Objective—We recently demonstrated that Rho-kinase, an effector of the small GTPase Rho, is substantially involved in the pathogenesis of arteriosclerosis. In this study, we examined whether Rho-kinase is also involved in in-stent restenosis and if so, what mechanism is involved. Methods and Results—Pigs underwent stent implantation in the left coronary artery with or without administration of fasudil (30 mg/kg per day orally), a specific Rho-kinase inhibitor, starting 2 days before the procedure for a duration of 4 weeks. On day 28, reductions in coronary diameter and neointimal formation associated with macrophage accumulation, collagen deposition, and transforming growth factor (TGF)-&bgr;1 expression were noted at the stent site, and all were significantly suppressed by fasudil. On day 7, fasudil significantly increased the frequency of TUNEL-positive apoptotic cells, while it tended to reduce that of bromodeoxyuridine-positive proliferating cells in the neointima. Western blot analysis on day 7 demonstrated that phosphorylations of the ezrin/radixin/moesin family (a marker of Rho-kinase activity in vivo) and protein expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1and bcl-2 were upregulated at the stent site and were significantly suppressed by fasudil. Conclusions—These results indicate that long-term inhibition of Rho-kinase suppresses in-stent neointimal formation by multiple mechanisms, including reduced vascular inflammation, enhanced apoptosis, and decreased collagen deposition.


Previous research has consistently found that transgender women experience high levels of domestic violence and abuse (DVA). Yet, to date, no studies have explored the efficacy of training workshops aimed at increasing the capacity of service providers to meet the needs of transgender women. This paper reports on findings from one such workshop developed and run in South Australia. Workshop participants (n ¼ 25) from three domestic violence services completed both pre- and post-workshop measures of attitudes towards working with transgender women, comfort in working with transgender women and confidence in providing services to transgender women. In addition, participants responded to open-ended questions regarding terminology, and awareness of referrals related to the link between DVA and animal abuse. Statistically significant changes were identified on all measures, with workshop attendees reporting more positive attitudes, greater comfort and greater confidence after completing the workshop. Analysis of open-ended responses found that attendees developed a better understanding of both appropriate terminology, and referrals for women who present to services with animal companions. We conclude with suggestions for how programmes and services may become more welcoming and inclusive of transgender women experiencing DVA.


A patient who presented with severely decreased bilateral vision was found to have syphilis and neurosyphilis that responded well to a 14-day course of penicillin and prednisone. The patient tested positive for HIV, which can alter the natural course of syphilis, often making the diagnosis and treatment difficult. Conventional therapy for syphilis may not be effective in patients with HIV. Any patient with syphilis who is in a high-risk group should be tested for HIV; conversely, any patient with HIV should be tested for syphilis if signs or suspicions exist.


For a very long time, women have been silenced in expressing their feelings and talking about their experiences in their societies dominated by patriarchal ideologies. For this reason, Basotho woman use ditolobonya songs (through pitiki) in an effort to deal with the abuse, ill-treatment and all the hardships they go through in their relationships and marriages. This study is necessitated by the discovery I made while listening to these songs that somehow they portray what Basotho women go through in their lives ranging from issues of love, appreciation of a partner, problems they encounter in their relationships, more especially their marriages, to how they are ill-treated by their in-laws as well as their own husbands. As a result, this triggered me to analyze ditolobonya songs to understand what Basotho women go through and how they express their feelings through these songs. The aim of this study therefore is to investigate the extent to which Basotho women use ditolobonya songs to narrate their life experiences. The present study therefore, is premised qualitatively on an Africana-feminism as its base for theoretical framework. For the purpose of this paper, I use Africana womanism as critiques came up on feminism for failing to address the experiences and realities of Africana women. I purposely selected five songs centered on the focus of my study and analyzed them using content analysis. The findings of the study indicate that Basotho women use ditolobonya songs to narrate the challenges they encounter in their marriages and advise one another.


Full-automatic concrete pressure machine and 100-mm-diameter split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) apparatus were used to investigate quasi-static and dynamic energy absorption property of ceramic fiber reinforced concrete (CRFRC) subjected to various high strain rates, which is compared to carbon fiber reinforced concrete at the same volume fraction of 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3%. And the absorbing mechanism of CRFRC is analyzed. The results show that the quasi-static energy-absorption property of CRFRC increases with the volume of ceramic fiber and the relation presents linear approximations; the specific energy absorption of ceramic fiber reinforced concrete is strain rate-dependent dynamic strength-dependent under impact load, and the effect can be expressed by linear approximations. And the strain rate is more distinct when volume fraction of ceramic fiber increases. The energy absorption property of ceramic fiber reinforced concrete is superior to plain and carbon fiber reinforced concrete, especially at higher strain rate and volume.


The Aim—this paper is to investigate whether there is a certain kind of organizational modes for cooperative technological exploitation. In recent years, an important objective of cooperative R&D alliances built by independent organizations is to explore a new market or to exploit the existing one. Whether the objective can be achieved or not is tightly related to the governing efficiency of the R&D alliance, and the latter in turn depends on the suitable organizational mode. The Method--this paper selects 39 Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange according to some certain criteria, and collects their collaborative R&D cases since their listing, and then analyzes the impact of technological exploitation objective to the selection of cooperative R&D organizational modes in light of LOGIT model. The result—this paper shows that the equity mode is prior to the non-equity one no matter the R&D alliance is to explore a new market or exploit the existing market.


In this paper, a new discrete integral variable structure controller based on the a new sliding surface and discrete version of the disturbance observer is suggested for the control of uncertain linear systems. The reaching phase is completely removed by introducing a new proposed integral sliding surface. The discrete version of disturbance observer is derived for effective compensation of uncertainties and disturbance. A corresponding control with disturbance compensation is selected to guarantee the quasi sliding mode on the predetermined integral sliding surface for guaranteeing the designed output in the integral sliding surface from any initial condition for all the parameter variations and disturbances. Using Lyapunov function, the closed loop stability and the existence condition of the quasi sliding mode is proved. Finally, an illustrative example is presented to show the effectiveness of the algorithm.


Abstract Base sequences of many transfer RNA (tRNA) species obtained from different sources contain homologous regions. These homologies, which are 6 to 20 nucleotides long, occur both within the same tRNA molecule and between many different tRNA molecules repeatedly. Since it is very unlikely an 80 or so nucleotide long tRNA molecule could have been formed at once, under primordial conditions, we propose that the homologous oligonucleotides found within the tRNA molecules to-day represent the earliest adapter from which tRNA molecules have evolved.


In order to test the feasibility of using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to pre-concentrate explosive molecules for detection, molecular simulations of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) within IRMOF-1 were performed. Grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations were used to generate adsorption isotherms for pure RDX, RDX in dry air, and RDX in wet air. In addition to the isotherms, the GCMC simulations provide adsorption energies and density distributions of the adsorbates within the MOF. Molecular dynamics simulations calculate diffusivities and provide a detailed understanding of the change in conformation of the RDX molecule upon adsorption. The presence of dry air has little influence on the amount of RDX that adsorbs. The presence of wet air increases the amount of RDX that adsorbs due to favourable interactions between RDX and water. We found a Henry's law constant of 21.2 mol/kg/bar for both pure RDX and RDX in dry air. The RDX adsorption sites are located (i) in big cages, (ii) near a vertex, and (iii) between benzene rings. The energy of adsorption of RDX at infinite dilution was found to be − 9.2 kcal/mol. The distributions of bond lengths, bond angles and torsion angles in RDX are uniformly slightly broader in the gas phase than in the adsorbed phase, but not markedly so. The self-diffusivity of RDX in IRMOF-1 is a strong function of temperature, with an activation energy of 6.0 kcal/mol.


The goal of this investigation was to determine whether participation in an atherosclerosis treatment program would reduce the oxidative susceptibility of LDL from patients with coronary artery disease. The treatment program included intensive exercise therapy, stress management, and consumption of a diet containing 10% fat. The size and antioxidant and lipid contents of LDL particles from 25 patients were analyzed at baseline and after 3 mo of therapy. The susceptibility of LDL to copper-mediated oxidation was measured by a conjugated diene assay and headspace gas chromatography (HSGC). Atherosclerosis treatment significantly reduced plasma total cholesterol and apolipoprotein B concentrations and the molar ratio of LDL cholesterol ester to apolipoprotein B (P < 0.01). The LDL content of alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene was increased (27% and 17%, respectively, P < 0.04) and the molar ratio of LDL cholesterol ester the sum of LDL alpha-tocopherol and LDL beta-carotene decreased from 159 at baseline to 122 at 3 mo (P < 0.01). The lag phase of LDL conjugated diene formation increased 24%, whereas the maximum rate of oxidation slowed 29% (P < 0.01). As assessed by HSGC, copper-catalyzed formation of volatile lipid oxidation products was reduced 15% (P < 0.007); the reduction in volatiles was correlated with an increase in the alpha-tocopherol content of LDL (r=-0.48, P < 0.01). The principal determinants of reduced LDL oxidative susceptibility were the particle contents of alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene. To our knowledge, this is the first report to document a reduction in LDL oxidation in coronary artery disease patients undergoing atherosclerosis-reversal therapy.


Background : Gastric cancer is an important health problem across the world. Chemotherapy in combination with local treatment is the standard treatment for locally advanced gastroesophageal junction (EGJ) cancers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate response and tolerability to neoadjuvant regimen combining epirobicin, oxaliplatin and capecitabin (EOX) in locoregionally advanced gastric cancer. Methods : We recruited 28 patients with histologically confirmed advanced gastric or EGJ adenocarcinoma in this study performed in the Cancer Institute of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran, Iran in 2010-2011. Staging workup included chest and abdominal computed tomography (CT) scans, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS), measurement of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), complete blood cell count (CBC), and liver and renal function tests. After three treatment cycles with EOX regimen, we evaluated response to the neoadjuvant chemotherapy by performing endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) and chest and abdominal CT scans. Results : The mean age of the patients was 56.64±11.08 years (ranging from 37 to 78 years). Most patients were classified as having stage III (98.8%) cancer before chemotherapy while most were classified as stage II (57.14%) after the treatment. Only 28.5% of tumors were resectable before chemotherapy, but 82.1% of them were resectable upon the treatment. 75% of tumors were downstaged after chemotherapy. Conclusion : Regarding the acceptable response and downstaging of tumors and low toxicity of EOX regimen in locoregionally advanced gastric cancer, evaluation of this regimen as a neoadjuvant chemotherapy in larger phase III clinical trials in Iranian patients would be both necessary and logical.


Mobile cloud computing (MCC) offers significant opportunities in performance enhancement and energy saving for mobile, battery-powered devices. Applications running on mobile devices may be represented by task graphs. This work investigates the problem of scheduling tasks (which belong to the same or possibly different applications) in the MCC environment. More precisely, the scheduling problem involves the following steps: (i) determining the tasks to be offloaded onto the cloud, (ii) mapping the remaining tasks onto (potentially heterogeneous) local cores in the mobile device, (iii) determining the frequencies for executing local tasks, and (iv) scheduling tasks on the cores (for in-house tasks) and the wireless communication channels (for offloaded tasks) such that the task-precedence requirements and the application completion time constraint are satisfied while the total energy dissipation in the mobile device is minimized. A novel algorithm is presented, which starts from a minimal-delay scheduling solution and subsequently performs energy reduction by migrating tasks among the local cores and the cloud and by applying the dynamic voltage and frequency scaling technique. A linear-time rescheduling algorithm is proposed for the task migration. Simulation results demonstrate significant energy reduction with the application completion time constraint satisfied.


We consider the problem of assessing the reliability of a 1-out-of-2 software-based system, in which failures of the two channels cannot be assumed to be independent with certainty. An informal approach to this problem assesses the channel probabilities of failure on demand (pfds) conservatively, and then multiplies these together in the hope that the conservatism will be sufficient to overcome any possible dependence between the channel failures. Our intention here is to place this kind of reasoning on a formal footing. We introduce a notion of "not worse than independence"' and assume that an assessor has a prior belief about this, expressed as a probability. We obtain a conservative prior system pfd, and show how a conservative posterior system pfd can be obtained following the observation of a number of demands without system failure. We present some illustrative numerical examples, discuss some of the difficulties involved in this way of reasoning, and suggest some avenues of future research.


OBJECTIVE
This article conceptually and empirically evaluates alternative index measures that have been used to distinguish among hospital caseloads. It introduces two new measures.

DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING
The study relies on 1987 Medpar data, which provide a 100 percent sample of Medicare Part A claims for the calendar year.

STUDY DESIGN
Descriptive statistics indicate the sensitivity of alternative caseload measures to hospital bed size, region, and urban/rural location. Multiple regression analysis then examines the ability of the caseload measures to distinguish among hospitals based on hospital- and area-specific characteristics.

DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS
A provider level file containing the number of cases treated by each provider in each DRG was constructed from the Medpar data and merged with data from the American Hospital Association and the Area Resource File.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
Different indexes purporting to measure hospital specialization are often evaluating very different aspects of the hospitals' caseloads. Prior work has indicated a specialization among hospitals during the period from 1980 to 1985. Replication of this work using other indexes could verify the increase in specialization and might provide a clearer picture of market or hospital characteristics associated with changing caseloads.


The conductivity of a series of composite membranes, based on polybenzimidazole (PBI) containing the metallacarborane salt M[Co(C2B9H11)2], M[COSANE] and tetraphenylborate, M[B(C6H5)4], M[TPB] both anions having the same number of atoms and the same negative charge, has been investigated. Different cations (M = H+, Li+ and Na+) have been studied and the composite membranes have been characterized by water uptake, swelling ratios, ATR FT-IR, thermogravimetric analysis and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to explore the dielectric response and ion dynamics in composite membranes. Our results show that conductivity increases with increasing temperature and it is higher for H+ than for Li+ and Na+ for all temperatures under study. The mobility of Li+ is greater in [COSANE]- than in [TPB]- composite PBI@membranes while for Na+ it is the opposite. The temperature dependence of the conductivity of the composite was followed by a typical Arrhenius behaviour with two different regions: (1) between 20 and 100 °C, and (2) between 100 and 150 °C. Using the analysis of electrode polarization (EP) based on the Thrukhan theory we have calculated the ionic diffusion coefficients and the density of carriers. From the double logarithmic plot of the imaginary part of the conductivity (σ'') versus frequency in the entire range of temperatures studied we have determined for each sample at each temperature, the frequency values of the onset (fON) and full development of electrode polarization (fMAX), respectively, which permit us to calculate static permittivity.


Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of various nozzle diameter and different liquid delivery pressure on efficacy of water-jet in experimen-tal liver resection. Method: Depending on the used nozzle diameter, the animals were divided into two groups. In the first group of animals, the nozzle diameter was 0.1 mm and this group was divided into 3 subgroups depending on the liquid pressure applied:  8 ATM, 12 ATM and 16 ATM, with 5 water-jet liver dissection is in each subgroup. Water-jet dissection with  nozzle diameter of 0.2 mm was used in the second  group of animals, which was divided into three subgroups with 5 water-jet liver dis-section in each, depending on liquid pressure: 4 ATM, 8 ATM and 12  ATM. The criteria such as blood loss, operation time, parenchymal necrosis, expired liquid volume, and postoperative complications were used for comparison. Results: Water-jet with a diameter of 0.1mm   and pres-sure of 12 ATM showed faster cutting with reasonable blood loss  when compared to the low pressure sub-group (8 ATM) and result in lesser parenchymal necro-sis, smaller expired liquid volume and  acceptable speed of resection when compared to the high pres-sure  subgroup (16 ATM). Increase of the pressure from 4 to 12 ATM of water-jet with diameter of 0.2 mm  re-sulted in increase of blood loss and  necrosis, but did not effect the speed  of resection significantly. Despite lesser blood loss and smaller necrosis, the water-jet at 4 ATM had slower speed of resection. Water-jet with diameter of 0.2 mm and pressure of 8 ATM cut  liver more faster without significantly effecting blood loss and necrosis in comparison to that at a pressure  of 4 ATM. Conclusion:  Our study showed that, increasing the nozzle diameter and liquid delivery pressure resulted in an increase of blood loss and tissue necrosis. Wa-ter-jets with diameter of 0.1 mm and pressure of 12 ATM   is more acceptable for resection of normal liv-ers. Key words: Liver resection, water-jet


We propose a probabilistic model for estimating population flow, which is defined as populations of the transition between areas over time, given aggregated spatio-temporal population data. Since there is no information about individual trajectories in the aggregated data, it is not straightforward to estimate population flow. With the proposed method, we utilize a collective graphical model with which we can learn individual transition models from the aggregated data by analytically marginalizing the individual locations. Learning a spatio-temporal collective graphical model only from the aggregated data is an ill-posed problem since the number of parameters to be estimated exceeds the number of observations. The proposed method reduces the effective number of parameters by modeling the transition probabilities with a neural network that takes the locations of the origin and the destination areas and the time of day as inputs. By this modeling, we can automatically learn nonlinear spatio-temporal relationships flexibly among transitions, locations, and times. With four real-world population data sets in Japan and China, we demonstrate that the proposed method can estimate the transition population more accurately than existing methods.


Laboratory animal medicine professionals are often required to develop husbandry practices for species not commonly considered for use as laboratory animals. Although protocols exist for management of captive white-tailed deer in an outdoor facility, it was necessary to modify those procedures to house fawns in an indoor facility. Four abandoned fawns were acquired through a cooperative effort with the Department of Conservation. Physical examinations were performed and fecal samples were collected when the 2 to 3dayold fawns arrived at the facility. All fawns were infested with ticks, which were removed manually. After quarantine of 24 to 48 h, the fawns were moved to large chain-link pens and housed in pairs. Rubber mats covered with wood shavings provided secure footing, and a large portable kennel was used to provide shelter and concealment. Milk replacer formulated for goats was fed via a bottle at regularly scheduled intervals according to the expected caloric needs determined on the basis of body weight of each fawn. Water, hay, and alfalfa pellets were available ad libitum. All fawns gained weight at a steady rate during the 4-month study, with a mean weight gain of 150 g/d. Blood collection was performed at the conclusion of the study to establish reference values for 3- to 4-month-old white-tailed deer fawns. Manual restraint for clinical procedures was sufficient initially, but when the fawns grew too large to handle easily, a combination of ketamine hydrochloride- xylazine hydrochloride was used for sedation. The methods employed were successful for short-term maintenance of the fawns in an indoor facility.


OBJECTIVE
This study aims to assess the response and safety of the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) episodes with high oral doses of methylprednisolone (MP) and to investigate the correlation between expanded disability status scale (EDSS) and MS functional composite (MSFC) during recovery from relapses.

METHOD
Patients consecutively diagnosed of clinically defined MS with an episode of less than three weeks course were included. They were evaluated and treated with a single dose of 1,000 mg of MP for three days without oral tapering. Baseline EDSS and at least three MSFC scale measurements were available. Patients were scored with EDSS and MSFC before the treatment and after 1, 4 and 12 weeks. Adverse events were also recorded. Response to treatment was defined as the recovery of at least 1 point in the EDSS or the return to baseline EDSS.

RESULTS
Twenty one episodes in 20 patients were treated. Mean baseline EDSS was, 2.5; mean baseline z-score was, 0.15, and mean relapse duration was, 6.8 days. During relapse, mean EDSS worsened to 3.8 and mean z-score to -0.57. At week 1, 33.4% of relapses had responded to treatment, and at weeks 4 and 12, 85.7% had responded. Although mean EDSS and mean z-score had already improved at week 1, mean EDSS did not reach baseline value until week 4 and mean z-score until week 12. EDSS correlated significantly to MSFC in each evaluation as well as to scale changes related to relapse (p;0.05). No serious adverse events were seen.

DISCUSSION
Oral high-dose of MP is a safe and effective therapy for MS relapses. Both EDSS and MSFC were sensitive to changes related to relapses although the dynamics of recovery was different, providing complementary information.


Microvesicles (MVs) are small spherical fragments of plasma membrane between 50 and 1000 nm in diameter. MVs arise through direct outward budding and fission of the plasma membrane. As almost all cells, human red blood cells (RBCs) are able to release MVs into extracellular environment under stimulating or storage conditions. Recently, it has been known that MVs not only play a role in homeostasis but also have diverse functions in cell-cell interactions and in the pathogenesis of diseases. In this chapter, the formation and release of MVs from human RBCs have been described. In addition, MVs have demonstrated to be potential vehicle for transport of nucleic acid and other molecules to the target cells. Although RBC-derived MVs are potential material for the development of delivery systems, it is still a great challenge to the clinical application. Future research should pay more attention to MVs as biological targets for diagnosis and practical therapeutics of cancer and other diseases.


In this paper we analyse some distributional effects of the reforms of water and energy services in Italy. We first document the new regulation setting in these services, illustrating the dynamics of utility prices and of household expenditure in the period 1998-2005. We then propose a way to measure the affordability of public utilities, in order to investigate how many households would incur a potentially excessive burden, if they consumed a minimum quantity of utility services. Finally, we calculate this index on data from the 'Survey on Family Budgets'. Our results show how the affordability of utility bills varies from region to region depending on climate, income, family endowment and size. The analysis - also based on a counterfactual exercise - finds that so far, utility reforms do not seem to have produced any negative effects on weaker households.


We introduce a model of self-propelled particles carrying out a Brownian motion with a diffusion coefficient which depends on the local density of particles within a certain finite radius. Numerical simulations show that in a range of parameters the long-time spatial distribution of particles is non-homogeneous, and clusters can be observed. A number density equation, which explains the emergence of the aggregates and indicates the values of the parameters for which they appear, is derived. Numerical results of this continuum density equation are also shown.


We describe Module Analysis for Multiple Choice Responses (MAMCR) , a new methodology for carrying out network analysis on responses to multiple choice assessments. This method is used to identify modules of non-normative responses which can then be interpreted as an alternative to factor analysis. MAMCR allows us to identify conceptual modules that are present in student responses that are more specific than the broad categorization of questions that is possible with factor analysis and to incorporate non-normative responses. Thus, this method may prove to have greater utility in helping to modify instruction. In MAMCR the responses to a multiple choice assessment are first treated as a bipartite, student X response, network which is then projected into a response X response network. We then use data reduction and community detection techniques to identify modules of non-normative responses. To illustrate the utility of the method we have analyzed one cohort of postinstruction Force Concept Inventory (FCI) responses. From this analysis, we find nine modules which we then interpret. The first three modules include the following: Impetus Force, More Force Yields More Results, and Force as Competition or Undistinguished Velocity and Acceleration. This method has a variety of potential uses particularly to help classroom instructors in using multiple choice assessments as diagnostic instruments beyond the Force Concept Inventory.


It has long been assumed that sensory neurons are adapted, through both evolutionary and developmental processes, to the statistical properties of the signals to which they are exposed. Attneave (1954)Barlow (1961) proposed that information theory could provide a link between environmental statistics and neural responses through the concept of coding efficiency. Recent developments in statistical modeling, along with powerful computational tools, have enabled researchers to study more sophisticated statistical models for visual images, to validate these models empirically against large sets of data, and to begin experimentally testing the efficient coding hypothesis for both individual neurons and populations of neurons.


This paper analyses emerging forms in which life and work are interwoven, based on 20 ethnographic studies conducted in enterprises in Spain. Whereas after the Industrial Revolution work processes tended to be autonomous from the living environments of production agents, in recent decades a trend in the opposite direction has been observed in some companies. This re-articulation takes place at several levels: a) through the blurring of the boundaries that separate work and everyday life, b) through the reintegration of affective dimensions into work processes, c) in promoting reciprocity and sociability in the economic sphere and d) in the production of meaningful experiences at work. Are we witnessing an emancipating balance between life and work? Or, on the contrary, is private life being colonized by the sphere of production? In this paper we seek to explore a third form of analysis, that of reflexive modernity.


Deep Neural Network–Hidden Markov Model (DNN-HMM) based methods have been successfully used for many always-on keyword spotting algorithms that detect a wake word to trigger a device. The DNN predicts the state probabilities of a given speech frame, while HMM decoder combines the DNN predictions of multiple speech frames to compute the keyword detection score. The DNN, in prior methods, is trained independent of the HMM parameters to minimize the cross-entropy loss between the predicted and the ground-truth state probabilities. The mismatch between the DNN training loss (cross-entropy) and the end metric (detection score) is the main source of sub-optimal performance for the keyword spotting task. We address this loss-metric mismatch with a novel end-to-end training strategy that learns the DNN parameters by optimizing for the detection score. To this end, we make the HMM decoder (dynamic programming) differentiable and back-propagate through it to maximize the score for the keyword and minimize the scores for non-keyword speech segments. Our method does not require any change in the model architecture or the inference framework; there-fore, there is no overhead in run-time memory or compute requirements. Moreover, we show significant reduction in false rejection rate (FRR) at the same false trigger experience (> 70% over independent DNN training).


Established the Fuzzy matter-element Model for Comprehensive Evaluation of the stability of coal mining subsidence. Analyzed each factor of the stability of coal mining subsidence, and constructed Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation of coal mining subsidence. With Fuzzy matter-element theory, make the stability of coal mining subsidence as matter element thing, Application of the things of the evaluation criteria and the fuzzy values to construct compound fuzzy matter element, and calculate the weights of each index with AHP, construct degree Evaluation Model with the concept of closeness, in order to achieve the stability evaluation of coal mining subsidence.


Antioxidants that derived from food have a powerful potential effects on several diseases associated with oxidative stress. The goal of our work was to evaluate the role of quercetin on endothelial dysfunction and asymmetrical dimethylarginine (ADMA) levels in experimental diabetes, rats were divided into four groups including control, quercetin, diabetic and treated groups. Diabetic rats were treated with quercetin; blood glucose and plasma insulin were estimated. Liver superoxide dismutase (SOD), reduced glutathione (GSH) and plasma nitric oxide (NO) were measured. ADMA was estimated by reversed phase HPLC. Our results revealed an increase in insulin resistance and ADMA concomitant with a decrease in plasma nitric oxide, liver superoxide dismutase and reduced glutathione activities while treatment with quercetin significantly ameliorated these parameters in treated group compared to diabetic group. Also a negative correlation between ADMA and NO was found accompanied with a positive correlation between ADMA and insulin resistance. The important role of quercetin in attenuating endothelial dysfunction and elevated ADMA levels provides strong evidence that it may be a promising antidiabetic and protective natural product against cardiovascular complications related to diabetes.


Yolk–shell-structured MnO2 microspheres with oxygen vacancies (ov-MnO2@MnO2) were successfully constructed by a facile three-step method. Morphological observations showed that the as-obtained ov-MnO2@MnO2 microspheres possessed distinctive yolk@void@shell configurations with an average diameter of 1.13 μm. Both the shell and yolk were assembled by a large amount of homogeneous MnO2 nanoparticles with an average diameter of 12 nm. The yolk–shell-structured ov-MnO2@MnO2 microsphere electrode exhibited a large specific surface area (259.83 m2 g−1) and good conductivity, thus it achieved high specific capacitance (452.4 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 and 316.1 F g−1 at 50 A g−1), excellent cycling stability (10 000 cycles) and superior rate capability (∼79.2% and 69.9% of the initial capacity at 20 A g−1 and 50 A g−1, respectively). It is noted that the asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) composed of yolk–shell-structured ov-MnO2@MnO2 microspheres (as the positive electrode) and commercial activated carbon (as the negative electrode) can deliver a high energy density of 40.2 W h kg−1 and a maximum power density of 22.28 kW kg−1. The superior electrochemical performance of ov-MnO2@MnO2 is mainly ascribed to the unique yolk@void@shell nanostructure, the presence of oxygen vacancies in the crystal lattice and the synergistic effect of the individual components of the hybrid.


In this paper, we proposed an efficient method to address the problem of color face image segmentation that is based on color information and saliency map. This method consists of three stages. At first, skin colored regions is detected using a Bayesian model of the human skin color. Then, we get a chroma chart that shows likelihoods of skin colors. This chroma chart is further segmented into skin region that satisfy the homogeneity property of the human skin. The third stage, visual attention model are employed to localize the face region according to the saliency map while the bottom-up approach utilizes both the intensity and color features maps from the test image. Experimental evaluation on test shows that the proposed method is capable of segmenting the face area quite effectively,at the same time, our methods shows good performance for subjects in both simple and complex backgrounds, as well as varying illumination conditions and skin color variances.


Low biogas production in the frozen seafood wastewater anaerobic digestion is observed due to the low organic and Total Solids (TS) contents in the wastewater. In this research the decanter cake will be used in the anaerobic co-digestion process to improve the biogas production rate. The effect of co-digestion and Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT) will be investigated using the continuously stirred tank reactors under anaerobic conditions. Moreover, the study determines the biogas production potential of different HRTs and that of wastewater digestion alone. The anaerobic co-digestion is operated in continuous with continuously stirred reactors at HRT of 10, 20 and 30 days. The mechanical stirring units of all reactors are operated automatically. The stirring action occurred continuously during the experiments. The anaerobic co-digestion results show that the anaerobic co-digestion provides higher biogas production rate and higher methane yield than that of the wastewater digestion alone. The optimum HRT of the anaerobic co-digestion is 20 days. This reactor produces 2.88 L day-1, with 64.5% of methane and the maximum methane production rate of 1.87 L day-1 and the methane yield of 0.321 l CH4/g CODremoved. The anaerobic co-digestion of wastewater with decanter cake provides the higher methane yield potential production than that provided by the wastewater digestion alone at the ambient temperature. The best HRT is 20 days for anaerobic co-digestion between the wastewater and decanter cake. The experimental results reveal that HRT and co-digestion are the parameters that can affect the biogas production and methane yield.


In order to study the surface characteristics of exposed-aggregate cement concrete pavement, the measurement mechanism of surface texture depth was analyzed by using digital image technique. Based on the principle of least square and Table curve 3D software, two-dimensional digital image of road surface was reconstructed into three-dimensional space surface and a method of evaluating and measuring pavement surface texture depth was put forward. With this method, digital image samples were calculated and the results were compared with the results of conventional measurement method. The results indicate that exposed-aggregate cement concrete pavement has excellent road characteristics; there is a good correlation between the digital image technique and the traditional sand patch method and the relative error is less than 7 percent. Thus, the digital image technique is feasible in evaluating and measuring pavement surface texture depth.


E-Marketplace is the one of ecommerce model that growth rapidly now. The concept of marketplace almost the same as other ecommerce, but there are any differences. E-marketplace can be consist of one provider that called admin or many provider that called seller. Now, we can access many e-marketplace such as tokopedia, olx, bukalapak and lazada. The e-marketplace business's is not sellingspecific product. They sell a lot of products. On the other hand, the business that run by UMKM can not develop as fast as the existing e-marketplaces. This also happen to the UMKM that sell baby's foods and needs.  Whereas the food they sell contain balanced nutrition and do not contain subtances that harmfull to the baby. Maemma.id is the e-marketplace that built to provide babby's need especially UMKM food products and needs in Kediri Area. Maemma.id built using CodeIgniter framework, bootstrap and MySql database provide catalog product from each UMKM. The result of the research is e-marketplace website with maemma.id domain. Maemma.id has access right for admin, seller and visitors. Admin serve tomanage the seller data, seller manage the baby food products and needs they offer and visitors can see the good offered by certain categories and see the shop owner.


Jennifer—a postdoc—had been working from home for 4 weeks. Anxious about the COVID-19 pandemic, she was having trouble focusing on her research. She knew her mental health had deteriorated and that she needed advice to stay motivated. So she reached out to Steven, a friend who also happens to be a practicing psychiatrist. He didn't solve all of Jennifer's problems. But he did provide a new lens to view them through—as well as concrete steps she could take to improve her mental health. Our conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

> "When dealing with anxiety, it's important to … practice activities that are restorative."

> JENNIFER: In academia, we are often encouraged to suck it up when problems arise. I am currently writing two papers. I know others who are writing grants. Should we expect to use this "time away from the lab" to be superproductive?

> STEVEN: Working in a COVID-19 world is not normal. You shouldn't dwell on guilt if you're not functioning at maximum productivity levels. You need time to process the grief that comes with the loss of your former work life and social life.

> J: I occasionally find myself spiraling down a hole of despair, spending hours reading about all the terrible things happening in the world. The news makes me feel sad and helpless, which in turn zaps all the motivation out of my day. What should I do?

> S: In these spirals, it is important to recognize that there's a lot happening right now that you can't control. Even though it is incredibly hard, shift your attention to things you can control. For example, you cannot control the number of people who are dying from COVID-19. But you can do your part to maintain social distancing.

> J: I am worried about members of my family getting sick. I'm also worried about my future in academia because many universities are instituting hiring freezes. How can I get rid of all this worry?

> S: Try compartmentalizing the worry into a time block. Spend 20 minutes each day writing down and acknowledging your feelings. Then, think about reasonable solutions. For example, you could brainstorm how you could secure funding to extend your postdoc, which would give you more time to publish papers and apply for academic jobs next year. You could also learn about jobs that might interest you in other sectors, such as industry.

> J: Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep. I'm physically tired, but my brain is restless. I end up just lying there, thinking and worrying about everything that's going on. Is this anxiety?

> S: It could be. Anxiety is a persistent feeling of worry. Sometimes it is constant, while other times it rushes over you all at once. When dealing with anxiety, it's important to assess your emotions and talk about what you're going through with trusted friends and family. You should also practice activities that are restorative and relaxing, especially before bedtime. Listen to music, take a hot shower, read a book, or do something else that you enjoy.

> J: These past few weeks have been difficult for so many people, and I fear it'll get worse. However, I have also been inspired by good things that people are doing. For example, students, postdocs, and faculty members at our university have donated thousands of dollars to support our furloughed food service workers. It fills me with some confidence that we will overcome this.

> S: That's great. These are trying times, but they'll be easier if we do what we can to support one another. A key strategy for combating sadness, stress, and anxiety is to express gratitude for what you do have. Keep that up.


The urban mobility infrastructure axes have an important potential in the structuring and aggregation of the urban fabric. Throughout the last century this fact takes on special relevance due to the increasing fragmentation of the fabric and its processes of composition. It is through the main infrastructural axes that the relations of continuity, physical and spatial, are often preserved occurring in certain cases a distortion of the notions of space and time. Thus, the strategic (and spatial) value of these urban elements causes, in the contemporary city, the definition of new linear centralities that attract buildings and singular uses. Marginal occupation often occurs in a fragmented and individual way. Infrastructure and urban fabric are thought out, and constructed, separately, creating often weak morphological relationships or indirect systems. Despite this, it is evident the creation of symbiotic mechanisms of interrelation between the infrastructural axis and the surrounding built fabric. Its formal caracteristics are influenciated by the visibility allowed by the infrasctrutural axis. A more or less constant continuum is built, but the vision as a whole appears relatively inconsistent, not stabilized and poorly articulated with the adjacent urban context. The formal composition of the building itself has contradictory characteristics, on one hand it establishes strong visual and functional bonds with the infrastructural axis, but on other hand, its form as an architectural object, does not always contribute to a qualification of the space as a whole. The article seeks to look in a particular way for the case of the Start-Up Buildings, singular buildings that by their morphological and functional characteristics are promoters of particular dynamics capable of reinventing the urban space around them. There is particular interest in its ability to generate ambiguous urban spaces, developers of crossings and connections between distinct parts of the city, as well as links between the built fabric and the mobility infrastructure that supports it. In this way, through the study of these Start-Up Buildings is intended to collect contributions that can inform the exercise of the project, using them as didactic objects and not as models. It seeks to systematize principles of composition that allow a better articulation between certain infrastructural axes and the singular buildings that surround them, such as for example shopping centres or megastores. The qualification of the public space and the relation that it constructs with the collective space is seen as a factor that would potentiate the capacity to connect the two elements: infrastructure and building.


A cross-sectional study was conducted in order to construct a new reference chart for Thai fetal biparietal diameter (BPD). A total of 621 normal pregnant women between 12-41 weeks of gestation and their fetuses were recruited. Measurements were made once at a randomly assigned gestational age specifically for the purpose of this study only. Due to unfavorable fetal position in some cases, BPD data were available in 613 measurements. Linear regression models were fitted separately to estimate the mean and standard deviation as functions of gestational age. Reference centiles were constructed from both equations, assuming the data were normally distributed. A new reference centiles chart for BPD is presented and compared with previously published data. Our derived centiles were clearly lower than those from Western studies showing the importance of racial differences between populations. This elucidates the need to develop fetal biometries charts specifically for each region.


Historic tax credits have been a vital part of the historic preservation movement in this country since their inception in 1976. Since then, they have evolved to maximize the opportunities for historic building owners, and many states themselves have adopted state historic tax credits that expand the benefits beyond just income-producing properties. South Carolina has been one of the more prolific states in their use of historic tax credits. Even so, historic tax credits have been vastly under-utilized in South Carolina's rural communities of South Carolina. A comprehensive study of the use of both the federal and state historic tax credits for rehabilitation in the state provides statistical data to support recommendations for further work in bringing the benefits to historic tax credits to a wider range of communities. A combination of population data, National Register listings, and historic tax credit data for South Carolina demonstrates the difference in conditions the rural versus urban communities in the state and how an increase in use of historic tax credit could address many of the problems facing the rural communities of South Carolina.


GUM is a portable, parallel implementation of the Haskell functional language. Despite sustained research interest in parallel functional programming, GUM is one of the rst such systems to be made publicly available. GUM is message-based, and portability is facilitated by using the PVM communications harness that is available on many multi-processors. As a result, GUM is available for both shared-memory (Sun SPARCserver multiprocessors) and distributed-memory (networks of workstations) archi-tectures. The high message-latency of distributed machines is ameliorated by sending messages asynchronously, and by sending large packets of related data in each message. Initial performance gures demonstrate absolute speedups relative to the best sequential compiler technology. To improve the performance of a parallel Haskell program GUM provides tools for monitoring and visualising the behaviour of threads and of processors during execution.


Abstract. A simple, practical model for estimating daily recharge - as hydrologically effective rainfall (HER) - to the Chalk outcrop of southern England is presented. Daily meteorological observations are the only data requirements. The model was calibrated for a Chalk river, the Wey, in south Dorset. Six different root constant thresholds were used to estimate daily actual evapotranspiration (AET) rates for the river. The model was then used to calculate HER using the six estimates of AET. Daily mean flow was simulated using three different models: CAPTAIN, IHACRES and INCA. The six HER estimates provided independent model inputs. HER calculated using a root constant of 200mm proved suitable not only for the Wey, but also (via a validation exercise) for other rivers on the Chalk of southern England for riverflow simulations as well as the timing and magnitude of groundwater recharge. The results suggest that a root constant of 200mm is optimal for the Chalk outcrop of southern England. The model is particularly useful for studies where the application of more complex methods of recharge estimation is impractical. Keywords: Chalk aquifer, root constant, recharge, Hydrologically Effective Rainfall, model, riverflow, CAPTAIN, IHACRES, INCA, River Wey


With any assigned responsibility should come a freedom to decide, to act, to change, to control one's destiny. In the case of appropriate educational programming to serve the proportionally increasing number of small farm clientele, Extension has some challenges. We must face the challenges in ways that fulfill the Extension mission and also control our Extension Service destiny. This paper comments on some of these challenges as well as the demographic, historical, political, social and economic characteristics surrounding them. The institutional realities of limited staff resources, unlimited potential mission and the often unclear perceptions of both private citizens and public officials concerning Extension are recognized.


OBJECTIVE
To test whether a short period of training leads to adaptations in the cross-sectional area of large conduit arteries and improved blood flow to the paralyzed legs of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI).

DESIGN
Before-after trial.

SETTING
Rehabilitation center, academic medical center.

PARTICIPANTS
Nine men with spinal cord lesions.

INTERVENTION
Six weeks of cycling using a functional electrically stimulated leg cycle ergometer (FES-LCE).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Longitudinal images and simultaneous velocity spectra were measured in the common carotid (CA) and femoral (FA) arteries using quantitative duplex Doppler ultrasound examination. Arterial diameters, peak systolic inflow volumes (PSIVs), mean inflow volumes (MIVs), and a velocity index (VI), representing the peripheral resistance, were obtained at rest. PSIVs and VI were obtained during 3 minutes of hyperemia following 20 minutes of FA occlusion.

RESULTS
Training resulted in significant increases in diameter (p < .01), PSIVs (p < .01), and MIVs (p < .05), and reduced VI (p < .01) of the FA, whereas values in the CA remained unchanged. Postocclusive hyperemic responses were augmented, indicated by significantly higher PSIVs (p <.01) and a trend toward lower VI.

CONCLUSION
Six weeks of FES-LCE training increased the cross-sectional area of large conduit arteries and improved blood flow to the paralyzed legs of individuals with SCI.


This paper discusses the uniform cylindrical waveguide formed by placing one conductor inside a conducting tube. Because of the complexity of the guide's cross section, the numerical technique of the point-matching method is adopted to solve the boundary-value problem. The formulations are carried out for the case when each of the conductors has an arbitrary cross section and also for the case when one of the conductors has a circular cross section. The coaxial waveguide modes, in which the field components have angular variations, split into odd and even modes when the center conductor begins to shift axis to form the uniform eccentric waveguide. However, only even modes in the eccentric guide correspond to the coaxial modes with no angular variations. The dependence of the cutoff frequency on the eccentricity of the guide is determined numerically for even and odd TE and TM modes. Experimental results verify the theoretical calculations for TE modes.


Cloneless: Code Clone Detection via Program Dependence Graphs with Relaxed Constraints Thomas Simko Code clones are pieces of code that have the same functionality. While some clones may structurally match one another, others may look drastically different. The inclusion of code clones clutters a code base, leading to increased costs through maintenance. Duplicate code is introduced through a variety of means, such as copy-pasting, code generated by tools, or developers unintentionally writing similar pieces of code. While manual clone identification may be more accurate than automated detection, it is infeasible due to the extensive size of many code bases. Software code clone detection methods have differing degree of success based on the analysis performed. This thesis outlines a method of detecting clones using a program dependence graph and subgraph isomorphism to identify similar subgraphs, ultimately illuminating clones. The project imposes few constraints when comparing code segments to potentially reveal more clones.


Many modern navigation systems and map-based services do not only provide the fastest route from a source location <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$s$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mi>s</mml:mi></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="cheema-ieq1-3063717.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> to a target location <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$t$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mi>t</mml:mi></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="cheema-ieq2-3063717.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> but also provide a few alternative routes to the users as more options to choose from. Consequently, computing alternative paths has received significant research attention. However, it is unclear which of the existing approaches generates alternative routes of better quality because the quality of these alternatives is mostly subjective. Motivated by this, in this paper, we present a user study conducted on the road networks of Melbourne, Dhaka and Copenhagen that compares the quality (as perceived by the users) of the alternative routes generated by four of the most popular existing approaches including the routes provided by Google Maps. We also present a web-based demo system that can be accessed using any internet-enabled device and allows users to see the alternative routes generated by the four approaches for any pair of selected source and target. We report the average ratings received by the four approaches and our statistical analysis shows that there is no credible evidence that the four approaches receive different ratings on average. We also discuss the limitations of this user study and recommend the readers to interpret these results with caution because certain factors may have affected the participants' ratings.


We characterized the traU gene of the Escherichia coli K-12 conjugative plasmid F. Plasmids carrying segments of the F transfer operon were tested for their capacity to complement F lac traU526. The protein products of TraU+ clones were identified, and the nucleotide sequence of traU was determined. traU mapped between traW and trbC. It encodes a 330-amino-acid, Mr36,786 polypeptide that is processed. Ethanol caused accumulation of a precursor polypeptide; removal of ethanol permitted processing of the protein to occur. Because F lac traU526 strains appear to be resistant to F-pilus-specific phages, traU has been considered an F-pilus assembly gene. However, electron microscopic analysis indicated that the traU526 amber mutation caused only a 50% reduction in F-piliation. Since F lac traU526 strains also retain considerable transfer proficiency, new traU mutations were constructed by replacing a segment of traU with a kanamycin resistance gene. Introduction of these mutations into a transfer-proficient plasmid caused a drastic reduction in transfer proficiency, but pilus filaments remained visible at approximately 20% of the wild-type frequency. Like traU526 strains, such mutants were unable to plaque F-pilus-specific phages but exhibited a slight sensitivity on spot tests. Complementation with a TraU+ plasmid restored the wild-type transfer and phage sensitivity phenotypes. Thus, an intact traU product appears to be more essential to conjugal DNA transfer than to assembly of pilus filaments.


Introduction There is evidence-based guidance, including from the Department of Health, supporting vaccination of patients with susceptible gastroenterological conditions. The recent pandemic flu has also raised the profile of vaccination programmes for at-risk patients. Anecdotally, Gastroenterologists rarely advise vaccinations for these patients. Methods We aimed to assess current uptake of vaccination in at-risk Gastroenterology patients. We prospectively audited vaccination uptake in the preceding 12 months, against influenza and pneumococcal disease among 100 consecutive eligible gastroenterology patients on immunomodulators or with chronic liver disease (CLD) seen in clinics or wards. Hepatitis A and B vaccination uptake were also assessed in CLD patients. The underlying diagnoses, type of immunomodulators and Child-Pugh scores were recorded. Patients who received vaccinations were also asked who advised their vaccination. Results We identified 57 males and 43 females with a mean age of 51 (range 19–83). 52% were on immunomodulators (31 Azathioprine, 9 Infliximab, 1 Adalimumab, 1 6-Mercaptopurine, 10 Combination) while 48% had CLD. Indications for immunomodulators include Crohn's disease (56%), UC (25%), autoimmune hepatitis (15%) and post-liver transplant (4%). Diagnoses for CLD patients include ALD (59%), HCV infection (13%), PBC (6%), NAFLD (4%), autoimmune hepatitis (4%), haemochromatosis (4%), HBV infection (2%) and mixed aetiologies (8%). Only 10% of patients had both influenza and pneumococcal vaccines, while 27% had influenza vaccination alone. Of the eligible CLD patients, only 2/46 (4%) patients had both HAV and HBV vaccinations while 1/46 (2%) had HBV vaccination only. Of the 38 patients who had at least one vaccination, 73% were advised to by their general practitioner, 11% by the gastroenterology team, 11% via self-referral and 5% via other secondary care teams. Conclusion Despite national guidance, only about one third of our susceptible gastroenterology patients are receiving all or some of the appropriate vaccinations. Of the patients receiving vaccination, most do not receive all the recommended vaccinations. This suggests a failure to disseminate guidance rather than a lack of patients' willingness to receive them. Most patients receiving vaccination were advised by their GPs. Few patients were advised by the Gastroenterology department, despite Gastroenterologists initiating immunomodulators and caring for susceptible patients. A departmental guideline is being created to ensure recommendations to receive all appropriate vaccinations are made to patients and their GPs. These findings may be similar in many UK hospitals and our findings may be more widely applicable.


We outline key steps necessary to reform the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) so as to improve its robustness to manipulation. We first discuss the role of financial benchmarks such as LIBOR in promoting over-the-counter market efficiency by improving transparency. We then describe how to mitigate LIBOR manipulation incentives by: (i) widening the types of transactions used to fix LIBOR; and (ii) encouraging a transition of "rates trading" applications of LIBOR derivatives to alternative reference rates that are in principle more suitable for this purpose because they do not include the bank-credit-spread component inherent in LIBOR. The current exceptional depth and liquidity of LIBOR-based markets are self-fulfilling sources of dominance for LIBOR as the reference rate of choice among rates traders. This liquidity agglomeration around LIBOR is probably accidental and inefficient, and creates an incentive to manipulate LIBOR. A transition of rates trading to alternative reference rates, however, may be difficult to arrange without official-sector involvement.


What is a physician's responsibility to care for walk-in patients in the emergency room? This is a commonly asked question in light of the OIG v Burditt case and provisions of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 that take effect July 1, 1990. This article analyzes the current federal and state laws on examination, treatment, and transfers.


Ground-based spatial mapping of Mars provides a unique way to retrieve the global distribution of minor atmospheric species and to study transient phenomena or possible variations with the local hour. We have obtained an instantaneous map of water vapor on Mars near summer solstice (Ls = 80°) using the Texas Echelon Cross Echelle Spectrograph (TEXES) at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) at Mauna Kea Observatory. Data have been obtained in the 1230-1245 cm-1 range (λ = 8.1 μm), with a spatial resolution of 1.1 arcsec (after convolution) and a spectral resolution of 0.012 cm-1 (R = 105). The map has been retrieved from the line depth of a weak HDO transition, compared with the line depth of a weak CO2 nearby transition. The TEXES map exhibits a strong maximum around the northern pole, as expected from previous observations and from climate model predictions. More interestingly, it shows longitudinal variations, both at high northern latitudes and at mid-latitudes, in close agreement with the predictions of the Global Climate Model developed at the Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique (LMD GCM). The inferred water vapor mixing ratio is also in good agreement with the model predictions. The longitudinal variations at mid latitudes show a general enhancement toward the east. They do not seem to be due to the effect of local hour, but can be explained by dynamical effects generated by the topography. The map of surface temperatures, inferred from the continuum flux, is surprisingly different from the map expected from the climate models; the source of this discrepancy is still unclear.


Ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin are broad-spectrum fluoroquinolones and possess excellent activity against Vibrio cholerae O1 and O139 serogroups (6). Clinical studies have shown that these drugs are effective in treatment of cholera in adults and children (2–4). For the past 11 years, we have been monitoring the incidence of antibiotic susceptibility and genotypic changes in V. cholerae isolates from cholera patients admitted at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Calcutta, India. Here, we report the emergence of fluoroquinolone-resistant strains of V. cholerae O1 Biotype El Tor among hospitalized patients with cholera.

Antimicrobial susceptibility analysis of V. cholerae strains was performed by disk diffusion (1) on Mueller-Hinton agar (Difco, Detroit, Mich.) with commercial disks (HiMedia, Mumbai, India). The following antibiotic disks were used: ciprofloxacin, 5 μg; nalidixic acid, 30 μg; norfloxacin, 10 μg; and tetracycline, 30 μg. Characterization of strains as susceptible, intermediately resistant, or resistant was based on the size of the inhibition zone according to the manufacturer's instructions. These zone size interpretive criteria for susceptibility corresponded to MICs of 0.25, 0.06, and 0.06 μg/ml for nalidixic acid, norfloxacin, and ciprofloxacin, respectively. Strains showing intermediate zones of growth inhibition were classified as resistant on the basis of previous MIC studies with V. cholerae (6).

We have reported considerable increases in fluoroquinolone resistance among V. cholerae strains belonging to non-O1, non-O139 serogroups during 1996 (5). All the V. cholerae strains of serogroup O1 isolated in or before 1994 are susceptible to ciprofloxacin. From 1995, we have recorded progressive increases in ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin resistance among V. cholerae O1 strains, with the highest occurrences of 38.8% in 1999 and 25% in 2000, respectively (Table (Table1).1). To our knowledge, this is the first report on such high incidence of fluoroquinolone resistance among toxigenic V. cholerae O1 strains. The MICs of ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin for ciprofloxacin-resistant V. cholerae strains ranged between 9 and >32 μg/ml and between 192 and >256 μg/ml, respectively, when tested with the E-test strips on Mueller-Hinton agar (AB Biodisk, Solna, Sweden). The incidence of nalidixic acid resistance among V. cholerae O1 strains was low (<10%) before 1993 and peaked during subsequent years (1999; 100%), as shown in the Table Table1.1. Possibly, ciprofloxacin resistance might have emerged in direct response to the selective pressure exerted by nalidixic acid coupled with disproportionate use of fluoroquinolones in the clinical settings. It is worth to mention here that the increase in the incidence of nalidixic acid-resistant strains of V. cholerae O1 (probably with a single mutation in gyrA and/or other related genes) portended a further increase in the incidence of strains with clinically significant resistance to fluoroquinolones (with two or more mutations in the gyrA gene). We are in the process of identifying the mutational "hot spots" in the quinolone resistance-determining region.

TABLE 1

Resistance to quinolones among V. cholerae O1 and O139 isolates from cholera patients

An interesting observation in the present report is the low incidence of quinolone resistance in the O139 serogroup. One possible elucidation is the low frequency of nalidixic acid resistance among V. cholerae O139 strains (Table (Table1),1), and therefore the frequency of double mutations, a prerequisite for fluoroquinolone resistance, is low, as reflected by resistance O139 strains to fluoroquinolones.

In this study we encountered a higher incidence of V. cholerae O1 resistance to ciprofloxacin than to norfloxacin, which is generally less potent than ciprofloxacin. The possible explanation for this counterintuitive result is (i) since ciprofloxacin is in extensive use for all the bacterial infections in this part of the world, conditions of high selective pressure would have forced the mutant V. cholerae strains to multiply and establish themselves as the dominant population; continued selective pressure favored these progeny to have further mutations; (ii) ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin breakpoints are not comparable, at least for V. cholerae strains (the MIC for 50% of the strains [MIC50], MIC90, and MIC ranges need to be determined for both drugs to prove this hypothesis); or (iii) ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin accumulation kinetics might differ among V. cholerae O1 strains. Additional, extensive studies are needed to test these possibilities in order to determine the mechanisms responsible for heterogeneous fluoroquinolone resistance among V. cholerae O1 strains.

Emergence of fluoroquinolone resistance in V. cholerae will certainly complicate the therapeutic use of these drugs, and attention must be paid to this trend. Fortunately, V. cholerae O1 and O139 strains are susceptible to tetracycline, which is an effective drug for treatment of cholera at the Infectious Disease Hospital.


With the development of cultural studies about the human body, predominantly with regard to body perceptions in certain forms of contemporary culture (including popular culture and mass-media), my study investigates the reflection of abnormality and corporeal monstrosity in some forms of contemporary visual culture, and proposes to illustrate, in a large context of historical anthropology, how a form of voyeurism first incriminated in the 1930s (once the exposure of 'monsters' in fairs and salons was prohibited) reappears in indirect ways in the contemporary culture, particularly in certain elite forms of visual art and theoretical studies. The study first documents how, with the passing of time, old voyeuristic practices have gradually evolved, in principle, to total interdiction and dissimulation, even to the denial of people's curiosity, fears or instinctive disgust towards physical abnormality. And, if trivial observation can account for the fact that nowadays popular culture still tends to maintain old voyeuristic practices under some false pretences (like certain American medical dramas in search of high TV ratings), my study would like to point out at two different ways of monstrosity approach, one from the inside (when the subject-artist accepts to exhibit his/her own handicap), and the other from the "peaks" of high art. Both ways (German film director Niko von Glasow and art photographer Joel-Peter Witkin, respectively) propose artistic and ideologically credible approaches to contemporary monstrosity or physical disabilities. In this second section of my study, I chose to focus the title theme on a medical leitmotiv: the thalidomide.


Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) affect mostly females. The infection and possible consequent ascent of bacteria is enhanced by various risk factors. Sex hormones regulate gene transcription implicated in immune cell development and maturation, in regulation of immune responses and immune signaling pathways. This study was designed to determine the relationship between UTI and some sex hormones and role of them in cytokines related to immune response in pre and post-menopausal women during bacterial infection. The study included 90 urine samples from females age (18-69) years: forty five were pre-menopause group subdivided into two groups includes (25 infected with UTI and 20 control subjects) , while others forty five post- menopause group includes (25 infected with UTI and 20 control subjects) were attending to clinic of urology at Salahaldeen hospital and private medical clinic in Tikrit City. Blood samples were collected from these women to determine the concentrations of sex hormones (Estrogen (E2), Progesterone)and cytokines includes (Interleukin10 (IL-10),Transforming Growth Factor-β (TGF-β), Human β-Defensin 2 (HBD2) and Toll-Like Receptor4 (TLR-4) in those Sera, they assaying using ELISA technique assay . The positive isolates were selected for infected females of pre and post-menopausal. Fifty bacterial isolated were isolated from infected women with UTI, and the most frequently isolated microorganisms 27(54%) were Gram-negative bacteria; 15(60%) and 12(48%) pre and post-menopausal respectively, Followed by Gram-positive bacteria 23(46%) isolated; 10(40%) and 13(52%) pre and post-menopausal respectively. According to current research results of urine culture bacterial isolation, the most commonly isolated microorganisms were: Escherichia coli 15(30%) 8(32%), 7(28%) pre and post-menopausal respectively; and Enterobacter fecales in 10(20%) 5(20%), 5(20%) pre and post-menopausal respectively. The most effective antimicrobial agents were Amikacin, Gentamicin and Amoxicillin but the less effective were Ceftriaxone, Norfloxacin, and Nitrofurantoin. The results showed that the concentration of estrogen and progesterone hormones were higher in pre and post-menopausal without UTI (414.0 ± 34.2 pg/ml; 1.589 ± 0.460) pg/ml (406.1 ± 30.71 pg/ml; 1.894 ± 0.292) while decreased in pre and post-menopausal with UTI respectively; and decreased in the levels of IL-10, TGF-β, HBD2 and TLR-4 in a females with UTI pre and post-menopausal when compared without UTI females. The interaction between sex hormones and the incidence, progression and morbidity of UTI may be due to effective role of them at the levels of some cytokines like of IL-10, TGF-β, HBD2 and TLR-4. The ability of sex hormones to increase production of antimicrobial peptides, combined with the effect on epithelial integrity or distribution of proteins associated with cell-cell contact, to mention a few, place them as possible candidates for supportive treatment of UTI.


We report on the dynamics in colloidal suspensions of stiff viral rods, called fd-Y21M. This mutant filamentous virus exhibits a persistence length 3.5 times larger than the wild-type fd-wt. Such a virus system can be used as a model system of rodlike particles for studying their self-diffusion. In this paper, the physical features, such as rod contour length and polydispersity have been determined for both viruses. The effect of viral rod flexibility on the location of the nematic-smectic phase transition has been investigated, with a focus on the underlying dynamics studied more specifically in the smectic phase. Direct visualization of the stiff fd-Y21M at the scale of a single particle has shown the mass transport between adjacent smectic layers, as found earlier for the more flexible rods. We could relate this hindered diffusion with the smectic ordering potentials for varying rod concentrations. The self-diffusion within the layers is far more pronounced for the stiff rods as compared to the more flexible fd-wt viral rod.


The purpose of this study is to identify the business management skills that can assist ministers in the Gereformeerde Kerke in Suid Afrika (GKSA) in executing their calling more effectively. A congregation is not a business, and to manage it as such would be incorrect. Although the church is primarily invisible and spiritual by nature, it is functioning as an institution in this world which must be managed efficiently and effectively to ensure that everything is done in good order and functions successfully. A major part of the responsibility to ensure order and effectiveness rests on the shoulders of the minister. In Chapter two attention was given to the various management skills that inevitably form part of the syllabus for students who are preparing themselves for leadership positions in the business world. Although some people are blessed with more natural skills and talents in this regard, it has been proven that all these management skills required to manage a business enterprise successfully can be acquired by means of study and training. Furthermore, a literature study was performed on the purpose of the church, with specific reverence to a congregation of the GKSA. Specific reference was made to the different offices in the GKSA, with more detailed discussion on the role and responsibility of the minister. Chapter three entails an empirical study. Questionnaires were sent to all the ministers in the GKSA regarding the scope of a congregation which can be compared to a business enterprise, as well as the minister's role in managing the situations. From the study, a number of opportunities and threats that will confront the GKSA in the near future were identified, as well as management skills that would assist the ministers in addressing them. The research concludes with a recommendation that the Theological School of the GKSA should consider including a course on business management in the training syllabus of aspiring ministers. The course should be developed specifically taking into account the background and circumstances of the GKSA, and should not be generic like the course which is included for Baccalaureus Commercii students.


This document describes a text change of representation approach to the task of Multilingual Detection of Hate Speech Against Immigrants and Women in Twitter, as part of SemEval-2019 1 . The task is divided in two sub-tasks. Sub-task A consists in classifying tweets as being hateful or not hateful, whereas sub-task B requires fine tuning the classification by classifying the hateful tweets as being directed to single individuals or generic, if the tweet is aggressive or not. Our approach consists of a change of the space of representation of text into statistical descriptors which characterize the text. In addition, dimensional reduction is performed to 6 characteristics per class in order to make the method suitable for a Big Data environment. Frequency Analysis Interpolation (FAI) is the approach we use to achieve rank 5th in Spanish language and 9th in English language in sub-task B in both cases.


A spatial structure model for the administrative system of the State of Espirito Santo presenting maximum spatial efficienty, is the purpose of this study. Therefore, it was necessary to identify and evaluate the existing administrative structure and reformulate it relatively to the limits of each division. The methodology employed was developed through five different stages.The first one consisted in the identification of the spatial structure of tht administrative system of State of Espirito Santo. Thus, the politic-administrative poles of transmission of decision were indicated through a survey of all cities of the State, and the areas of influence of each commanding regional pole were determined through the matrices of functional subordination. The second stage involved an evaluation of the spatial efficiency of these regions through the efficiency index. The third stage comprised the elaboration of a new spatial structure for the administrative system of the State, considering the accessibility factor and the evaluation of the spatial efficiency of each new region. The fourth stage consisted in the determination of the administrative regionalization hich presented the best spatial efficiency index. Finally, the fifth stage included analysis on the elaborated regionalization.


We report the first wide-band observations of pulsars C, D, and J in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae (NGC 104) using the Ultra-Wideband Low (UWL) receiver system recently installed on the Parkes 64 m radio telescope. The wide frequency range of the UWL receiver (704–4032 MHz), along with the well-calibrated system, allowed us to obtain flux density measurements and polarization pulse profiles. The mean pulse profiles have significant linear and circular polarization, allowing for determination of the Faraday rotation measure for each pulsar. Precise measurements of the dispersion measures show a significant deviation in the value for pulsar D compared to earlier results. Searches for new pulsars in the cluster are ongoing and we have determined optimal bands for such searches using the Parkes UWL receiver system.


There is a growing need for advanced, cost effective, highly reliable, durable and non-intrusive systems for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and Condition Based Maintenance (CBM). Of particular importance is the Structural Health Monitoring of rotating machinery (motors, generators, pumps, gear systems, etc.). Such systems should be able to detect failures in their early stages so that the repairs would be less expensive or, even better, it should be able to predict the critical conditions so that preventive actions can be taken to avoid possible damage. Determining stress in rotating machinery is a complex task and surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices provide a unique opportunity to wirelessly sense torque. In this paper, we present the results of design, fabrication, and characterization of torque sensors based on SAW technology. SAW based passive torque sensors were developed and built on quartz piezoelectric substrate using current IC photolithography techniques. A SAW sensor interrogator/reader and the associated software were developed to measure torque. The torque sensing system was tested both statically and dynamically on a specially designed test rig. Due to its small thickness and low weight, Albido's sensors can be used on moving structures with minimum loading and without disturbing the aerodynamic properties. The proposed system is low cost, low maintenance, reconfigurable, adaptive, scalable, easy to install on new or existing structures, and does not disrupt the environment.


Principles of Critical Care, J. B. Hall et al.; McGraw Hill Book Co. Pty. Ltd., 4 Barcoo St., Roseville, N.S.W. 2069; $270.00; 225 X 285 mm; pp. 2432. This book of almost 2500 pages is a massive undertaking by over 200 contributors mainly from the U.S.A., Canada and Israel, including many well-known authors. The book covers the full spectrum of intensive care topics in 189 chapters organised in four parts. Part I deals with pathophysiology of critical illness: respiratory, cardiovascular, acid-base, central-nervous and gastrointestinal systems. Part 11 deals with organisation: procedures/ technology, administration, stabilisa tion/ transport. Part III is the clinical core of the book covering diagnosis and management of a myriad of critical illnesses in 15 major sections. Part IV closes the book with 'Perspectives': ethics, nursing care, research and international intensive care practices. The editors aim to combine 'a basic curriculum for learning' with a 'complete reference text'. Though the result is a welcome addition to the ICU library I don't believe their aim has been fully met. The book suffers from a lack of tight editing and organisation. It reads as a collection of essays, often idiosyncratic and peculiarly North American in approach (e.g. lack of SI units, '2-3 litres of saline' for septic shock). Some chapters are handled as practical approaches to a problem, others as theoretical wordy discourses. The breadth of subjects means that depth is often lacking and some subjects (e.g. electrolyte disturbances) are handled twice and others get disproportionate emphasis; cardiac catheter/angioplasty receives 18 pages while the intra-aortic balloon pump is covered in one page. The pathophysiology chapters need bibliographies. The book does not appeal as a basic learning text because there is too much statement offact without explanation and there is a dearth of tabulation and simple diagrams. What diagrams are present often lack adequate labelling. As a reference text this book will complement others in the ICU library but will not stand alone because of its particular North American bent, absence of some key topics and the lack of organisation and detailed depth.


As global interactions grow, health professionals are increasingly engaging in intercultural education. Though the literature stresses a need for academic competence and cultural sensitivity, little is understood about learner experience in intercultural continuing professional education (ICPE). This study explores experiences and advice of health professionals in rural India who were taught by teachers from within and without their culture, to identify effective teaching approaches. Methods Set in a hospital in Northern India, semi-structured interviews were completed by 31 Indian health professionals. Purposive sampling of participants was used for maximal breadth of experience. Interviews were notated, audio-recorded, and observations kept. Ten interviews transcribed verbatim, along with content and quotes from the remaining interviews, were coded and analyzed for themes. Results Presented are benefits and challenges of teaching approaches used in the classroom, clinical setting, self- and field study formats, as identified by participants. They share experiences and provide advice for teachers from other cultures on teaching methods, content, and the importance of learning about local culture for effective intercultural teaching. Teachers are encouraged to learn about local practices, beliefs, resources, education levels, lifestyles, and to focus on low-resource assessments and relevant management strategies. Teachers must understand challenges that learners face in time, energy and communication barriers, while facilitating learner participation and practise.


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Public spectacle--from the morning rituals of the Roman noble to triumphs and the shows of the Arena--formed a crucial component of the language of power in ancient Rome. The historian Livy (c. 60 B.C.E.-17 C.E.), who provides our fullest description of Rome's early history, presents his account of the growth of the Roman state itself as something to be seen--a visual monument and public spectacle. Through analysis of several episodes in Livy's History, Andrew Feldherr demonstrates the ways in which Livy uses specific visual imagery to make the reader not only an observer of certain key events in Roman history but also a participant in those events. This innovative study incorporates recent literary and cultural theory with detailed historical analysis to put an ancient text into dialogue with contemporary discussions of visual culture. In Spectacle and Society in Livy's History, Feldherr shows how Livy uses the literary representation of spectacles from the Roman past to construct a new sense of civic identity among his readers. He offers a new way of understanding how Livy's technique addressed the political and cultural needs of Roman citizens in Livy's day. In addition to renewing our understanding of Livy through modern scholarship, Feldherr provides a new assessment of the historian's aims and methods by asking what it means for the historian to make readers spectators of history.


The aim of the present study was to determine the specific sites of impairment to muscle glucose uptake (MGU) in the insulin-resistant high-fat-fed, conscious C57BL/6J mouse. Wild type (WT) and hexokinase II overexpressing (HK(Tg)) mice were fed either a standard diet or high-fat diet and studied at 4 months of age. A carotid artery and jugular veins had catheters chronically implanted for sampling and infusions, respectively, and mice were allowed to recovery for at least 5 days. Mice were fasted for 5 h and underwent a hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp or saline infusion for 120 min. Separate groups of mice were studied during 30-min sedentary or treadmill exercise periods. A bolus of 2-deoxy[(3)H]glucose was administered 25 min before the end of each study for determination of R(g), an index of tissue-specific glucose uptake. Fasting blood glucose was increased in high-fat compared with standard diet-fed WT (194 +/- 4 vs. 171 +/- 4 mg/dl) but not HK(Tg) (179 +/- 5 vs. 171 +/- 3 mg/dl) mice. High-fat feeding created hyperinsulinemia in both WT and HK(Tg) mice (58 +/- 8 and 77 +/- 15 micro U/ml) compared with standard diet-fed mice (21 +/- 2 and 20 +/- 1 micro U/ml). R(g) was not affected by genotype or diet during either saline infusion or sedentary conditions. HK II overexpression augmented insulin-stimulated R(g) in standard diet-fed but not high-fat-fed mice. Exercise-stimulated R(g) was impaired by high-fat feeding in WT mice, but this impairment was largely rectified in HK(Tg) mice. In conclusion, high-fat feeding impairs both insulin- and exercise-stimulated MGU, but only exercise-stimulated MGU was corrected by HK II overexpression.


In this paper I review the key aspects of the new anti-manipulation and anti-fraud rules of the U.S. Commodities and Futures Trading Commission implemented last summer, representing a significant expansion of the Commission's enforcement authority. I argue that the role of the economist may consequently be increased, not only due to the expanded set of activities covered by the new rules which will likely lead to more cases, but also due to the lower burden of proof for charges of fraudulent and manipulative practices. These lower standards will require more elaborate, more in depth, and more creative economic and empirical analyses by defendants' experts.The paper starts by reviewing some classical manipulation and alleged manipulation cases, emphasizing the role of the economist in general and of empirical analyses in particular. It then describes the power of empirical screens to flag anticompetitive behavior, and summarizes the Commission's market screening and monitoring program. I use as an example of the power of these empirical approaches the alleged Libor manipulation and conspiracy currently under investigation by the Commission and other agencies worldwide, which was originally flagged by screens. After establishing the power of empirical screens to detect potentially illegal behavior, I proceed with two hypothetical examples of how empirical analyses may be used on the other side, to defend against allegations of fraud and manipulation. I conclude the paper with an example of an innovative approach to screening for manipulation developed by economic experts on behalf of defendants, which was successfully used to assist in establishing the lack of conclusive evidence of price artificiality and the absence of a material manipulation in a private litigation matter.


A central issue for the Algerian city, in the dry environment, is awareness of the establishment and preservation of particular green spaces within the framework of sustainability. The overall goal of this study is to concentrate on the issues of green space provision in the city of Boussaada. Boussaada is a complex and fragile city with a rich history, archeological and natural diversity, and is under tremendous anthropogenic stress. The city of Boussaada has long had issues with the availability of green areas, a situation that is attributed, among other things, to a flawed urban design that places a premium on the environment. We attempted to define the quantity of green spaces in the city and quantify their richness through this study. The qualitative and quantitative study was carried out with the help of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and qualitative analysis and more specifically the species of trees in the new town of Boussaada.

 Key words: Green spaces, Boussaada, Natural Heritage, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), the species of trees.


A biometric system is an automatic identification system based on a unique template or feature matching. Biometric system is one of the methods that is used now a days as an useful authentication system. Iris recognition system is among the most reliable and unique biometric identification system. The approach in this paper is to create an authentication biometric system using iris recognition with parallel approach. So far the works done in this field are mostly sequential and takes a lot of time to function. Our approach in this paper is to make the iris recognition system more efficient by parallelizing it. Keyword: Parallelization, Canny's edge detection, Circular haugh transform, Daugman rubber sheet model, Hamming distance, MATLAB, image processing, parallelizing and image acquisition toolbox.


The recent editorial on pre-operative visiting (Anaesthesia 1992; 47: 645) is a timely review of what potentially may become a difficult area for anaesthetists and operating theatre nurses. In my hospital there has been a recent increase in pre-operative visits by nurses. This can occasionally lead to unnecessary patient confusion and worry regarding the techniques of anaesthesia to be used, with often conflicting information given by the nurse and the anaesthetist. A recent article in the operating theatre nurse's own journal recommends discussion of the anaesthetic technique to be used while they are visiting patients pre-operatively [I]. While we should in no way wish to discourage operating theatre nurses from venturing 'outdoors' to visit patients prior to surgery, it is important that no discussion of the anaesthetic technique to be used should take place without prior discussion with the anaesthetist responsible for that patient. In an ideal world the operating theatre nurse and the anaesthetist should visit the patient together, thereby improving communication between the two sets of professionals. This would also avoid the excessive demand on a patient's time and privacy when he or she may have already been questioned and examined on multiple occasions that day by the numerous members of the surgical team. Certainly by the time most of us visit our patients in the early evening, many are somewhat tired of being asked the same questions and being examined again. A pre-operative visit by the anaesthetist is of the utmost importance to both the patient and the anaesthetist, and hospital managers should be left in no doubt that a visit by an operating theatre nurse is not an equivalent, even if it is financially cheaper. Nurses in this country d o not give anaesthetics and should not be encouraged to offer an 'anaesthetic opinion'.


A high-performance T-junction has been fabricated based on the nonradiative dielectric waveguide. Widths of the main arm and subarm were determined experimentally. The T-junction was provided with a dielectric stub and thin-metal patches which proved to be effective matching elements in improving the performance. Well-balanced outputs in excess of -4 dB were obtained over a frequency range of 2 GHz at a center frequency of 35 GHz.


In the conventional view of inflation, the New Keynesian Phillips curve (NKPC) captures most of the persistence in inflation. The sources of persistence are twofold. First, the "driving process" for inflation is quite persistent, and the NKPC implies that inflation must "inherit" this persistence. Second, backward-looking or indexing behavior imparts some "intrinsic" persistence to inflation. This paper shows that, in practice, inflation in the NKPC inherits very little of the persistence of the driving process, and it is intrinsic persistence that constitutes the dominant source of persistence. The reasons are that, first, the coefficient on the driving process is small, and, second, the shock that disturbs the NKPC is large.


We introduce skewed Levy models, that have a symmetric jump measure multiplied by dumping exponential factor, in order to study the implied volatility smirk in Levy markets. The dumping factor depends on a parameter beta, this results in a measure of the skewness of the model. We show that variation of this parameter produces the typical smirk observed in implied volatility curves. Our main result shows a particular monotonicity behavior of the implied volatility of skewed models around the symmetry point beta = -1/2. These results, which apply to many models in the literature, hold independent of any finite maturity.


The mesangial egress, but not the uptake of radiolabeled aggregated human immunoglobulin G (AHIgG125I) (macromolecular proteins biologically akin to immune complexes), deviated markedly from normal in rats with preexisting ferritin-antiferritin immune complexes in the mesangium. Sprague-Dawley rats, given daily intraperitoneal ferritin, 8 mg. per 100 gm. of body weight, for 6 weeks (Ferritin rats), uniformly developed intense mesangial staining for IgG and C3 by immunofluorescence microscopy but minimal glomerular proliferation by light microscopy. With electron microscopy, ferritin was seen in mesangial channels and also in mesangial cells. These rats had normal serum creatinine, no hematuria or proteinuria. AHIgG125I, 50 mg. per 100 gm of body weight, was given intravenously to control and to Ferritin rats; groups of five control and five Ferritin rats were sacrificed at 2, 4, 8, 16, and 24 hours after injection. AHIgG125I was measured in preparations of isolated glomeruli and compared with simultaneous spleen, liver, and blood levels. At all time intervals, blood levels of > 7 S AHIgG125I were similar in control and Ferritin rats. Initial, 2-hour mesangial uptake of AHIgG125I was similar in control and Ferritin rats. During the 2- to 16-hour interval, the disappearance of AHIgG125I from glomeruli of Ferritin rats was delayed; glomerular AHIgG125I concentration decreased 85 per cent in control but only 38 per cent in Ferritin rats. After the administration of AHIgG125I, hematuria (2 to 3+) developed in 60 per cent of Ferritin rats but not in control rats. These studies suggest that immune complexes of different antigen-antibody systems may influence the kinetics of each other locally, at the glomerular level. This impaired mesangial clearance of immune complexes may favor the development of glomerular injury. The experimental model described may be relevant to some forms of human glomerulonephritis in which mesangial pathology and immunopathology are characteristic, and may explain some of the pathogenetic mechanisms operative in these diseases in man.