily expressible and easily understood format. The WQI is basically a mathematical means of calculating a single value from multiple test results. This chapter discusses, in detail, the application of a water quality index for the assessment of water quality to different several water sources in Nigeria.


Decommissioning of nuclear facilities is a complex process involving operations such as detailed surveys, decontamination and dismantling of equipment's, demolition of buildings and management of resulting waste and nuclear materials if any. This process takes place in a well-developed legal framework and is controlled and followed-up by stakeholders like the Safety Authority, the Radwaste management Agency and the Safeguards Organism.In the framework of its nuclear waste and decommissioning program and more specifically the decommissioning of the BR3 reactor, SCK•CEN has developed different software tools to secure the waste and material traceability, to support the sound management of the decommissioning project and to facilitate the control and the follow-up by the stakeholders. In the case of Belgium, it concerns the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control, the National Agency for radioactive waste management and fissile material and EURATOM and IAEA.In 2005, BELGONUCLEAIRE decided to shutdown her Dessel MOX fuel fabrication plant and the production stopped in 2006. According to the final decommissioning plan ("PDF") approved by NIRAS, the decommissioning works should start in 2008 at the earliest. In 2006, the management of BELGONUCLEAIRE identified the need for an integrated database and decided to entrust SCK•CEN with its development, because SCK•CEN relies on previous experience in comparable applications namely already approved by authorities such as NIRAS, FANC and EURATOM.The main objectives of this integrated software tool are:• simplified and updated safeguards• waste & material traceability• computerized documentation• support to project management• periodic & final reporting to waste and safety authorities.The software called DASAO (Database for Safeguards, Waste and Decommissioning) was successfully commissioned in 2008 and extensively used from 2009 to the satisfaction of BELGONUCLEAIRE and the stakeholders.SCK•CEN is now implementing a simplified release of the software for the management of the decommissioning of the THETIS reactor. Its decommissioning will start in March 2013 and will be completed by the end of 2014.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


The role of adrenergic α1- and α2-adrenoreceptors in augmentation of venlafaxine-induced elevation of extracellular serotonin (5-HT),noradrenaline (NA) and dopamine (DA) levels in the rat prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus (HIPP) was studied by in vivo microdialysis in anaesthetized rats. The α1-adrenoreceptor antagonist prazosin given alone (0.3 mg/kg, s.c.) induced only a moderate reduction of hippocampal 5-HT and NA levels. The α2-adrenoreceptor antagonistidazoxan (1.5 mg/kg, s.c.) causes moderate increases in the levels of 5-HT and DA in the PFC. The mixed 5-HT and NA reuptake inhibitor venlafaxine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) increased the efflux of 5-HT, NA and DA almost equally, to approximately 200% of the control levels in the PFC. The levels of 5-HT increased to 310%, an effect approximately twice the effect on NA in the HIPP. Venlafaxine also produced a moderate increase in DA levels in the PFC but had no effect in the HIPP. Pre-treatment with prazosin caused a significant attenuation of the venlafaxine induced 5-HT effect in the PFC, and a moderate increase in DA levels in the HIPP. Prazosin had no significant effect on the venlafaxine-induced increase of the NA levels in PFC or HIPP. A combined treatment of venlafaxine with idazoxan increased the venlafaxine NA and DA effects in PFC by a factor of two and resulted in a very robust five-foldaugmentation of NA and DA concentrations in the HIPP. In summary, idazoxan was found to produce a potent enhancement of the venlafaxine effect to increase extracellular NA and DA levels in the PFC and, inparticular, in the HIPP. Idazoxan had no effect on venlafaxine-induced elevation of extracellular 5-HT levels in either PFC or HIPP and prazosin induced a decrease of 5-HT in the PFC. The present data suggest that blockade of α2-adrenoreceptors may play an important role inaugmentation of the effects of mixed monoamine reuptake inhibitors.


Understanding gene interactions in complex living systems can be seen as the ultimate goal of the systems biology revolution. Hence, to fully understand disease ontology and to reduce the cost of drug development, Gene Regulatory Networks (GRN) have to be constructed. During the last decade, many GRN inference algorithms like Bayesian network that are based on genome-wide data have been developed to unravel the com-plexity of gene regulation. Recently, many of structure learning algorithms were used to learn Bayesian network that have shown promise in gene regulatory network reconstruction. In this paper we apply different structure learning algorithms on actual microarray data to obtain a better understanding of their relative strengths and weaknesses on the system biology community and we evaluate their outputs from different perspectives.


In the analysis of property markets, most research focuses on either the commercial or the housing sectors. Each body of literature has developed its own stylised factsi about normal values for such things as income yields and price elasticities of supply, around which cyclical models have been built. However, what is treated as normal in one sector may appear as unusual and requiring special explanation when viewed from the perspectives of the other. This work provides a matrix and organized framework to compare these two property sectors, residential and commercial, using a 4-marketsframework familiar in analysis of commercial property (Ball et al, 1998): user-occupier market; investor-owner market; developer market; and land market ii all in the context of the broader financial markets. The approach applied in this research is comparative analysis of ratios, in their means, trends and cyclical components. More than one data resource is used: UK government official public data from 1970; mortgage lendersi data; IPD UK data from 1970 for commercial market; IPD UK data from 2001 for investment residential property; company accounts data on developersi profitability and cost structure.. The output of this research provides a comparative framework and model that might be useful in systemic thinking about the problems of regulating and making business decisions in housing and commercial markets and for generating more questions about the changing property economic environment in a comparative way. Last but not least, this paper aims to contribute to the literature seeking to develop a better understanding of property cycles.


Tracheal reconstruction remains a major clinical problem owing to the need for rigid support and a lining to maintain a patent lumen. The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of microsurgical tracheal reconstruction in large animals. Two-stage tracheal reconstruction was attempted in six dogs and single-stage reconstruction in eight dogs. In the first-stage prelamination, tubular prosthetic material was lined with an abdominal fascial flap with skin grafting and covered with a rectus abdominis muscle flap. The construct was buried under the abdominal skin for 3 weeks, and then microsurgical tracheal reconstruction for a 6-cm-long defect was performed. Prosthetic materials tested were PolyMax mesh (Synthes, Paoli, PA), polytetrafluoroethylene graft, and polytetra-fluoroethylene graft stented with PolyMax mesh. In single-stage reconstruction, supporting materials were lined with an abdominal fasciocutaneous flap for microsurgical reconstruction. Supporting materials included polytetrafluoroethylene graft stented with PolyMax mesh, polypropylene mesh with ring support, and cross-linked urinary bladder matrix. First-stage prelamination failed in three dogs because of prosthetic collapse and infection. Second-stage reconstruction was performed in the other three dogs, but fatal complications occurred in the immediate postoperative period. In single-stage reconstruction, prosthetic failure remained the major problem, resulting in early deaths. Air leakage and difficulties in providing postoperative care for dogs were other factors limiting long-term survival. We encountered significant prosthetic failures and difficulties in post-operative care in dog tracheal reconstruction. Further research is needed to develop better supporting materials. Alternative animal models may be sought to minimize complications.


The constant-ductility seismic demand spectra can provide high-sight of seismic damage mechanism of inelastic structures under the earthquake. And in the displacement-based seismic design, the constant-ductility seismic demand spectra are very useful for the preliminary design of new structures where the global displacement ductility capacity is known, which can provide the required inelastic lateral strength of new structures from the required elastic lateral strength. An in-depth investigation of damping effect on constant-ductility seismic demand spectra of inelastic structures is presented in this paper. A statistical study is performed of inelastic response computed for different damping ratio SDOF systems with different levels of lateral yielding strength required to maintain the given displacement ductility when subjected to a large number earthquake accelerations. It is concluded that the damping effect on constant-ductility seismic resistance spectra is rather complex. It depends on not only site conditions but also the structural period. Finally, results from non-linear regression analysis are presented that provide a simplified expression to be used to approximately quantify the damping effect.


Complex interactions between entities are often represented as edges in a network. In practice, the network is often constructed from noisy measurements and inevitably contains some errors. In this paper we consider the problem of estimating a network from multiple noisy observations where edges of the original network are recorded with both false positives and false negatives. This problem is motivated by neuroimaging applications where brain networks of a group of patients with a particular brain condition could be viewed as noisy versions of an unobserved true network corresponding to the disease. The key to optimally leveraging these multiple observations is to take advantage of network structure, and here we focus on the case where the true network contains communities. Communities are common in real networks in general and in particular are believed to be presented in brain networks. Under a community structure assumption on the truth, we derive an efficient method to estimate the noise levels and the original network, with theoretical guarantees on the convergence of our estimates. We show on synthetic networks that the performance of our method is close to an oracle method using the true parameter values, and apply our method to fMRI brain data, demonstrating that it constructs stable and plausible estimates of the population network.


BACKGROUND
: Abnormal circadian rhythms have been observed in patients with cancer, but the prognostic value of such alterations has not been confirmed. We examined the association between diurnal variation of salivary cortisol in patients with metastatic breast cancer and subsequent survival. We explored relationships between cortisol rhythms, circulating natural killer (NK) cell counts and activity, prognostic indicators, medical treatment, and psychosocial variables.

METHODS
Salivary cortisol levels of 104 patients with metastatic breast cancer were assessed at study entry at 0800, 1200, 1700, and 2100 hours on each of 3 consecutive days, and the slope of diurnal cortisol variation was calculated using a regression of log-transformed cortisol concentrations on sample collection time. NK cell numbers were measured by flow cytometry, and NK cell activity was measured by the chromium release assay. The survival analysis was conducted by the Cox proportional hazards regression model with two-sided statistical testing.

RESULTS
Cortisol slope predicted subsequent survival up to 7 years later. Earlier mortality occurred among patients with relatively "flat" rhythms, indicating a lack of normal diurnal variation (Cox proportional hazards, P =. 0036). Patients with chest metastases, as opposed to those with visceral or bone metastases, had more rhythmic cortisol profiles. Flattened profiles were linked with low counts and suppressed activity of NK cells. After adjustment for each of these and other factors, the cortisol slope remained a statistically significant, independent predictor of survival time. NK cell count emerged as a secondary predictor of survival.

CONCLUSIONS
Patients with metastatic breast cancer whose diurnal cortisol rhythms were flattened or abnormal had earlier mortality. Suppression of NK cell count and NK function may be a mediator or a marker of more rapid disease progression.


Objectives The primary aim of the study is to provide recommendations for the investigation and management of patients with new onset anosmia during the COVID-19 pandemic Design After undertaking a literature review, we used the RAND/UCLA methodology with a multi-step process to reach consensus about treatment options, onward referral imaging. Setting and participants An expert panel consistent of 15 members was assembled. A literature review was undertaken prior to the study and evidence was summarised for the panellists. Main outcome measures The panel undertook a process of ranking and classifying appropriateness of different investigations and treatment options for new onset anosmia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a 9-point Likert scale, panellists scored whether a treatment was: Not recommended, optional, or recommended. Consensus was achieved when more than 70% of responses fell into the category defined by the mean. Results Consensus was reached on the majority of statements after 2 rounds of ranking. Disagreement meant no recommendation was made regarding one treatment, using Vitamin A Drops. Alpha lipoic acid was not recommended, olfactory training was recommended for all patients with persistent anosmia of more than 2 weeks duration, and oral steroids, steroid rinses and omega 3 supplements may be considered on an individual basis. Recommendations have been made regarding the need for referral and investigation have been made. Conclusion This study identified the appropriateness of olfactory training, different medical treatment options, referral guidelines and imaging for patients with COVID-19 related anosmia. The guideline may evolve as our experience of COVID-19 develops.


Introduction Religious and cultural diversity in Australia have been overlooked by many religious, educational, and health care institutions where practices and attitudes to death and bereavement are concerned. The formation of culturally appropriate treatment plans necessitates a radical turnabout, namely adjusting one's perception and awareness to different cultural and religious values. Likewise the need to develop new investigative instrumentation and culturally diverse health services is not to be underestimated. This editorial reveals the shortcomings of the mental health model of Western cultures such as in Australia where members of the community are no longer homogeneous in their cultural and religious background. In a multicultural society, where the basis of understanding traumas and stress is interconnected with religious and cultural undercurrents, myopic psychiatry and health approaches are rendered ineffective. We offer some suggestions on what needs to be done to better address the needs of people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.


Convolutional LSTM [27] is an increasingly popular and very promising algorithm to solve machine learning tasks in the context of video data. Next frame prediction, i.e. predicting how a video will continue, is the machine learning task subject to this thesis. The used data stems from car camera data sets, i.e. the scenes that are to be predicted show ordinary traffic situations recorded from a roof-mounted camera of a car. Convolutional LSTM has already proven feasibility for such tasks [18, 19]. This thesis explores new ways of presenting the data to a known model architecture, the Predictive Coding Network [18], which is based on convolutional LSTM. One approach is to present delta information, i.e. the change between two consecutive frames, to the model in order to ease the learning task. The second approach examined tries to bundle the model's capacity as to concentrate on the prediction of a single frame instead of a sequence. In both cases, the model architecture is not or only marginally affected by the necessary changes. This ensures, that the models remain comparable. Previous to these experiments, a feature of convolutional LSTMs called peepholes [8] is studied with respect to its effectivity in the context of next frame prediction. This is done on a toy data set named Moving MNIST [28], while the prediction techniques are examined on the real world car camera sets KITTI [7] and Caltech Pedestrian [5].


AIM
To find out the prevalence of Lower Respiratory Tract Infection (LRTI) such as bacterial, fungal, mycobacterial infections etc. in patients with productive cough of duration less than 15 days and to rule out the patients having previous history of tuberculosis or having treatment of tuberculosis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Outdoor and Indoor patients of Department of Medicine and Chest & TB, SRG hospital and Jhalawar Medical College, Jhalawar were included. After sample collection the specimens were sent to the Microbiology department, for processing of Gram staining, Acid fast staining, KOH mount and bacteriological culture and sensitivity.

RESULTS
A total of 200 samples were obtained from the outpatient and inpatient Department of Medicine and Chest & TB of which 66% were male and 34% were female. Seventy seven percent of samples were culture positive for both single pathogen and mixed infection of which 56.5% were male and 20.5% were female as males are more at risk for LRTI. Klebsiella pneumoniae was the most prevalent pathogen (71/193), followed by coagulase positive Staphylococci i.e. COPS (43/193). More resistant pattern was found in coagulase negative Staohylococci (CONS) showed 61.11% Methicillin Resistant Staohylococci (MRS) incidence compared to 41.86% in COPS, also regarding Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamase (ESBL) production Escherichia coli showed incidence of 36.36% as compared to other gram negative bacilli. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most resistant organism found based on the antibiotic susceptibility pattern while Proteus mirabilis was the most sensitive organism.

CONCLUSION
Lower respiratory tract infections can spread easily among community and indiscriminate use of antibiotics contributes to their therapeutic failure. Area-wise studies on antimicrobial susceptibility profiles are essential to guide policy on the appropriate use of antibiotics to reduce the morbidity and mortality and also to control the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in local area.


Rosmarinus officinalis is one of the most important medicinal and aromatic plants around the world. Essential oil as a weapon against biotic and abiotic stresses plays an important role in essential oil bearing plants. In this study the essential oil content and constituent of plants containing bacterium-gall on the shoots and crown was compared with non-contaminated plants. Essential oil percentage was extracted by hydro-distillation using Clevenger trap. Identification of the essential oil compounds  was done by GC/MS. Results in essential oil percentage showed that, contaminated plants were relatively lower than that of non-contaminated plants per 100 grams of dry leaves. GC/MS also, verified that α- pinene and Camphor, respectively were 1.43% and 7.02%, more in contaminated plant than non-contaminated plant. In addition, Berbenone (18%), was the most common constituent which had been observed only in contaminated rosemaries. The analysis of leaf extract using HPLC, showed that the content of rosmarinic acid of healthy plants was significantly lower than that of contaminated plants. In addition, contaminated plants had total phenol and flavonoid compounds as well as antioxidant activity in the highest amount. Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that, gall bacteria had influence on the phenolic components which are known as secondary metabolites in this medicinal plant and phenolic derivatives may be modified in quantity and quality by the affection of this biotic stressor, this could be considered as an application for further usage in metabolic culture.


In this paper, the effect of lead core heating and associated strength deterioration on the seismic response of bridges isolated with lead rubber bearings (LRB) is investigated as a function of the characteristics of the isolator and near fault ground motions with forward rupture directivity effect. Furthermore, the ability of bounding analyses to provide a design envelope for maximum isolator force and maximum isolator displacement is verified. For this purpose, a series of nonlinear dynamic analyses are conducted for LRB isolated bridges where both deteriorating and non‐deteriorating force‐deformation relationship of LRB were employed. The analyses are performed for both simulated and recorded ground motions. It is found that while the temperature rise in the lead core generally increases with increasing magnitude and number of near fault ground motion velocity pulses, it decreases with larger distances from the fault. It is also found that bounding analysis method provides conservative (envelope) estimates of maximum isolator displacement and maximum isolator force for design purposes that fulfill its intended purpose. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The mechanisms that determine viral clearance or viral persistence in chronic viral hepatitis have yet to be identified. Recent advances in molecular genetics have permitted the detection of variations in immune response, often associated with polymorphism in the human genome. Differences in host susceptibility to infectious disease and disease severity cannot be attributed solely to the virulence of microbial agents. Several recent advances concerning the influence of human genes in chronic viral hepatitis B and C are discussed in this article: a) the associations between human leukocyte antigen polymorphism and viral hepatic disease susceptibility or resistance; b) protective alleles influencing hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) evolution; c) prejudicial alleles influencing HBV and HCV; d) candidate genes associated with HBV and HCV evolution; d) other genetic factors that may contribute to chronic hepatitis C evolution (genes influencing hepatic stellate cells, TGF-b1 and TNF-alpha production, hepatic iron deposits and angiotensin II production, among others). Recent discoveries regarding genetic associations with chronic viral hepatitis may provide clues to understanding the development of end-stage complications such as cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma. In the near future, analysis of the human genome will allow the elucidation of both the natural course of viral hepatitis and its response to therapy.


Despite advancements in outcomes with the introduction of anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody therapy, a substantial proportion of B-cell Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (B-NHL) patients do not sustain a durable response to standard of care treatment. T-cell bispecific antibodies (TCBs) represent a new class of disease-targeting agents shown to activate T-cells to kill cancer cells, offering this exciting mechanism of action with 'off the shelf' availability. CD20-TCB (RG6026) is a novel T-cell-engaging bispecific antibody whose "2:1" format possesses two CD20 binders in addition to a CD3 binder, enabling increased tumor antigen avidity, rapid T-cell activation, and enhanced tumor cell killing. NP30179 is a multicenter phase I dose escalation trial investigating the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK), biomarker responses, and antitumor activity (assessed by overall response rate [ORR] and complete response rate [CR] per Lugano 2014 criteria) of single agent CD20-TCB. Patients receive escalating doses of CD20-TCB as intravenous infusions with dose escalation guided by a model implementing the Bayesian continuous reassessment method with overdose control. In order to reduce the potential risk of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) induced by CD20-TCB mediated systemic T-cell activation, a single dose of 1000 mg obinutuzumab (G) pretreatment (Gpt) is administered seven days prior to start of CD20-TCB and has preclinically been shown to debulk peripheral B cells and reduce systemic cytokine release (Bacac et al. Clin Canc Res 2018).
 As of July 29th 2018 a total of 64 patients (pts) with aggressive r/r B-NHL (DLBCL/PMBCL/trFL/Richter´s transformation (n=47)) and indolent r/r B-NHL (FL(n=17)) received CD20-TCB doses ranging from 5 µg to 1800 µg in a Q2W schedule. Median age was 64 years (range 28-82), 61% were male, median prior lines of therapy was 3 (range 1-10). A single DLT (myocardial infarction) was observed at 220 µg and until the maximum tested dose CD20-TCB was well tolerated. The most reported AEs were pyrexia (n=14, all Gr 1 and 2), neutropenia (all grades n=17, Gr 3 and 4 n=14) and cytokine release syndrome (CRS, n=14, all Grade 1-2 according to the criteria by Lee et al. Blood 2014). Two patients received tocilizumab for CRS management all CRS events were manageable and resolved, without leading to dose reduction or study withdrawal. No CNS toxicity was reported so far in this study. Fifty-five pts had at least one post-baseline response assessment and were eligible for efficacy analysis. Responses were observed from 15 µg onwards, and complete responses (CR) occurred from 300 µg onwards following two cycles of treatment. At doses of 300 µg or above (n=29) the ORR and CR rate by investigator assessment was 38% and 24%, respectively (FL: 3/5 pts and 2/5 pts respectively, aggressive B-NHL: 8/24 pts and 5/24 pts respectively). All CRs are sustained thus far with a median follow up 96 days (range 26-152). Responses were seen across various NHL subtypes and across prognostic factors such as prior lines of therapy, refractoriness to the most recent line of therapy, tumor burden, and IPI or FLIPI. CD20-TCB exposure and receptor occupancy increased dose-dependently across the investigated dose range; dose-escalation is continuing to optimize these factors. No anti-drug-antibodies have occurred.
 CD20-TCB is a novel 2:1 format T-cell-engaging bispecific antibody which already at suboptimal doses displays promising clinical activity in heavily-pretreated B-NHL. In addition, Gpt has shown clinical proof of principle as an approach to efficiently mitigate CRS. An update on safety and efficacy as well as biomarker data will be presented.

 Hutchings: Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Celgene: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Roche/Genentech: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Iacoboni:Celgene: Other: Travel funding; Roche: Honoraria. Morschhauser:Janssen: Other: Scientific Lectures; BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Epizyme: Consultancy; Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Gilead: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Sureda:Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Roche: Honoraria; Merck: Consultancy, Honoraria; BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria; Sanofi: Honoraria. Salles:Janssen: Honoraria; Merck: Honoraria; Gilead Sciences: Honoraria; Epizyme: Honoraria; Amgen: Honoraria; Acerta: Honoraria; Abbvie: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria, Research Funding; Roche: Honoraria, Research Funding; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria; Morphosys: Honoraria; Pfizer: Honoraria; Servier: Honoraria; Takeda: Honoraria. Carlo-Stella:Rhizen Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding; Boehringer Ingelheim: Consultancy; Sanofi: Consultancy; MSD: Other: Advisory Board; Genenta Science: Other: Advisory Board; BMS: Other: Advisory Board; Amgen: Other: Advisory Board; Janssen: Other: Advisory Board; AstraZeneca: Other: Advisory Board; ADC Therapeutics: Other: Advisory Board. Martinez Lopez:Celgene: Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; BMS: Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Jansen: Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Research Funding, Speakers Bureau. Thomas:Roche: Employment, Equity Ownership. Morcos:Roche: Employment, Equity Ownership. Quackenbush:Roche: Employment. Ferlini:Roche: Employment. Bacac:F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.: Employment, Other: stock, Patents & Royalties. Broeske:Roche: Employment, Equity Ownership. Dimier:Roche: Employment, Equity Ownership. Moore:Roche: Employment. Weisser:Roche: Employment, Equity Ownership, Patents & Royalties. Dickinson:GSK: Consultancy.


Explores the responses of a world-renowned landscape design firm to the difficult demands of urban areas Instilling a poetics of place is a goal of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA), the famous landscape design firm that has created successful public spaces in some of the country's most challenging urban sites. In these locations, nature offers not so much an escape from city living as a teasing dialogue with built structures. The whole experience is aimed, as critic Paul Goldberger notes, to "make you see everything, city and nature alike, with a striking intensity." Richly illustrated and handsomely designed, this is the first publication to explore a wide range of MVVA's projects, focusing on the firm's trend toward sites requiring complex technological solutions. Leading critics and historians look at twelve projects, dating from 1992 to the present, and each posing a challenge-such as contamination, isolation, and lengthy public approval proceedings. They explore the process through which the firm researches such issues and how solutions are embedded in the final aesthetics and spatial structure of the sites.


In Networks-on-Chip (NoC), with ever-increasing de- sign complexity and technology scaling, soft errors have become a key design challenge. In this work, we extend the concept of ar- chitectural vulnerability factor (AVF) from the microprocessor do- main and propose a network vulnerability factor (NVF) to charac- terize the susceptibility of Network Interfaces (NIs) to soft errors. For the first time, a detailed characterization of vulnerability is performed on a state-of-the-art AXI-based NI architecture using full system simulation. Our studies reveal that different NI buffers behavequitedifferentlyin the presenceoftransientfaults and each buffer can have different inherent tolerance to faults. Our analysis also considers the impact of thermal hotspot mitigation techniques on the NVF estimation. Index Terms—Fault tolerance, network interface, networks-on- chip.


QUEST focuses on the steady state operation of the spherical tokamak by controlled PWI and electron Bernstein wave current drive. One of the main purposes of QUEST is an achievement of long duration discharge with MW-class injected power. As the result, QUEST should be operated in the challenging region on heat and particle handling. To do the particle handling, high temperature all metal wall up to 623 K and closed divertors are planned, which is to realize the steady-state operation under recycling ratio, R = 1. This is a dispensable check to DEMO, because wall pumping should be avoided as possible in the view of tritium retention. The QUEST project will be developed in increment step such as, I. low β steady state operation in limiter configuration, II. low β steady state operation in divertor configuration, III. relatively high β steady state operation in closed divertor configuration. Phase I in the project corresponds to these two years, and final goal of phase I is to make full current drive plasma up to 20 kA. Closed divertor will be designed and tested in the Phase II. QUEST is running from Oct., 2008 and the first results are introduced.


Eyewitnesses are an important source of information in many criminal investigations. However, the memory of an eyewitness is not always accurate, and errors may occur that have serious consequences. Alcohol-related crimes are common and therefore, intoxicated witnesses are common. However, only a handful of published studies have described how alcohol affects eyewitnesses' memory. The overall aim of the research described in this thesis was to examine how alcohol affects eyewitnesses' memory. The thesis comprises three studies, which followed similar general procedures. The participants in the studies consumed an alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage during a 15-minute period and then witnessed a film that depicting a staged kidnapping. The retention interval and recall format varied between the studies. The aim of Study I was to examine the influence of alcohol on eyewitnesses' performances in a line-up setting. The participants (N = 123) were randomly assigned to a 3 (Beverage: control [0.0 g/kg] versus lower alcohol dosage [0.4 g/kg] group versus higher alcohol dosage [0.7 g/kg] group) × 2 (Line-up: target-present versus target-absent) between-subject design. One week after alcohol intoxication and the critical event, the participants were exposed to the line-up. The results showed no significant difference between the groups in terms of performance in the line-up, under either the target-present or the target-absent condition. In general, the participants performed better than chance at identifying the culprit. However, all witnesses performed quite poorly. Study II (N = 126) examined the effects of alcohol (Beverage: control [0.0 g/kg] versus lower alcohol dosage [0.4 g/kg] group versus higher alcohol dosage [0.7 g/kg] group) on the amount of information reported (completeness) and accuracy rate. There was no difference in the completeness between the control group and the higher alcohol dosage group or between the control group and the lower alcohol dosage group. When comparing the two alcohol groups, participants in the higher alcohol dosage group remembered fewer details than those in the lower alcohol dosage group. No differences were found between the beverage groups in recall accuracy. The aim of Study III (N = 99) was to elucidate the best time to interview intoxicated witnesses. Participants were randomly assigned to a 2 (Beverage: control [0.0 g/kg] versus alcohol dosage [0.7 g/kg] group) × 2 (Recall: repeatedly, i.e., immediate plus delayed interviews versus single, i.e., delayed interview only) mixed design. Overall, alcohol-intoxicated eyewitnesses produced less accurate testimonies than the sober witnesses. Although the difference was significant, the intoxicated witnesses were only slightly less accurate in their recollections. Both the sober and the intoxicated witnesses recalled details with a relatively high accuracy. There was no difference with regards to the amount of information reported between the intoxicated and the sober witnesses. An immediate interview was more beneficial than a delayed interview. However, the best recall was by witnesses who were interviewed twice, and this was true for both the sober and the intoxicated witnesses. New details provided at the second interview, by either group, were often correct. In summary, this thesis shows that alcohol consumption does not have a negative effect on either witness's line-up performance (recognition) or on the amount of information reported during investigative interviews (recall). However, the accuracy of their recall was slightly impaired by consumption of alcohol (Study III). This thesis shows that representatives of the legal system may expect that witnesses with low to moderate intoxication (blood alcohol concentration <0.10%) will perform at approximately the same level as sober witnesses. It is however reasonable to assume that more profound memory impairments can be expected for witnesses with higher intoxication levels.


There is a great demand for the electrooptic devices for optical communication and also for optical sensor applications. The properties of these devices are highly dependent on the waveguide fabrication process. The exact estimation of the optical and physical properties of the waveguides becomes necessary. The purpose of this study is quantitative estimation of the photorefractive effect of the lithium niobate waveguides.


ABSTRACT Activity spaces describe the physical area typically encountered by an individual person during his or her routine daily activities. Activity spaces encompass a person's anchor points – locations that are frequented regularly, such as home, work, school, and recreational areas – and the travel paths that connect them. Activity spaces of criminals are routinely mapped in order to better understand the spatial patterns and processes of crime at the individual level. Although many geographic information system-based methods have been used to map activity spaces over the years, potential path areas are becoming a preferred method since they incorporate both spatial and temporal data, as well as time budget and mobility constraints. This paper extends potential path areas for mapping activity spaces of criminals in two ways. First, time-geographic density estimation (TGDE) is used to estimate individual activity spaces using potential path areas that have associated probability densities. Second, activity spaces of numerous individuals are combined into a single intensity surface that maps areas of a city that are more frequented by offenders and, accordingly, expected to support higher crime rates. The approach is demonstrated using a dataset of home and work addresses of registered sex offenders in the city of St. Louis. The final density surface of their combined activity spaces is related to the locations of reported sex crimes. The results highlight how sex crimes are concentrated in offender activity spaces and suggest the approach might be useful for predictive policing.


A mathematical model of the collagenous microstructure of tendon was used to analyze the mechanical responses of gamma-irradiated patellar tendon allografts and nonirradiated controls. The model was fit to tensile test response curves from 10 pairs of allografts. Donors ranged in age from 16-64 years (six males, four females). The model indicated a decrease in elastic modulus of irradiated tendon collagen. It also suggested a significant increase in the degree and range of collagen fiber crimping following gamma irradiation. The model results agree with the literature and histological observations. The model fit the experimental response curves well and provided a structurally based, objective method of quantitatively studying the mechanical response of tendons and the consequences of irradiation sterilization.


According to the critical brain hypothesis, the brain is considered to operate near criticality and realize efficient neural computations. Despite the prior theoretical and empirical evidence in favor of the hypothesis, no direct link has been provided between human cognitive performance and the neural criticality. Here we provide such a key link by analyzing resting-state dynamics of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) networks at a whole-brain level. We develop a novel data-driven analysis method, inspired from statistical physics theory of spin systems, to map out the whole-brain neural dynamics onto a phase diagram. Using this tool, we show evidence that dynamics of more intelligent human participants are closer to a critical state, i.e., the boundary between the paramagnetic phase and the spin-glass (SG) phase. This result was specific to fluid intelligence as opposed to crystalized intelligence. The present results are also consistent with the notion of "edge-of-chaos" neural computation. Author summary According to the critical brain hypothesis, the brain should be operating near criticality, i.e., a boundary between different states showing qualitatively different dynamical behaviors. Such a critical brain dynamics has been considered to realize efficient neural computations. Here we provide direct neural evidence in favor of this hypothesis by showing that the brain dynamics in more intelligent individuals are closer to the criticality. We reached this conclusion by deploying a novel data-analysis method based on statistical-physics theory of Ising spin systems to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data obtained from human participants. Specifically, our method maps multivariate fMRI data obtained from each participant to a point in a phase diagram akin to that of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model of spin-glass systems. The brain dynamics for the participants having high fluid intelligence scores tended to be close to the phase boundary, which marks criticality, between the paramagnetic phase and the spin-glass phase, but not to the boundary between the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phases.


RNA is central to the flow of biological information. From transcription to splicing, RNA localization, translation, and decay, RNA is intimately involved in regulating every step of the gene expression program, and is thus essential for health and understanding disease. RNA has the unique ability to base‐pair with itself and other nucleic acids to form complex structures. Hence the information content in RNA is not simply its linear sequence of bases, but is also encoded in complex folding of RNA molecules. A general chemical functionality that all RNAs have is a 2′‐hydroxyl group in the ribose ring, and the reactivity of the 2′‐hydroxyl in RNA is gated by local nucleotide flexibility. In other words, the 2′‐hydroxyl is reactive at single‐stranded and conformationally flexible positions but is unreactive at nucleotides constrained by base‐pairing. Recent efforts have been focused on developing reagents that modify RNA as a function of RNA 2′ hydroxyl group reactivity. Such RNA structure probing techniques can be read out by primer extension in experiments termed RNA SHAPE (selective 2′‐ hydroxyl acylation and primer extension). Herein, we describe the efforts devoted to the design and utilization of SHAPE probes for characterizing RNA structure. We also describe current technological advances that are being applied to utilize SHAPE chemistry with deep sequencing to probe many RNAs in parallel. The merging of chemistry with genomics is sure to open the door to genome‐wide exploration of RNA structure and function. WIREs RNA 2014, 5:867–881. doi: 10.1002/wrna.1253


Abstract Insulin, a hypoglycemic hormone, has multiple functions in the brain. The aim of this study to identify the mechanisms of insulin in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced toxicity in the C6 glial cells. Cytotoxicity, lactate dehydrogenase, nitric oxide, reactive oxygen species and calcium ion, lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation and glutathione levels were determined. Signaling pathway molecules were assessed by western blotting and RT-PCR. The results showed that treatment with insulin reduced the cell death and cell membrane damages against H2O2-induced toxicity. Furthermore, insulin interfered H2O2-induced intracellular generation of reactive oxygen species and calcium-ion transport, apoptosis, including lipid and protein oxidation products. Cells treated with insulin reverted H2O2-induced suppression of reduced glutathione levels by blocking oxidized glutathione. Moreover, insulin treatment activates Akt, restores ERK1/2 and Bcl-2 by preventing Bax and Bax/Bcl-2 ratio. Our results suggest that treatment of insulin exerts potential role against 24 h of H2O2-induced toxicity in C6 cells.


The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) released two reports in October 1999 that provide insight into the development of a per-episode prospective payment system (PPS) for Medicare home health. These reports provide important clues about two critical issues: the impact of per-episode payment on the cost of providing home health care, and how to predict the resources used by home health patients.


Purpose: To investigate potential retinal neuroprotective effects of oral lamotrigine in rabbits after pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) and intravitreal silicone oil injection (SOI). Methods: Twelve New Zealand rabbits (weight, 2.0–2.5 kg) underwent PPV with SOI on the right eye. For 30 days postoperatively, 6 rabbits received a daily oral dose of lamotrigine (25 mg/kg), and 6 rabbits received a daily oral dose of water. The animals were killed 30 days after surgery. All retinas were processed histologically, immunostained using glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and analyzed by fluorescence microscopy. Retina sections from all groups were analyzed by TUNEL for the presence of apoptosis and stained with hematoxylin–eosin for morphologic analysis and retina cell density measurements in each layer using a Zeiss Axiophot microscope and KS 400 software. Results: Retinas from water-operated eyes showed a significant decrease in cell density associated with cell death compared with retinas from water-control eyes; cell density was reduced by 56% in the outer nuclear layer (ONL), 49% in the inner nuclear layer (INL), and 64% in the ganglion cell layer (GCL). Lamotrigine-operated retinas showed a reduction in cell death when compared with water-operated retinas; cell death was reduced by 52% in the ONL, 25% in the INL, and 56% in the GCL. Water-operated retinas showed TUNEL-positive cells and GFAP immunofluorescence throughout Müller cell processes; lamotrigine-operated retinas showed no TUNEL-positive cells and decreased GFAP staining when compared with water-operated retinas. Conclusions: PPV with SOI was associated with apoptosis of retinal cells and activation of glial cells in rabbit eyes. Oral lamotrigine administration provided protection against these effects.


Background Despite declining US adolescent smoking prevalence from 40% among 12th graders in 1995 to around 10% in 2018, adolescent smoking is still a significant problem. Using the International Childhood Cardiovascular Cohort (i3C) Consortium, which includes 7 international cohorts recruited in childhood and followed into adulthood, the present study was designed to confirm the important relation between adolescent smoking and daily adult smoking and present new data on adult smoking into the forties and comparison of smoking in the United States, Finland, and Australia. Methods and Results Childhood smoking experience during ages 6 to 19 in the 1970s and 1980s was classifiable in 6687 i3C participants who also provided smoking status in their twenties and forties through 2011–2018. Prevalence of daily smoking in their twenties was directly related to degree of smoking during adolescence and inversely related to the age at which that smoking experience occurred (P trend, <0.001). Similar patterns were observed for prediction of smoking during age forties. Among the 2465 smokers in their twenties, cessation by their forties was generally inverse to degree of smoking in ages 6 to 19 (P trend, <0.001). Prevalence of smoking during adolescence and adulthood was similar among US, Finnish, and Australian participants. Conclusions These long‐term follow‐up data show that smoking intensity increased throughout adolescence. Prevalence of adult smoking and cessation by the forties were both correlated with levels of childhood smoking intensity. These data lend support to preventive strategies designed to reduce, delay, or eliminate any youth access to cigarettes.


OBJECTIVE
Since its introduction to the psychiatric nomenclature in 2013, research on avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) has proliferated highlighting lack of clarity in how ARFID is defined.

METHOD
In September 2018, a small multi-disciplinary pool of international experts in feeding disorder and eating disorder clinical practice and research convened as the Radcliffe ARFID workgroup to consider operationalization of DSM-5 ARFID diagnostic criteria to guide research in this disorder.

RESULTS
By consensus of the Radcliffe ARFID workgroup, ARFID eating is characterized by food avoidance and/or restriction, involving limited volume and/or variety associated with one or more of the following: weight loss or faltering growth (e.g., defined as in anorexia nervosa, or by crossing weight/growth percentiles); nutritional deficiencies (defined by laboratory assay or dietary recall); dependence on tube feeding or nutritional supplements (≥50% of daily caloric intake or any tube feeding not required by a concurrent medical condition); and/or psychosocial impairment.

CONCLUSIONS
This article offers definitions on how best to operationalize ARFID criteria and assessment thereof to be tested in existing clinical populations and to guide future study to advance understanding and treatment of this heterogeneous disorder.


A coincidence in time between the volatility break associated with the "Great Moderation" and large changes in the pattern of conditional and unconditional correlations between output, hours and labor productivity was detected by Galí and Gambetti (2009). We provide a novel explanation for these findings, based on the major changes that occurred in the U.S. design of labor compensation around the mid-1980s. These include a substantial increase in the incidence of performance pay coupled with a higher responsiveness of real wages to the business cycle. We capture this shift in the structure of labor compensation in a Dynamic New Keynesian (DNK) model and show that, by itself, it generates the disappearance of the procyclical response of labor productivity to non-technology shocks and a reduction of the contractionary effects of technology shocks on hours worked. Moreover, it accounts for a large share of the observed drop in output volatility after 1984 and for most of the observed changes in unconditional correlations. JEL Classification: E24, E32, J3, J22.


Today the network is seemingly complex and vast and it is difficult to gauge its characteristics. Network administrators need information to check the network behavior for capacity planning, quality of service requirements and planning for the expansion of the network. Software defined networking (SDN) is an approach where we introduce abstraction to simplify the network into two layers, one used for controlling the traffic and other for forwarding the traffic. Hadoop is used for distributed processing. In this paper we combine the abstraction property of SDN and the processing power Hadoop to propose an architecture which we call as Advanced Control Distributed Processing Architecture (ACDPA), which is used to determine the flow characteristics and setting the priority of the flows i.e. essentially setting the quality of service(QoS). We provide experimental details with sample traffic to show how to setup this architecture. We also show the results of traffic classification and setting the priority of the hosts.


Although modern treatment options for B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) produce high response rates, virtually all patients relapse, presumably due to the persistence of minimal residual disease (MRD). Novel approaches that maintain response and therefore delay growth of MRD may ultimately improve survival outcomes. In CLL, any type of continued therapy must be not only well tolerated but also convenient to ensure compliance. There has been some exploration of rituximab as maintenance therapy in CLL; however, given its limited clinical activity as a single agent, other options need to be studied. One such agent is the immunomodulatory drug lenalidomide, which has demonstrated clinical activity both in patients with relapsed or refractory CLL and in the frontline setting. Other attractive agents being explored in the maintenance setting include epigallocatechin gallate, curcumin, and the citrus pectin-derived galectin-3 inhibitor GCS-100. These naturally occurring compounds are well tolerated, and they inhibit survival signals in the microenvironment necessary for tumor development, making them well suited for evaluation as maintenance therapy for CLL.


This thesis undertakes a detailed literature review into the problem of "Line Outages" within power systems. Following research into existing methods of minimizing the effects of line outages on a system, two solutions are proposed which apply Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to build from previous research:

1. A method for detecting line outages
2. A method for minimizing the risk of cascading line outages

Each solution has two objectives, a primary objective of providing a solution to the problem, and secondary objective of applying Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) within the solution.

A method for detecting line outages is proposed, applying ANNs rather than conventional methods for predicting the on/off status of all lines in a system for any given network state. Detailed results demonstrate the accuracy of the model within the limits of the training data, with decreasing accuracy outside that range.

A method for minimizing the risk of line outages is proposed, which assesses initial line outage events that trigger further outage events. This would provide power system designers with an insight into parts of the system that are vulnerable to cascading events. The method builds off of previous research by applying ANNs and is tested with and without ANNs for evaluating the accuracy of the ANN model. Both versions demonstrate reliability within the limitations that are discussed (decreased accuracy outside of training data for the ANN version, and processing time for the Power Factory version).


ABSTRACT Anhydrite cement is common in sedimentary rocks, yet its origin is poorly understood. The high concentration of sulfate in sea water and the lack of appreciable sulfate in most other natural waters suggests that anhydrite cement may have a marine origin, but the relatively late timing of most anhydride cement tends to preclude sea water as the source of sulfate. Anhydrite cement is present in Upper Jurassic sandstones in the Gulf of Mexico as poikilotopic masses in which detrital grains are replaced and as smaller patches that have replaced single detrital grains. Anhydrite is a relatively late cement and postdates all other volumetrically significant authigenic phases, including K-feldspar, dolomite, quartz, and most calcite cements. The expected isotopic composition and trace-element concentration of marine-derived Late Jurassic anhydrite cement is predicted based on analyses of bedded anhydrite and on analyses found in the literature. The expected chemical signature is: 34S ( CDT) = +16, 18O ( SMOW) = +14, 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7069, Sr = 1500-2500 ppm, Ba 200 ppm. When geochemical analyses of Smackover anhydrite cements are compared to the predicted composition, it is apparent that most of the cement is not of marine origin. Two generations of anhydrite cement have been identified in the East Texas basin on the basis of their strontium isotopic compositions and their strontium concentrations. An early cement may have been derived from slightly modified Late Jurassic sea water, whereas a second group of cements may have precipitated later in the burial history or may represent recrystallization of the first cement. The chemistry of Louisiana and Mississippi basin anhydrite cements indicates that the sulfate was derived from dissolved bedded anhydrite and was reprecipitated in the sandstones from fluids that had undergone extensive water-rock interaction after considerable burial. This study suggests that late anhydrite cements in sedimentary rocks are most likely derived from remobilized calcium sulfate de osits.


Our previous studies on MUC1 and MUC2 mucin expression in various human neoplasms have found that MUC1 expression is related with a poor outcome whereas MUC2 expression is related with a favorable outcome. In the present study, we examined the alteration of MUC1 and MUC2 antigens on malignant transformation of colorectal mucosa, and also its relationship with cell proliferative activity (Ki‐67 labeling index) of neoplastic epithelial cells in 200 adenomas and 58 carcinomas. In the 200 adenomas, we analyzed a total of 400 adenomatous lesions (mild dysplasia, 200 lesions; moderate dysplasia, 153 lesions; severe dysplasia, 47 lesions). MUC1 was expressed in carcinomas (24%) and adenomas with severe dysplasia (4%), but was not expressed in adenomas with mild or moderate dysplasia. MUC2 was expressed in a significantly greater number of adenomas with mild dysplasia (72%) than in adenomas with moderate dysplasia (45%) or severe dysplasia (47%), as well as in the carcinomas (38%; P< 0.0001). The Ki‐67 labeling index was significantly lower in the MUC2‐positive cases than in the MUC2‐negative cases in the adenomas with mild dysplasia (13.6 vs 24.2%; P< 0.0001) or moderate dysplasia (25.7 vs 44.4%; P< 0.0001), and in the carcinomas (32.5 vs 48.4%; P< 0.05). In conclusion, the data from our study indicate that increased MUC1 expression and reduced MUC2 expression may be related to malignant transformation of colorectal neoplasia. We also demonstrated that decreased MUC2 expression, which is correlated with increased Ki‐67 labeling, may play an important role in the progression of colorectal adenomatous change.


A novel concept for global shutter CMOS image sensors with wide dynamic range (WDR) implementation is presented. The proposed imager is based on the multisampling WDR approach and it allows an efficient global shutter pixel implementation achieving small pixel size and high fill factor. The proposed imager provides wide DR by applying adaptive exposure time to each pixel, according to the local illumination intensity level. Two pixel configurations, employing different kinds of a 1-bit in-pixel memory were implemented. An imager, including two different pixels was designed and simulated in 0.18-mum CMOS technology. System architecture and operation are discussed and simulation results are presented.


The performance gap between processor and main memory is serious problem especially in high performance computing. In order to overcome this problem, we have proposed a new processor architecture called SCIMA, which integrates software-controllable memory (SCM) into a processor chip as a part of main memory in addition to ordinary cache. SCIMA is defined as an extension of a general microprocessor whose load/store unit is extended to control data accesses to the SCM. In this paper, we present a load/store unit of SCIMA by extending the unit of MIPS R10000 processor and evaluate the impact of the extension on area and clock frequency. The evaluation results reveal that SCIMA achieves 1.5 - 10 times higher performance compared with cache based architecture although the cycle time of SCIMA is 5.7% longer.


Accelerated life tests (ALTs) are widely used in industry to assist in product development. Acceleration models are often obtained from physical principles or past experience. But in some applications, particularly for investigating a new material or a new product, their acceleration models cannot be precisely specified. The uncertainty in model specification may cause serious problems in failure time prediction, and reduce the statistical efficiency of an optimal test plan. In this paper, the D and Ds optimal criteria are proposed for designing ALT plans that are good at selecting the best acceleration model among rival models. A generalized linear model (GLM) is developed for modeling ALT data with censoring. This approach simplifies the derivation of the information matrix of a test plan, and allows the experimenter to develop optimal ALT plans under the GLM framework. The proposed optimal design approach is compared with other conventional approaches through examples. The high design efficiency and design flexibility of the proposed approach are demonstrated in the paper.


Bacteria exist in complex communities that include not only many other bacterial species but also diverse mobile genetic elements which accelerate bacterial evolution via horizontal gene transfer. How multiple mobile genetic elements interact in bacterial populations and how this affects plasmid dynamics remains poorly understood. We experimentally evolved populations of Pseudomonas fluorescens SBW25 either singly-infected or co-infected with two conjugative mercury resistance plasmids either with or without positive selection (i.e. addition of Hg(II)). We show that co-infection led to higher levels of mercury resistance in the bacterial population in the absence of positive selection. Consistent with this, in the absence of positive selection the plasmids could stably coexist within bacterial cells resulting in the maintenance co-infection. By contrast, with positive selection, plasmid coexistence was destabilised, leading to the dominance of a single plasmid in several replicate bacterial populations. Plasmid co-infection appears to alter the trajectory of compensatory evolution to ameliorate the cost of plasmid carriage and may have selected for alternative mechanisms compared to singly-infected populations. Stable plasmid co-infection without positive selection for plasmid-encoded traits suggests that environments where plasmids are useless may be hot-spots for genomic innovation via plasmid-plasmid recombination.


The relation of orbital hybridization between graphene and an adsorbate to the atomic and electronic structures of monolayer graphene was studied using first-principles calculations, where hydrogenated graphene was used as a prototype. The atomic and electronic structures of hydrogenated graphene were calculated as functions of the distance between graphene and hydrogen. The hybridization gap between the s orbital of hydrogen and the π orbital of graphene was tuned by changing the distance. The effect of the hybridization gap on the energy gap at the Dirac energy and the atomic structure deformation of graphene was schematically investigated, particularly when hydrogen breaks the in-plane symmetry.


Intuition is a predilection to anticipate a given outcome.  While, some are said to have better intuitive capacity than others, much is attributable to skill.  Research has shown that intuitions work best when two conditions are met:  a regular environment with repeating patterns and patterns encountered with enough frequency that rapid feedback is received (Coates, 2102). Athletics is one environment in which both conditions are met with regularity. Therefore, analyzing one's innate personality type, in this case Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) affords a researcher the opportunity to predict the respondent's likelihood to acclimate well within a given team set. The first study in this series examined how a leader, (in this case a collegiate coach's Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)) impacted variability in the selection of staff, coaches and players on the team in a Southeastern Conference university from that of a normal sample population.  Outcomes were published by SRCEA in 2016 under "Follow the Leader: A Team Approach to MBT."  In phase two, the study examines how the intensity of the personality types identified in the initial study either continue as identified, vary toward a different team type, or produces an entirely different pattern of randomness


Objective. To study the nature of radiation-induced changes in the connective tissue matrix of rats under single total body X-ray exposure in minimal lethal and sublethal doses. Materials and methods. Experiments conducted on white male rats weighing 160-180 g, which were exposed to the influence of X-radiation doses LD15/30 and LD60/30 at the installation RUM-17 in standard specifications. Assessment of connective tissue matrix was performed by the total content of collagen, soluble (SC) and insoluble (ISC) collagen, collagen destruction rate by free hydroxyproline, collagenlytic activity (CLA), individual glycosaminoglycans (GAG). Experiments were performed on days 3, 7 and 14 and 30th, 90th and 180th days. The age control was used to each term of experiments. Statistical analysis of data was performed using Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney criterion and Student's t-test using packet Biostatistics v.4.03 for Windows. Results. The changes of collagen (3-7 days) were characterized by violation of ratio SC and ISC, accelerated disintegration of collagen by free hydroxyproline in the lungs - 1.7 times, the skin - 1.2 times, rising of metal-depending CLA in the lungs - 2.0 times and metal-independing CLA in the skin - 2.2 times, an increase of hyaluronic acid in the lungs - 1.7 times, in the skin - 1.5 times. At the late period (180 days) an increase of the total content of collagen was determined with a 1.4 times predominance of IC in the lungs and 1.3 times in the skin. During this period changes of individual GAG were characterized by - 1.7 times increase of chondroitin sulfate A and C in the lungs, 1.6 times dermatan sulfate in the skin and 1.7 times heparan sulfate in both organs. Conclusion. Revealed radiation-induced changes in the connective tissue matrix of rats in their direction were not dependent on the dose of X-rays, were organ-specific and determined by time after exposure.


The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection rate was examined in a selected cohort of healthy clients of an inner-city alcohol treatment center from 1990 through 1993. These subjects were also participating in a research protocol (n = 258) designed to assess immunity and HIV risk behaviors in inner city alcohol-dependent persons. Healthy alcohol-abusing heterosexual clients (165) had HIV testing conducted in an inner-city ambulatory alcohol treatment center between September 1990 and December 1993. Respondents were 93.9% African-American and 3.6% Hispanic; 72.1% were male. Anonymous HIV-1 antibody testing was conducted retrospectively for an additional 80 subjects who participated in the research protocol during the same interval, but for whom HIV-1 antibody testing was not conducted clinically at the time. HIV infection rate among the clinic-tested subjects (n = 165) was 4.4% for individuals who were exclusively alcohol-dependent, 1.4% for non-injecting drug use (IDU) mixed substance abusers, and 46.8% for clients with a history of IDU. Rates did not differ among cohorts tested in different years. Among non-injecting drug users tested in the clinic, all infected respondents (n = 3) were women (p = 0.03). Among those tested anonymously (n = 80), however, infection rate for exclusively alcohol-dependent persons was 16.7%, non-IDU mixed abusers 11.1%, and injecting drug users 48.3%, with seropositive males as well as females in each group. HIV infection rates for the pooled samples (n = 245) were 8.7% for exclusively alcohol-dependent persons, 5.1% for mixed abusers, and 54.5% for injecting drug users. Among non-injecting drug users, exclusively alcohol-dependent women had a significantly higher (p < 0.01) infection rate (20.0%) than the remaining females and males. Infection rates among exclusively alcohol-dependent males, male and female polysubstance non-IDU abusers, and injecting drug users were comparable with that seen in an earlier screening in the same clinic in 1989, with apparently little diffusion of infection from the IDU population to other substance abusers. An exception seemed to be exclusively alcohol-dependent females, who show substantially elevated rates. Age, housing, and other social differences may help segregated substance-abusing populations in the relatively small Newark metropolitan area, although not protecting exclusively alcohol-dependent females.


Future climate scenarios suggest an increased frequency of summer drought periods in the European Alpine Region. Drought can affect soil nitrogen (N) cycling, by altering N transformation rates, as well as the abundances of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea. However, the extent to which drought affects N cycling under in situ conditions is still controversial. The goal of this study was to analyse effects of drought on soil N turnover and ammonia-oxidizer abundances in soil without drought history. To this end we conducted rain-exclusion experiments at two differently managed mountain grassland sites, an annually mown and occasionally fertilized meadow and an abandoned grassland. Soils were sampled before, during and after drought and were analysed for potential gross rates of N mineralization, microbial uptake of inorganic N, nitrification, and the abundances of bacterial and archaeal ammonia-oxidizers based on gene copy numbers of the amoA gene (AOB and AOA, respectively). Drought induced different responses at the two studied sites. At the managed meadow drought increased NH 4 + immobilization rates and NH 4 + concentrations in the soil water solution, but led to a reduction of AOA abundance compared to controls. At the abandoned site gross nitrification and NO 3 − immobilization rates decreased during drought, while AOB and AOA abundances remained stable. Rewetting had only minor, short-term effects on the parameters that had been affected by drought. Seven weeks after the end of drought no differences to control plots could be detected. Thus, our findings demonstrated that in mountain grasslands drought had distinct transient effects on soil nitrogen cycling and ammonia-oxidizers, which could have been related to a niche differentiation of AOB and AOA with increasing NH 4 + levels. However, the effect strength of drought was modulated by grassland management.


This paper presents an on-line model identification method for Li-ion battery parameters that combines high accuracy and low computational complexity. Experimental results show that modeling errors are smaller than 1% throughout the feasible operating range. The identified model is used in a state observer - an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) - to obtain an indication about the battery State of Charge (SoC). A novel method to estimate the actual battery capacity on-line, based on the data from the state observer is presented. Based on the real battery capacity, an indication about the State of Health (SoH) can be given. Simulation and experimental results are presented to validate the proposed methodology. Battery capacity estimation errors under 4% are achieved by using only 30 minutes of data (battery voltage and current measurements) acquired during normal driving.