Introduction: Fragility fractures are common in the elderly. It is associated with increased mortality, reduced mobility, and poorer quality of life. In addition, post-operative functional outcomes are limited locally. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional phone interview was conducted with elderly patients who underwent hip surgery or their caregivers between March 2019 and Feb 2020, at least six months after the operation. Results: A total of 137 cases were approached, and 77 subjects completed the interview (58.4%), among which 54/77 (70.1%) were female, and 66/77 (85.7%) were caregivers. The proportion of subjects who could ambulate independently dropped from 66/77, prior to fracture, to 17/77 post-surgery. We noted a significant deterioration in the modified Barthel Index from the median of 100 (IQR = 0) to 91 (IQR 25.5; p <0.001). There was also a significant decline in the self-perceived physical strength of 30% (IQR 30, p <0.001); and in the functionality of 35% (IQR40; p <0.001). A total of 48/77 (62.3%) returned to their original residence, while 5 cases (6.5%) were institutionalised, and 14/77 (18.2%) died prior to the survey. Thirty-six subjects reported additional costs in the care of patients, ranging from RM100 to RM6000 (USD25 to USD1450) per month. Conclusion: Decline in physical and functional status is closely related to the quality of life as the majority reported a poorer health status after the fracture. Although this study is limited by the small sample size, it provided insights into patients' experiences and household burdens. Hence, well-coordinated services and monitoring are important for better outcomes.


Abstract Feedback can be effective to student learning if the feedback practice meets several success criteria. It appears, however, that it is not easy to put insights from theory into practice. Using a cover sheet to provide structured feedback may provide a solution. Just how cover sheets influence feedback practice is, however, still largely unknown. The present study offers an in-depth evaluation of the effects of the implementation of cover sheets on feedback practice. The study described in this article gathered data from almost 1000 feedback instances, from tutor and student interviews and from a student questionnaire. The analysis shows that the use of the cover sheet led to an increased use of feed up, feed forward and feedback on process level. Tutors and students valued the use of the cover sheet as positive, and the cover sheet helped students resolve issues better than with annotations alone. The study described in this article adds to the field of research by providing empirical data for how a cover sheet influences educational practice. The study furthermore shows that a cover sheet can be used to enhance student feedback literacy and it offers background for an easy to introduce educational intervention.


This paper examines the effect of initial microstructure after hot rolling on the final microstructure and mechanical properties for Cu bearing Extra Low Carbon(ELC) Steel Sheets. For this purpose, two ELC steels having different initial microstructures due to different onset time of cooling after pilot hot rolling (0.4 and 1.2 second) were selected. Mechanical properties and microstructures were analyzed as well using uni-axial tensile test, electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) technique following pilot rolling and continuous annealing. It has been found that the reduction of onset time of cooling gives rise to the grain refinement in hot rolled sheets. The average grain sizes of hot rolled sheetss at the onset time of 0.4 and 1.2 second are 16.7μm and 20.8 μm, respectively. In addition, the planar anisotropy of the Cu bearing ELC steel sheets has improved with reducing onset time of cooling after hot rolling. However, other mechanical properties such as strength and elongation of annealed steel are similar to both cooling condition.


The report outlines the methodology and procedures used to manufacture the thin
walled cylinder with its axial imperfections using a NUM 1060 CNC Lathe machine.
By introducing the known geometries imperfections, the thin cylinder manufactured
could be analyzed under different load conditions and with different type of
applications. The cylinders manufactured were to have minimum thickness set up
with their flat end were machined to follow a periodic sinusoidal wave's function of
specified amplitude and frequency. In addition, the flat end cylinder circumference
surface was also required to have a constant chamfer angle either from the outside or
inside cylinder surface.
A number of experiments were attempted to determine the minimum thickness, the
sinusoidal wave's function and the constant chamfer angles required. At the end of the
project, the machining techniques and procedures used to manufacture the cylinder
were successfully established as well as the CNC part programs which played a major
role in producing the imperfections required. A result of a satisfactory final thin
cylinder was manufactured even though some difficulties had occurred throughout the
whole project. Finally, all the information contained were vital for understanding the
concept of manufacturing the cylinders with axial imperfections. It indicates some
essential findings for the clear description of the project purposes and the necessary
works that undertaken through the completion of the project


The Remote Sensing Group at the University of Arizona has been using ground targets for the in-flight vicarious calibration of airborne and satellite sensors since the early 1980s. Targets such as Railroad Valley Playa in north central Nevada and White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico have proven to be useful for this work. This paper presents the results from multiple vicarious calibration experiments at a variety of sites for two of the Earth Observing 1 (EO-1) optical sensors. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) and Hyperion sensors operate in the visible and shortwave infrared portions of the spectrum. The ground sample distance of about 30 m works well for vicarious calibration and allows an easy comparison to legacy sensors such as the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) which has the same 30-m ground sample distance. The approach used in this work is to measure the surface reflectance and atmospheric properties during the sensor image acquisition. These data are used as input to a radiative transfer code which computes the top of atmosphere spectral radiance. This predicted radiance is compared to the radiance from the image of the site. Results show that the preflight calibrations of ALI and Hyperion are probably not consistent with in-flight performance of the instruments. New calibration coefficients adopted in December 2001 improve the comparison to the vicarious predictions.


Glycerol waste is by-product from the manufacturing of biodiesel by transesterification method containing impurities such as fatty acid, alcohol, spent catalyst, soap and water. Conversion of this waste to value added fuel products would not only improve economic of biodiesel production but also reduce environmental impact from this process. In this work, thermal conversion of glycerol waste by microwave that induced the heat required for initiating the reaction was carried out in a fixed bed quartz reactor using silicon carbide as the bed medium for microwave receptor as well as supporter for nickel catalyst. For non-catalytic reaction at 220W (700°C), carbon and hydrogen conversions were 22.89% and 19.59%, respectively. Gas production was 0.12 L/min syngas, 0.07 L/min H2, 0.82 MJ/m3 of LHV, and 1.27 H2/CO. In catalytic test, the highest syngas, H2, and LHV of 0.41 L/min, 0.23 L/min, and 9.18 MJ/m3, respectively, were obtained from 1%Ni/SiC while the highest H2/CO of 2.72 was obtained from 0.5%Ni/SiC. The 1%Ni/SiC test also resulted in the highest conversion of carbon and hydrogen as much as 79.50% and 83.26%, respectively. For comparison between fresh and regenerated catalysts, it was found that fresh catalyst performed significantly better that regenerated one in term of higher total conversion which may due to sodium deposition on spent catalyst surface.


Composite materials consisting of poly(L-lactic acid) and montmorillonite modified to a different extent, using various contents of hexadecylammonium cation, were prepared by the solution intercalation method. Investigation of the composites' morphology revealed that a surfactant quantity higher than the mineral's cation exchange capacity (CEC) was necessary for the organomodified clay to be dispersed at nanoscale level into the polymer matrix. The surfactant content in organoclay was found to play a major role in controlling the composite's mechanical properties. Thus, although increase of the alkylammonium concentration initially enhanced these properties, even higher concentrations corresponding to higher modification levels had a negative impact to them causing their dramatic deterioration. Observation of the deformed surfaces showed that the deformation process mechanism of the material is directly related to the degree of clay modification. Thermal degradation studies revealed that the intermediate surfactant excess reinforces the thermal stability of the nanocomposite by increasing the onset decomposition temperature. Additionally, the alkylammonium concentration was found to affect the crystallization temperature and the glass transition temperature of the polymer. In conclusion, an ideal balance between thermal and mechanical properties can be obtained at surfactant quantity equivalent to 1.5 times the clay CEC. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2009. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers


We present a scalable fully-automated forward-chaining planner capable of reasoning with PDDL+ events and linear processes.  Processes and events model (respectively) continuous and discrete exogenous activity in the environment, occurring when certain conditions hold.  We discuss the significant challenges posed in creating a planner that can reason with these, and present novel state-progression and consistency enforcing techniques that allow us to meet these challenges.  We present results showing that our new planner, using PDDL+ models, is able to solve realistic expressive problems more efficiently than the state-of-the-art alternative: a compiled PDDL 2.1 representation with continuous numeric effects.


Shoals of small fishes can change their collective shape and form a specific pattern. They do so efficiently (in parallel) and without collision.

In this paper, we study the analog problem of distributed pattern formation. A set of processes needs to move from a set of initial positions to a set of final positions. The processes are oblivious (no internal memory) and must preserve, at any time, a minimal distance between them.

A naive solution would be to move the processes one by one, but this would take too long. The difficulty here is to move the processes simultaneously in clearly delimited phases, no matter how unfavorable the initial configuration may be. We solve this by treating the problem "dimension by dimension": the processes first form 1D trails, then gather into a 2D shape (this technique can be generalized to higher dimensions).

We present an optimal algorithm which time complexity depends linearly on the radius of the smallest circle containing both initial and final positions. The algorithm is self-stabilizing, as the processes are oblivious and the initial positions are arbitrary.


Although, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus – 2 (SARS-CoV 2) represents one of the biggest challenges in the world today, the exact immunopathogenic mechanism that leads to severe or critical Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has remained incompletely understood. Several studies have indicated that high systemic plasma levels of inflammatory cytokines result in the so-called "cytokine storm", with subsequent development of microthrombosis, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and multiorgan-failure. Therefore, we reasoned that elevated inflammatory cytokine might act as prognostic factors. Here, we analyzed 245 serum samples of patients with COVID-19, collected at hospital admission. We assessed the levels of heat shock protein 27 (HSP27), soluble suppressor of tumorigenicity- 2 (sST2), caspase cleaved cytokeratin 18 (cCK18), 20S proteasome, and tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR-1) and explored their associations with overall-, 30-, 60-, 90-day- and in-hospital mortality. Moreover, we investigated their association with the risk of ventilation. We demonstrated that increased serum sST2 was uni- and multivariably associated with all endpoints. However, we also identified 20S proteasome as independent prognostic factor for in-hospital mortality. Furthermore, elevated HSP27, sST2, and 20S proteasome levels at hospital admission were univariably associated with higher risk of invasive ventilation. These findings could help to identify high-risk patients early in the course of COVID-19.


Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of upper and lower body activities on fat and carbohydrate oxidation in the elderly. Materials and Methods: Nine elderly men (age, 66.1±3.91y; body mass index, 25.09±2 kg/m2) participated voluntarily in this study. After determining the upper and lower body VO2max, subjects performed two interval exercise trials with one week interval. Interval exercise included 4 stages of 5-min activity respectively, at an intensity of 55, 60, 65, and 70% VO2max on hand ergometer and bicycle ergometer. Each stage was followed by 2.5 min of activity performed at 25, 30, 35, and 40% VO2max. Respiratory gases were collected before exercise at the 1st 10-min, 2nd 10-min, 3rd 10-min and 30-min recovery and used to calculate fat and carbohydrate oxidation. Results: Changes in fat oxidation during interval exercise with cycle ergometer was significantly (P<0.05) higher than arm-cranking. However, changes in carbohydrate oxidation during interval exercise with cycle ergometer and arm-cranking were significantly (P=0.009) different. Post-hoc analysis showed that carbohydrate oxidation during 30-min recovery was higher in the cycle ergometer trial than arm-cranking. Conclusion: Based on findings, there is more increase in fat and carbohydrate oxidation during lower body interval exercise in elderly individuals, compared to upper body exercise, and this type of exercise is recommended for better fat oxidation.


The vibrational spectroscopy techniques of Raman spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy offer a number of potential advantages as tools for clinical diagnosis. The ability of these methods to detect subtle biochemical changes relating to pathology opens the possibility of their use in tissue diagnosis. Potential applications include use as an 'optical biopsy' technique for in vivo tissue diagnosis or to guide therapy, as a 'digital staining' method to assist a histopathologist in analysing a sample, or as an entirely automated process for histopathology classification. To date, much work has been undertaken in applying these spectroscopic methods to discriminate between disease states across a wide range of pathologies and organ systems, but as yet none have entered routine clinical practice. There is a pressing clinical need for real-time, accurate tissue diagnosis, especially in malignant conditions for which rapid diagnosis and comprehensive identification and treatment of diseased tissue are of paramount importance. Cancer diagnostics remains reliant on analysis of tissue samples by histopathologists to confirm malignancy, based on morphological tissue changes and immunohistochemical staining techniques. There is increasing evidence that vibrational spectroscopy, in combination with chemometric data analysis, is a powerful and accurate technique for detecting cancerous and pre-cancerous biochemical changes both in vitro and in vivo, for a range of malignant conditions. This review examines the progress of vibrational spectroscopy towards selected clinical applications, with a particular focus on cancer diagnostics.


Introduction This excursion guide deals with the Upper Dalradian rocks which are exposed northwest of the Highland Boundary Fault in the South-west Highlands of Scotland. The exposures to be described are formed by the shores of Loch Long, and by the coast of the Firth of Clyde. The excursion based on Rosneath is largely independent of the state of the tide since the exposures are mostly above the high-water mark on raised beaches. However, the excursion based on Dunoon should be undertaken when the tide is low at localities 16 and 17. General Geology The Dalradian rocks exposed to the north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault form four stratigraphic groups in the South-west Highlands. The first group is exposed in the north-west of the area under consideration as a thick series of schistose grits, quartzose mica-schists and pelitic schists. These rocks are known as the Beinn Bheula Schists. They are succeeded to the south-east by a varied series of rocks forming the Dunoon Phyllites. This group include schistose pebbly grits, schistose grits and greywackes, schistose semi-pelites and pelites, together with purple or black phyllites and dark fine-grained limestones. The last two rock-types are characteristic of the Dunoon Phyllites. These rocks are followed to the south-east by the Bullrock Greywacke which consists mainly of massive schistose grit. Finally, the Innellan Group of schistose pebbly grits and phyllites is found to the south-east of the Bullrock Greywacke in south-east Cowal. The rock-types in this group are similar to those forming the Dunoon . . .


Significant amounts of resources, often public, are invested to setup large research infrastructures (biobanks) and cohorts. The technical challenges of connecting these research infrastructures are increasingly being met by new IT solutions. Harmonisation tools—like the one developed at P3G- enhance our capacity to synthesise data. As this opens new opportunities for research and increase statistical power, these research infrastructures hold enormous potential for epidemiological research. The issue of "access" is central to epidemiological research. Once a set of "interesting" data has been targeted, the researcher must overcome the ethical, legal and other conditions to actually access the data and samples of interest. In addition, study specific conditions (eg, access to aggregate data only) may limit the choice of methodologies to analyse synthesizable data. A more "open access" culture for research data requires properly managing and accessing the massive amount of potentially sensitive information in a way that will be of optimal use for the scientific community while also ensuring proper protection and respect of participants (including their privacy and confidentiality). The "law" is often blamed for creating "undue hurdles" to international access to research data, but are we focusing on the real problem? We will discuss some ethical, legal and social issues challenges faced by researchers who wish to access multiple research infrastructures to conduct epidemiological research. We also identify avenues of innovative solutions being proposed to meet some of these challenges.


Research focusing on COVID-19-associated complications has become a growing area of importance. One such complication is multisystem inflammatory syndrome, a rare immune-mediated condition that most commonly presents with Kawasaki-like symptoms in the pediatric population. Potential complications include myocarditis, renal impairment, and cytokine storm. Here we describe the first reported case of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in the West Texas region, presenting in a Hispanic 5-year-old female with a recent history of COVID-19. The patient arrived to the hospital with a 4 day history of high fever, a 2 day history of diffuse maculopapular rash, and complaints of fatigue, generalized body aches, decreased appetite, headache, and abdominal pain. Further physical exam revealed hepatosplenomegaly and cervical lymphadenopathy, while labs revealed elevated inflammatory markers, lymphopenia, left shift with bandemia and immature cells, thrombocytopenia, hypoalbuminemia, and transaminitis. The patient was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit with a suspected Kawasaki-like illness and started on high dose aspirin and IV immunoglobulin. She was placed on methylprednisolone, albumin, and acetaminophen on hospital day 3. By hospital day 4, the patient defervesced, inflammatory markers decreased, and clinical symptoms improved. The patient was discharged on hospital day 10 with absent fever and improvement of clinical symptoms for 6 consecutive days. No complications were detected upon follow-up 2 weeks later. A low threshold of suspicion for this illness is required in any child with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection, as the presentation is vague and early identification is necessary to prevent further complications.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
Epilepsy may result from various brain injuries, including stroke (ischemic and hemorrhagic), traumatic brain injury, and infections. Identifying shared common biological pathways and biomarkers of the epileptogenic process initiated by the different injuries may lead to novel targets for preventing the development of epilepsy. We systematically reviewed biofluid biomarkers to test their association with the risk of post-brain injury epilepsy.

METHODS
We searched articles until January 25, 2022, in MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Cochrane. The primary outcome was the difference in mean biomarker levels in patients with and without post-brain injury epilepsy. We used the modified quality score on prognostic studies for risk of bias assessment. We calculated each biomarker's pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Molecular interaction network and enrichment analyses were conducted in Cytoscape. (PROSPERO CRD42021297110) RESULTS: We included 22 studies with 1499 cases with post-brain injury epilepsy and 7929 controls without post-brain injury epilepsy. Forty-five biomarkers in blood or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were investigated with samples collected at disparate time points. Of 22 studies, 21 had a moderate-to-high risk of bias. Most biomarkers (28/45) were investigated in single studies; only nine provided validation data, and studies used variable definitions for early and late-onset seizures. A meta-analysis was possible for 19 biomarkers. Blood glucose levels in four studies were significantly higher in patients with post-stroke epilepsy (PSE) than without PSE (SMD 0.44; CI 0.19 to 0.69). From individual studies, 15 biomarkers in blood and seven in CSF were significantly associated with post-brain injury epilepsy. Enrichment analysis identified that the significant biomarkers (IL6, IL1β) were predominantly inflammation related.

DISCUSSION
We cannot yet recommend using the reported biomarkers for designing anti-epileptogenesis trials or use in the clinical setting because of methodological heterogeneity, bias in the included studies, and insufficient validation studies. Even though our analyses indicate the plausible role of inflammation in epileptogenesis, this is likely not the only mechanism. For example, an individual's genetic susceptibilities might contribute to his risk of epileptogenesis after brain injury. Rigorously designed biomarker studies with methods acceptable to the regulatory bodies should be conducted.


Most if not all EFL syllabi at tertiary level in the Middle East include a number of phonetic courses that intend to improve learners' pronunciation of English. A variety of titles are used to name these courses: English Phonology, English Phonetics, Phonetics, Phonetics and Phonology, etc. As to the resources for these courses, many EFL departments fall back on textbooks such as Roach (2005), Gimson (1989), etc. This paper argues that the content of these textbooks is irrelevant to the training needs of most EFL learners per se at the beginning of their study of English Pronunciation.  What these resources do is provide learners with phonetic information that ranges between sound production and perception. Thus, by the end of the course, most students become knowledgeable about phonetic theories, phonetic rules, criteria of sound classification and the like. Of course, little time is reserved for practicing phonetic transcription. Thus, instead of improving learners' pronunciation of English, these courses produce phoneticians who could not sometimes pronounce English even "approximatively". This paper proposes a phonetic course that focuses more on pronunciation practice and less on phonetic information in order to help students overcome their pronunciation difficulties. Thus, rather than using these textbooks as basic resources for a first course in English phonetics, the paper argues that only learners' dictionaries can provide such practice.


The use of autograft and allograft material to restore bone stock and promote healing and implant stabilization is a crucial part of total hip arthroplasty, especially in the revision situation. Recent research has centered on the use of osteoinductive materials such as osteogenic proteins or bone morphogenetic proteins to promote bone formation. These proteins are members of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily of proteins that either alone or in combination with other regulatory molecules induce new bone formation. The cloning and genetic expression of recombinant human bone proteins has led to production of quantities sufficient for their clinical development. Preclinical studies have shown that the osteoinductive capacity of autograft and allograft bone can be improved with the addition of osteogenic proteins. Although these proteins are effective alone, their use with cancellous and cortical allograft and autograft consistently improved the amount and rate of new bone formation compared with graft alone resulting in earlier graft incorporation and consolidation. When placed in defects adjacent to porous acetabular components, the use of an osteogenic protein resulted in earlier defect healing and improved component fixation by the enhancement of bone ongrowth and ingrowth. Although no detailed clinical studies have been reported to date, an anecdotal report of their use with and without bone graft indicate results consistent with those obtained in preclinical studies.


Among the twenty different fungal members isolated from the rhizosphere of wild yam, Dioscorea wallichii, three fungal isolates were found to be the best protease producers and identified as Aspergillus sp., Penicillium sp. and Trichoderma sp. The protease production studies of these three isolates were conducted up to 12 days. After nine days there was no significant increase in the enzyme production. Maximum protease activity was observed in the range of pH 6 and temperature 30˚C. Protease from all the three isolates was stable up to 2 h in dettol, tween 20, tween 80 and soap solution. Among the different immobilization techniques used agar block was the most effective. The molecular weight, zymogram analysis and destaining activity of the protease enzyme were also studied.


Biofuels in particular are receiving climbing attention due to the increase in industrialization, population, global demand for energy driven by fast depletion of conventional fuels. Biobutanol a solvent is a convertible to jet fuel blends with gasoline and also acts as a rich fuel extender. Biobutanol when blended with fuel can be used in internal combustion engines releasing carbon dioxide making environmental friendly biofuel. Further biobutanol is used much than ethanol due to its high calorific value, less volatile, low vapor pressure, relatively low heat of vaporization and is highly explosive over bioethanol. As well biobutanol rather than synthetic butanol is produced using ABE (Acetone Butanol Ethanol) fermentation reducing the use of conventional chemical methods. ABE fermentation was achieved using Clostridium species whose genes help in the conversion of biomass into butanol. In addition to this, yield and productivity of the biofuel can be used to recover high yields biobutanol through metabolic and genetic manipulation and by inculcating efficient pre-treatment technologies. In this article higher yields (0.570.65 %) of biobutanol is produced using lignocellulosic substrate,Moringaolieferaa soft wood whose bark through proper pretreatment and saccharification process yields monosacharideswhich are fermented using Clostridium sp..(MTCC 1349) for the maximum production ofbiobutanol.


Since the launch of ERS-1 in 1991 and ERS-2 in 1995, carrying a C-band Scatterometer, a data set of more than thirteen years of backscattered signal from the Earth surface is available for exploitation. With its global coverage, day or night and all-weather operation, ERS Scatterometer data offer unique opportunity for long-term studies and research. To fulfill the needs of the scientific community, the European Space Agency (ESA) has developed the project: Advanced Scatterometer Processing System (ASPS). Main scope of the project is to provide with state-of-the-art algorithm, high quality and homogenous Scatterometer measurements (sigma nought) of the Earth surface and high quality wind field over the Oceans by re-processing the entire ERS mission. Additional scope is to provide on experimental basis scientific products in high resolution tailored for the emerging Scatterometer application on Ice and Land. The ASPS project is now in a pre-operational phase and the scope of the paper is to give to the scientific community an overview of the ASPS data and show the assimilation of the data into the ECMWF weather analysis system. ASPS data hopefully will help the scientific community to better understand and monitor the Earth's climate changes and to protect our environment.


Amoebae of Dictyostelium discoideum show adaptation towards a chemotactic cyclic AMP signal. Within a few seconds of receipt of the signal they are inhibited for a period of 1-2 min from further chemotactic responses to subsequent cyclic AMP signals of similar or smaller magnitude. The site of this adaptation mechanism in the chemotactic transduction pathway was investigated by addition of components of the transduction chain (GTP analogues, myo-inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (InsP3) and Ca2+) to permeabilized cells followed by determination of the amount of cyclic GMP formed as a measure of the chemotactic response. This approach was made possible by finding that permeabilization of amoebae with saponin did not uncouple the cell surface cyclic AMP receptors from stimulation of cyclic GMP formation. It was found that InsP3 and Ca2+ were 'downstream' from the adaptation mechanism: they could trigger a cyclic GMP response in cyclic AMP-adapted amoebae but could not themselves induce adaptation. In contrast, GTP gamma S was unable to trigger a cyclic GMP response in cyclic AMP-adapted cells, although it could trigger multiple cyclic GMP responses in non-adapted cells. We deduce that the site of adaptation to cyclic AMP stimulation is at the G-protein involved in this signalling pathway. Moreover, as GTP gamma S was found to be unable to induce adaptation, we conclude that the mechanism of adaptation involves an action of the cyclic AMP receptor on the G-protein that is distinct from its commonly reported action of stimulating G-protein binding of GTP.


Alfalfa is an important legume culture, which plays an important role in ruminant nutrition, as well as quality fodder. Intensive production of alfalfa involves the use of appropriate mechanization, i.e. the mower, keeping in mind that the cutting is the first operation in the preparation technology of forage. Mowing must be done in an optimal agrotechnical term, because it reduces the negative impact of external factors and can be done a variety of mowers. The quality of mower is reflected in terms of height stem cutting cutter bar, the amount of losses caused by cutting and grinding, the total losses, efficiency of work procedures in relation to the structural surface and the resulting effect. Quality of work depends on several factors: state of crops, defining of relevant operation parameters, technical accuracy and staff skills. When the relevant parameters are not well coordinated, quality can significantly decrease, resulting in increased losses and poor quality work. The aim of our study was to determine the technical and technological indicators, quality of work achieved and the effects of four types of mowers in the defined modes. Classical oscillatory mower with fingers, standard design oscillatory two rod mower, drum rotary mower and five discs rotary mower were studied. The test method is derived from test objectives. Tests were done in two phases. In the first phase, there were determined work conditions: biological yield, crop characteristics, the average height of alfalfa, the presence of weeds, the condition of the terrain, climatic conditions, while the second phase determined the effects of work depending on the conditions. It was determined a cutting height, the losses during mowing, operating speed, realised effects. Based on the results of the effects of mower different with cutter bar in mowing alfalfa, it was concluded that the changes defined parameters demonstrated a statistically significant impact on the effects of work in all the mower. The lowest cutting height was recorded at the two rod mowers and was 4.52 cm (6.17 km h -1 ) and the highest was at the five discs rotary mower with 8.15 (11.35 km h -1 ). The smallest losses due to the cut height were in conventional mowers and the highest losses were in mowing with the five discs rotary mower and were 2.99% of yield. Total losses were varied in the range of 1.05 to 3.56% of the biological yield.


Objectives: This study longitudinally examined how older adult cancer survivors perceive disability in activities of daily living over time compared to older adults who have not had cancer. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of the National Health and Aging Trends Study examining participants with a new cancer diagnosis and age-, gender-, and comorbidity-matched comparison participants without a history of cancer. Generalized linear mixed models examined time and group interaction and main effects in disability. Results: There was a significant main effect of time (F 4,771 = 12.81; p < .0001) demonstrating increasing disability levels for both groups. There were significant group differences, with higher disability in the cancer group than the comparison group (β = 0.628, SE = 0.263; t = 2.39, p = 0.017). Discussion: Although perceived disability was greater immediately following cancer diagnosis, older adult cancer survivors and comparison participants appear to have similar perceived disability over time.


Purpose: Among human cancers that harbor mutant (mt) KRas, some, but not all, are dependent on mt KRas. However, little is known about what drives KRas dependency. Experimental Design: Global phosphoproteomics, screening of a chemical library of FDA drugs, and genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 viability database analysis were used to identify vulnerabilities of KRas dependency. Results: Global phosphoproteomics revealed that KRas dependency is driven by a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) network. CRISPR/Cas9 viability database analysis revealed that, in mt KRas-driven pancreatic cancer cells, knocking out the cell-cycle regulators CDK1 or CDK2 or the transcriptional regulators CDK7 or CDK9 was as effective as knocking out KRas. Furthermore, screening of a library of FDA drugs identified AT7519, a CDK1, 2, 7, and 9 inhibitor, as a potent inducer of apoptosis in mt KRas-dependent, but not in mt KRas-independent, human cancer cells. In vivo AT7519 inhibited the phosphorylation of CDK1, 2, 7, and 9 substrates and suppressed growth of xenografts from 5 patients with pancreatic cancer. AT7519 also abrogated mt KRas and mt p53 primary and metastatic pancreatic cancer in three-dimensional (3D) organoids from 2 patients, 3D cocultures from 8 patients, and mouse 3D organoids from pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia, primary, and metastatic tumors. Conclusions: A link between CDK hyperactivation and mt KRas dependency was uncovered and pharmacologically exploited to abrogate mt KRas-driven pancreatic cancer in highly relevant models, warranting clinical investigations of AT7519 in patients with pancreatic cancer.


Models play an important role in learning from practice. Models of a controlled system can be used as learning operators to refine commands on the basis of performance errors. The examples used to demonstrate this include positioning a limb at a visual target and following a defined trajectory. Better models lead to faster correction of command errors, requiring less practice to attain a given level of performance. The benefits of accurate modeling are improved performance in all aspects of control, while the risks of inadequate modeling are poor learning performance, or even degradation of performance with practice.


The present work evaluates curing and the thermal behavior of different molecular weight phenol formaldehyde (PF) resins used to prepare PF prepreg oil palm stem veneers. The physical properties (solid contents, gelation time, pH, and viscosity) of PF resins were determined. The molecular weight of resins was characterized by gel permeation chromatography, whilst thermal properties were determined by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analyses. The average molecular weight of PF resins were 526 g/mole (low), 1889 g/mole (medium), and 5178 g/mole (control - commercial). Among the resins, medium (MMwPF) gives better thermal stability with a retained weight of 48.9% at 300°C. High (Commercial PF) had a low decomposition temperature (109.3°C) which occurred within 11 min. Both low (LMwPF) and MMwPF started to melt at ≥120°C. Based on strength and shear values, phenolic prepreg palm veneers can be prepared using either low or medium molecular weight PF but with varying results. In all cases, the mechanical properties of palm plywood made from PF prepreg veneers were superior to those made from PF-bonded plywood using the commercial process.


For Lagrangian particle tracking applied to swirling flow produced water treatment
the influence of the history force is investigated. In the expression for
the history force an existing Reynolds number dependent kernel is adapted and
validated for a range of experimental data for settling spheres. This kernel is
used during the numerical simulation of oil-droplets in an idealized flow field as
model for flow fields observed in swirling flow separators. It is shown that the
history force should not be neglected for the motion of particles in such flows.
However, for this specific type of flow it is shown that the contribution of the
history force might be approximated as a drag-like expression.
Subsequently, an efficient collision detection mechanism is developed to obtain
collision detection with a work-load of O(Np lnNp). The scheme is validated
for settling spheres and applied to the swirling flow field used during the
investigation of the influence of the history force.
Finally, two approaches for the lattice Boltzmann method, taking into account
the equation of state for water, are presented. One approach utilizing a
pressure corrected BGK approximation, the other a dense gas BBGKY approximation.
A novel approach is used to obtain the macroscopic quantities and
boundary conditions. It is shown that for modeling the flow of water around a
particle an ideal-gas lattice Boltzmann method to simulate water is not capable
of capturing all relevant details. However, modeling the flow with both proposed
approaches, which take the equation of state into account, lead to similar
results.


Abstract Tire rubber treads wear patterns that are described as craters can appear in mild conditions. This article demonstrates that craters can be recreated on a laboratory tribometer, which has been developed especially for rubber filled compounds testing. A local analysis of the worn surfaces has shown that the dimension, density and location of craters are closely related to carbon black agglomerates found within compounds. The viscoelastic properties of the agglomerates have been found by carrying out nanoindentation tests: these give a Young's modulus of around 300 MPa and a elasto-plastic limit between 7% and 14%. Finally, an original system is proposed to explain the crater formation on the release of internal stresses due to an agglomerate mechanical plasticizing of the rubber surface. Electronic microscope observations and a finite element analysis show that the agglomerates are flattened by the indentor contact and tilted, to create craters on the worn surface.


The canonical Wnt–β-catenin signaling pathway is initiated by inducing phosphorylation of one of the Wnt receptors, low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 6 (LRP6), at threonine residue 1479 (Thr1479) and serine residue 1490 (Ser1490). By screening a human kinase small interfering RNA library, we identified phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase type II α and phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate 5-kinase type I (PIP5KI) as required for Wnt3a-induced LRP6 phosphorylation at Ser1490 in mammalian cells and confirmed that these kinases are important for Wnt signaling in Xenopus embryos. Wnt3a stimulates the formation of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphates [PtdIns (4,5)P2] through frizzled and dishevelled, the latter of which directly interacted with and activated PIP5KI. In turn, PtdIns (4,5)P2 regulated phosphorylation of LRP6 at Thr1479 and Ser1490. Therefore, our study reveals a signaling mechanism for Wnt to regulate LRP6 phosphorylation.


Over the past decade, hundreds of nights have been spent on the world's largest telescopes to search for and directly detect new exoplanets using high-contrast imaging (HCI). Thereby, two scientific goals are of central interest: first, to study the characteristics of the underlying planet population and distinguish between different planet formation and evolution theories. Second, to find and characterize planets in our immediate solar neighborhood. Both goals heavily rely on the metric used to quantify planet detections and nondetections. Current standards often rely on several explicit or implicit assumptions about noise. For example, it is often assumed that the residual noise after data postprocessing is Gaussian. While being an inseparable part of the metric, these assumptions are rarely verified. This is problematic as any violation of these assumptions can lead to systematic biases. This makes it hard, if not impossible, to compare results across data sets or instruments with different noise characteristics. We revisit the fundamental question of how to quantify detection limits in HCI. We focus our analysis on the error budget resulting from violated assumptions. To this end, we propose a new metric based on bootstrapping that generalizes current standards to non-Gaussian noise. We apply our method to archival HCI data from the NACO instrument at the Very Large Telescope and derive detection limits for different types of noise. Our analysis shows that current standards tend to give detection limits that are about one magnitude too optimistic in the speckle-dominated regime. That is, HCI surveys may have excluded planets that can still exist.


The effect of non-ferromagnetic Cr interlayer on the high-frequency ferromagnetic properties (HFFMPs) was investigated by use of FeCoTa/Cr/ FeCoTa triple layered films. In conventional thought, the metal interlayer gives rise to a high eddy current loss and therefore a deteriorated HFFMP. However, it is found that HFFMPs depend on the thickness of Cr interlayer. The HFFPMs are improved by Cr-interlayer with a thickness less than 12 nm (sample C1). Comparing with the Cr-interlayer-free FeCoHf single layered film (sample C0), the magnetic anisotropy field of C1 dramatically increases from 185 Oe for C0 to 558 Oe for C1. As a consequence, a high ferromagnetic resonance frequency over than 3 GHz is achieved for sample C1. When the thickness of Cr-interlayer is more than 120 nm (C2), the HFFMPs are reduced due to the increase of eddy current loss and magnetic decoupling between the ferromagnetic layers.


Radiation-induced bladder toxicity is associated with radiation therapy for pelvic malignancies, arising from unavoidable irradiation of neighbouring normal bladder tissue. This study aimed to investigate the acute impact of ionizing radiation on the contractility of bladder strips and identify the radiation-sensitivity of the mucosa vs the detrusor. Guinea-pig bladder strips (intact or mucosa-free) received ex vivo sham or 20Gy irradiation and were studied with in vitro myography, electrical field stimulation and Ca2+-fluorescence imaging. Frequency-dependent, neurogenic contractions in intact strips were reduced by irradiation across the force-frequency graph. The radiation-difference persisted in atropine (1μM); subsequent addition of PPADs (100μM) blocked the radiation effect at higher stimulation frequencies and decreased the force-frequency plot. Conversely, neurogenic contractions in mucosa-free strips were radiation-insensitive. Radiation did not affect agonist-evoked contractions (1μM carbachol, 5mM ATP) in intact or mucosa-free strips. Interestingly, agonist-evoked contractions were larger in irradiated mucosa-free strips vs irradiated intact strips suggesting that radiation may have unmasked an inhibitory mucosal element. Spontaneous activity was larger in control intact vs mucosa-free preparations; this difference was absent in irradiated strips. Spontaneous Ca2+-transients in smooth muscle cells within tissue preparations were reduced by radiation. Radiation affected neurogenic and agonist-evoked bladder contractions and also reduced Ca2+-signalling events in smooth muscle cells when the mucosal layer was present. Radiation eliminated a positive modulatory effect on spontaneous activity by the mucosa layer. Overall, the findings suggest that radiation impairs contractility via mucosal regulatory mechanisms independent of the development of radiation cystitis.


The relentless rise in antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria and fungi, coupled with the high susceptibility of burn wounds to infection, and the difficulty of systemically administered antibiotics to reach damaged tissue, taken together have made the development of novel topical antimicrobials for burn infections a fertile area of innovation for researchers and companies. We previously covered the existing patent literature in this area in 2010, but the notable progress made since then, has highlighted the need for an update to bring the reader up to date on recent developments. New patents in the areas of topically applied antibiotics and agents that can potentiate the action of existing antibiotics may extend their useful lifetime. Developments have also been made in biofilm-disrupting agents. Antimicrobial peptides are nature's way for many life forms to defend themselves against attack by pathogens. Silver has long been known to be a highly active antimicrobial but new inorganic metal derivatives based on bismuth, copper and gallium have emerged. Halogens such as chlorine and iodine can be delivered by novel technologies. A variety of topically applied antimicrobials include chitosan preparations, usnic acid, ceragenins and XF porphyrins. Natural product derived antimicrobials such as tannins and essential oils have also been studied. Novel techniques to deliver reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide in situ have been developed. Light-mediated techniques include photodynamic therapy, ultraviolet irradiation, blue light, low-level laser therapy and titania photocatalysis. Passive immunotherapy employs antibodies against pathogens and their virulence factors. Finally an interesting new area uses therapeutic microorganisms such as phages, probiotic bacteria and protozoa to combat infections.


In this paper, the dependance of microstructures on temperature stability of the (Mg1-xCax)2SiO4 (0≤x≤0.5) ceramics prepared by the conventional solid-state route were investigated. The XRD and SEM testing results showed the (Mg1-xCax)2SiO4 ceramics were mainly composed of both forsterite (Mg2SiO4) phase and Monticouite (MgCaSiO4) phase. Significantly, with increasing x, the ceramic temperature coefficients of resonant frequency (τf) were strongly correlated to the ceramic crystalline phase compositions and could be adjusted to near zero value through changing the contents of both phases. And its dielectric constants (er) were kept in the range of 6.8 to 8.7, and the quality factors (Q×f value) in the range of 18, 080 GHz to 55, 840 GHz at 15GHz.


Discrete or Distinct Element Method (DEM) is proving to be a reliable and effective tool to model the behaviour of granular bulk materials. Numerous particle-scale (microscopic) mechanisms influence the bulk (macroscopic) behaviour of granular flow. Hence, it is important that the relevant input parameters for DEM be determined by actual physical "calibration" experiments, and not be assumed based on other information or experience. It is equally important that each calibration test be checked and validated in terms of the relevant physics involved. This paper describes some of the bench-scale experiments that have been developed to calibrate the DEM simulations to reflect actual dynamic behaviour. Relevant parameters such as static friction coefficient, rolling friction coefficient, shear modulus, coefficient of restitution, particle geometry (e.g. particle size and shape) and inter-particle forces (e.g. cohesion due to liquid bridges) have been investigated and employed to model and estimate bulk characteristics and behaviour, such as the poured and drained angles of repose and solids mass flow rate. It has been found that traditional "slump" tests are operator and "system" dependent and can produce misleading and inaccurate results. These bench-scale tests have been modified to eliminate such dependencies. The resulting DEM simulations have been validated using a high-speed camera to capture and quantify actual static and dynamic characteristics.


Summary Volcaniclastic deposits in sedimentary sequences of the North Sea Basin and adjacent areas indicate that two phases of early Palaeogene explosive volcanism took place in the north-eastern Atlantic region. The earlier, late Palaeocene (NP5-NP6) phase involved significant activity along a N-S trend that included both the British and Faeroe-Greenland Tertiary volcanic provinces. The later phase spanned the latest Palaeocene and early Eocene (NP9 to NP13), with much or all of the activity taking place in the Faeroe-Greenland Province. Early ashfalls of mixed basaltic to silicic compositions may have included contributions from the final phase of British volcanism, but were followed by a series of 200 or more tholeiitic ashfalls of Faeroe-Greenland provenance. These tholeiitic eruptions appear to have marked the onset of separation of Greenland from Europe in mid NP10 times. A subsequent return to pyroclastic activity of more variable compositions appears to have marked the re-establishment of stresses within the E Greenland crust that continued throughout the early Eocene (mid NP10 to end NP13). The mechanism of eruption of the tholeiitic ashes, which are equivalent to a magma volume of several thousand cubic kilometres, is uncertain, but they would appear to involve hydrovolcanic processes.


The staff selection is a difficult task due to the subjectivity that the evaluation means. This process can be complemented using a system to support decision. This paper presents the implementation of an expert system to systematize the selection process of professors. The management of software development is divided into 4 parts: requirements, design, implementation and commissioning. The proposed system models a specific knowledge through relationships between variables evidence and objective.


The constant scaling of integrated devices is accompanied by an increase of on-chip current and power densities which are responsible for important thermal issues. Designers need efficient electro-thermal simulators to deal with such issues. The paper presents a simulator which allows to take accurately the thermal aspects into account through the coupling of an automatically generated thermal network with the electronic circuit schematic. The resulting electro-thermal simulator can be classified as a direct simulator which uses standard CAD tools. First simulation results are given to validate the approach.


The similar material model method is used to simulate to the movement of cover rock and ground which is caused by mining underground coal, the substance of deformation and failure law of similar material model method is that artificial materials which are used in the experiment have similar physical and mechanical properties as archetype, affinity constants of geometry, movement and force are used as similarity index and criteria in the simulation experiment as the most important factors. The prototype model is made into a certain proportion model in reduction, and the initial state and boundary conditions of model must be similar as archetype. Then exploit the simulating model, the regular patterns of fault destruction, curve, movement and deformation of cover rock can be discovered in the process of exploiting the simulating model, and the movement and deformation of the surface and its sphere of influence can also be got. Finally the observations of model can be calculated and projections up to the prototype by the similarity index, so the most important regular pattern of the prototype can be got.


Recent technological developments have increased the platforms and capacity for learning at HEIs. Whilst the adoption of web 2.0 tools by undergraduates continues to be a focus in e-learning discourse, attention should be given to adult learners who are forced to adapt to the spate of technologically innovative educational practices. This paper, explores the experience of adult learners use of social media which is used as an e-learning platform for a course in Research Methodology (RMBA 201). A Facebook page was set up and monitored for the duration of the course which was regularly updated with course slides (in the form of videos) and notifications. Non-probability sampling technique was used in the selection of the sample. Only adult learners? who accessed the prescribed social media designed for the course were eligible to participate in this study. This meant that purposive sampling was used to generate the desired sample. Fifty seven adult learners completed a closed ended questionnaire. The study reveals that although the adult learners were slow to grasp the concept of social media as an e-learning platform, their interest grew exponentially week on week. Furthermore, the test periods saw immense activity from adult learners on the social media, which was indicative of the social media?s usefulness as an e-learning platform.


The lower cyclic endurance of Phase Change Memory (PCM) devices limits the spread of its applications for reliable memory. The findings reported here show that micro-voids and excess vacancies that are produced during the deposition process and the subsequent growth in sputtered carbon-doped GeSbTe films is one of the major causes of device failure in PCM with cycling. We found that the size of voids in C15(Ge21Sb36Te43) films increased with increasing annealing temperature and the activation energy for the growth rate of voids was determined to be 2.22 eV. The film density, which is closely related to voids, varies with the deposition temperature and sputtering power used. The lower heat of vaporization of elemental Sb and Te compared to that for elemental Ge and C is a major cause of the low density of the film. It was possible to suppress void formation to a considerable extent by optimizing the deposition conditions, which leads to a dramatic enhancement in cyclic endurance by 2 orders of magnitude in PCM devices prepared at 300oC-300W compared to one prepared at 240oC-500W without change of compositions.


Development of textile-based electrodes and motion sensors is one of the main issues of recent smart textile research utilizing electronic textiles. Electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes have been developed by various textile technologies such as sputtering or electroless-plating on the fabric surfaces, and embroidering or knitting with stainless steel yarns. In addition, two types of motion sensors have also been developed using piezo-resistive textiles. They were fabricated by knitting and braiding. To examine the usability of the ECG electrode, waveforms of the conventional AgCl electrode, and the new electrodes developed in our lab were compared. It was found that electrodes using metallic embroidering are more efficient when its substrate was a metal blended fabric. The electrolessly Cu/Ni plated fabrics obtained the best conductivity in textile-based electrodes. The first motion-measuring textile-based sensor was used to predict and measure the changes in electric resistances that accompany the angle changes in the elbow joint. An advanced piezo-resistive textile by braiding showed more accurate resistance changes and also better durability. Changes in its electrical resistance were mapped to changes in its length extension. From the relationship between the extension and the electrical resistance, movement or posture of human body was detected.


Abstract The seismic imaging below the basalts in the NE Atlantic basins is generally poor and the thickness of the basalts is difficult to predict. Two recent wells (William, 6005/13-1 and Brugdan, 6104/21-1) drilled in Faroes waters were suspended before reaching the main sub-basalt reservoir targets, because the basalts were thicker than expected. New deep-tow (18 m) seismic reflection data has now allowed more detailed imaging of the sub-basalt Mesozoic strata. The base of the basalt is not always reflective and is probably a transitional contact, with low acoustic impedance. The underlying Mesozoic strata produce coherent reflectivity. Large structural closures produced by Cretaceous rifting and Cenozoic folding have been imaged in the Rockall and Faroe–Shetland basins and these may contain Cretaceous and Paleocene clastic reservoirs at drillable depths of about 4 km. The Rockall Trough contains 4–7 km thickness of Mesozoic strata and appears to be floored by stretched continental crust throughout. The lower section may contain Jurassic source rocks similar to the areas to the south, east and north of the basin. Large Cenozoic age folds are present which produce potential traps at Late Cretaceous level, where sandstones equivalent to the Upper Cretaceous Nise Formation may occur. These folds represent some of the largest undrilled structures in NW Europe.


Abstract. Recent studies investigating groundwater parameters, e.g., heads,
chemical composition, and heat transfer, argued that groundwater flow paths
in the Lower Yarmouk Gorge (LYG) area are controlled by geological features
such as faults or dikes. However, the nature of such features, as well as
their exact locations, were so far unknown. In the present paper, we propose
a new fault pattern in the LYG area by compiling and revising geological and
geophysical data from the study area, including borehole information,
geological map cross sections, and seismic data from the southern Golan
Heights and northern Ajloun mountains. The presented pattern is composed of
strike–slip and thrust faults, which are associated with the Dead Sea
transform system and with the Kinnarot pull-apart basin. Compressional and
tensional structures developed in different places, forming a series of fault
blocks probably causing a non-uniform spatial hydraulic connection between
them. This study provides a coarse fault-block model and improved structural
constraints that serve as fundamental input for future hydrogeological
modeling which is a suggested solution for an enigmatic hydrological
situation concerning three riparian states (Syria, Jordan, and Israel) in a
water-scarce region. In areas of water scarcity and transboundary water
resources, transient 3-D flow simulations of the resource are the most
appropriate solution to understand reservoir behavior. This is an important
tool for the development of management strategies. However, those models must
be based on realistic geometry, including structural features. The study at
the LYG is intended to show the importance of such kinds of structural
investigations for providing the necessary database in geologically stressed
areas without sufficient data. Furthermore, during the hydrogeological
investigation, a mismatch with results of pull-apart basin rim fault
evolution studies was discovered. We argue that this mismatch may result from
the settings at the eastern rim of the basin as the en-echelon changes from
pull-apart basins (Dead Sea, Kinnarot, Hula) to a push-up ridge (Hermon).


The Wenlock Limestone of the three small inliers of Salopian rocks which occur in South Staffordshire and the detached parts of Worcestershire near the town of Dudley has long been famous for the rich variety of its fossils. Dr. Plot figured some of these in 1686, and two hundred and fifty years later Professor Gignoux writes of "le petit affleurement de Dudley (calcaire de Dudley) qui a enrichi les collections du monde entier". To quote Charles Lapworth: "It may be safely asserted that the majority of the finest examples of British Silurian fossils now enriching the public and private geological collections, both in Britain and abroad, were originally obtained from the Silurian rocks of the Birmingham district;" and the Wenlock or "Dudley" Limestone is by far the most fossiliferous division of these rocks. It has yielded numerous type specimens, including many of those described in The Silurian System, but in spite of the importance of the outcrops from the view-point of palæontology, and of the countless maps which were made of them by successive generations of students under Lapworth, detailed stratigraphical literature is scanty. Since the time of Murchison no publication has greatly supplemented the description contained in The Silurian System (1839, pp. 483–7), though a later account, containing a faunal list, was given by J. B. Jukes in his memoir of the South Staffordshire coalfield (1859, pp. 106–17), and brief but vivid reviews of the stratigraphy and structure of the outcrops were included in papers on the geology of


Artemisinin derivatives constitute a key component of the present-day treatment for Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Resistance with artemisinins is generally associated with S769N point mutation in the sarco-endoplasmic reticulumdependant ATPase6 (SERCA ATPase6) gene of Plasmodium falciparum , few studies have been carried outon the current level baseline and level of mutation of this drug in Nigeria. The present study determined the distribution of Plasmodium falciparum and resistance marker for artemisinin drugs from the blood smears of seventy randomly sampled patients attending Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Osun State after obtaining ethical clearance from the Ethical committee of Laddoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital. The entire study period was divided into pretreatment, drug administration and post-treatment phases. Blood smears of 70 consented participants were assessed microscopically using Giemsa staining technique for parasite identification and parasitaemia. Samples found to have parasitaemia after drug administration were amplified and assessed for distribution of the Pf ATPase6 S769N mutation using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique. Twenty-eight out of samples subjected to PCR had successful amplification. However, none of the amplified samples harboured the Pf ATPase6 S769N mutation, suggesting 100% sensitivity of Plasmodium falciparum population examined at the study area. There is therefore need for continuous surveillance for earlier detection of resistance as the use of ACT is being scaled up in the country. Keywords: artemisine, resistance marker, Plasmodium falciparum


Enzymatic properties of barley alpha-amylase 1 (AMY1) are altered as a result of amino acid substitutions at subsites -5/-6 (Cys95-->Ala/Thr) and +1/+2 (Met298-->Ala/Asn/Ser) as well as in the double mutants, Cys95-->Ala/Met298-->Ala/Asn/Ser. Cys95-->Ala shows 176% activity towards insoluble Blue Starch compared to wild-type AMY1, kcat of 142 and 211% towards amylose DP17 and 2-chloro-4-nitrophenyl beta-d-maltoheptaoside (Cl-PNPG7), respectively, but fivefold to 20-fold higher Km. The Cys95-->Thr-AMY1 AMY2 isozyme mimic exhibits the intermediary behaviour of Cys95-->Ala and wild-type. Met298-->Ala/Asn/Ser have slightly higher to slightly lower activity for starch and amylose, whereas kcat and kcat/Km for Cl-PNPG7 are < or = 30% and < or = 10% of wild-type, respectively. The activity of Cys95-->Ala/Met298-->Ala/Asn/Ser is 100-180% towards starch, and the kcat/Km is 15-30%, and 0.4-1.1% towards amylose and Cl-PNPG7, respectively, emphasizing the strong impact of the Cys95-->Ala mutation on activity. The mutants therefore prefer the longer substrates and the specificity ratios of starch/Cl-PNPG7 and amylose/Cl-PNPG7 are 2.8- to 270-fold and 1.2- to 60-fold larger, respectively, than of wild-type. Bond cleavage analyses show that Cys95 and Met298 mutations weaken malto-oligosaccharide binding near subsites -5 and +2, respectively. In the crystal structure Met298 CE and SD (i.e., the side chain methyl group and sulfur atom) are near C(6) and O(6) of the rings of the inhibitor acarbose at subsites +1 and +2, respectively, and Met298 mutants prefer amylose for glycogen, which is hydrolysed with a slightly lower activity than by wild-type. Met298 AMY1 mutants and wild-type release glucose from the nonreducing end of the main-chain of 6"'-maltotriosyl-maltohexaose thus covering subsites -1 to +5, while productive binding of unbranched substrate involves subsites -3 to +3.


Production of concentrated milk encounters several instabilities in regards to the quality of the final product. Main problems that concern industry are aggregation and gelation of milk during heat treatment, age-gelation and thickening during storage. Some shelf life improvements have been achieved by pre-warming/pre-heating of milk prior concentration process intended to denature whey proteins and prevent their further involvement in aggregations with casein micelle. Nevertheless, precise knowledge describing behaviour of these proteins at the molecular level is lacking. Moreover, multitude of factors needs to be considered as they all have an impact on concentrated systems during water removal and heat treatment, including mineral content, protein rearrangements and pH. Hence, the present study aimed at evaluating observations of physiochemical changes in skim milk in regards to reduce water content, sequential heat treatment and the effect of altered pH during heating, all observations performed under laboratory conditions intended to imitate common industrial applications.
During the first study, physiochemical changes of proteins in skim milk were investigated after evaporation process at 55oC starting from 9% up to two solids concentration, 17 and 25%. Moreover, after reaching desirable concentration level, samples were analysed for protein portioning between the serum and colloidal phases, and how this affected electric dabble layer and particle size distribution, then variations of minerals (calcium, phosphate, magnesium and sodium) and changes in the secondary structure of proteins. Results shown that concentration indeed affected the overall stability of the system, which was dependent of total solids (TS) content. Thus, reaching 17% TS αs- and β- casein dissociated from the micelle and became more prominent in the serum. However, greater total solid concentration (25%) affected the level of κ- casein in the serum by slight increase only, on the other hand, β-LG concentration in the serum declined as it apparently interacted with the casein micelle. These modifications were confirmed with rearrangement of the secondary structure of the proteins advocated by slight shifting of minerals in the micellar state.
In the second study, it was established how the proteins were affected during heating by determining changes at 75, 85, 95, 100, or 110oC and prolonged heating of 2.6 minutes at 121oC. All three concentration level (9, 17 and 25% TS) were examined. Treated samples were analysed for changes in the particle diameter, zeta potential, changes in protein level between the serum and colloidal phase, protein rearrangement in the secondary structure and variations in the mineral content (calcium, magnesium, phosphate and sodium) between the serum and micellar state. According to the results applied temperature induced formation of aggregates, which intensity was dependant of concentration level. Moreover, whey proteins denaturation was delayed in increased solids contented, which moved to higher temperatures as TS increased. However, after reaching specific temperature they were involved in intense aggregation among themselves through thiol-sulfhydryl interchange reactions and with caseins by disulfide interactions forming particles with larger diameter. In skim milk with 9% TS this delay of denaturation of milk proteins was not present and aggregation resulted only in more soluble particles which did not affect the average size distribution. Other important detail was large variations in the casein level in the serum, thus involving intense dissociation of specific caseins at certain temperatures. Observed changes were supported with rearrangement of the secondary structure of the micelle that was variable in regards to concentration level and applied temperature.
The final study investigated the effect of pH adjustment on protein stability during heat treatment of skim milk with different solids content. Concentrated samples with 17 and 25% TS were altered to pH 6.7, which was native pH of skim milk prior to concentration intending to return
them to their native environment in the system. Other set of experiment was performed with all
samples including unconcentrated milk which included alkali addition to pH 7.5. Properties of
the samples were studied in regards to concentration levels and heat treatment under this
condition. SDS Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and FTIR were used for protein portioning
between the serum and micellar phase and modifications in proteins conformational
rearrangement, respectively. For each observed concentration intensive aggregation occurred
with formation of small and large aggregates composed of whey proteins, dissociated caseins and
casein micelle. The intensity of aggregation increased as pH and TS were moved to higher level.
The results in this study resulted in many variations in the casein levels between the serum and
micellar phase promoting intense dissociation when concentration and temperature increased.
However, conditions created by adjusting pH to 6.7 promoted transfer of dissociated αs- and β-
caseins from the serum into the micelle. This transfer occurred at lower heating point for 25% TS
in comparison to 17%TS, although this occurrence seized for both at 110oC, indicating
stabilization of the casein micelle to a certain extent or almost restoration of its native state.
Adjusting pH to 7.5 had destabilizing effect on all observed proteins during heat treatment
resulting in intense dissociation of caseins, covalent bonding and aggregations. In regards to
whey protein changes it was observed that heating samples with pH > 6.5 and temperatures up to
110oC, whey proteins formed soluble aggregated complexes among themselves or with the serum
caseins. On the other hand, when temperature was raised above 110oC in addition to formation of
soluble aggregates these proteins were involved in aggregation with the casein micelle.
The present study revealed the findings that any alteration of solids content from the natural
value in the skim milk would promote rearrangement of all proteins in the system indicating their destabilization due to increased particles number. Further heat treatment would induce more
intense destabilization in the system by disintegration of the casein micelle, denaturation of whey
proteins and formation of aggregates, which size increased when temperature of heating was
higher. Moreover, these observations concluded the need of pre-treatment or stabilization of
proteins up to point before concentration step that would produce samples with higher heat
stability. However, when it comes to the effect of pH it is interesting to point out that slight
alteration of pH up to 6.7 in concentrated samples may have a positive effect on stabilization of
the micelle up to certain temperature that can be taken in consideration when it comes to heat
stability of concentrated milk.


The literature on task planning abounds with studies in laboratory or classroom contexts; however, the contribution of task planning to the testing context has remained a largely uncharted area of enquiry. The current study is primarily focused on exploring the impacts of pressured vs. unpressured on-line task planning conditions on EFL students' oral production in classroom and testing contexts. The participants of the study comprised a total of 14 Iranian intermediate adult female EFL students from a private language institute in Tehran. Two parallel task cards- part 2 of IELTS Speaking Test- were given to students with and without any time pressure for task completion in the two different contexts in fulfilment of the requirement for promotion for the next instructional period. All performances were measured through fluency and coherence (FC), lexical resource (LR), and grammatical range and accuracy (GRA) indices. To compare the impacts of pressured and unpressured on-line task planning in the classroom and testing contexts, paired samples t-tests were conducted in SPSS. It was found that the removal of time pressure on students' task performance significantly impacted on their GRA in the classroom context. Regarding the testing context, it was found that, as with the classroom context, pressured on-line task planning led to higher FC compared to other indices. Also, it was found that unpressured on-line task planning had a statistically significant impact on students' GRA. Moreover, the authors observed that a trade-off effect exists between students' GRA and FC and their LR in the testing context; in other words, the more the students were stressed out to accomplish the test task and to produce correct sentences to get higher scores, the less they took risks to try extensive vocabulary and the lower their LR became.


A tag-collision problem (or missed reads) in RFID system is the event that a reader cannot identify the tag if many tags respond to a reader at the same time. Recently, Choi et al. proposed a 16-bit random number query tree algorithm (RN16QTA) for RFID tag anti-collision by using a RN16 as the tags temporary ID. RN16QTA successfully reduce the time consumption for tag identification than the present identification implemented in EPC Class 1 Gen. 2. However, simulation results and the theoretical estimation imply that the length of RN16 is actually not enough in real environments to successfully identify tags. In this letter, we propose an effective RN16QTA (ERN16QTA) to really solve the tag collision in tags identification. Moreover, our new algorithm saves the responded bits.


carotenoids are isoprenoid molecules that are mostly found in colored fruits and vegetables. Imported and local carrots were analyzed in the present study. The relative efficiency of acetone and methanol based solvent for the extraction of pigments from carrots was compared, together with the
comparison of total carotenoid content between imported and local carrot. The total carotenoid content in acetone solvent was found to be 21.81 % while for methanol solvent it was 13.05%. In general, the levels of carotenoids were
higher in imported than in local carrot; the levels of total carotenoid content were about 12% (Australia) and 10% (China) higher in the imported than the local carrot, respectively. Major compound found in carrot were p-carotene and a-carotene by using Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC). Investigation was also conducted on the stability of carotenoid under different pH and temperature range. The highest pigment loss was observed at pH 3.0 while the lowest was at pH 7.0 for 4 hour. For temperature effect, pigment loss was minimum at 0 ± 4°C and maximum at 96 ±4°C Stability of carotenoid under different conditions during storage was studied for 4 week. All pigments were stored at light, dark condition at ambient temperature for storage condition. Besides, carotenoid pigments were stored under 0±4°C and ambient temperature 30 ±4°C Results showed that the total carotenoid content decreased with increasing temperature. On the other hand, visible light in any form resulted in the destruction of carotenoid.


Wool fiber was modified using ecologically acceptable ozone-assisted treatment (ECO) in this study. Chemical and mechanical analysis of the treated samples compared with the untreated and Basolan○,R88 treated ones are reported. An atom force microscope (AFM) results show that the crimple was generated on the surface of ECO treated wool fiber and the peak-to-valley decreased slightly. However, Fourier transforms infrared spectra (FTIR) results suggest the absorbency and the oxidation of disulfide bonds increased after the ECO treatment, especially at 1024cm-1. The crystallinity of the treated wool fiber slightly increased based on the X-ray results. The treatment also led to reduction in strength of the wool fiber.


Based on possibility concepts, various possibilistic linear models (PLMs) have been proposed, and their pivotal role in fuzzy modeling and associated applications has been established. When adopting PLMs, one has to adopt an appropriate threshold (lambda) value. However, choosing such a value is by no means trivial, and is still an open theoretical issue. In this paper, we propose a solution by first extending the PLM to its regularized version, i.e., a regularized PLM (RPLM), such that its generalization capability can be enhanced. The RPLM is then formulated as a maximum a posteriori (MAP) framework, which facilitates the determination of the theoretically optimal threshold value for the RPLM with noisy input. Our mathematical derivations reveal the approximately inversely proportional relationship between the threshold and the standard deviation of Gaussian noisy input. This is also confirmed by the simulation results. This finding is very helpful for the practical applications of both PLMs and RPLMs.


Low power, minimum transistor count and fast access static random access memory (SRAM) is essential for embedded multimedia and communication applications realized using system on a chip (SoC) technology. Hence, simultaneous or parallel read/write (R/W) access multi-port SRAM bitcells are widely employed in such embedded systems. In this paper, we present a 2-port 6T SRAM bitcell with multi-port capabilities and a reduced area overhead compared to existing 2-port 7-transistor (7T) and 8T SRAM bitcells. The proposed 2-port bitcell has six transistors (6T) and single-ended read and write bitlines (RBL/WBL). We compare the stability, simultaneous read/write disturbance, SNM sensitivity and misread current from the read bitline with the 7T and 8T bitcells. The static noise margin (SNM) of the 6T bitcells around the write disturbed bitcell is 53% to 61% higher than that of the 7T bitcell. The average active power dissipation under the different read/write operations of the 6T bitcells is 28% lower than the 8T and equal to 7T bitcell. Hence, the proposed 2-port 6T-SRAM is a potential candidate in terms of process variability, stability, area, and power dissipation.


Results of a recent study of 11 leading integrated delivery systems (IDSs) belie the common perception that IDSs are incapable of turning a profit. The study determined that the primary factors driving the poor financial performance of IDSs are organizational complexity, payment reductions mandated by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, and a general lack of foresight regarding financial problems when embarking on an integration strategy. By implementing a wide range of initiatives to stem losses and improve financial performance, several of the case-study IDSs have accomplished dramatic financial turnarounds over the past three years, and all have achieved consistently stronger financial performance.


BACKGROUND
Iatrogenic injuries related to medications are common, costly, and clinically significant. Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) may reduce medication error rates.

METHODS
We identified trials that evaluated the effects of CPOE and CDSSs on medication safety by electronically searching MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library and by manually searching the bibliographies of retrieved articles. Studies were included for systematic review if the design was a randomized controlled trial, a nonrandomized controlled trial, or an observational study with controls and if the measured outcomes were clinical (eg, adverse drug events) or surrogate (eg, medication errors) markers. Two reviewers extracted all the data. Discussion resolved any disagreements.

RESULTS
Five trials assessing CPOE and 7 assessing isolated CDSSs met the criteria. Of the CPOE studies, 2 demonstrated a marked decrease in the serious medication error rate, 1 an improvement in corollary orders, 1 an improvement in 5 prescribing behaviors, and 1 an improvement in nephrotoxic drug dose and frequency. Of the 7 studies evaluating isolated CDSSs, 3 demonstrated statistically significant improvements in antibiotic-associated medication errors or adverse drug events and 1 an improvement in theophylline-associated medication errors. The remaining 3 studies had nonsignificant results.

CONCLUSIONS
Use of CPOE and isolated CDSSs can substantially reduce medication error rates, but most studies have not been powered to detect differences in adverse drug events and have evaluated a small number of "homegrown" systems. Research is needed to evaluate commercial systems, to compare the various applications, to identify key components of applications, and to identify factors related to successful implementation of these systems.


This guide is created in support of the WR 123 class with a focus on legal resources including Westlaw Campus Research, Nolo Law Dictionary, the United States Supreme Court site, and Google Scholar.


Hepatitis C virus is a single stranded RNA virus. It is a major cause of acute and chronic hepatitis. The mode of infection is usually through intravenous drug abuse or transfusion of infected blood or blood products. Health care workers are at risk for needle stick and other with high-risk sexual behavior is also considered a major risk factor for HCV infection. The incidence of new cases of acute HCV infection has sharply decreased in the United States during the past decade, but the prevalence remains high with approximately 2.7 million Americans infected with the virus. Chronic HCV infection progresses in roughly 75% of patients after acute infection by the virus. Chronic HCV infection is slowly progressive disease and results in severe morbidity in 20-30% of infected persons.


With the proliferation of computation-extensive and latency-critical applications in the 5G and beyond networks, mobile-edge computing (MEC) or fog computing, which provides cloud-like computation and/or storage capabilities at the network edge, is envisioned to reduce computation latency as well as to conserve energy for wireless devices (WDs). This paper studies a novel device-to-device (D2D)-enabled multi-helper MEC system, in which a local user solicits its nearby WDs serving as helpers for cooperative computation. We assume a time division multiple access (TDMA) transmission protocol, under which the local user offloads the tasks to multiple helpers and downloads the results from them over orthogonal pre-scheduled time slots. Under this setup, we minimize the computation latency by optimizing the local user's task assignment jointly with the time and rate for task offloading and results downloading, as well as the computation frequency for task execution, subject to individual energy and computation capacity constraints at the local user and the helpers. However, the formulated problem is a mixed-integer non-linear program (MINLP) that is difficult to solve. To tackle this challenge, we propose an efficient algorithm by first relaxing the original problem into a convex one, and then constructing a suboptimal task assignment solution based on the obtained optimal one. Furthermore, we consider a benchmark scheme that endows the WDs with their maximum computation capacities. To further reduce the implementation complexity, we also develop a heuristic scheme based on the greedy task assignment. Finally, the numerical results validate the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm, as compared against the heuristic scheme and other benchmark ones without either joint optimization of radio and computation resources or task assignment design.


The goal of the Institute for Applied Ecology's Willamette Valley Seed Increase Program is to develop a supply of ecologically appropriate, genetically diverse native plant material for restoration of prairie ecosystems in the Willamette Valley. In creating restoration germplasm we seek to maximize genetic diversity while simultaneously protecting genetic integrity of extant native populations. In the absence of genetic data to guide appropriate movement of native seeds, we are testing the use of an ecoregion approach using a variety of research techniques. We collected seeds, defined preliminary seed transfer zones, and planted seed increase fields for each of 21 historically widespread, common species. We captured spatial and temporal genetic diversity by sampling from many populations per species over a 3-y period. Seed zone boundaries for each species were drawn at the scale of the ecoregion or smaller, depending on life history characteristics and potential for adverse genetic effects of translocation. To minimize loss of diversity through domestication selection, we planted increase fields using a novel design, the Diversity Enhancement Block. Seedlots from populations with different phenology or from different areas within the ecoregion were planted in separate adjacent blocks. This design allows harvest of each block separately as seeds mature, while still permitting plants from different regions of the valley to cross-pollinate and to produce crop seeds with maximum genetic diversity. All of our production fields have been entered into the Oregon Seed Certification Service Pre-Variety Germplasm program. We are looking for partners to participate in a buyer's cooperative.


Abstract A lack of credibility in the tourism sector is becoming a social and environmental concern. This article argues that destination source credibility as a destination-level stimulus can have significant influences on tourist environmentally responsible behavior (TERB). Based on the stimulus-organism-response theory, this article developed an integrated model of the relationship between destination source credibility and TERB, with destination image (cognitive and affective) and place attachment as mediators. Three sets of survey data were collected at a Chinese national wetland park (N = 451), a world heritage cultural landscape site (N = 453), and a world cultural heritage site (N = 450). The serial multiple mediation model was tested through combining bootstrapping and Bayesian approaches. Results indicated that destination source credibility enhanced tourists' cognitive and affective image, place attachment, and TERB. In addition, the effect of destination source credibility on TERB was partially and sequentially mediated by (cognitive and then affective) destination image and place attachment, among which place attachment emerged as the most powerful mediator. Robustness of these findings was confirmed across different destination types. Theoretical contribution and practical implication for sustainable destination management are discussed.


To identify and categorize complex stimuli such as familiar objects or speech, the human brain integrates information that is abstracted at multiple levels from its sensory inputs. Using cross-modal priming for spoken words and sounds, this functional magnetic resonance imaging study identified 3 distinct classes of visuoauditory incongruency effects: visuoauditory incongruency effects were selective for 1) spoken words in the left superior temporal sulcus (STS), 2) environmental sounds in the left angular gyrus (AG), and 3) both words and sounds in the lateral and medial prefrontal cortices (IFS/mPFC). From a cognitive perspective, these incongruency effects suggest that prior visual information influences the neural processes underlying speech and sound recognition at multiple levels, with the STS being involved in phonological, AG in semantic, and mPFC/IFS in higher conceptual processing. In terms of neural mechanisms, effective connectivity analyses (dynamic causal modeling) suggest that these incongruency effects may emerge via greater bottom-up effects from early auditory regions to intermediate multisensory integration areas (i.e., STS and AG). This is consistent with a predictive coding perspective on hierarchical Bayesian inference in the cortex where the domain of the prediction error (phonological vs. semantic) determines its regional expression (middle temporal gyrus/STS vs. AG/intraparietal sulcus).


Background Olea europaea (known as olive fruit) has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities and many potential health benefits including gastric inflammation reduction has been shown previously. This study aimed to investigate the preventive and therapeutic effects of O. europaea extract on the early histological changes in indomethacin-induced small intestinal injury model with the plasma D-lactate concentration being measured as a tool for determination of intestinal permeability. Methods In this experimental study, two separate protective and therapeutic protocols were designed. In both experiments, male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups and either pretreated with 0, 100, 200, or 400 mg/kg/day of O. europaea extract or received the treatment after administration of indomethacin. Their small intestines were examined to compare the histological changes. The intestinal injury severity was evaluated according to the presence of eosinophils, plasma cell infiltration, edema, congestion, and hyperplasia of the crypt using a histological scoring system. Also, measured were the presence of neutrophils, decreased villus length-to-crypt depth ratio, and destructed villus architecture. The plasma concentration of D-lactate was measured as well. Results The therapeutic use of O. europaea decreased the eosinophil, edema, congestion, and crypt hyperplasia scores compared to the control group. Although no significant difference was seen between groups of the preventive experiment in plasma cell infiltration score, villus length-to-crypt depth ratio, neutrophil infiltration, and percentage of destructed villus architecture, treatment with O. europaea caused a reduction in edema, eosinophil, congestion, and crypt hyperplasia score. In both experiments, no significant difference was seen between groups for villus length-to-crypt depth ratio, neutrophil infiltration, and percentage of destructed villus architecture. Plasma D-lactate concentration was decreased in all O. europaea-treated groups compared to the control group in the therapeutic and preventive experiments (p < 0.01, one-way ANOVA followed by the Dunnett test). Conclusion O. europaea extract can be used to decrease some side effects of indomethacin on intestinal tissue and enhances the gastrointestinal function. O. europaea extract could be considered as a potential herbal supplement in the treatment of intestinal morphological injuries.


PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
To identify patterns of response of parents in relation to taking care of their child with cancer.
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LITERATURE SEARCH
The search was performed using CINAHL® and Scopus in February 2013.
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DATA EVALUATION
The selection process resulted in 18 articles with a wide range of methodologic approaches. The description of the research methods of each study and the relevance of the results in comparison to the purpose of this review were established as assessment criteria.
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SYNTHESIS
The results of the studies were analyzed using Meleis's Transition Theory, identifying a vast number of patterns of response developed by the parents. These patterns of response were analyzed, compared, and split into four themes.
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CONCLUSIONS
Using this methodology, a wide range of behaviors, attitudes, and competencies associated with the circumstance of parents caring for a child with cancer could be identified.
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IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
Knowledge of the patterns of response will enable nurses to lead parents through a healthy transition process in caring for their children with cancer.


The open access movement, well known in the domain of journal articles, came about because of several reasons. These include scholars' and researchers' willingness to share knowledge, and advances in technology which enabled opening up free access to information. Journal publishers who raised the subscription rates exorbitantly also forced researchers to look for alternative ways of sustaining knowledge sharing. The paper discusses two ways of achieving open access (OA) and argues that sharing knowledge and building partnerships have been recognised as the best and most optimal means of creating and benefiting from knowledge. It focuses on various fronts where OA is making good progress, and also deliberates on issues like OA endeavours in India, OA and sustainable development and what needs to be done in India to promote OA activities. http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/djlit.28.1.147


Several election districts in the US have recently moved to ranked-choice voting (RCV) to decide the results of local elections. RCV allows voters to rank their choices, and the results are computed in rounds, eliminating one candidate at a time. RCV ensures fairer elections and has been shown to increase elected representation of women and people of color.
A main drawback of RCV is that the round-by-round process requires all the ballots to be tallied before the results of an election can be calculated. With increasingly large portions of ballots coming from absentee voters, RCV election outcomes are not always apparent on election night, and can take several weeks to be published, leading to a loss of trust in the electoral process from the public.
In this paper, we present an algorithm for efficiently computing possible winners of RCV elections from partially known ballots and evaluate it on data from the recent New York City Primary elections. We show that our techniques allow to significantly narrow down the field of possible election winners, and in some case identify the winner as soon as election night despite a number of yet-unaccounted absentee ballots, providing more transparency in the electoral process.


We report 2 cases of Kabuki syndrome (KS) with MLL2 gene mutation. The first patient showed c.10440+2, T>G alteration of the MLL2 gene, which is a novel mutation that is not documented in the literature. The second patient exhibited 2 heterozygous mutations: c.13606C>T mutation (in exon 40) and c.13839+89dupTGACGT (IVS41+89dupGACGT). The c.13606C>T mutation caused an amino acid change of p.Arg4536X, which has been associated with KS. However, c.13839+89dupTGACGT (IVS41+89dupGACGT) is an unknown variant or novel mutation. Both patients had typical facial features with long palpebral fissures, sparse and arched eyebrows, and large protruding ears. They also exhibited cardiac and renal problems and limb abnormality of clinodactyly with high finger pads. They both showed mental and developmental delays, which may have been due to hypotonia and the central origin. On the basis of the aforementioned symptoms, we summarised the cardinal symptoms of KS and determined the diagnostic indications for these patients.


Abstract. A spatial characterization of mid-latitude mesoscale rain fields from C-band radar measurements is performed by means of a systematic analysis and modelling of convective raincell shapes. To this aim a large rainfall dataset, derived from an operational C-band dual-polarized radar, has been continuously collected from 1996 to 1999. The radar-derived rain fields consist of 1558 grids of 256×256 km2 with a spatial resolution of 1 km. A new accurate and adaptive algorithm for raincell identification is introduced and thoroughly discussed. From this analysis, a quality-controlled set of 2601 raincells, together with the radial rain intensities (or raincell horizontal profiles), is extracted. Three one-dimensional analytical models of rainfall horizontal profile are reviewed and tested by best fitting their parameters against estimated raincell data. The statistical results of this intercomparison are quantitatively analyzed and discussed in terms of mean rainfall horizontal profiles and root mean square errors.


This article focuses on the need for urban archaeology problems to be considered on a mental horizon going far beyond the physical and technical dimension of the artwork or monument and the restoration project. The author reviews the emblematic experience of the Coliseum, which has been variously considered over the course of the centuries as a «ruin», a relic of the ancient Urbs, «awaiting» something (the visitor's surprise, the strongman's interest, or the archaeologist's study and action) and as an integral part of daily life in the city, which by its nature is an interconnected structure of relations. The article considers the changes in the role of the Coliseum «preserved in city life» from the time of imperial Rome to papal Rome and, in particular, the projects commissioned and realised in the 1600's and 1700's by the most illustrious architects of the time, who were able to grasp and exploit the irrepressible vitality accumulated in the «monument».