In this paper I compare Wittgenstein's and Adorno's different post-metaphysical visions of philosophy. In my opinion, it is possible to find many analogies between their approaches regarding the importance of the analysis of concepts and the relation between philosophy and music. But, while Adorno's theory is understandable just within the sort of philosophy of history traced in the famous Dialectical of Enlightenment, Wittgenstein is absolutely against such an approach. According to Adorno, negative dialectic is the only philosophical instrument useful to resist the universal tendency of domination of the Reason and his vision of language derives from that presupposition. By opposite, Wittgenstein believes that many "language games" exist and therefore our liberty depends on the possibility to use language in different ways. But the notion of "language games" presupposes that of "form of life" and therefore using language is a collective experience and not a monological one like in Adorno. This difference is the most important in order to understand why Adorno still believes in a positive role of philosophy while Wittgenstein not. More, according to Adorno, our liberty is also reachable thanks to that kind of music that stands opposite to social domination while Wittgenstein argues that we have to gain a contemplative perspective of the music in order to annul our suffering.


Living kidney transplantation is now a widely accepted treatment for end stage renal disease (ESRD) because it provides excellent outcomes for recipients. However, long-term outcomes of living kidney donors have not been well understood. Because securing the safety of the donor is essential to the continued success of this procedure, we reviewed articles discussing long-term outcomes of living kidney donors. Most studies found no decrease in long-term survival or progressive renal dysfunction in previous kidney donors. Moreover, the prevalence of hypertension was comparable to that expected in the general population, although some did report otherwise. Urinary protein showed small increases in this population and was associated with hypertension and a lower glomerular filtration rate. Quality of life following living kidney donation seems to be better than the national norm. We also encountered several reports of ESRD in previous living kidney donors. Regular follow-up of kidney donors is recommended and future controlled, prospective studies will better delineate risk factors which cause health problems following living kidney donation.


In spring 2015 Congress passed legislation to extend funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through the end of fiscal year 2017. This two-year extension pushes to 2017 the question of whether CHIP funding will end, allowing states to end their separate state CHIP programs. Also, when the Affordable Care Act's maintenance-of-effort requirements expire after 2019, states will be allowed to roll back Medicaid- and CHIP-eligibility thresholds to minimum levels allowed by federal law. This study investigated the potential health insurance options available to low-income children if these events happen. If all states roll back coverage to federal statutory minimums, then, among children in families with incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, the share ineligible for public coverage or subsidized Marketplace coverage would increase from 22 percent in 2014 (12.5 million children) to 46 percent after 2019 (26.5 million children). While not all states are likely to reduce eligibility to federal statutory minimums, these estimates highlight the fact that many children who do lose public eligibility will not become eligible for subsidized Marketplace coverage.


The transgenic (Tg) expression of ectopic genes in organisms allows researchers to observe developmental outcomes that deviate from those of the wild-type organism. However, Tg expression in single organs is sometimes desired to determine protein function outside the context of other organs, or when organismic expression is lethal. Halloran et al. use laser-induced gene expression to track development within and surrounding one cell. Tg zebrafish were made containing the green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene cloned under the control of the heat shock protein (Hsp) 70 promoter. Tg fish subjected to heated water exhibited no morphological defects, had normal axonal development, and reproduced successfully, indicating that heat induction of GFP did not have any deleterious developmental effects. Laser-induced heating of individual cells in GFP Tg fish induced GFP production in 24-94% of the cells treated, depending on the cell type. The laser heat did not damage the cells. The authors then created fish containing a fusion of the Hsp70 promoter and semaphorin 3A1, a gene whose product causes repulsion of motor neurons and inhibition of growth cone extension. Laser excitation of one muscle cell led to the inhibition of motor neuron extension at only that muscle cell. Thus, laser-induced gene expression in single cells may give investigators the ability to trace cell lineages and very detailed fate maps in vertebrates. Halloran, M.C., Sato-Maeda, M., Warren, J.T., Su, F., Lele, Z., Krone, P.H., Kuwada, J.Y., and Shoji, W. (2000). Laser-induced gene expression in specific cells of transgenic zebrafish. Development 127: 1953-1960 [Online Journal]


From previous attempts you may have concluded that drawing the figure is difficult. This book will show you how to reduce complex figures into a variety of basic shapes that are easy to master, helping you to reach your goal of producing lifelike drawings. Tested through years of classroom use, the principles stressed here bring clear insights into drawing the human form. You'll find a logical, step-by-step method for mastering the construction and proportions of all figure types. First the basic forms are analyzed - the proportions of the various parts and their relations to the total figure. You'll then learn how these parts are connected and how they move and find exercises in drawing the complete figure in any position, engaged in a variety of activities. Also included are detailed studies of anatomy - examining bone and muscle structure - plus special instructions for drawing such intricate parts of the body as the head, hands and feet. You'll learn: * How relative body proportions change at different ages* How bones and muscles affect the surface of the figure* How to create many types of faces from the same model* How different lighting angles affect facial shadows* How to select the most descriptive pose "Concentrate on this basic form figure until you can do anything you want with it. Draw it in as many positions as possible," Walt Reed says in his introduction. "Practice of this kind will help train your hand and your mind in the proportions, construction, and relationships of the individual forms so that you will never forget them."


The epithelial Na+ channel (ENaC) is essential for Na+ homeostasis, and dysregulation of this channel underlies many forms of hypertension. Recent studies suggest that mTOR regulates phosphorylation and activation of serum/glucocorticoid regulated kinase 1 (SGK1), which is known to inhibit ENaC internalization and degradation; however, it is not clear whether mTOR contributes to the regulation of renal tubule ion transport. Here, we evaluated the effect of selective mTOR inhibitors on kidney tubule Na+ and K+ transport in WT and Sgk1-/- mice, as well as in isolated collecting tubules. We found that 2 structurally distinct competitive inhibitors (PP242 and AZD8055), both of which prevent all mTOR-dependent phosphorylation, including that of SGK1, caused substantial natriuresis, but not kaliuresis, in WT mice, which indicates that mTOR preferentially influences ENaC function. PP242 also substantially inhibited Na+ currents in isolated perfused cortical collecting tubules. Accordingly, patch clamp studies on cortical tubule apical membranes revealed that mTOR inhibition markedly reduces ENaC activity, but does not alter activity of K+ inwardly rectifying channels (ROMK channels). Together, these results demonstrate that mTOR regulates kidney tubule ion handling and suggest that mTOR regulates Na+ homeostasis through SGK1-dependent modulation of ENaC activity.


Purpose of review Donor shortage has forced transplant teams to explore new methods to increase the potential donor pool. Donation after circulatory death (DCD) has opened new perspectives and could be a valuable option to expand the brain-dead donors. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of current practice and to identify remaining questions related to ethical and medical issues that should be further addressed in the future. Recent findings Recent findings demonstrate acceptable outcomes after DCD kidney and lung transplantation but inferior graft survival for liver transplantation. The impact and importance of the agonal phase following withdrawal of treatment in controlled DCD is increasingly recognized. Premortem interventions are currently under debate related to preservation strategies or comfort therapy. New preservation strategies using in-situ/in-vivo extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or ex-vivo machine perfusion have large potential in the future. Finally, organizations and institutions are reporting more uniform guidelines related to declaration of death and DCD organ procurement. Summary DCD donation has regained much attention during the last decade and is now part of standard clinical practice albeit this type of donation should not be regarded as an equally acceptable alternative for donation after brain death. It will be important to further explore the potential of DCD, to monitor the long-term outcomes and to further optimize the quality of these grafts. Development and implementation of uniform guidelines will be necessary to guarantee the clinical use of these donor pools.


The presence of estrogen receptor in 67 canine mammary lesions was correlated with pathological features of the disease. All tissue specimens were analyzed for estrogen receptor content by a sucrose gradient ultracentrifugation method previously used in analyzing human breast cancer cytosols. Pathological features of the tissues were assessed by a veterinary pathologist without knowledge of results of estrogen receptor analysis. Sixty-two (92.5%) of the tissue samples analyzed were classified as epithelial neoplastic lesions, and 38 of these (61.3%), including 24 adenocarcinomas, were estrogen receptor for positive (i.e., estrogen receptor concentration equal to or greater than 10 fmol/mg cytosol protein). All five of the nonepithelial neoplastic lesions were estrogen receptor negative. Canine and human breast cancers share common histological types and have similar biological behavior. If a significant percentage of canine mammary cancer is also estrogen dependent, the dog may be a useful model for hormonal studies and for the development of models of endocrine therapy for human breast cancer.


A procedure is proposed for identification and diagnosis of faults in multiterminal devices. A combinatorial technique determines the number of x-terminal y-port nonredundant sub-networks which can be generated from a z-terminal parent network. This information is intended to identify and isolate internal faults of the system through an optimal set of external measurements. An elementary tutorial introduction to the terminology and procedures of combinatorial analysis aims to make this account self-contained and useful to the reliability engineer without a specialized mathematical background. Four-terminal and five-terminal devices are examined first. The results are then so formulated as to yield algorithms for computer-oriented procedures to identify the complete set of nonredundant configurations of a multiterminal network. The flowchart of operations suitable for a computer program is presented.


A rare relapsing mammary tumor is described. The tumor consisted of a major mesenchymal component and a minor tubular one, there were many mitoses. Myofibrils, intercellular desmosomal contacts, basal membranes and secretory granules were found electron-microscopically. Coexpression of all intermediate filament (IF) proteins was found: total keratin, keratins of the liminal and myoepithelial types; IF specific for mesenchymal cells - vimentin, that for glial cells - glial acidic fibrillar protein and nerve cells - neurofilaments. Thus, as distinct from adenomyoepithelioma, the tumor is composed of pluripotential elements which are the exception from the rule of the IF proteins tissue specificity. The term "pluricelluloma" is suggested for this tumor.


ABSTRACT During 1994, 10 isolates of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Salmonella typhimurium were recovered from children transferred to our hospital from two different centers. Two additional isolates were recovered from two nurses from one of these centers. The aim of this study was to determine if there is any relationship between these isolates. The characterization was done by phenotypic and genotypic methods: biotyping, phage typing, antibiotic susceptibility pattern determination, plasmid analysis, ribotyping (by the four endonucleases EcoRI,SmaI, BglII, and PvuII), pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of genome macrorestriction patterns with XbaI, and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) pattern determination (with the three primers 217 d2, B1, and A3). The same biotype, the same serotype, and an identical antibiotype were found. All isolates were resistant to oxyimino-β-lactams, gentamicin, tobramycin, and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim. All isolates showed an indistinguishable pattern by ribotyping and very similar patterns by PFGE and RAPD. The overall results indicated the spread of a closely related strain of S. typhimurium in children and nurses.


As power dissipation in future Networks-on-Chips (NoCs) is projected to be a major bottleneck, researchers are actively engaged in developing alternate power-efficient technology solutions. Photonic interconnects is a disruptive technology solution that is capable of delivering the communication bandwidth at low power dissipation when the number of cores is scaled to large numbers. Similarly, 3D stacking is another interconnect technology solution that can lead to low energy/bit for communication. In this paper, we propose to combine photonic interconnects with 3D stacking to develop a scalable, reconfigurable, power-efficient and high-performance interconnect for future many-core systems, called R-3PO (Reconfigurable 3DPhotonic Networks-on-Chip). We propose to develop a multi-layer photonic interconnect that can dynamically reconfigure without system intervention and allocate channel bandwidth from less utilized links to more utilized communication links. In addition to improving performance, reconfiguration can re-allocate bandwidth around faulty channels, thereby increasing the resiliency of the architecture and gracefully degrading performance. For 64-core reconfigured network, our simulation results indicate that the performance can be further improved by 10%-25% for Splash-2, PARSEC and SPEC CPU2006 benchmarks, where as simulation results for 256-core chip indicate a performance improvement of more than 25% while saving 6%-36% energy when compared to state-of-the-art on-chip electrical and optical networks.


: The chemostat culture of Candida utilis was grown under the conditions of varying temperatures: one generation grew at an optimal temperature of 31 degrees C, the second at supraoptimal temperatures: either 35, 36 or 37 degrees C; these were alternated during 6-8 generations. Changes in the growth yield were studied as well as changes in the content of protein, RNA and DNA in cells and changes in the zeta-potential of cells at a growth rate of 0.34 hr-1. At this rate, the population became "synchronous-like" and contained up to 60% of simultaneously budding cells. When the temperature of cultivation was periodically changed, the content of RNA and DNA in the biomass fluctuated at a decreasing amplitude around values found during the growth at the optimal temperature; the electro-kinetic characteristics of cells were also in the attenuated oscillating state approaching the norm. The authors discuss how the population retains the value of growth yield constant when it is grown under the conditions of varying temperatures and what is the origin of thermotolerant forms.


This report is based upon a workshop, called 'CyberFest', held at Sandia National Laboratories on May 27-30, 2008. Participants in the workshop came from organizations both outside and inside Sandia. The premise of the workshop was that thinking about cyber security from a metaphorical perspective could lead to a deeper understanding of current approaches to cyber defense and perhaps to some creative new approaches. A wide range of metaphors was considered, including those relating to: military and other types of conflict, biological, health care, markets, three-dimensional space, and physical asset protection. These in turn led to consideration of a variety of possible approaches for improving cyber security in the future. From the proposed approaches, three were formulated for further discussion. These approaches were labeled 'Heterogeneity' (drawing primarily on the metaphor of biological diversity), 'Motivating Secure Behavior' (taking a market perspective on the adoption of cyber security measures) and 'Cyber Wellness' (exploring analogies with efforts to improve individual and public health).


The flow stress of AA1235 aluminium series-H14 material of 16 to 300 μm thickness has been determined here for the first time which showed the stress reduced significantly with thickness. A stress-strain relationship has been determined as a function of the thickness and grain size. A limiting drawing ratio (LDR) of 2.003 was achieved by a subsequent heat treatment of accumulative roll bonded (ARB) materials before the micro-cup drawing. The cup was successfully formed as the combined process has reduced the planar anisotropy, increased the normal anisotropy and improved the formability of a cup.


The raceway boundary is coarse and fragmentized, but all of previous studies are based on Euclidean geometry, which regard the dimension of raceway as an integer. In this paper, particle velocity contour has been developed to define the raceway boundary. The fractal method of calculating raceway size, which describe boundary with extremely un-regular or fragment characteristic, is brought forward in physical model. The result shows that the precise raceway boundary can be obtained by particle velocity contour, and the surface area of ellipsoidal raceway based on fractal is larger than that based on Euclidean.


Book synopsis: Born in Warsaw in 1911 into a working-class Jewish family, Josef Herman arrived in Britain (via Belgium) in 1940, settling first in Glasgow and then in the South Welsh mining village of Ystradgynlais. By the early 1950s, known mainly for his images of Welsh miners, he had established himself as a major figure in contemporary British art and his work featured prominently in the 1951 Festival of Britain. By the end of the decade, examples of his work had entered virtually every important public collection in the UK. Further public recognition came in 1981, when he was awarded an OBE, and in 1990, when he was elected a Royal Academician.

Herman was no follower of fashion, however, and throughout his long life remained true to his conviction that art and morality should never be far apart, that technique, though important, should always be subservient to subject-matter, and that working men and women - whether in Poland, Wales, Burgundy, Suffolk or Mexico - embody a profound and universal human archetype.

This monograph is the first book to look at all aspects and phases of Herman's career in equal detail, and to place his life and work in a broader cultural context. Generously illustrated, it includes images both familiar and unfamiliar, some of them - as the result of the author's extensive researches - reproduced for the very first time. It aims both to introduce this important artist to a new public, and to reveal a creative spirit of far greater diversity and complexity than even Herman's longstanding admirers will have suspected.


In recent years, an increasing trend towards replacement of conventional fossil-based plastics with bio-based plastics was noticed, i.e., production of plastics partly or fully made from biomass is rapidly expanding. Currently, bio-based and biodegradable plastics have a very small market size, approximately only 1% of all plastics produced. However, the forecast of the global bioplastics production capacities predicts an increase from approximately 2.417 million tonnes in 2021 to approximately 7.593 million tonnes in 2026, more than three times the current capacity. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the challenges and identify the barriers for bio-based and biodegradable plastics for waste management and to evaluate the effectiveness of current plastic waste management strategies for the efficient waste management of bio-based and biodegradable plastics. The main barriers and motivators of the biodegradable and biodegradable plastics market that have been identified include macroeconomic factors, regulatory factors, technological factors, and social factors. The bio-based and biodegradable plastics have to be separately collected and treated under mostly controlled, regulated conditions. However, currently, there are no legal provisions providing for the separate collection of bio-based plastics, leading to their disposal with either hazardous waste, conventional plastics, or municipal waste. Since the effective plastic waste management strategy relates to good performance in each step of the waste management process, bio-based and biodegradable plastic waste management could, therefore, be based on an effective strategy for the management of plastic waste. However, there is a need for standardizing waste collection systems and creating a harmonized waste collection infrastructure, which would lead to effective sorting of bio-based plastic waste.


The Portia group of Uranian satellites, representing 9 of the planet's 13 tiny innermost moons, form a densely packed dynamical system. Hubble Space Telescope observations indicate that their orbits have changed significantly over two decades, and long-term numerical integrations show that their orbits are unstable over millions of years. To investigate the dynamical interactions of the Portia group satellites on the decade timescale over which orbital changes have been observed, we have performed a suite of 100–1000 yr N-body numerical integrations for a range of assumed satellite masses, which are at present not tightly constrained by observations. As first noted by Dawson et al. and recently investigated independently by Quillen & (Robert) French, the moons are configured in chains of interlinked first- and second-order eccentric resonances that contribute to chaotic behavior. We explore in detail several of the strongest of these interlinked resonances. The first such chain is a quintet of orbital resonances: Bianca is near a resonance with Cressida, which is itself near a resonance with Desdemona. Desdemona, in turn, is near a resonance with Portia, which is itself near a resonance with Juliet. The five participating resonances are: Cressida and Bianca (16:15), Desdemona and Cressida (47:46), Portia and Desdemona (13:12), and Portia and Juliet (51:49). A second such chain is a set of two interlinked resonances: Cupid and Belinda (58:57) and Belinda and Perdita (44:43). We also report the new identification of a companion set of second-order inclination-type resonances (Cressida and Bianca (32:30), Desdemona and Cressida (94:92), Portia and Desdemona (26:24), Portia and Juliet (51:49), Cupid and Belinda (116:114), and Belinda and Perdita (88:86)), some of which result in quite strongly coupled variations in the inclinations of the interacting satellites. Using a robust formulation of orbital elements that accounts for the oblateness of Uranus, we probe the dynamical interactions among the moons in the time and frequency domains, and also in phase space, using numerical integrations of subsets of the inner moons, for a range of assumed masses. Several of the satellites are near mean-motion resonance with more than one neighbor, and undergo orbital variations at two nearly equal resonant frequencies. Such configurations of two interlinked resonances can result in chaotic behavior, associated with the transition of one resonant argument from circulation to libration. We demonstrate that, even on the short timescales investigated here, the dynamical interactions, onset of chaos, and associated Lyapunov times are highly sensitive to the masses of the interacting satellites.


The effect of a two-week regimen of topical aminosidine was investigated in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 251 selected Iranian patients with zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis. Patients underwent clinical and parasitologic assessment before and 15 (end of therapy), 45, and 105 days after starting the treatment. Aminosidine ointment was safe and well-tolerated, and produced significant reductions in the prevalence of parasitologically positive smears on days 15 and 105 (but not day 45) after treatment compared with placebo. However, there was no clear clinical benefit at any stage after treatment. We conclude that this twice a day two-week regimen of aminosidine was inadequate to accelerate the recovery of most cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis. However, the ointment did show some clear evidence of parasitologic efficacy and should now be studied in longer or more frequent regimens in an effort to prevent parasitologic relapse and thus promote clinical improvement.


BACKGROUND
Progressive resistance exercise (PRE) can have a positive effect in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the effect of PRE may vary with the clinical subtype of PD. To date, no study has assessed the effects of PRE in the different subtypes of PD.

AIM
The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of PRE in PD patients with akinesia and rigidity (AR-subtype).

DESIGN
A randomized controlled trial was conducted.

SETTING
Outpatients clinics of the Bierzo Parkinson Association (Ponferrada, Spain) and the Asturias Parkinson Association (Oviedo, Spain).

POPULATION
Twenty-eight patients with AR-subtype PD were randomized into an Experimental Group (EG, N.=13) and Control Group (CG, N.=15).

METHODS
Static posturography (Centre of Pressure -CoP- parameters), gait (the Ten-Meter Walk Test [TMWT]), freezing of gait (the Freezing of Gait Questionnaire [FOG-Q]), the motor portion of the Movement Disorders Society-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) and patient-perceived quality of life (the 39-item Parkinson's disease Questionnaire [PDQ39]), were assessed at pre-test, post-test, and re-test. Ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) (Borg >6-20 Scale) were recorded at the end of each PRE training session.

RESULTS
The EG displayed significant ameliorations in Length (CoP parameters) from pre- to post-test (P=0.048), in speed of fast rhythm walking (TMWT) from pre- to post-test (P=0.000), and from pre- to re-test (P=0.027), and in the PDQ39 Score from pre- to post-test (P=0.024). No significant differences were detected in Area or Speed (CoP parameters), speed of preferred rhythm walking (TMWT), FOG-Q scores, or the motor portion of the MDS-UPDRS scores. The EG reported a mean RPE of 9.95 (between "very light" and "fairly light") for the whole training program.

CONCLUSIONS
These findings provide support for the use of PRE training in the rehabilitation of individuals with AR-subtype PD, as it can improve static posturography, gait, and quality of life. Furthermore, RPE scores showed that individuals with AR-subtype PD consider that PRE training require only light efforts.

CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT
The PRE training can be a helpful and fruitful rehabilitation tool for AR-subtype PD patients.


Insect herbivores have developed a myriad of strategies to manipulate the defense responses of their host plants. Here we provide evidence that chewing insects differentially alter the oxylipin profiles produced by the two main and competing branches of the plant defensive response pathway, the allene oxide synthase (AOS) and hydroperoxide lyase (HPL) branches, which are responsible for wound-inducible production of jasmonates (JAs), and green leafy volatiles (GLVs) respectively. Specifically, we used three Arabidopsis genotypes that were damaged by mechanical wounding or by insects of various feeding guilds (piercing aphids, generalist chewing caterpillars and specialist chewing caterpillars). We established that emission of GLVs is stimulated by wounding incurred mechanically or by aphids, but release of these volatiles is constitutively impaired by both generalist and specialist chewing insects. Simultaneously, however, these chewing herbivores stimulated JA production, demonstrating targeted insect suppression of the HPL branch of the oxylipin pathway. Use of lines engineered to express HPL constitutively, in conjunction with quantitative RT-PCR-based expression analyses, established a combination of transcriptional and post-transcriptional reprogramming of the HPL pathway genes as the mechanistic basis of insect-mediated suppression of the corresponding metabolites. Feeding studies suggested a potential evolutionary advantage of suppressing GLV production, as caterpillars preferably consumed leaf tissue from plants that had not been primed by these volatile cues.


Much recent literature has characterized the Federal Circuit's patent scope jurisprudence as "formalistic." Another extensive set of literature has characterized the Federal Circuit's patent scope jurisprudence as wildly indeterministic. If formalism is defined as decision-making according to predictable rules, then these two claims contradict each other.In this Essay, I argue that the Federal Circuit is not a formalistic court in practice, though like every other court it uses formalistic rhetoric. But such rhetoric only masks the reality that current patent scope doctrines allow an enormous amount of judicial discretion; discretion that the Federal Circuit has pragmatically exercised.


A fault-secure datapath either generates a correct result or signals an error. This paper presents a register transfer level Concurrent Error Detection (CEO) technique that uses hybrid time and hardware redundancy to optimize the time and area overhead associated with fault security. The proposed technique combines the idle computation cycles in a datapath with selective breaking of data dependences of the normal computation. Designers can trade-off time and hardware overhead by varying these design parameters. We present an algorithm to synthesize fault secure designs and validate it using Synopsys Behavioral Compiler.


This study evaluated the physical performance of a selenium-based direct full-field digital mammography prototype detector (Siemens Mammomat NovationDR), including the pixel value vs. exposure linearity, the modulation transfer function (MTF), the normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS), and the detective quantum efficiency (DQE). The current detector is the same model which received an approvable letter from FDA for release to the US market. The results of the current prototype are compared to those of an earlier prototype. Two IEC standard beam qualities (RQA-M2: Mo/Mo, 28 kVp, 2 mm Al; RQA-M4: Mo/Mo, 35 kVp, 2 mm Al) and two additional beam qualities (MW2: W/Rh, 28 kVp, 2 mm Al; MW4: W/Rh, 35 kVp, 2 mm Al) were investigated. To calculate the modulation transfer function (MTF), a 0.1 mm Pt-Ir edge was imaged at each beam quality. Detector pixel values responded linearly against exposure values (R2 0.999). As before, above 6 cycles/mm Mo/Mo MTF was slightly higher along the chest-nipple axis compared to the left-right axis. MTF was comparable to the previously reported prototype, with slightly reduced resolution. The DQE peaks ranged from 0.71 for 3.31 μC/kg (12.83 mR) to 0.4 for 0.48 μC/kg (1.86 mR) at 1.75 cycles/mm for Mo/Mo at 28 kVp. The DQE range for W/Rh at 28 kVP was 0.81 at 2.03 μC/kg (7.87 mR) to 0.50 at 0.50 μC/kg (1.94 mR) at 1 cycle/mm. NNPS tended to increase with greater exposures, while all exposures had a significant low-frequency component. Bloom and detector edge artifacts observed previously were no longer present in this prototype. The new detector shows marked noise improvement, with slightly reduced resolution. There remain artifacts due to imperfect gain calibration, but at a reduced magnitude compared to a prototype detector.


The goal of this contribution is to deepen our knowledge of French cleft sentences through the study of a special category of
 clefts called adverbial clefts. The issues that we will address concern their form, discourse frequency and
 boundaries with resembling structures. In order to shed light on these issues, we start by defining the concept of
 adverbial from a morphosyntactic and functional point of view. We then present a corpus-based description of
 the categories of adverbials that can be cleaved. Finally, we propose a general semantic principle capable of describing and
 explaining, in a coherent and unitary way, both the data obtained in our empirical study and found in the form of constructed
 examples in the existing literature. In addition to explaining why certain adverbials can be cleaved while others cannot, this
 principle also allows for a distinction to be made between two syntactic realizations of the structure 'c'est Adv que p', as well
 as for a solution to the controversial issue of the status of domain adverbials.


When documents include graphics such as diagrams, photos, and data plots, the graphics may also require summarization. This paper discusses essential differences in informational content and rhetorical structure between text and graphics, as well as their interplay. The three approaches to graphics summarization discussed are: Selection, in which a subset of figures is chosen; Merging, in which information in multiple figures is merged into one; and Distillation, in which a single diagram is reduced to a simpler form. These procedures have to consider the content and relations of the graphical elements within figures, the relations among a collection of figures, and the figure captions and discussions of figure content in the running text. We argue that for summarization to be successful, metadata, a manipulable representation of the content of figures, needs t, k generated or included initially. Often, the textual refert to figures are not very informative, so it will be necessa generate metadata by diagram parsing, as we have dont to develop intelligent authorh~g systems that will allow the author to easily include metadata. This paper introduces this new area of research with manual summarization examples and follows them with a discussion of automated techniques under development. For example, here is how two data graphs might be merged:


We discuss various statistical distributions of earthquake numbers. Previously we derived several discrete distributions to describe earthquake numbers for the branching model of earthquake occurrence: these distributions are the Poisson, geometric, logarithmic, and the negative binomial (NBD). The theoretical model is the `birth and immigration' population process. The first three distributions above can be considered special cases of the NBD. In particular, a point branching process along the magnitude (or log seismic moment) axis with independent events (immigrants) explains the magnitude/moment-frequency relation and the NBD of earthquake counts in large time/space windows, as well as the dependence of the NBD parameters on the magnitude threshold (magnitude of an earthquake catalogue completeness). We discuss applying these distributions, especially the NBD, to approximate event numbers in earthquake catalogues. There are many different representations of the NBD. Most can be traced either to the Pascal distribution or to the mixture of the Poisson distribution with the gamma law. We discuss advantages and drawbacks of both representations for statistical analysis of earthquake catalogues. We also consider applying the NBD to earthquake forecasts and describe the limits of the application for the given equations. In contrast to the one-parameter Poisson distribution so widely used to describe earthquake occurrence, the NBD has two parameters. The second parameter can be used to characterize clustering or over-dispersion of a process. We determine the parameter values and their uncertainties for several local and global catalogues, and their subdivisions in various time intervals, magnitude thresholds, spatial windows, and tectonic categories. The theoretical model of how the clustering parameter depends on the corner (maximum) magnitude can be used to predict future earthquake number distribution in regions where very large earthquakes have not yet occurred.


Interdisciplinary research requires a methodological flexibility and a capacity to tune in to different ways of knowing. In this paper we develop a concept of resonance as an approach to practice-based research across three case studies. Resonance describes materialities and practices which amplify each other when they come together; consonance involves 'points of arrival, rest, and resolution' " (Kamien, p. 39); and dissonance describes instabilities that disrupt and become expressive of unevenness, provoking a further movement towards resolution. Drawn from the study of sound, each of these elements are explored as aspects of collaborative practice. Like Barad's work on diffraction, the concept of resonance draws connections between physics and the social world, operating as a way of rethinking our engagement with research practices by focusing on how different methods and disciplines amplify and productively interfere with one another as understandings are negotiated and performed collaboratively involving consonances and dissonances. The three cases that we use to elaborate these ideas are informational disaster mobility futures, mobile and situated sound composition, and collaborative GPS technologies in transdisciplinary art practice. Each case combines making, whether artistic or design-oriented, and social research through resonant processes that require careful listening and the ability to 'play' ones' tune clearly. Through the mutual amplification of certain materialities and practices that are central to our research projects, resonance creates momentum and we participate in the emergence of the phenomena that we seek to study. This productive resonance between research and practice both defines and makes 'better' futures.


Background: We examined the mediating effects of health insurance on poverty-colon cancer care and survival relationships and the moderating effects of poverty on health insurance-colon cancer care and survival relationships among women and men in California. Methods: We analyzed registry data for 3,291 women and 3,009 men diagnosed with colon cancer between 1996 and 2000 and followed until 2011 on lymph node investigation, stage at diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy, wait times and survival. We obtained socioeconomic data for individual residences from the 2000 census to categorize the following neighborhoods: high poverty (30% or more poor), middle poverty (5-29% poor) and low poverty (less than 5% poor). Primary health insurers were Medicaid, Medicare, private or none. Results: Evidence of mediation was observed for women, but not for men. For women, the apparent effect of poverty disappeared in the presence of payer, and the effects of all forms of health insurance seemed strengthened. All were advantaged on 6-year survival compared to the uninsured: Medicaid (RR = 1.83), Medicare (RR = 1.92) and private (RR = 1.83). Evidence of moderation was also only observed for women. The effects of all forms of health insurance were stronger for women in low poverty neighborhoods: Medicaid (RR = 2.90), Medicare (RR = 2.91) and private (RR = 2.60). For men, only main effects of poverty and payers were observed, the advantaging effect of private insurance being largest. Across colon cancer care processes, Medicare seemed most instrumental for women, private payers for men. Conclusions: Health insurance substantially mediates the quality of colon cancer care and poverty seems to make the effects of being uninsured or underinsured even worse, especially among women in the United States. These findings are consistent with the theory that more facilitative social and economic capital is available in more affluent neighborhoods, where women with colon cancer may be better able to absorb the indirect and direct, but uncovered, costs of care.


When Mrs Hurst calls Elizabeth Bennet "an excellent walker," in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (1813), the remark is meant to ridicule. For a modern reader, understanding this connotation requires a small exercise in historical imagination. Recent critical studies explore the rise of rambling and the Romantic poets' penchant for lengthy pedestrian excursions, but Pride and Prejudice does not feature the sort of lonely wanderings that lead to conversations with leech gatherers and mystical mariners. To appreciate the centrality of walking to the novel, we must appropriate Miss Bingley's question, "What could she mean by it?" Before we can understand the attitudes towards walking and the responses to walking exhibited by characters in the novel—and the function of walking in the plot—it is first necessary to explore the changing place of walking in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century society, and the uses of walking in Romantic-era literature. This article examines eighteenth-century accounts of athletic, touristic, sentimental, and performative pedestrianism, including Austen's attitudes towards her own walks, in order to read walking in the novel.


In these two African societies the role played in education by English, the ex-colonial language, is challenged by a national lingua franca: Setswana in the case of Botswana, and Kiswahili in the case of Tanzania. In examining debate over educational language policy in the two countries, I take into account political and economic differences, but I also identify parallels in the hierarchical evaluation of languages. In relation to the likely future direction of policy change, and in considering particularly the viability of English as a teaching medium, I argue that descriptions of classroom practice are necessary to inform effective educational language planning and I draw attention to two interactional patterns which are salient in classrooms in both Botswana and Tanzania, namely the use of bilingual codeswitching and reliance on teacher-centred recitation routines. My discussion links these patterns to the communicative needs of teachers and learners, in classrooms where English is a foreign language for the participants, and also to constraints on opportunities for teaching and learning. In my conclusion I argue that more creative and effective teaching and learning will be facilitated in Botswana and Tanzanian classrooms by pedagogies which are explicitly bilingual, and that this has implications for the official separation of languages which is the basis of present policy in both countries.


Tendinopathy is a common condition that occurs while practising sport.
The unequal distribution of the work load throughout the tendon causes heterogeneous ruptures in extension and distribution. These ruptures start defective repair processes that produce a degenerated tendon with a change in structure and functional response to exercise.
In this article the different predisposing factors are study, along with the mechanisms of action of the chemical and cellular agents involved in the physiology of tendinopathies.
The basic components (support, cells and chemical substances) that are used for tissue engineering are also analysed, as well as the current possibilities of using the basic components, the inter-relationships between them and the current level of execution.


This article describes three novel electrochemical biosensing platforms developed to determine the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike antigen protein: glutaraldehyde, SARS-CoV-2 spike antibody and bovine serum albumin; N,N-dicyclohexyl carbodiimide/4-(dimethylamino)pyridine functionalised SARS-CoV-2 spike antibody and bovine serum albumin; and 1-ethyl-3-[3-dimethylaminopropyl]-carbodiimide hydrochloride/N-hydroxysuccinimide functionalised SARS-CoV-2 spike antibody and bovine serum albumin modified cysteine-based gold-flower modified glassy carbon electrodes. Two of the produced biosensors having better signals were used to determine the SARS-CoV-2 spike antigen in spiked-saliva and clinical samples containing gargle and mouthwash liquids and characterised using cyclic voltammetry, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The study provides highly significant information in terms of how coupling reagents ought to be used with linkers consisting of both amine and carboxylic acid terminals (i.e. cysteine). The electrochemical cathodic signals based on antibody-antigen protein interactions at approximately -270 mV were evaluated as a response using square wave voltammetry, and they increased in proportion to the SARS-CoV-2 spike antigen. The limit of detection values were 0.93 and 46.3 ag mL-1 in a linear range from 1 ag mL-1 to 100 pg mL-1 and from 100 ag mL-1 to 10 ng mL-1 and the recovery and relative standard deviation values for spiked-saliva samples were 99.50% and 99.40%, and 3.87% and 0.13% for BSA/S-AB/GluAl/Cys/Au/GCE and BSA/S-AB/f-Cys/Au/GCE, respectively. The results showed that both biosensing platforms could be selectively and accurately used to diagnose COVID-19 in RT-PCR-approved clinical samples.


We have developed a rapid and sensitive analytical method for α-tocopherol and its oxidative products by combining online hyphenation of supercritical fluid extraction-supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) with proton transfer reaction (PTR) ionization mass spectrometry (MS). α-Tocopherol is a well-known antioxidant that plays a vital role in the antioxidant defense system in plant cells. However, studies on the cellular mechanisms of α-tocopherol have been limited owing to the lack of a rapid analytical method, which limits the comparison of plant cells incubated in various conditions. Additionally, complex sample preparation and long chromatography separation times are required. Moreover, the majority of the involved molecules are a combination of isomers, which must be separated before applying tandem MS. α-Tocopherol produces the α-tocopheroxyl radical in the first step of its antioxidant function; another ion with the same mass may also be generated from the source. SFC separation effectively distinguished the observed ions from their oxidative products in the sample and those produced during the ionization reaction process. This method enabled the measurement of α-tocopherol and its oxidative products such as α-tocopheroxyl radical and α-tocopheryl quinone in approximately 3 min per sample, including the time required for sample preparation.


This paper comprises the development of a directional definite-time earth fault protection based on virtual polarisation and Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) components. The earth fault protection is intended to be sensitive for high-resistive and remote faults. The challenge of those type of faults is the low magnitude of the zero-sequence voltage measured at the relay location, which is often used as the polarising quantity for directional sensing. A conventional approach is to use a current transformer (CT) in the neutral-to-ground path of a wye-connected power transformer at the corresponding substation. Since this approach exposes some additional costs and efforts in terms of CT installations and engineering, a virtual polarisation approach has been implemented, which has been introduced by the IEEE Power System Relay Committee. Thus a reliable polarising quantity is gained. The platform architecture has been design based on standardised hardware and software products, considered as COTS components. This effort has been made in order to yield a cost-efficient solution as well as to reduce the time-to-market of the development process. In the end the functional performance of the protection system has been tested utilising a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) approach.


A large body of work argues that scientific research increases the rate of technological advance, and with it economic growth. The precise mechanism through which science accelerates the rate of invention, however, remains an open question. Conceptualizing invention as a combinatorial search process, this paper argues that science alters inventors' search processes, by leading them more directly to useful combinations, eliminating fruitless paths of research, and motivating them to continue even in the face of negative feedback. These mechanisms prove most useful when inventors attempt to combine highly coupled components; therefore, the value of scientific research to invention varies systematically across applications. Empirical analyses of patent data support this thesis. Copyright  2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


*The Diagnostic Exercises are an initiative of the Latin Comparative Pathology Group (LCPG), the Latin American subdivision of The Davis-Thompson Foundation and published in cooperation with the Brazilian Journal of Veterinary Pathology. These exercises are contributed by members and non-members from any country of residence. Consider submitting an exercise! A final document containing this material with answers and a brief discussion will be posted on the CL Davis website: https://davisthompsonfoundation.org/diagnostic-exercise/


: Survivin, a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis proteins family, is considered to be an important target of anticancer treatment for its key role in the control of cell division and cell apoptosis. Currently, only a few Survivin inhibitors have been developed, and most of them reduce Survivin level by interacting with other biomolecules instead of directly interacting with Survivin protein. This review summarizes the structure of Survivin protein, the mechanism of action and research progress of Survivin inhibitors, which may has a great significance in the study of selective Survivin inhibitors in the future.


Abstract We review some of our recent work on the analysis of DNA extracted from skeletal remains up to four thousand years old, which is made possible by the exquisite sensitivity of the polymerase chain reaction. To do this, we consider in some detail our approach to a particular archaeological problem, the question of the scale and nature of the settlements which took place in post‐Roman Britain. This involves the analysis of the mitochondrial DNA control region surviving in bone material from early Anglo‐Saxon cemeteries, and from likely modern descendents of the British and Germanic populations. We discuss the potential value and limitations of such an approach, and in so doing give some indication of the present state of the art.


Pyrolysis of pine wood sawdust was carried out using stepwise isothermal fast pyrolysis (SIFP), focusing on the search of reaction conditions to obtain chemicals in good yields from biomass. SIFP consists of successive isothermal fast pyrolysis reactions, where solid products obtained in the previous isothermal fast pyrolysis become the substrate of the subsequent reaction at a higher temperature. This article reports results obtained by SIFP of pine sawdust between 200 and 600°C using 100°C intervals under vacuum (0.2 mm), using nitrogen as carrier gas. Both sets of reactions made it possible to obtain most of the compounds that have been previously described in conventional fast pyrolysis experiments; however this system produces a smaller number of chemical compounds in each isothermal FP, making it easier to obtain determined chemicals with industrial or research value. Maximum yield of liquid products occurred at 300°C, giving around 30% of bio-oil, which contained mainly phenols and furan derivatives. Liquid-Liquid extraction led to a rich mixture of phenol derivatives. Results showed that SIFP is an interesting technique to obtain enriched fractions of products derived from biomass pyrolysis.


A prosody-assisted ASR approach for spontaneous Mandarin speech is proposed. It employs the joint prosody labeling and modeling algorithm proposed previously to construct a hierarchical prosodic model (HPM) and uses it in two-stage speech recognition. A word lattice is first generated by the HMM method using tri-phone AM and bigram LM. Then, the lattice is extended by replacing LM to a trigram model. A rescoring process is applied in the second stage to sequentially add factor POS and PM LMs, and the HPM. The method is evaluated on the MCDC database comprising 8 dialogues of 16 speakers with length of 9.09 hours. Error rates of syllable/character/word were reduced from 35.6/40.2/45.1% by the baseline trigram HMM method to 32.4/36.5/41.8% by the proposed method. The improvement is reasonably good as considering the WER upper-bound of 13.4% for the word lattice owing to the high OOV rate of the database. By error analysis, we find that many tone recognition errors and word segmentation errors were corrected. Besides, some information of the testing utterance was also obtained by the ASR, including POS of word, PM, tone of syllable, break type of syllable juncture, and prosodic state of syllable.


The method of Ludwig Boltzmann (1844 – 1906), a great Austrian physicist-philosopher, for solving philosophical problems was described. This brilliant method can be a guiding stray in philosophy. His method is not restricted to philosophy of science (scientific philosophy), and indeed it can be used as well in pure philosophy. Theoretical pluralism developed by Boltzmann can be used as a basic assumption in philosophizing the epistemological problems. The Boltzmann's method also saves philosophy from dogmatism. It shows the usefulness of philosophy as well as progress of science, and calls for collaboration of philosophy and science. This collaboration can lead the human to better understanding of the Nature. Boltzmann states how both science and philosophy can go astray in the absence of this collaboration, since they are indeed unit.


With the high-speed development. of computer systems having performance values of calculation machines, which needed one or more rooms of place and a special air conditioning a few years ago, the usage of methods dealing with a high amount of data at one side, and the need of doing a enormous number of calculation work at the other side became used more and more frequently. Tunnelling is one major field, where this advance is very important. That field of science is regarded as one of the more difficult engineering tasks. This is due to the fact that tunnels are excavated in a material whose mechanical and hydraulic properties are highly variable and whose behaviour is difficult to describe to a numerical simulation model. Numerical simulation of tunnel advance can serve as a powerful tool in the design and decision making on site. But this has to be done almost in real-time, that means that the calculation and the necessary post-processing must be finished, before the engineer on site is forced to make his decisions. This circumstance places a very specific challenge to the used hard- and software. This paper describes an algorithm, its development and improvements, which have been done, to find a method of data processing for the purpose of scientific visualisation with the necessary properties.


This thesis develops a registration algorithm specifically for diffusion-tensor (DT) images. The proposed approach matches the tensor orientations to find the registration transformation. Early results show that local optimisation does not find the global minimum in registration of DT-MR brain images. Therefore, a global optimisation registration technique is also implemented. This thesis proposes several new similarity measures for DT registration and provides a comparison of them along with several others previously proposed in the literature. The thesis also proposes several new performance evaluation measures to assess registration quality and develops a performance evaluation framework that uses directional coherence and landmark separation. Experiments with direct optimisation demonstrate increased local minima in tensor registration objective functions over scalar registration. Using registration with global optimisation, this thesis compares the performance of scalar-derived similarity measures with those derived from the full tensor. Results suggest that similarity measures derived from the full tensor matrix do not find a more accurate registration than those based on the derived scalar indices. Affine and higher-order polynomial registration is not reliable enough to make a firm conclusion about whether diffusion tensor orientation matching improves the accuracy of registration over registration algorithms that ignore orientation. The main problem preventing a firm conclusion is that the local minima problem persists despite the use of global optimisation, causing poor registration of the regions of interest.


Use of XML holds great promise for standardizing data models for realizing benefits such as lowered development costs and tune for integrating inter-organizational business processes and inter-organizational knowledge management. Further benefits can be realized by formally defining common semantics in ontologies using the standardized models. Automation of business processes that require sharing knowledge represented in XML-based ontologies can then be supported. In this paper a proof-of-concept application for using ontologies to support deduction of knowledge implicit in existing XML documents is presented. This system, called XML-hoo!, employs a customized portal user interface to answer queries about Shakespearian plays. Queries are answered by applying inference rules about these plays represented as axioms that comprise a Shakespearian ontology, composed of terminology corresponding to existing XML DTD's. These rules are applied to plays represented in XML that are in the public domain. Hence, answers to queries such as, "Who is Romeo's father?" can be automatically deduced even though facts required for such answers are hot explicitly structured in XML documents. This application demonstrates use of re-usable and sharable ontology representations to further leverage the expected proliferation of XML documents.


A 30years of old hypothyroid lady , presented with foul smelling excessive whitish per vaginal discharge, associated with itching in vulva & pain in the lower abdomen following caesarean section 3 months back. Her uterus was palpably enlarged and firm. USG revealed bulky uterus with wall echo shadow sign. A CT scan of whole abdomen was done that revealed intrauterine textiloma. During laparotomy huge amount of pus came out through wound and a mob was found within uterine cavity. Textiloma is a rare problem of surgery arising from retained gauze during operation. Careful counting of surgical gauze before closure and identification by newer techniques is required to prevent this iatrogenic complication DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjog.v26i2.13791 Bangladesh J Obstet Gynaecol, 2011; Vol. 26(2) : 100-102


Wellington Harbour which lies near the southern tip of the North Island, New Zealand, exhibits a typical rocky intertidal shoreline with groups of species similar to those found on many temperate rocky coasts around the world. A short distance away, the Cook Strait displays a very different shoreline in community composition compared with Wellington Harbour, most notably a distinct lack of filter feeders. This thesis aims to examine how exactly the community composition is different between the two coasts at a species level and if there are any environmental factors that can explain the differing distributions. Here, a series of field and laboratory experiments aim to examine why certain filter feeders (mussels) are absent from the Cook Strait shore, yet so abundant in Wellington Harbour ... This work indicates that the Cook Strait coastline has lower filter feeder abundances and an overall different community composition than Wellington Harbour. The cause of these differences appears to be bottom up regulation through the lack of food availability (phytoplankton) during winter months in the Cook Strait. The high commercial value of coastal environments in both fisheries and tourism heightens the need to understand these habitats. Unravelling the complex relationships between the seasonal changes in the water column and onshore biota is important for conserving and protecting these essential ecosystems in New Zealand and temperate shores worldwide.


An in vitro evaluation of the antimicrobial effect of some substances employed during the instrumentation phase in endodontics, was performed. Agents subjected to study were: AMOSAN, RC-PREP and LARGAL ULTRA. The last two possess chelating properties. Microorganisms used were: Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus salivarius, Streptococcus salivarius, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus faecalis and Candida albicans. Evaluations were performed after 24 and 48 hours, and did not reveal any bacterial growth in any of the cultures.


This protocol describes the guidelines for generating GWAS summary statistics that were provided to all participating cohorts in the Global Lipids Genetics Consortium HRC + 1KGP3 imputation meta-analysis collected jointly with the GIANT consortium. It is applicable for generating the input phenotype and genotype files for use with the rvtests software. Key stages include imputation, generating phenotype files, and running the analysis to generate summary statistics. The exact time needed to carry out this protocol varies depending on the existing genotype files and size of the cohort. The latest version of rvtests is available at: http://zhanxw.github.io/rvtests/


This study evaluated the use of Terf® virtual world technology to support student communication, collaboration, and engagement in an online undergraduate, sophomore-level computer engineering course in digital design and a computer science course. Virtual world technology provides a persistent 3D immersive environment in which students and faculty log into the platform with personalized avatars and enter customized virtual workspaces that support avatar navigation, text chat, voice communication, shared resources, and a webcam. Most importantly, the Terf® product allows student teams to work collaboratively on shared documents and images, facilitating team projects and improving student interaction and communication. The virtual collaboration tool also supported interaction with 3D models, virtual office hours, virtual lectures, and a team final project virtual poster session. Overall, the feedback from the students was positive and the students judged the tool as beneficial to improving student interaction, engagement and collaboration in the online courses.


Pregnancy and the puerperium are prothrombotic states. Stroke is rare in pregnancy and the puerperium but is the cause of death in 12% of all maternal deaths.1

Pregnancy-related strokes occur late in pregnancy or in the postpartum period, with the highest risk after delivery.2 Hypercoagulopathy, venous stasis, endothelial injury, postpartum angiopathy, cerebral aneurysms, paradox embolism and cerebral venous thrombosis are all known possible aetiologies of pregnancy-associated stroke. One rare cause of acute ischaemic stroke in young women is cardiac thromboembolism caused by peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM). Cardiomyopathy is a known cause of cardioembolic stroke. PPCM is a cardiomyopathy that presents in the peripartum period in patients without a known pre-existing heart disease. The diagnosis is based on exclusion of other possible causes of cardiomyopathy. PPCM presents most often within the last months of pregnancy and the first 6 months after.

Pregnancy and the first 4 weeks after delivery are considered exclusion criteria for thrombolysis following acute stroke. More …


The characterisation and preservation of Cultural Heritage is of great importance in order to understand and preserve human evolution and history. Mortars are usually the main material employed in the construction of buildings belonging to Cultural Heritage. These building materials are multi-layered complex systems, often characterised by an inhomogeneous structure with a composition varying surprisingly depending on their geographical location and time period. The characterisation of the original composition and the definition of the degradation reactions of mortars can give assistance to restorers and can lead to propose new ways for future conservation (e.g. preventive conservation). In this PhD. Thesis, new Analytical Methodologies have been developed for the characterisation of mortars and the diagnosis of pathologies present on them, trying to encompass some of the most important facts present in the current evolution of the science dedicated to Cultural Heritage. Portable devices based on elemental and molecular spectroscopic techniques have been demonstrated as powerful tools to extract reliable conclusions without extracting any sample, which is of high importance when dealing with objects belonging to Cultural Heritage. On the one hand, different new easy and cost-effective natural and artificial passive samplers useful for the characterisation of the increasing atmospheric Particulate Matter in the current atmosphere are proposed in order to study the effect of its deposition over the building materials. On the other hand, the advantages of the increasing in situ non-destructive analytical techniques are also shown as well as the development of new X-ray fluorescence based quantification methodologies as an easy, cost effective and Green Analytical Chemistry option to other more traditionally employed techniques for the characterisation of building materials and their degradation products. At the time of starting the project of this PhD. Thesis, the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU and the City Council of Getxo (Basque Country, Spain) signed an agreement to recover a highly degraded historical building, the Punta Begona Galleries. The proposed methodologies have been developed based on the materials from this building and the degradation processes that are suffering.


A salt-gradient solar pond is a low-cost, large-scale solar collector with integrated storage that can be used as a source of energy in low-grade-heat thermal desalination systems. This work presents the thermal evolution of an experimental solar pond for both the maturation and heat extraction time periods. The temperature profile was measured every 1.1 cm using a vertical high-resolution distributed temperature sensing (DTS) system, with a temperature resolution of 0.04oC. Temperatures of 34 and 45oC were achieved in the bottom of the pond when the lights were on for 12 and 24 hours per day, respectively. Heat was extracted at a rate of 139 W from the solar pond, which corresponded to an efficiency of 29%. Stratification and mixing were clearly observed inside the solar pond using the vertical high-resolution DTS system.


The authors have monitored C6 glioma cell invasive growth, proliferation and transcriptional regulation after pretreatment with endothelin-1 and ERK1/2 specific inhibitor PD98059. To explore proliferation of C6 glioma cells in different growth conditions, they were treated in vitro with endothelin-1 and implanted into the brain. In vitro studies have indicated that PD98059 inhibited the proliferation of cultured C6 glioma cells and induced the activation of E2F1 and Myc-Max transcriptional factors. Endothelin-1 strongly increased C6 glioma cell proliferation. The model used in this study is experimental, but it may provide an insight into the specific behavior of in vitro cultured invasive cells.


Introduction Factors that negatively impact women's disaster experiences include poor disaster preparedness, lack of access to a safe place, displacement worries, distance from shelters, risk of abuse in shelters, poverty, and low cultural position of women in rural Bangladesh. This study aimed to give voice to women who experienced gender-based vulnerabilities during natural disasters. Methods The research was conducted with women in the two disaster-prone areas utilizing a qualitative approach. Women, aged 18 years or above, who were permanent residents of the selected disaster-prone areas and have experienced one or more disasters, were invited to participate in the study. Twenty-four women volunteered to participate. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interview recordings containing questions on sociodemographic characteristics and open-ended questions to assess gender-based vulnerabilities during disasters; data were analyzed using thematic analysis techniques. Results One main theme and six sub-themes emerged from the analysis. Women were often in the middle of making life choices between the risk of being abused and death in disasters. Shelters lacked privacy, heightened the risk of abuse, and women faced social stigma if displaced from their homes during a disaster. The women also experienced health risks because of inadequate hygiene and poor living arrangements such as a lack of adequate shelters, toilet facilities, and secure gender-segregated living arrangements if relocation was essential during a disaster. Discussion Findings from this study provide guidance to policymakers and disaster aid organizations on disaster preparedness and post-disaster facilities to address the socio-cultural needs of rural women in disaster-prone areas of Bangladesh.


The study assessed the chemical and heavy metals content in surface water samples collected at 9 points from 3 different streams within a radius of 5 kilometers to the factory, and an additional control water sample collected from a stream at Tarhembe, 12 kilometers from the factory. Laboratory analyses were conducted for 18 parameters, while mean, maximum and minimum values, and standard deviation for all parameters tested were derived using SPSS Version 15. Using the WHO (2011) Guidelines for Drinking Water, the concentration levels of pollutants in water samples were determined for all 18 parameters to establish whether or not they constitute significant health problems. The results for physico-chemical parameters show that pH values range between 6.07 and 8.48 across all sample locations with the highest value recorded in Sample E. Generally, the concentration of these parameters vary across all water samples however, the largest mean value was recorded for the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) at Sample E which is almost twice the WHO permissible limit. The temperature ranges between 22.4 and 22.9, while Turbidity and Total Hardness range between 6.0 and 232.0 and 10.5 to 66.0, respectively, and are found to be significantly higher than the permissible limit provided by the WHO (2011). All values of physicchemical parameters recorded from the water sample at the Control Community are found to occur below permissible limit except for turbidity. All heavy metals content in water samples were found occurring above the WHO (2011) permissible limits, except for Potassium which was not detected in any water sample. The study concludes that the quality of surface water at the study area is compromised and polluted at significant proportions. The study recommends reduction in release of pollutants and fugitive dust from the factory, amongst others.


This book is for people who need to solve ordinary differential equations (ODEs), both initial value problems (IVPs) and boundary value problems (BVPs) as well as delay differential equations (DDEs). These topics are usually taught in separate courses of length one semester each, but Solving ODEs with MATLAB provides a sound treatment of all three in about 250 pages. The chapters on each of these topics begin with a discussion of "the facts of life" for the problem, mainly by means of examples. Numerical methods for the problem are then developed – but only the methods most widely used. Although the treatment of each method is brief and technical issues are minimized, the issues important in practice and for understanding the codes are discussed. Often solving a real problem is much more than just learning how to call a code. The last part of each chapter is a tutorial that shows how to solve problems by means of small but realistic examples.


ABSTRACT Thin sandstone units that comprise the Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale (Upper Cretaceous) in the northern part of Castle Valley, Utah, were deposited along a low-energy epeiric sea margin. Interpretation of these units by uniformitarian comparison with modern low-energy coastal zones, in particular the Sapelo Island coast of Georgia, reveals an interplay between sediment-distributive processes that accompany storms and the sediment-disruptive activities of burrowing organisms in fairweather periods between storms. During storms, nearshore sediment is thrown into suspension and moved seaward where, upon storm abatement, it settles out. A return to fair weather brings renewed biogenic activity, completely homogenizing thinner storm-deposited beds, but reworking only the uppe parts of thicker beds. Storms also accentuate sedimentation processes in tidal inlets and on offshore bars seaward of the shoreface. Sediment now in these thin Ferron units was derived from the large Vernal Delta, located north and west of the Castle Valley outcrops, and was transported generally southwestward, parallel with the coast. Specific interpretations of depositional environment have been made for four informally named sandstone units. The Clawson unit was deposited in the offshore environment; it consists of bioturbated silty sandstone with numerous large concretions. The Washboard unit has, in addition to bioturbated, concretion-rich sandstone, intercalated thin sandstone beds that are even parallel laminated and have burrowed upper parts; this unit was deposited in the lower shoreface environment. In a limited part of the outcrop belt the Washboard unit is replaced by a tidal inlet deposit termed the Farnham unit, that comprises shelly, little-burrowed sandstone with bipolar, coast-normal, trough cross lamination. And the Woodside unit is a sequence of thin, medium- to coarse-grained sandstone beds that have bipolar, coast-parallel, trough cross lamination; these beds accumulated as submerged offshore sand bars in a shallow shelf sea.


A 5-year-old boy with an abnormality of chromosome 14 was referred to our department for the evaluation of vesicoureteral reflux. Indirect radionuclide cystography including renal scintigraphy was performed. In the case presented here, the location of the ectopic right kidney was demonstrated with indirect radionuclide cystography in a child with high-grade vesicoureteral reflux.


Vibration assisted machining (VAM) is one of the hybrid machining processes for improving the machined surface quality. VAM performance is mainly influenced by the combination of machining and vibration control parameters, where surface roughness value (Ra) became the benchmarking indicator. It is difficult to determine the optimum parameter combination to produce high precision products, especially for micro-milling, due to the interconnected correlation among parameters. The benefits of high-speed machining with VAM are high material removal rate and shorter machining time than low-speed machining. VAM operation at high-speed machining is still limited due to the high possibility of chatter occurrence. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the 2D VAM resonant performance at low-speed and high-speed machining, operated at ultrasonic vibration and amplitude below one μm. The mathematical model and experimental evaluate the vibration effect based on machining mode, amplitude, and spindle speed variation. The mathematical modelling and experiment result complement each other, where the mathematical model can characterize the effect of resonant vibration, amplitude, and spindle speed increment on the tool path trajectory. The 2D resonant vibration at the feed direction causes interrupting cutting and transforms the tool path trajectory from linear to wavy. The mathematical model and experiment result show the dominant influence of spindle speed and feed rate on the toolpath trajectory and Ra, where low spindle speed and feed rate result in better machine surface roughness. The low-speed machining with VAM results in Ra value between 0.1–0.155 μm, which is below the high-speed machining result, between 0.2–0.38 μm


The objective of this study was to describe the genetic parameters, adaptability, and stability of clones from the Coffea canephora variety ?Vitoria Incaper 8142?, and the genetic divergence between them. Following 12 and 24 months of plant growth, several traits were evaluated, including stem diameter, plant height, canopy diameter, number of plagiotropic branches, and number of nodes per plagiotropic branch. The agronomic performance of four crops was determined using measurements of productivity, yield, percentage of floating grains, and grade of the beans. Variability was observed between the clones for the majority of the traits measured. The clones V7, V10, V12, and V13 were the most stable and displayed the highest degree of adaptation for the studied traits, and thus these clones will be used to establish a base population suited to the growing conditions in Alto Suacui, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Additionally, the genetic dissimilarity identified between clones allowed suitable clone combinations to be proposed for use in future crosses.


Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) suppresses proliferation and potentiates apoptosis of HPV16-immortalized human cervical epithelial cells (ECE16-1). Exposure of ECE16-1 to TGF-beta1 increased expression of p53 and induced cell cycle arrest. We examined, by Western blotting, expression of p53 and related cell cycle regulatory proteins after treatment. p53 levels increased as a function of time and dose. Increased p53 appeared to be active, since TGF-beta1 treatment increased the activity of a p53 transcriptional response element in a luciferase reporter plasmid. Additionally, the proteins of the p53-regulated genes, p21(WAF1), mdm2, and Bax, were increased with similar time and dose responses. We did not observe consistent changes in protein levels of cyclin D, cyclin E, CDK4, CDK6, CDK2, p27(Kip1), p16(INK4a), or RNA levels of p15(INK4b). Activity of CDK4 or 6, measured by phosphorylation of an Rb fragment, remained constant during the response period; however, activity of CDK2 (phosphorylation of histone H1) decreased. Concordantly, increased levels of p21(WAF1) were immunoprecipitated with anti-CDK2 antibodies. During treatment, the phosphorylation state of Rb shifted to a hypophosphorylated form. mRNA for the HPV E6/E7 genes decreased; however, significant changes in the E7 protein were not observed, while increased levels of Rb immunoprecipitated with anti-E7 antibodies were observed. These data are consistent with the following model. In ECE16-1 cells, there exists a fine balance between inhibitory levels of p53 and Rb and the antagonists, E6 and E7. TGF-beta1 treatment decreases steady-state levels of E6/E7 mRNA, which results in a shifted balance (lowered activity of E6) in favor of increased p53 expression, resulting in activation of the cell cycle inhibitory gene, p21(WAF1). This protein binds the cyclin E/CDK2 complex that maintains Rb in a phosphorylated state. Rb shifts to a hypophosphorylated state, resulting in G1 arrest, presumably by binding E2F transcription factors.


An aerothermodynamic analysis of the Commercial Experiment Transporter (COMET) reentry capsule has been performed using the laminar thin-layer Navier-Stokes solver Langley Aerothermodynamic Upwind Relaxation Algorithm. Flowfield solutions were obtained at Mach numbers 1.5, 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and~27.5. Axisymmetric and 5, 10, and 20~degree angles of attack were considered across the Mach-number range, with the Mach 25 conditions taken to 90 degrees angle of attack and the Mach 27.5 cases taken to 60 degrees angle of attack. Detailed surface heat-transfer rates were computed at Mach 20 and 25, revealing that heating rates on the heat-shield shoulder can exceed the stagnation-point heating by 230 percent. Finite-rate chemistry solutions were performed above Mach 10, otherwise perfect gas computations were made. Drag, lift, and pitching moment coefficients are computed and details of a wake flow are presented. The effect of including the wake in the solution domain was investigated and base pressure corrections to forebody drag coefficients were numerically determined for the lower Mach numbers. Pitching moment comparisons are made with direct simulation Monte Carlo results in the more rarefied flow at the highest Mach numbers, showing agreement within two-percent. Thin-layer Navier-Stokes computations of the axial force are found to be 15 percent higher across the speed range than the empirical/Newtonian based results used during the initial trajectory analyses.


Background: Dalteparin and enoxaparin are recommended as thromboprophylaxis for at least 10 days in patients undergoing abdominal surgery (AS) or hospitalized patients with acute medical illnesses. Even though both agents have proven clinical effectiveness through randomized trials, there have been no head-to-head studies. In this evaluation, indirect statistical techniques were used to compare safety and efficacy between dalteparin and enoxaparin in these 2 high-risk patient populations. Methods: A literature search was conducted from January 1980 to November 2010 for randomized trials evaluating dalteparin or enoxaparin prophylaxis following AS or in hospitalized patients. Binary outcomes for safety and efficacy were statistically pooled using fixed or random effects models in cases of significant heterogeneity. In trials where a common control was used (eg, unfractionated heparin [UH]), indirect statistical comparisons between dalteparin and enoxaparin were performed using meta-regression analysis with active drug as the primary independent variable. Results: The meta-analysis in AS patients showed that enoxaparin or dalteparin had comparable efficacy to UH in terms of venous thromboembolic events (VTEs; relative risk reduction [RR] 1⁄4 0.87, P1⁄4 .46). The indirect statistical comparison was unable to find significant differences between enoxaparin and dalteparin in terms of risk for VTE (P 1⁄4 .84), major bleeding (P 1⁄4 .38), heparin-induced thrombocytopenia ([HIT]; P 1⁄4 .084), or death (P 1⁄4 .97). In acutely ill medical patients, treatment with enoxaparin or dalteparin had a 52% VTE risk reduction compared to placebo (RR 1⁄4 0.48, P < .001). The indirect comparison was also unable to find significant differences between enoxaparin and dalteparin in terms of VTEs (P1⁄4 .15), major bleeds (P 1⁄4 .39), HIT (P1⁄4 .48), and death (P1⁄4 .41). Conclusions: The findings suggest comparable safety and efficacy between dalteparin and enoxaparin in AS and in acutely ill medical patients.


This book examines the intersection of WTO trade liberalisation rules and domestic health protection, a subject that is of considerable interest to those concerned that the WTO impinges on national regulatory autonomy. In analysing the tension between health protection and trade liberalisation, the book focuses on the way in which this tension is (or is not) resolved through the dispute resolution process. It offers a detailed analysis of the relevant WTO rules and case law, identifying particular concerns relating to the ability of WTO Members to take protective action in circumstances of scientific uncertainty and the role of social and cultural factors in the making of health-related regulations. The nature of scientific evidence and the extent to which the scientific process internalises uncertainty is further explored, drawing on documentation relating to the theory and conduct of scientific risk assessment. Despite the popularity of the precautionary principle in some quarters, it is suggested that it may not be advisable for the WTO to adopt that principle. Rather, further attention should be paid to the role that the standard of review might play in easing the tensions that arise when a sovereign state's health regulations are reviewed by the WTO. The origins of the WTO's 'objective assessment' standard of review are explained, but the standard itself is criticised. Options for developing the standard of review are considered, with a 'reasonable regulator' standard based on the Asbestos case proposed. The book takes a comparative approach, drawing on ECJ cases reviewing Member State and Community health measures as well as US judicial review and commerce clause cases.


In 2000 to 2005, there was a 1.8-fold increase in the rate of early recurrences and a 1.6-fold decrease in late recurrences in the Sverdlovsk Region. In the prisoners, early recurrences were 21 times more frequently observed than in the general population, which make up a significant majority of all the recurrences of tuberculosis. In conclusion, during preventive examinations, recurrences are mainly detected with earlier forms of tuberculosis as compared with the recurrences recorded in the municipal entities of the region. In adult males, the rates of primary morbidity were 3.2 times higher in adult males than in females; those of early and late recurrences were 8.1 and 5 times higher, respectively. In adults aged 18-44 years, the rates of primary morbidity and early recurrences of tuberculosis were 1.7 times higher than those in the persons aged 45 years or more; those of late recurrences were 1.6 times less.


CLICK HERE TO LAUNCH VIDEO Description:  ASHRAE 90.1-Appendix G Performance Rating Method: modeling HVAC systems Part 2 Presenter:  Sue Reilly , Principle at  Group14 Engineering PBC This video is part of the online learning course video series: Building Energy Modeling workshop BEM101. The presenters are past ASHRAE conference BEM101 workshop veteran presenters and leading experts in the energy modeling field. The target audience is the beginning and intermediate level energy modelers. BEM101 online learning videos have 7 parts: Modeling to Inform Design, Fundamentals of Energy Modeling, Energy Modeling Best Practices, ASHRARE Std 90.1 Performance Rating Method, Measurement and Verification and Life Cycle Cost Analysis.


Fusarium dry rot is one of the most important diseases of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), affecting the tubers in storage and the seed pieces after planting. Fusarium sambucinum Fuckel teleomorph Gibberella pulicaris (Fr.) Sacc. is a common pathogen causing dry rot of stored tubers in temperate areas. To establish strategies for the control of this disease it should be made primarily a correct diagnosis and detection symptoms of disease caused by fungus on potato tuber. Natural infected tubers was exemined macroscopically and incubated in controlled environment chamber. Pathogenicity study carried out in vitro condition that showed both tubers and sprout were diseased and decayed by F. sambucinum. Consequently, the same symptoms were observed both on natural infected and artificially infected tubers. To our knowledge, this is the first report of F. sambucinum causing a sprout rot of developing sprouts on seed tubers in


to a Down baby. One patient did not have any invasive procedure following positive screening and had IUFD of a Down fetus occurred at 36 weeks. We did not observe any spontaneous fetal loss in all the other cases. Conclusions: Our data do not support the hypothesis that first trimester screening is likely to detect a large proportion of affected foetuses that would die spontaneously in utero. Although TOPs were performed early in pregnancy in our population, those cases with late diagnosis or TOP did not lead to spontaneous fetal loss in the interval.


Recommender systems offer great opportunity not only for users to discover new content, but also for the providers of that content to find new audience, followers, and fans. Users often come to a recommender system with certain expectations about what it will recommend to them, and a recommender system that is optimized for creating opportunities for content creators may provide recommendations that are very different from what a user is expecting. We hypothesize that some users' expectations have a much wider range of acceptability than others, and users with more "receptivity" to subversion of their expectations are likely to accept such divergence in the recommended content. Understanding users' responses to such recommendations is vital to platforms that need to serve multiple stakeholders. In this work we investigate logged behavioral responses of users of an audio streaming platform to recommendations that deviate from their expectation, or "divergent" recommendations. We present three classes of listener response to divergent recommendations that can be identified in interaction logs with the aim of predicting which users can be targeted for future divergent recommendations. We derive a number of user characteristics based on user's music consumption which we think are predictive of user's receptivity, train models to predict receptivity of these users, and run a live A/B test to validate our approach by correlating with engagement.


An aqueous solution of a [poly(ethyleneiminato)]cobalt(II) complex that reversibly binds and releases O2 functions as an O2-enriching medium for an O2 electrode to enhance the current for the uncatalyzed reduction of O2. The effect of the electrochemically inactive cobalt complex is to supply reducible O2 to the solution within the diffusion layer near the electrode by releasing the bound O2 from the O2 adduct, which contributes to a decrease in the diffusion layer thickness of O2. Based on the rapid release of O2 from the O2 adduct, a diffusion-limited current is obtained for the reduction of O2. The hypothetical concentration of the enriched O2 supplied under pure diffusion control (i.e. unperturbed by the kinetics of the O2 binding) is several times larger than that of the actual concentration of O2 due to the higher solubility of the O2 adduct than the physical solubility of O2 in H2O at room temperature under an atmosphere of air. An insoluble membrane of a cobalt(II) complex with a cross-linked poly(ethyleneimine) ligand that has the ability to swell serves as an O2-enriching material to concentrate O2 from aqueous electrolyte solutions. A new type of O2-diffusion electrodes for metal/air batteries and fuel cells is proposed using the O2-enriching material immobilized at the electrode surface.


One common challenge highlighted in almost every review article on organic resistive memory is the lack of areal switching uniformity. This, in fact, is a puzzle because a molecular switching mechanism should ideally be isotropic and produce homogeneous current switching free from electroforming. Such a demonstration, however, remains elusive to date. The reports attempting to characterize a nanoscopic picture of switching in molecular films show random current spikes, just opposite to the expectation. Here, this longstanding conundrum is resolved by demonstrating 100% spatially homogeneous current switching (driven by molecular redox) in memristors based on Ru‐complexes of azo‐aromatic ligands. Through a concurrent nanoscopic spatial mapping using conductive atomic force microscopy and in operando tip‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (both with resolution <7 nm), it is shown that molecular switching in the films is uniform from hundreds of micrometers down to the nanoscale and that conductance value exactly correlates with spectroscopically determined molecular redox states. This provides a deterministic molecular route to obtain spatially homogeneous, forming‐free switching that can conceivably overcome the chronic problems of robustness, consistency, reproducibility, and scalability in organic memristors.


Four men with HIV infection who were referred to liaison psychiatry for assessment of eating disorders are described. In all four cases the eating disorder had implications for the clinical management of their HIV infection. Investigations of weight loss, dietary intervention, and compliance may all be affected by the presence of an eating disorder. The development of HIV disease may exacerbate the symptoms of an eating disorder.


In this paper an approach based on evolutionary al- gorithms to find Pareto optimal pair of state and control for multi- objective optimal control problems (MOOCP)'s is introduced. In this approach, first a discretized form of the time-control space is considered and then, a piecewise linear control and a piecewise linear trajectory are obtained from the discretized time-control space using a numerical method. To do that, a modified version of two famous evolutionary genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) to obtain Pareto optimal solutions of the problem is employed. Numerical examples are presented to show the efficiency of the given approach. Keywords. Multi-objective optimal control problem, Pareto solution, Evolutionary algorithm, Discretization, Ap- proximation. MSC. 49M30; 92-08.


An unfortunate trend has appeared in the United States: surgeons are relinquishing control of their surgical intensive care units (SICUs) to directors of critical care medicine affiliated with departments of medicine or anesthesiology. 1 There is no question that internists and anesthesiologists are valuable consultants in the care of the critically ill. However, they often lack an awareness of the urgency to drain pus or excise dead tissue. Similarly, nonsurgeons rarely understand the importance, or have expertise in the management, of nutritional repletion for surgical patients. As nonsurgeons take over the management of surgical patients in the SICU, less surgical house staff will be trained in the intricacies of ventilator management, Swan-Ganz catheterization, hemodynamic support, etc. By abandoning their responsibility for postoperative management, surgeons will become mere operating room technicians, and there will be fewer physiologically oriented surgical role models for students and house staff. It is absolutely essential that surgical


Improved dense trajectories (iDT) have shown great performance in action recognition, and their combination with the two-stream approach has achieved state-of-the-art performance. It is, however, difficult for iDT to completely remove background trajectories from video with camera shaking. Trajectories in less discriminative regions should be given modest weights in order to create more discriminative local descriptors for action recognition. In addition, the two-stream approach, which learns appearance and motion information separately, cannot focus on motion in important regions when extracting features from spatial convolutional layers of the appearance network, and vice versa. In order to address the above mentioned problems, we propose a new local descriptor that pools a new convolutional layer obtained from crossing two networks along iDT. This new descriptor is calculated by applying discriminative weights learned from one network to a convolutional layer of the other network. Our method has achieved state-of-the-art performance on ordinal action recognition datasets, 92.3% on UCF101, and 66.2% on HMDB51.