With the increasing availability of diverse biological information for proteins, integration of heterogeneous data becomes more useful for many problems in proteomics, such as annotating protein functions, predicting novel protein–protein interactions and so on. In this paper, we present an integrative approach called InteHC (Integrative Hierarchical Clustering) to identify protein complexes from multiple data sources. Although integrating multiple sources could effectively improve the coverage of current insufficient protein interactome (the false negative issue), it could also introduce potential false‐positive interactions that could hurt the performance of protein complex prediction. Our proposed InteHC method can effectively address these issues to facilitate accurate protein complex prediction and it is summarized into the following three steps. First, for each individual source/feature, InteHC computes the matrices to store the affinity scores between a protein pair that indicate their propensity to interact or co‐complex relationship. Second, InteHC computes a final score matrix, which is the weighted sum of affinity scores from individual sources. In particular, the weights indicating the reliability of individual sources are learned from a supervised model (i.e., a linear ranking SVM). Finally, a hierarchical clustering algorithm is performed on the final score matrix to generate clusters as predicted protein complexes. In our experiments, we compared the results collected by our hierarchical clustering on each individual feature with those predicted by InteHC on the combined matrix. We observed that integration of heterogeneous data significantly benefits the identification of protein complexes. Moreover, a comprehensive comparison demonstrates that InteHC performs much better than 14 state‐of‐the‐art approaches. All the experimental data and results can be downloaded from http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/zhengjie/data/InteHC. Proteins 2013; 81:2023–2033. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


In the 50 years since the air pollution episodes of Donora, PA and London, U.K., a great deal of progress has been made in understanding the nature and sources of air pollution and the atmospheric transport and transformation of pollutants. Also, many significant technological advances in air pollution control equipment, such as the automobile exhaust gas catalytic converter, have led to effective reduction of emissions from a variety of major pollution sources. Finally, remarkable developments in instrumentation for sampling the trace species in the atmosphere have been and continue to be made. Relatively less progress has been made in understanding the biological mechanisms by which pollutants lead to human injury and mortality. In this review the focus is on the extraordinary progress that has been made over the last half century in understanding the atmospheric nature and behavior of pollutants, both gaseous and particulate. A major breakthrough was the determination of the gas-phase chemistry of both the natural and polluted atmosphere, chemistry that leads to the formation of ozone and a vast array of oxidized molecules. The mechanisms of the oxidation of atmospheric sulfur dioxide, one of the main primary pollutants, were elucidated. Finally, the chemistry, physics, and optics of atmospheric particulate matter (aerosols) have been laid open by many stunning research achievements. Whereas 50 years ago air pollution was thought to be confined to the area around a city, it is now recognized that species emitted on one continent frequently find their way to other continents. Strategies for dealing with a truly global atmospheric backyard now represent a major challenge. © 2004 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 50: 1096 –1108, 2004


Detrital laterites interbedded with clayey, Ultisol-like paleosols in the late Eocene strata of central Oregon record periods of soil erosion, colluvial concentration of iron-cemented soil nodules, and deposition of these weathered products in hillslope settings. Two sets of lateritic paleosols are extensively exposed in the Painted Hills area of Oregon and span the transition from Eocene Clarno Formation andesitic volcanism to the initiation of late Eocene–Miocene pyroclastic volcanism of the John Day Formation. These late Eocene lateritic paleosols developed along the margins of several different lava flows where they formed local accumulations of iron-rich strata, which are now exposed in deep-red and ocher-colored badlands along the exhumed flow margins. Stratigraphically, the lateritic paleosols are above upper Clarno Formation rhyodacite flows, below the thick tuffaceous Oligocene–early Miocene part of the John Day Formation, and sandwich the welded tuff of member A that defines the base of the John Day Formation. In each of several cases from different lava flows studied, a similar sequence of detrital laterites and clayey paleosols rest on weathered lava flow breccia. The basal paleosol of these sequences consists of a thick (5–10 m), very strongly weathered saprolite zone developed in lava flow breccia and an overlying clayey B horizon. This paleosol is overlain by 8–12 m of alternating clayey, kaolinite-rich paleosols (Ultisol-like paleosols) and weakly developed paleosols with iron-rich, claystone breccia fragments (detrital laterites). The iron-cemented claystone fragments are up to 35% Fe 2 O 3 , very base poor, and weather-resistant, and they contain abundant cross-cutting clay skins and clay-filled pedotubules indicative of polycyclic weathering. The lower of the two sets of detrital laterites is associated with a thick rhyodacite flow in the upper Clarno Formation and has an up-section increase in the degree of weathering and concentration of resistate constituents, as determined by mass-balance geochemical analysis. The time span represented by this well-developed weathering trend is estimated to be between 2 and 4 m.y. based on estimates of the time of formation of interbedded paleosols. This long-lasting weathering trend is probably the result of a lack of soil rejuvenation resulting from the late Eocene hiatus between Clarno and John Day volcanism. A developmental model for the formation of the detrital laterites and Ultisol-like paleosols involves alternating episodes of soil formation and soil erosion in which iron-rich soil nodules are concentrated as a colluvial lag deposit on the toe slope of hills. Subsequent colluvial pulses of iron-cemented gravel were increasingly weathered and rich in resistate constituents because of longer residence time in up-slope soils. During periods of landscape stability, slow vertical accretion of soils by small additions of volcanic ash and dust produced the strongly developed, but nonlateritic, Ultisol-like paleosols. The episodes of soil erosion probably correspond to periods of climatic change during the late Eocene climatic deterioration. The John Day Formation detrital laterites and clayey paleosols are very similar to the Clarno formation laterites except for the presence throughout the section of 1%–3% pyrogenic feldspar crystals. No up-section increase in weathering is observed in the John Day detrital laterites, perhaps because of rejuvenation of soils by volcanic ash. The similar textures and chemistries of the two groups of detrital laterites, despite the onset of John Day pyroclastic volcanism, indicate that climate remained subtropical and humid up to the Oligocene-Eocene boundary.


It is well-established that including spatial structure and stochastic noise in models for predator-prey interactions invalidates the classical deterministic Lotka–Volterra picture of neutral population cycles. In contrast, stochastic models yield long-lived, but ultimately decaying erratic population oscillations, which can be understood through a resonant amplification mechanism for density fluctuations. In Monte Carlo simulations of spatial stochastic predator-prey systems, one observes striking complex spatio-temporal structures. These spreading activity fronts induce persistent correlations between predators and prey. In the presence of local particle density restrictions (finite prey carrying capacity), there exists an extinction threshold for the predator population. The accompanying continuous non-equilibrium phase transition is governed by the directed-percolation universality class. We employ fieldtheoretic methods based on the Doi–Peliti representation of the master equation for stochastic particle interaction models to (i) map the ensuing action in the vicinity of the absorbing state phase transition to Reggeon field theory, and (ii) to quantitatively address fluctuation-induced renormalizations of the population oscillation frequency, damping, and diffusion coefficients in the species coexistence phase.


This letter proposes a power-controlled coded slotted ALOHA (PC-CSA) for reliable wireless networks. The proposed PC-CSA introduces the concept of the randomization of the transmission power control mechanism in CSA to achieve reliable packet receptions at base stations. We conduct computer simulations and confirm that the proposed PC-CSA can improve the packet loss rate under a predefined time constraint.


Traditional antenna optimization solves the modified version of the original antenna design for each iteration. Thus, the total time required to optimize a given antenna design is highly dependent on the convergence criteria of the selected algorithm and the time taken for each iteration. The use of machine learning enables the antenna designer to generate trained mathematical model that replicates the original antenna design and then apply optimization on the trained model. Use of trained model allows to run thousands of optimization iterations in a span of a few seconds.


This review takes a retrospective look at how hyperthermia biology, as defined from studies emerging from the late 1970s and into the 1980s, mis-directed the clinical field of hyperthermia, by placing too much emphasis on the necessity of killing cells with hyperthermia in order to define success. The requirement that cell killing be achieved led to sub-optimal hyperthermia fractionation goals for combinations with radiotherapy, inappropriate sequencing between radiation and hyperthermia and goals for hyperthermia equipment performance that were neither achievable nor necessary. The review then considers the importance of the biologic effects of hyperthermia that occur in the temperature range that lies between that necessary to kill substantial proportions of cells and normothermia (e.g. 39–42°C for 1 h). The effects that occur in this temperature range are compelling including—inhibition of radiation-induced damage repair, changes in perfusion, re-oxygenation, effects on macromolecular and nanoparticle delivery, induction of the heat shock response and immunological stimulation, all of which can be exploited to improve tumour response to radiation and chemotherapy. This new knowledge about the biology of hyperthermia compels one to continue to move the field forward, but with thermal goals that are eminently achievable and tolerable by patients. The fact that lower temperatures are incorporated into thermal goals does not lessen the need for non-invasive thermometry or more sophisticated hyperthermia delivery systems, however. If anything, it further compels one to move the field forward on an integrated biological, engineering and clinical level.


A global and accurate mapping of the environment could be achieved if sensors and indicators are mass-produced at low cost. Printed electronics using polymeric (semi)conductors offer a platform for such sensor/indicator based circuits. Herein, we present the material concept for an electrochemical pH-threshold indicator based on a printable hybrid electrode which comprises a liquid metal alloy (GaInSn) embedded in a conducting polymer matrix (PEDOT). This hybrid electrode displays a large variation in open circuit potential versus pH in an electrochemical cell, which when connected to the gate of an electrochemical transistor leads to a dramatic change in the drain current in a narrow range of pH.


support vocational training of people with disabilities C. H. Cardonha R. L. Guimarães A. Mattos J. Nogima P. Avegliano D. Gallo R. Herrmann S. Borger Vocational training can bring significant benefits for people with disabilities (PwD), particularly in terms of self-esteem and autonomy. Nevertheless, only a small fraction of Brazilians with disabilities actually work, due to lack of job qualifications. In this paper, we report on the early progress of an ongoing research agenda that investigates new educational and social engagement technologies to facilitate the qualification and inclusion of PwD in the Brazilian labor market. Based on our experiences working with multiple disability populations in a series of exploratory studies, we discuss relevant aspects to be considered in the design and implementation of a vocational training platform targeted at PwD.


International law grants "peoples" the right to self-determination. The notion of self-determination stems back to the end of World War I and Woodrow Wilson's idea that minority groups ought to become capable of determining their future political fate. Self-determination served as the driving ideology behind the decolonization movement post World War II, allowing colonized peoples the right to become free of colonizer oppression through the creation of their own independent states. Post-decolonization, the contours of the right to self-determination under international law became more uncertain. It is unclear whether the right applies equally in the non-decolonization context, and even if it does, it is uncertain whether non-colonial peoples have purely the right to internal self-determination and autonomy within their mother state, or if such non-colonial peoples can rely on external self-determination, to claim independence through remedial secession. Various non-colonial peoples have claimed the right to self-determination and secession; if international law recognized a positive right of external self-determination leading to remedial secession, this would obviously conflict with the norm of territorial integrity, preserving the territory of each existing state. This tension in international law, between preserving the territorial integrity of states while also bestowing group rights on peoples, persists today. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) did not provide much clarity on this subject in its 2010 Advisory Opinion regarding the independence of Kosovo. Other secessionist conflicts remain legally unsolvable, in light of uncertainty regarding the right to self-determination and secession. One such conflict, which provides an excellent illustration of applying the currently existing international law to a complex secessionist struggle, is Nagorno-Karabakh, a small region in the Caucasus, which is de jure a part of Azerbaijan, but which has been occupied by Armenia since 1994. This Article will examine the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through the lens of self-determination and secession, in order to demonstrate that presently existing international law on these issues is inadequate and to argue for the development of a new framework on secession.


Quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) is an approach to computing that eliminates the need for current switches by representing binary information as the configuration of charge among quantum dots. For molecular QCA, redox sites of molecules serve as the quantum dots. The Coulomb interaction between neighboring molecules provides device-device coupling. By introducing clocked control of the QCA cell, power gain, reduced power dissipation, and computational pipelining can be achieved. We present an ab initio analysis of a simple molecular system, which acts as a clocked molecular QCA cell. The intrinsic bistability of the molecular charge configuration results in dipole or quadrupole fields that couple strongly to the state of neighboring molecules. We show how clocked control of the molecular QCA can be accomplished with a local electric field.


The use of the Fogarty biliary balloon catheter has added to the safety of common duct exploration. Review of our own series seems to support this concept. With this adjunct adn a careful anatomic dissection of the biliary system, one can decide to do cholangiography or common duct exploration based on carefully considered clinical factors when stones are suspected. Perhaps neither need to be done in many instances. Without trying to question the virtures of operative cholangiography, we believe that it can be used selectively rather than routinely.


The deposition of MoS2 and TiS2 thin films from the metal-organic precursors Mo(S-t-Bu)4 and Ti(S-t-Bu)4 has been investigated. Stoichiometric films with low levels of oxygen and carbon contaminants can be grown at temperatures between 110 and 350 °C and low pressure. The films are amorphous when grown at these low temperatures and have granular morphologies in which the grains are 30−90 nm in diameter, the larger grain sizes being observed at higher deposition temperatures. For the MoS2 deposits, the electrical conductivity was ∼1 Ω-1cm-1. For both precursors, the organic byproducts generated during deposition consist principally of isobutylene and tert-butylthiol; smaller amounts of hydrogen sulfide, isobutane, di-tert-butyl sulfide, and di-tert-butyl disulfide are also generated. A β-hydrogen abstraction/proton-transfer mechanism accounts for the distributions of the organic byproducts seen during the deposition of MoS2 and TiS2 films. Our results differ in some respects from those of a previous study ...


With the proliferation of Chip Multiprocessors (CMPs), shared memory multi-threaded programs are expanding fast in every application domain. These programs exhibit execution characteristics that go beyond those observed in single-threaded programs, mainly due to data sharing and synchronization. To ensure that next generation CMPs will perform well on such anticipated workloads, it is vital to understand how these programs and architectures interact, and exploit the unique opportunities presented.

This thesis examines the time-varying execution characteristics of the shared memory workloads in conjunction to the synchronization points that exist in the programs. The main hypothesis is that the type, the position, and the repetitive execution of synchronization constructs can be exploited to unfold important execution phases and enable new optimization opportunities. The research provides a simple application-driven approach for predicting the program behavior and effectively driving dynamic performance optimization and resource management actions in future CMPs.

In the first part of this thesis, I show how synchronization points relate to various program-wide periodic behaviors. Based on the observations, I develop a framework where user-level synchronization primitives are exposed to the hardware and monitored to detect program phases and guide dynamic adaptation. Through workload-driven evaluation, I demonstrate the effectiveness of the framework in improving the performance/power in on-chip interconnects.

The second part of the thesis explores in depth the inter-thread communication behaviors. I show that although synchronization points under the shared memory model do not expose any communication details, they indicate well the points where coherence communication patterns change or repeat. By leveraging this property, I design a synchronization-point-based coherence predictor that uncovers communication patterns with high accuracy, while consuming significantly less hardware resources compared to existing predictors. In the last part, I investigate the underlying reasons causing threads to wait in synchronization points, wasting resources. I show that these reasons can vary even across different programs phases, and existing critical-path predictors can render ineffective under certain conditions. I then present a new scheme that improves predictability by incorporating history information from previous points. The new design is robust and can amortize the run-time imbalances to improve the system's performance and/or energy.


Objectives The aim of this study is to explore the enabling factors associated with readiness in Electronic Health Record (EHR) implementation and to identify the barriers related to readiness regarding the situation of primary health cares in developed and developing countries. Methods A narrative review of open-source literature was conducted using the ProQuest, ScienceDirect, MEDLINE, and PMC databases to identify the enabling factors and barriers to EHR readiness. The keywords applied were 'electronic health record', 'readiness', 'primary health care', and 'primary care'. Results Some barriers were found that may affect readiness, specifically individual barriers and organizational barriers. In developing countries, organizational barriers such as a lack of skilled manpower, insufficient senior management, and a lack of interaction among team members were the common barriers, while in developed countries individual barriers such as unfamiliarity with new systems and a lack of time to use computers were frequently found as barriers to readiness. Conclusions This study summarized the enabling factors and barriers with regard to EHR readiness in developed and developing countries.


Natural adsorbent prepared from kaolin clay (RK) as well as RK modified separately with cysteine (CYMK), and chitosan (CHMK) was used for the removal of p-nitrophenol (PNP) from aqueous solution. Prepared adsorbents were fully characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Vivid characteristics of kaolinite were shown by FTIR spectroscopy and surface modification showed new absorption bands which corresponds to the unique functional groups in the modifying agents. Surface morphology was also altered after modification. Surface modification enhanced adsorption capacity. Adsorption data fitted best into the Freundlich adsorption isotherm for the three adsorption systems thus suggesting multi surface adsorption. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacities were 6.94 mg/g, 4.61 mg/g and 6.56 mg/g for PNP-RK, PNP-CYMK and PNP-CHMK systems respectively. The pseudo second order kinetics best described the kinetics of the adsorption system. Temperature effects showed that the adsorbents were stable across the temperature considered and thermodynamic parameters showed that the adsorption processes were feasible and spontaneous. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17807/orbital.v10i6.1143


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate a standard protocol for ambulant treatment of patients with deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in a leg with low molecular weight heparins (LMWH).

DESIGN
Prospective.

METHOD
A protocol was established within a regional context which provided for all patients in or around Veghel, the Netherlands, with demonstrated DVT in the period 1 March 1997-31 July 1999 to receive ambulant treatment with LMWH and oral anticoagulants. After diagnosing the treatment was started in the emergency department of the Sint Joseph Hospital in Veghel, the subsequent LMWH injectons were administered by the general practitioner in his practice.

RESULTS
Of the 130 patients with demonstrated DVT, six were hospitalized because of pulmonary embolism, carcinoma or pregnancy, while 124 (95%) were eligible for ambulant treatment (56 males with a median age of 57 years (range 16-98) and 68 females with a median age of 51 years (18-89). During the acute period of LMWH treatment, none of the 124 patients developed a recurrence of thrombosis, pulmonary embolism or major haemorrhage. During 3 months' follow-up one patient developed a thrombosis in the other leg, this patient died after 2 months from disseminated carcinoma of the colon.

CONCLUSION
Ambulant treatment of patients with DVT of the leg with LMWH in a daily practice setting is feasible and can be carried out effectively and safely in 95% of the patients in a regional organization.


The Friction Stir Welding (FSW) process has a large industrial potential in the field of joining lightweight alloys. Due to the increasing industrial use of aluminium alloys the benefits provided by this technology are very appealing. However, this potential has not, until this time, become a reality due to the lack of relevant available information concerning the process. The lack of information is especially serious in regards to the welding tools. This component, whose importance in the FSW process cannot be overstated, has not been the subject of extensive published research due mainly to the difficulties related to the modelling of the FSW process, which means that all of the development in this field has to be conducted through a trial and error approach. This approach entails significant costs and success risks, thus reducing the capability of R&D institutions to carry out extensive research. The objective behind the work detailed in this paper is the assessment of the effects of the welding tool geometry and features in the weld quality and process productivity. The work was carried out via an experimental procedure, which consisted of carrying out several welds using different pin lengths, pin diameter, pin geometry and shoulder diameter. The geometries that were used are based on known geometries from literature and new concepts. Due to practical limitations the study was conducted using a 3mm thick AA 6082-T6 butt joint configuration. The quality of the welds was assessed through destructive and non destructive testing, namely a visual inspection, an x-ray and a macrographic examination. These results can then be used to correlate the effects of the different tool geometries with the weld quality and productivity. The process productivity can be, according to [1], directly related to the welding speed, this is due to the near absence of welding consumables in the FSW process, leading to the predominance of fixed costs. The results pertaining to this work enable a better comprehension of the manner by which the tool geometry influences the weld quality and the process productivity, thus providing a stepping stone in the ongoing task of optimizing and modelling of the FSW process. The results presented in this paper may also be useful when extrapolated to other materials and thicknesses.


Summary
Toxoplasma-methylene-blue dye-test variation. Five serum samples from 20 subjects were tested for dye-test titer, the samples being drawn over a period of 16 days. This was repeated in another 20 subjects, each of whom was given one skintest dose of toxoplasmin before beginning the serum-withdrawal series.
In both series the dye-test titers remained remarkably constant for each individual, and did not change after the preceding injection of toxoplasmin. This work also established the repeatability of the serologic dye-test determination.
Chemotherapy of toxoplasmosis. Several antimalarial drugs were tested for effectiveness in prolonging the life of mice after infection with a highly lethal dose of Toxoplasma (RH strain). Oral or subcutaneous drug administrations were employed. None of these (Plaquenil, Aralen, and Primaquine) showed any effect.
Various sulfonamide compounds, both alone and in combination with pyrimethamine, were tested as drug cures. The most effective combinations were sulfapyrazine-pyrimethamine, and sulfadiazine-pyrimethamine mixtures, substantiating the work of Eyles and others. Another double-sulfa mixture (sulfamylon and sulfamerazine) was tested and also found to be very effective as a drug cure in acute toxoplasmosis, expecially when used with pyrimethamine. These experiments also demonstrated the synergism existing between certain sulfonamides and pyrimethamine against toxoplasmosis in mice.


We developed a unique class of non-Grignard, aluminum-free magnesium electrolytes based on a simple mixture of magnesium compounds: magnesium hexamethyldisilazide (Mg(HMDS)2) and magnesium chloride (MgCl2). Through a reverse Schlenk equilibrium, a concentrated THF solution of Mg(HMDS)2–4MgCl2 was prepared to achieve reversible Mg deposition/dissolution, a wide electrochemical window, and a coulombic efficiency of 99%. High reversible capacities and good rate capabilities were obtained in Mg–Mo6S8 cells using these new electrolytes in tests with different rates. The unexpected high solubility of MgCl2 in the solvent of THF with the help from Mg(HMDS)2 provides a new way to develop magnesium electrolytes.


This article describes the problem of detecting the student mental models, i.e. students' knowledge states, during the self-regulatory activity of prior knowledge activation in MetaTutor, an intelligent tutoring system that teaches students self-regulation skills while learning complex science topics. The article presents several approaches to automatically detecting students' mental models in MetaTutor based on paragraphs generated by students during prior knowledge activation. Three major categories of methods (content-based overlap methods; cohesion analysis of text; and tf-idf based weighted representations) were developed and combined with machine learning algorithms in order to automatically infer the underlying parameters. A detailed comparison among the methods and across all machine learning algorithms is provided. The evaluation of the proposed methods is performed by eomparing the methods' predictions with human judgments on a set of 309 prior knowledge activation paragraphs collected from experiments with the MetaTutor system on college students. According to the experiments, a word-weighting method, which uses tf-idf values calculated from the corpus, combined with a Bayes Nets machine learning algorithm, offers the most accurate results. Second best performance is given by a Latent Semantic Analysis-based approach enhanced with lexical features and combined with the machine learning algorithm of Logistic Regression.


We calculate the current density in a semiconductor superlattice with parabolic miniband under crossed non-quantizing electric and magnetic fields. The Corbino disk geometry is considered. The current-voltage curve contains oscillations with period proportional to the magnetic field. The possibility is shown of the negative absolute conductivity. The Ampere-Gauss characteristics also contain overshoots under high enough electric fields. In all cases, the peaks smear with temperature rising.


Introduction: The exact etiology of pterygium is unknown. Most of population based studies implicating that pterygium has a benign behavior rather than destructive condition. Changed expression of cell cycle-related genes may lead to the abnormal cell proliferation and finally to malignancy phenotype. The aim of this study was evaluation the expression profiles of APC in pterygium. Materials and Methods: The RNA extracted from the 23 pterygium tissues and 18 healthy tissues. After converting RNA to cDNA. The expression levels of these genes were assessed by real-time PCR. Results: The relative expression of APC gene in pterygium tissues was significantly different in comparison to conjunctiva tissues of healthy controls (mean ± SD was 1.82 ± 0.15 for cases versus 1.70  0.12 for controls, P value = 0.048). Conclusion: Detection of expression changes, leading to find molecular mechanism underlying the disease. As well as exploring pterygium markers paving the road for better therapy. We would like to propose further studies to identify exact molecular function of this gene in pterygium by using advanced molecular techniques such as RNAseq in various and larger genetic populations.


Due to improved durability and survival rates, rotary blood pumps (RBPs) are the preferred left ventricular assist device when compared to volume displacement pumps. However, when operated at constant speed, RBPs lack a volume balancing mechanism which may result in left ventricular suction and sub-optimal ventricular unloading. Starling-like controllers have previously been developed to balance circulatory volumes, however they do not consider ventricular workload as a feedback and may have limited sensitivity to adjust RBP workload when ventricular function deteriorates or improves. To address this, we aimed to develop a Starling-like total work controller (SL-TWC) that matched the energy output of a healthy heart by adjusting RBP hydraulic work based on measured left ventricular stroke work and ventricular preload. In a mock circulatory loop, the SL-TWC was evaluated using a HeartWare HVAD in a range of simulated patient conditions. These conditions included changes in systemic hyper- and hypo-tension, pulmonary hypertension, blood circulatory volume, exercise and improvement and deterioration of ventricular function by increasing and decreasing ventricular contractility. The SL-TWC was compared to constant speed control where RBP speed was set to restore cardiac output to 5.0 L min-1 at rest. Left ventricular suction occurred with constant speed control during pulmonary hypertension but was prevented with the SL-TWC. During simulated exercise, the SL-TWC demonstrated reduced LVSW (0.51 J) and greater RBP flow (9.2 L min-1 ) compared to constant speed control (LVSW: 0.74 J and RBP flow: 6.4 L min-1 ). In instances of increased ventricular contractility, the SL-TWC reduced RBP hydraulic work, whilst maintaining cardiac output similar to the rest condition. In comparison, constant speed overworked and increased cardiac output. The SL-TWC balanced circulatory volumes by mimicking the Starling mechanism, whilst also considering changes in ventricular workload. Compared to constant speed control, the SL-TWC may reduce complications associated with volume imbalances, adapt to changes in ventricular function and improve patient quality of life.


This paper proposes an integrated magnetics, insulation, and cooling architecture to improve the thermal performance of a high frequency permanent magnet (PM) motor. The proposed architecture can be used for any motor topology to improve its thermal and insulation performance. The proposed stator yoke design interleaves copper sheets between yoke core lamination to achieve better thermal conduction from winding to heat sink. A ceramic winding holder is integrated into the armature to introduce a parallel thermal conduction path from windings to the iron yoke and to provide additional insulation. The architecture is applied to a 300 kW slotless PM synchronous motor consisting of an outer rotor Halbach PM array, slotless stator, and heatsink. 3D electromagnetic finite element methods (FEM), 2D heat transfer FEM, and an analytical thermal circuit are used to analyze the architectures impact on torque production, eddy currents, and thermal performance when compared to the baseline motor. Finally, a pole-pair prototype was built as a proof-of-concept and to verify the performance benefits of the proposed architecture.


This paper examines whether ownership arrangements between manufacturers and intermediaries improve the export performance of the former. We develop a theoretical model of trade with vertically linked industries whereby upstream manufacturers compete in export markets and may decide to acquire ownership stakes in an intermediary. The model highlights how more productive firms succeed in managing the double marginalization problem and in reducing the costs of exporting through forward acquisition. On the flip side, we find that vertical ownership creates a market externality among manufacturers due to the reallocation of market shares from small firms to large firms, forcing some low-productivity firms to exit foreign markets. Predictions from the model are tested using firm-level data on the French agri-food sector. The results confirm the model predictions and reveal that the benefits from forward acquisitions could be quite large.


OBJECTIVES
(1) To identify resident and organizational factors associated with the use of advance care plans pre- and post-implementation of the Patient Self-Determination Act (PSDA), and (2) to identify changes (pre- and post-implementation of the PSDA) in the relationship between these factors and the use of advance care plans.

DESIGN
Complex, multistage cluster sampling.

SETTING
Ten states were selected for variation in geographic location, Medicaid reimbursement rate, and average staffing patterns. Participants were 4,215 nursing home residents in 268 facilities.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
Seventeen resident and organizational factors were associated with the use of do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders in 1990, and 12 resident and organizational factors were associated with their use in 1993. Five factors showed a significant change from 1990 to 1993: activities of daily living (ADL) scores, race, cognitive performance scale (CPS) scores, full-time equivalent (FTE) nurse aides per resident, and bed size. Ten resident and organizational factors were associated with use of do-not-hospitalize (DNH) orders in 1990 and six resident and organizational factors were associated with DNH orders in 1993. Four factors showed a significant change from 1990 to 1993: legal guardian, FTE LPNs per resident, Medicaid census, and forprofit ownership. Five resident and organizational factors were associated with the use of living wills in 1990 and seven resident and organizational factors were associated with the use of living wills in 1993. Four factors showed a significant change from 1990 to 1993: ADL scores, race, length of stay, and for-profit ownership.

CONCLUSION
The results indicate that the PSDA may have been successful in increasing the use of advance care plans and in changing the types of residents who use advance care plans. However, they also show that the use of advance care plans is associated with organizational characteristics, indicating that some types of facilities may be more willing and able to address the PSDA mandates.


This paper examines the supposed opposition between essentialist or positivist approaches to identity—which categorize group and individual members by a priori properties of sex, race, ethnicity, and native speakerhood—and constructionism, which views such properties as relational and negotiable. Even when categories such as sex, race, ethnicity, and native speakerhood are considered to have been imposed a priori, there nonetheless persists a general recognition that these are at least to some extent social constructs—if not the categories themselves, the ideas we have about them. Using data from previous empirical work in Spanish and English code-choice in US service encounters, this paper argues that 1) the social constructs of ethnicity and native speakerhood can be either preimposed on a given interaction or formed in situ, that 2) that these two processes are not incompatible, and that 3) these practices perhaps even necessitate one another.


Convolutive blind source separation (BSS) aims at separating point sources from mixtures picked up by several sensors. In real-world environments moving speakers, background noise and long reverberation are encountered which often degrade the performance of BSS algorithms. In such cases, the application of a post-filter can improve the output signal quality by suppression of residual cross-talk and of background noise. In this paper we propose a novel technique to estimate the necessary power spectral densities of the cross-talk components and present a robust system which allows to further suppress both, the remaining interference from point sources and the background noise. Experimental results show the benefit of this post-processing method in realistic environments


Different whiteboard image degradations highly reduce the legibility of pen-stroke content as well as the overall quality of the images. Consequently, different researchers addressed the problem through different image enhancement techniques. Most of the state-of-the-art approaches
 applied common image processing techniques such as background foreground segmentation, text extraction, contrast and color enhancements and white balancing. However, such types of conventional enhancement methods are incapable of recovering severely degraded pen-stroke contents and produce
 artifacts in the presence of complex pen-stroke illustrations. In order to surmount such problems, the authors have proposed a deep learning based solution. They have contributed a new whiteboard image data set and adopted two deep convolutional neural network architectures for whiteboard
 image quality enhancement applications. Their different evaluations of the trained models demonstrated their superior performances over the conventional methods.


As alcohol marketing remains a highly debated and politically charged issue, we examine the cumulative impact of alcohol marketing on alcohol initiation and drinking behaviour among youth (12–14 years). Cross-sectional data come from a cohort of 920 second year school pupils from Scotland. Regression models, with multiple control variables, were employed to examine the relationship between awareness of, and involvement with, a range of alcohol marketing communications, and drinking behaviour and intentions. Marketing variables were constructed for 15 different types of alcohol marketing, including marketing in new media. Drinking behaviour measures included drinking status and future drinking intentions. Significant associations were found between awareness of, and involvement with, alcohol marketing and drinking behaviour and intentions to drink alcohol in the next year. Given these associations, our study suggests the need for a revision of alcohol policy: one limiting youth exposure to these seemingly ubiquitous marketing communications.


Extended Kalman filter (EKF) is often employed in determining the position of mobile robot and landmarks in simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). Nonetheless, there are some disadvantages of using EKF, namely, the requirement of Gaussian distribution for the state and noises, as well as the fact that it requires the smallest possible initial state covariance. This has led researchers to find alternative ways to mitigate the aforementioned shortcomings. Therefore, this study is conducted to propose an alternative technique by implementing filter in SLAM instead of EKF. In implementing filter in SLAM, the parameters of the filter especially γ need to be properly defined to prevent finite escape time problem. Hence, this study proposes a sufficient condition for the estimation purposes. Two distinct cases of initial state covariance are analysed considering an indoor environment to ensure the best solution for SLAM problem exists along with considerations of process and measurement noises statistical behaviour. If the prescribed conditions are not satisfied, then the estimation would exhibit unbounded uncertainties and consequently results in erroneous inference about the robot and landmarks estimation. The simulation results have shown the reliability and consistency as suggested by the theoretical analysis and our previous findings.


ABSTRACT The calcineurin pathway is a critical signal transduction pathway in fungi that mediates growth, morphology, stress responses, and pathogenicity. The importance of the calcineurin pathway in fungal physiology creates an opportunity for the development of new antifungal therapies that target this critical signaling pathway. In this study, we examined the role of the zinc finger transcription factor Crz1 homolog (CrzA) in the physiology and pathogenicity of the opportunistic human fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. Genetic replacement of the crzA locus in A. fumigatus resulted in a strain with significant defects in conidial germination, polarized hyphal growth, cell wall structure, and asexual development that are similar to but with differences from defects seen in the A. fumigatus ΔcnaA (calcineurin A) strain. Like the ΔcnaA strain, the ΔcrzA strain was incapable of causing disease in an experimental persistently neutropenic inhalational murine model of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. Our results suggest that CrzA is an important downstream effector of calcineurin that controls morphology in A. fumigatus, but additional downstream effectors that mediate calcineurin signal transduction are likely present in this opportunistic fungal pathogen. In addition, the importance of CrzA to the production of disease is critical, and thus CrzA is an attractive fungus-specific antifungal target for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis.


Money is not only the facilitator of the economic exchanges, but affects the national identity of citizens and authority of governments and would be treated as a tool to empower governments. Today, monetary policies controlling becomes difficult, so slashing zeros from the national currency can be employed as a part of the economic reforms package. Removing zeros from the national currency per se cannot be effective to eliminate inflation. It should be carried out in the framework of a series of important economic reforms. Taking advantage of similar experiences of the other countries will lead to better, faster and less expensive consequences; hence, the condition in which zeros were removed from the national currencies of some countries is analyzed in this paper and their experiences will be used to cut zeros off of the Iranian currency. Likewise, Iranian economic status quo, advantages and disadvantages caused by lopping zeros from the Iranian national currency and finally conclusion and propositions will be dealt with in this study.


Films about Hollywood and the motion picture industry have a history as rich and varied as that of the industry itself. Throughout the history of American film, many different kinds of movies – from comedies to melodramas, including musicals, noir and even western films – have been explicitly set in Hollywood. A "Hollywood on Hollywood film" is defined in this study as any feature-length motion picture which takes Hollywood as its primary subject and which concerns characters (stars, directors, screenwriters and producers) whose lives are deeply affected by this milieu. Even though any kind of Hollywood movie deals with Hollywood in a certain way, those, explicitly set there, offer a privileged insight into what that mysterious, multiple signifier – Hollywood – means and how this mythmaking industry relates to the American culture as a whole.
Thanks to their self-referential aesthetics Hollywood on Hollywood movies reveal the tension between realism and illusion which characterizes film as a medium. But this tension is just one instance of the larger contradiction of Hollywood films about Hollywood: they simultaneously celebrate and question their subject and its role in American society as well as in the history of arts.
This essay deals with films produced during the Golden Age and analyses eight pictures dating from 1932 to 1962: What Price Hollywood? (1932) by George Cukor, A Star Is Born (1937) by William Wellman, Sullivan's Travels (1941) by Preston Sturges, Sunset Boulevard (1950) by Billy Wilder, In a Lonely Place (1950) by Nicholas Ray, Singin' in the Rain (1952) by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) by Vincente Minnelli and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) by Robert Aldrich. Throughout stories about stars, directors, screenwriters and producers, we try to investigate through different perspectives the contradictory image that Hollywood depicts itself.


Black walnut (Juglans nigra L.), also known as eastern black walnut or American walnut, is a fine hardwood species in the family Juglandaceae, section Rhysocaryon (Manning 1978). In general, J. nigra will not cross with species in the sections Cardiocaryon or Trachycaryon, but J. nigra will cross with J. ailantifolia (Cardiocaryon) (Williams 1990). Juglans nigra will also hybridize to some extent with other Juglans species (Dioscaryon and Rhysocaryon), and one hybrid is recognized: J. nigra x J , regia = J. x intermedia Carr. (USDA-NRCS 2004). Native to the deciduous forests of the eastern United States (USA), from Massachusetts to Florida and west to Minnesota and Texas, and occurring naturally in southern Ontario, Canada, black walnut is seldom found in pure stands, but rather in association with five mixed mesophytic forest cover types: sugar maple, yellow poplar, yellow poplar white oak northern red oak, beech sugar maple, and silver maple American elm (Williams 1990). Black walnut is a large tree and on good sites may attain a height of 30 to 38 m and diameter of 76 to 120 cm and can exceed 100 years of age (Williams 1990; Dirr 1998; USDA-NRCS 2004). Black walnut is shade intolerant, and control of competing vegetation is especially important in new plantations for the first 3 to 4 years. Black walnut grows best on moist, deep, fertile, well-drained, loamy soils, although it also grows quite well in silty clay loam soils or in good agricultural soils without a fragipan (Williams 1990; Cogliastro et al. 1997). These sites include coves, bottomlands, abandoned agricultural fields, and rich woodlands. Black walnut forms a deep taproot, wide-spreading lateral roots, and has been cultivated since 1686. A toxic chemical 'juglone' (5hydroxy-1, 4-naphthoquinone), naturally occurring in the leaves, buds, bark, nut husks, and roots of black walnut, is a highly selective, cell-permeable, irreversible inhibitor of the parvulin family of peptidylprolyl cis/trans isomerases (PPIases) and functions by covalently modifying sullfhydryl groups in the target enzymes (Henning et al. 1998; Chao et al. 2001). Certain plants, especially tomato, apple, and several conifer species, are adversely affected (allelopathy; foliar yellowing, wilting, and even death) by being grown near the roots of black walnut trees (Goodell 1984; Dana and Lerner 1994). Horses can contract acute laminitis, an inflammation of the foot, when black walnut wood chips or sawdust is used for stall bedding or stables and paddocks are located too close to walnut trees (Galey et al. 1991). Historically, the bark of black walnut was used by several Native Americans, including the Cherokee, Delaware, Iroquois, and Meskwaki, in tea as a cathartic, emetic, or disease remedy agent, and chewed or applied for toothaches, snake bites, and headaches (Moerman 1998, 2003). Caution: the bark should be used cautiously in medicine because it ispoisonous. The Cherokee, Chippewa, and Meskwaki also used the bark to make a dark brown or black dye (Moerman 1998, 2003). The Comanche pulverized the leaves of black walnut for treatment of ringworm, the Cherokee used leaves to make a green dye, and the Delaware used the leaves as an insecticide to dispel fleas (Moerman 1998, 2003). The nut meats were also a food source for Native Americans, and the nuts are still consumed today by people and are an important food source for wildlife.


A microchip integrated with a monolithic imprinted capillary has been manufactured for performing the chip‐based capillary electrochromatographic enantioseparation. The microporous monolith anchored on the inner wall of the microchannel was prepared by in situ chemical copolymerization, and characterized with scanning electron microscopy, IR spectroscopy, and solid‐state UV–vis spectroscopy. The monolithic network with high porosity gave a large surface area, good permeability, low mass‐transfer resistance, and thus high separation efficiency. A portable microchip was conveniently constructed by integrating an imprinted capillary with 5‐cm length as the separation channel and a carbon fiber microdisk working electrode for amperometric detection. Using L‐tyrosine (L‐Tyr) as the template molecule, Tyr enantiomers could be baseline separated within 55 s under the optimized preparation and separation conditions. The linear ranges for online amperometric detection of both Tyr enantiomers were from 20 to 2400 μM. The microporous monolithic chip strategy exhibited excellent separation efficiency and promising analytical application in enantioseparation. It opens an avenue for high‐throughput screening of chiral compounds.


With the increasing use and application of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), need has arisen to make them more efficient in a cost effective way. An important area which can bring efficiency to WSNs is the localization process by which the sensor nodes in the network can identify their own location in the overall network. The objective of this paper is to study and test the use of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) as a method of localization in WSNs. This is achieved by using Backpropagation algorithm (BPN) based on multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural networks to carry out the localization process. The network consisting of sensor nodes is initially trained using training algorithms namely Levenberg-Marquardt and Resilient Backpropagation. The network is then tested with a new independent set of data to prove the effectiveness of proposed model. In the paper, other variables like number of anchor nodes, neurons in hidden layers etc. which impact the efficiency of the network in localisation process are also analysed.


According to Reinhart Koselleck, in every moment a congeries of "temporal strata" are effectively co-present, but not necessarily coherent, hence the "simultaneity of the nonsimultaneous." Contrast this with the notion of a zeitgeist in which every aspect of a historical moment is integrated by some master principle. There are so many trajectories active in any present that it is unlikely that one might coordinate all of them, if not unwise even to believe that they are coordinated. Not only does each historical present demonstrate at best rhizomic or patchy coherences across domains, but it also registers different paces and intensities in the temporal deployment of the domains. Nevertheless, coherence remains a compelling regulative ideal. Fortunately, path-dependency—cumulation as constraint—is a discriminable feature of the several distinct "layers of time" or diachronic flows co-present in any given historical moment. Moreover, that some strata of experience remain roughly constant enables us to appraise the variation of others. If too many elements enter into simultaneous crisis, if we hit the "perfect storm," then our capacity to comprehend (like that of our objects of inquiry) may be severely impaired. These insights from Koselleck are eminently applicable and deserve recognition and gratitude in historical epistemology.


A First Course in Fluid Mechanics is primarily devoted to the application of the laws of Newtonian mechanics to solve complex problems in fluid motion. The topics discussed include fluid properties and their role in fluid motion; fluid statics; fluid kinematics; Euler's equations and Bernoulli's energy equation; forms of irrotational flows; property of viscosity and the Navier-Stokes equations of motion; turbulence. A chapter on dimensional analysis and model similitude is included to emphasise the need for guided experimentation, presentation of results in generalised forms and interpretation of results obtained on the model to the prototype.


The 2011 US Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) draft policy for prostate cancer screening, which became final this May, might result in significant costs related to disease burden and treatment. We presented an analysis of the recommendations in a late-breaking oral session here at the American Urological association 2012 Annual Scientific Meeting. The USPSTF gave prostate cancer screening a grade of D (not recommended; harm outweighs benefits or no net benefit). However, our analysis suggests that avoiding prostate cancer screening might ultimately cost more in terms of treating advanced disease and missing significant numbers of cases. Participants of the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, Ovarian (PLCO) Screening Trail without cancer at T0 (n=33,709) in 2011 formed the basis of their conclusions. Subjects were at least 55 years of age with adequate prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels or a positive digital rectal exam at entry. A Gleason score of at least 7 defined clinically significant cancer. Expenses related to prostate cancer were based on Medicare costs and estimates published in 2010. The results were projected to a Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) incident population with localized cancer (n=202,500). A total of 2580 men from the PLCO Screening Trial were treated for prostate cancer after T0. Total expenditures were $61.5 million ($23,804 per patient). Estimated total expenditures for 377 treated patients with clinically significant prostate cancer after T0 were $8.6 million ($22,742 per patient). After extrapolation at a national level to 96,000 patients with clinically significant prostate cancer (SEER data), annual initial diagnosis/treatment costs were estimated to be $2.4 billion Savings at First, But Expenses Later Adopting draft USPSTF recommendations would result in $2.4 billion in initial savings, however, many of these men will subsequently present with clinically significant prostate cancer, with total treatment costs far exceeding $2.4 billion. A no-screening' policy is a bad investment at the societal level. It would decrease prostate cancer health expenditure and would miss from 0.57% to 1.22% of significant prostate cancer cases, depending on the amount of increase in the screening interval. Many missed prostate cancer cases will subsequently present with significant prostate cancer [often metastatic], incurring significant consequences and risk, a more rational policy might be to screen appropriate men for prostate cancer for identification and early treatment of clinically significant disease. A Wake-Up Call The USPSTF recommendations are a 'wake-up' call that is not business as usual with screening. There were warning signs this was coming, and these were ignored, but a lot of the comments in [the USPSTF] paper were very accurate. I recommend that all interested physicians read the report and that they keep an open mind. We should all work together to address and implement some suggestions, such as extending screening intervals, using better markers of progression, and separating diagnosis from treatment. There needs to be a common ground. The greatest impact of the new recommendations will be on family practice physicians, who have not had a clear understanding of screening and have been victims of many lawsuits related to failure to diagnose the disease. Many will discourage screening. This presentation will review the pros and cons of screening, current clinical trials and suggest a way forward. Citation Format: E. David Crawford. Finding common ground on the prostate cancer screening controversy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2012 Oct 16-19; Anaheim, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Prev Res 2012;5(11 Suppl):Abstract nr FO01-02.


N/O-methylation of DNA can be cytotoxic and mutagenic; therefore, enzymes that reverse DNA methylation are essential for organism survival. Several 2-oxoglutarate-dependent oxygenases and methyltransferases that remove a methyl group from a methylated DNA base have been identified. Studies of their kinetics and search for their inhibitors have been retarded by the lack of an approach to directly quantitate DNA substrates and products that differ by a single methyl group. Here, we introduce such an approach, which is based on capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection. We achieved baseline separation of a fluorescently labeled 15-nucleotide-long single-base methylated DNA substrate from its demethylated product, followed by its quantitative detection. We then used this approach to study the kinetics of AlkB-catalyzed DNA demethylation and screen a number of potential inhibitors of this reaction. Ten new inhibitors, which can be used as templates in developing therapies targeting AlkB-like enzymes, were identified. Our approach will be applicable for in vitro kinetic studies of known DNA demethylating and methylating enzymes and in the discovery of new ones.


AgCl cubes have been fabricated by excimer laser ablation of a silver target in aqueous NaCl solutions with concentration CNaCl ≤ 0.01 M. Absorption spectra of the laser ablated solutions indicated that Ag nanoclusters also formed during the ablation. The formation of Ag and AgCl are dependent on CNaCl, laser fluence, and length of ablation time (laser pulses). We consider that the laser ablation of Ag in NaCl solution will produce Ag+ ions that combine with Cl− and form insoluble AgCl precipitates. The AgCl could catalyze the reduction of excess Ag+ ions resulting in Ag nanoclusters. When CNaCl ≥ 0.05 M, soluble complex anions of the type AgClm+1m− will form that reduce the formation of AgCl and Ag. Our research reveals the underlying mechanism of laser ablation of Ag in aqueous NaCl solution and provides a facile route to fabricate cuboidal AgCl particles.


Current Transformer is mainly used to convert high primary current in the power system to the level which can be handled by electromechanical or microprocessor based Relays and metering devices. The current transformer should be chosen correctly for a particular application considering the burden connected to the secondary, primary fault current and X/R ratio of the system. Over dimensioned or under dimensioned CT can cause mal-operation of relays. In this study, we have developed a windows application to check whether CT selected for particular application having certain burden is adequate or not. If in case the selected CT is not adequate then the application will suggest new CT design to avoid saturation. Proper Selection of CT is required for good protection scheme requirement.


SUMMARY
Phloem-mobile signals play a major role in plant nutrition, development and communication. In the latter context, phloem-mobile RNAs have been associated with signalling between plant tissues. In this study, we focused on the identification of transcripts in the shoot phloem of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. To isolate transcripts expressed in phloem parenchyma cells and in companion cell-sieve element complexes, we used laser microdissection coupled to laser pressure catapulting (LMPC). Mobile transcripts in sieve elements were isolated from leaf phloem exudates. After optimization of sampling and fixation, RNA of high quality was isolated from both sources. The modifications to the RNA amplification procedure described here were well suited to production of RNA of sufficient yield and quality for microarray experiments. Microarrays hybridized with LMPC-derived phloem tissue or phloem sap RNA allowed differentiation between phloem-expressed and mobile transcript species. Using this set of phloem transcripts and comparing them with microarrays derived from databases of light, hormone and nutrient treatment experiments, we identified phloem-derived RNAs as mobile, potential long-distance signals. Our dataset thus provides a search criterion for phloem-based signals hidden in the complex datasets of microarray experiments. The availability of these comprehensive phloem transcript profiles will facilitate reverse-genetic studies and forward-genetic screens for phloem and long-distance RNA signalling mutants.


Animals actively select the most suitable habitat in terms of fitness, much of which is mediated by temperature. We reconstructed population abundance, oxygen isotope and temperature chronologies for the Icelandic and the Northeast Arctic (NEA) cod (Gadus morhua) populations to determine if their temperature selectivity over the last 100 years was driven by rising water temperatures and (or) changes in abundance. Individual annual growth increments from immature and mature life history stages of cod collected in southern Iceland and the Lofoten area (Norway) were micromilled from adult otoliths and then assayed for stable oxygen isotopes (δ18Ootolith). Linear mixed effect models were used to identify and quantify the density-dependent temperature exposure of both cod populations. The results indicated that Icelandic cod migrated into warmer waters with increasing abundance (p < 0.05), whereas NEA cod moved into colder waters (p < 0.001). Our results suggest that thermal preferences and density-dependent effects can be used to forecast potential redistribution scenarios of fish as oceans warm.


In this work, we consider an evolutionary prisoner's dilemma game on a homogeneous random network with the richest-following strategy adoption rule. By constructing homogeneous random networks from a regular ring graph, we investigate the effects of topological randomness on cooperation. In contrast to the ordinary view that the presence of small amount of shortcuts in ring graphs favors cooperation, we find the cooperation inhibition by weak topological randomness. The explanations on the observations are presented


ABSTRACT Oxygen and carbon isotope ratios are reported from exceptionally well preserved, early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) aragonitic mollusks (ammonites, bivalves, gastropods) from the Moonkinu Formation exposed on the southern coast of Bathurst Island, northern Australia. Samples were examined by means of X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy to screen for diagenetic alteration. The oxygen isotope data derived from planispiral ammonites (largely Euomphaloceras and Acanthoceras), interpreted in terms of temperature, provide the warmest temperatures, ranging up to 34 °C, in accord with the subtropical paleolatitude and with other temperature estimates associated with the middle Cretaceous thermal maximum. Oxygen isotope data from benthic mollusks suggest shelf bottom-water temperatures of ∼21 °C. The oxygen isotope data derived from the straight-shelled baculitid heteromorphic ammonite Sciponoceras are consistent with these organisms having a nektobenthic mode of life, differing from previous views of Baculites which suggest habitation of the mid to upper parts of the water column. Isotopic analyses of shells of the inoceramid bivalve (Actinoceramus) in general show relatively positive carbon values and the most negative oxygen isotope values. Such values are more characteristic of surface-dwelling organisms, and approach those we have measured for planispiral ammonites. Isotopic data from other benthic organisms including the gastropod Latiala and other bivalves provide &dgr;18O data that are consistent with a normally stratified water column. We view the isotopic values for Actinoceramus as anomalous relative to expected values for the watermass in which the animals lived, and ascribe them to taxon-specific disequilibrium or a vital effect as the cause of depleted oxygen isotopic values that are characteristic of inoceramids in general.


Diabetes mellitus has the most significant effect on the state of the oral cavity. Therefore, pediatric dentists should be aware of the characteristics of the course of oral diseases in children with diabetes [Nirmala SVSG, Saikrishna D, 2016, Babu SR, Eisenbarth GS., 2012]. Diabetes mellitus is a multifactorial disease characterized by a chronic rise in blood glucose levels or hyperglycemia and is caused by impaired insulin secretion and / or insulin dysfunction. Diabetes is also called a silent epidemic and a majora public health problem and accounts for 9% of all deaths worldwide [Nazir MA, Al Ghamdi L, Al Kadi M, Al Beajan N, Al Rashoudi L, Al Hussan M., 2018]. The accumulated scientific knowledge on the study of the biochemical and immunological composition of saliva in various chronic pathologies, including diseases of the gastrointestinal tract , stress, have shown the ability of the secretion of the oral cavity to reflect the processes occurring in the patient's body, and serve as an adequate substrate for monitoring homeostasis [Komarova L.G., Alekseeva O.P., 2016]. According to the Action Strategy for five priority areas of development of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2017-2021, important tasks have been identified in order to ensure a full life for vulnerable segments of the population to improve the system of social protection of the population and health care, including, "increasing the availability and quality of medical and socio-medical services the population, the formation of a healthy lifestyle of the population.


Introduction: After heart surgery, patients are at risk of multiple problems and concerns. It is essential to prepare them to continue living with the chronic nature of the disease. Empowerment is one of functional and low-cost methods. Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of family-centered empowerment model on empowerment parameters in patients with artificial heart valves. Materials and Methods: This clinical trial study was done during year 2015. After the patient was transferred from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) , the test group and control group were selected by the available sampling method. For the test group, the family-centered empowerment model was performed in four steps: threat perceived, self-efficacy, selfesteem and evaluation through group training, group problem solving and educational participation during three to five sessions. Educational cards and booklets were provided for the cases and an active member of their family. The control group received routine care. Patient capability indexes (threat perceived, self-efficacy and self-esteem) was evaluated before, immediately after the intervention and one and half months after the intervention. The data was analyzed by SPSS version 23 software. Results: Both groups were similar before the intervention in terms of demographic variables. The level of empowerment of the two groups before the intervention, in all three areas was not significantly different, but after the intervention, the test group's level of empowerment was significantly improved in all three areas (P<0.05). After one and half months the ability was not only stable but had also increased. Discussion and Conclusion: Based on the findings, implementation of the model and nursing interventions as part of the family-centered empowerment model improved the empowerment parameters of patients with prosthetic heart


Information for Faculty Offering Instruction in Arts and Sciences is intended to serve as a convenient reference for the educational policies of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). In addition to a discussion of instructors' responsibilities, matters related to course administration, and problems often encountered by students, this publication includes a summary of teaching resources available to instructors and a detailed academic calendar.


Osteomyelitis of the maxilla is a rare condition, about eighty cases having been reported since 1847. It produces a characteristic clinical picture, making recognition easy. Asherson (1939) in England and Lacy and Engel (1939) in the U.S.A. have given detailed accounts of the clinical picture and the differential diagnosis and have discussed the etiology and reviewed the literature. Their views on the treatment and prognosis agree fairly closely, but as these views antedate the use of penicillin, they are no longer tenable. The condition is practically confined to infants under the age of twelve weeks, whose previous history in relation to delivery and feeding is not significant. The condition has generally been progressing for several days before it is recognized as being one of more than mere local inflammation. In the present cases, this period averaged eight days. The characteristic feature is gross swelling of the affected side. In the case of the maxilla both eyelids are involved with proptosis and chemosis; the cheek is remarkably swollen and indurated. In addition there is frequently a unilateral purulent nasal discharge and occasionally pus discharges externally from below the inner canthus of the eye. Inside the mouth the alveolus and the hard palate are swollen and inflamed, and sinuses may be discharging either from the alveolus or the bucco-gingival fold; the bucco-gingival space may be markedly narrowed. When the mandible is involved the swelling is mainly in the submental region, whilst inside the mouth, although the lower jaw is affected, the condition is essentially the same. From any of the purulent discharges, staphylococcus aureus can be cultured. The etiology of this condition is not completely explained, since the portal of entry of the staphylococcus is unknown. Asherson (1939), Lacy and Engel (1939) and Mowlem (1944) agree that the bone infection is of haematogenous origin, though there is no record of a positive blood culture in their cases. Unfortunately in the first two cases here described this investigation was also omitted, but in the one case in which it was done a heavy growth of staphylococcus aureus was obtained within twentyfour hours. In the case of the maxilla, the bone infection is, on anatomical grounds, presumed to start in the tooth socket of the first molar. In mandibular infections the theories that have been advanced are 'diminution of local immunity' and ' specific organismal infection,' but as Mowlem points out these theories are ' meaningless and incapable of proof.' Although the tooth buds are not in close proximity to the vessels it is possible that the infection settles in a tooth socket.


The crystal structures and stability of energetic compounds are closely related to the energy, safety and reliability of weapons. Searching for new solid forms of an energetic compound has become an integral part of its development. The studied compound, carbonic dihydrazidinium bis[3-(5-nitroimino-1,2,4-triazolate)] (CBNT), is a recently synthesized high energy and low sensitivity energetic ionic salt with promising applications. Herein, we have investigated the crystal structure evolution and searched for new solid forms of CBNT under different conditions via the solvent induction method. The phase composition of all screened samples was analysed by powder or single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Four new solid forms of CBNT·2H2O (1), H2BNT·2DMSO (2), H2BNT·2H2O (3) and [NH2(CH3)2+]2[BNT2−]·2H2O (4) (BNT2− = bis[3-(5-nitroimino-1,2,4-triazolate)2−]) were obtained from water, DMSO, BL/H2O and DMF/H2O, respectively. Their molecular interactions were analysed by theoretical simulations of the Hirshfeld surface and molecular electrostatic potentials. Furthermore, the energetic properties have been verified through EXPLO5.


As I have tried to tabulate and evaluate the cases of spontaneous regression of gynecologic malignancy, several facts stand out: 1) They were infrequent. 2) The tumors most commonly undergoing spontaneous regression were the germinal epithelial tumors of the ovary; there was not any case of spontaneous regression of any other variety of ovarian neoplasm. 3) There was not one legitimate case of spontaneous regression of an invasive epidermoid carcinoma of the vulva, vagina, or uterus.


BACKGROUND
Guyana had an estimated HIVprevalence of 1.5% among pregnant women in 2006 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.1-1.9). However, a survey of miners in one mine found a 6.5% HIV prevalence in 2002. To determine whether Guyanese miners are at high risk for HIV infection we conducted a HIV and syphilis prevalence survey of miners in several mines.

METHODS
Adult male consenting miners in 45 Guyanese mines were interviewed, counselled, tested for HIV and syphilis with rapid tests and provided onsite test results. The survey was cross-sectional and used a multi-stage cluster sampling design; population estimates were calculated using SUDAAN.

RESULTS
Of 651 miners approached, 539 (83%) were interviewed and 509 (78%) tested. The estimated prevalence for HIV was 3.9% (CI = 2.1, 7.1) and for life-time syphilis exposure was 6.4% (CI = 4.5, 9.1). Fifty-four per cent (CI = 41.3, 66.7) of miners had casual sex during the preceding year, of whom 44.4% (CI = 34.3, 55.0) had always used condoms with these partners.

CONCLUSION
The estimated HIV prevalence among Guyanese miners was higher than that of the general population. Targeted interventions including condom promotion are recommended to prevent further spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections among miners.


Small cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder is an extremely rare tumor accounting for less than 1% of all cancers arising from the bladder. Since the tumor is very rare, pathogenesis is uncertain. The tumor shares similar histological features with the small cell carcinoma originating at the other sites in body. However, its similar clinical features like the conventional transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder, tendency to present at a advanced stage and low immunoreactivity to the conventional neuroendocrine markers makes the early diagnosis challenging and simultaneously crucial for the patient's survival. The unknown etiology and natural history of small cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder represent a challenge both to the pathologist and urologists for its diagnosis and treatment, respectively. Considering the very few numbers of case reports available in the literature and lack of the definitive data predicting the therapeutic response to various modalities, we, herein, describe a case of small cell carcinoma originating in the urinary bladder in a female patient who was treated at our institute.


The article excavates and organizes silk culture resources in order to carry out a complete assessment in all perspectives of the silk culture. Current archaeological research, collections, traditional workmanship resumption and exploitation, and activities with cross-cultural influence conducted by culture and science/technology institutions are also taken into consideration. Meanwhile, others' experience on culture heritage protection, resumption, and declaration on world cultural and natural heritage protection is used as a reference. Therefore, the assumption for further research on the silk culture conformation is made, and the necessary foundation for the declaration on protection of world cultural and natural heritage for silk culture is established.


ABSTRACT Traditional media tools often are criticized for the waste of targeting noncustomers. Although marketing managers are aware of the potential for waste in the use of traditional media, such vehicles continue to dominate media budgets. In this article, we explored the conditions under which managers are more likely to act on their perceptions of media waste in comparing traditional media with interactive media. Based on a national survey of managers in the United States, we found that their perceptions of wastefulness of traditional marketing media on implementation of interactive-marketing technologies are contingent upon their own personal technology orientation and their hierarchical position in the organization. Specifically, perception of media waste will lead to an increase in interactive-marketing technology budgets and use if the manager is technology oriented or is in a senior management position.


Placental health is a key component to healthy pregnancy. Placental insufficiency (PI), inadequate nutrient delivery to the fetus, is associated with preeclampsia (PE), a maternal hypertensive disorder, and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), pathologically poor fetal growth. PI is more common in early-onset PE (EOPE) than late-onset PE (LOPE). However, the relationship between these disorders remains unclear. While DNA methylation (DNAm) alterations have been identified in PE and IUGR, these entities can overlap and few studies have analyzed these separately. This study aims to identify altered DNAm in EOPE, LOPE, and normotensive IUGR, validate these alterations, and use them to better understand the relationships between these related disorders. Placental samples from a discovery cohort (43 controls, 22 EOPE, 18 LOPE, 11 IUGR) and validation cohort (15 controls, 22 EOPE, 11 LOPE) were evaluated using the Illumina HumanMethylation450 array. To minimize gestational age (GA) effects, EOPE samples were compared to pre-term controls (GA <37 weeks), while LOPE and IUGR were compared to term controls (GA >37 weeks). There were 1703 differentially methylated (DM) sites (FDR<0.05, Δβ>0.1) in EOPE, 5 in LOPE, and 0 in IUGR. Of the 1703 EOPE sites, 599 were validated in the second cohort. These sites cluster samples from both cohorts into 3 distinct methylation clusters. Interestingly, LOPE samples diagnosed between 34-36 weeks with co-occurring IUGR clustered with the EOPE methylation cluster. DNAm profiling may provide an independent tool to refine clinical diagnoses into subgroups with more uniform pathology. The challenges in reproducing genome-wide DNAm studies are also discussed.


XL228 is a protein kinase inhibitor with potent activity against wild-type and T315I isoforms of BCR-ABL (wild-type ABL kinase, IC50 = 5 nM; ABL T315I, 1.4 nM), Aurora A (3.1 nM), IGF-1R (1.6 nM), SRC (6.1 nM), and LYN (2 nM). A Phase 1 dose escalation clinical trial in patients (pts) with CML or Ph++-ALL who are resistant or intolerant to at least two prior standard therapies (including imatinib, dasatinib, and nilotinib) or have a known BCR-ABL T315I mutation is ongoing. XL228 is administered as a 1-hour IV infusion either once weekly or twice weekly. Twenty-seven pts have been enrolled into six cohorts with the once-weekly dosing schedule (dose range from 0.45 mg/kg to 10.8 mg/kg). All pts have failed prior imatinib therapy, and received nilotinib, dasatinib, and other therapies The majority of pts harbor mutations in BCR-ABL, with the most common mutations being T315I (n=10), F317L (n=7), and V299L (n=3). The maximum administered dose (MAD) of once-weekly IV dosing of XL228 is 10.8 mg/kg. Dose escalation of pts in the twice-weekly dosing schedule at an initial XL228 dose of 3.6 mg/kg on Days 1 and 4 of each week is ongoing. XL228 has been generally well-tolerated. Dose limiting toxicities observed with once-weekly dosing included Grade 3 syncope and hyperglycemia in two pts dosed at 10.8 mg/kg. Grade 2 adverse events reported to be possibly related to XL228 in the once-weekly dosing schedule were usually transient and manageable, and included hyperglycemia, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and bradycardia. Pharmacokinetic analysis across five cohorts treated with once-weekly dosing of XL228 demonstrated an approximately dose-proportional exposure, with a mean terminal half life of 15 to 38 hours. In the 7.2 mg/kg cohort, the Cmax of approximately 13 μM exceeds the IC50 for modulation of phospho-CrkL levels determined in mouse K562 xenograft pharmacodynamic studies. Peak exposures of XL228 in the 7.2- and 10.8-mg/kg cohorts were associated with inhibition of peripheral blood leukocyte CrkL phosphorylation in several patients, including three harboring the T315I mutation. Transient increases in mean plasma glucose levels (up to three fold) and mean insulin levels (up to 40 fold) postinfusion are coupled, dose-related, and imply inhibition of the IGF1R and IR pathways by XL228. Preliminary evidence of clinical activity has been observed in pts treated at doses of 3.6 mg/kg and higher, including stable or decreasing white blood cell count and/or platelet count within 2 months (14 pts, 5 with T315I), and/or >1 log reduction in BCR-ABL levels by QPCR within 3 months (3 pts, 2 with T315I). Pts in the 7.2 mg/kg and higher cohorts have been followed a minimum of 1 month to a maximum of 4 months at the time of abstract submission. XL228 shows potential for treating drug-resistant CML and Ph+-ALL, including pts harboring the T315I gatekeeper mutation.


Length-weight relationship, Fulton's K condition factor and the size structure were assessed for unsexed cyprinid gibel carp, Carassius gibelio (Bloch, 1782) (N= 100) caught from Pantelimon II Lake area a man-made lake from Colentina River. Negative allometric growth was estimated for gibel carp in both seasons: TW = 0.0396 x TL (N=50, November 2016) and TW = 0.0269 x TL (N=50, May 2017). Condition factor K registered values between 1.44 and 2.38 (cold season), 1.49 and 3.79 (warm season). The physico-chemical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, total hardness, chemical oxygen demand, ammonium nitrogen, nitrite-nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen and phosphorus-phosphate were determined, in order to evaluate the impact of abiotic environmental conditions on fish population. The microbiological examination of water quality was also carried out, to detect the micromycetes which may pose health risk to both human and fish. The presence of Penicillium spp. and some yeast strains were confirmed in water samples from the studied area. According to all analyzed parameters, the water resource was found to be within the suitable range for well-being of C. gibelio, which is important assuming that local fishermen often catch and eat gibel carp. To our knowledge, this paper provides first information on length-weight relationship, Fulton's K condition factor and the size structure of Carassius gibelio from Pantelimon II Lake.


Abstract Background: The Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale (IIFAS) is used to evaluate maternal infant feeding attitude. The breastfeeding rate has declined but no validated instruments to assess infant feeding attitudes or related studies have been available in mainland China. Aims: The purpose of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of a mainland Chinese version of the IIFAS among postpartum women. Methods: Postpartum women (N = 660) were recruited from three university hospitals in Guangzhou in mainland China. The participants completed an IIFAS questionnaire before being discharged and accepted telephone follow-up sessions at 6 weeks and 3 months postpartum. The reliability of the scale was evaluated using intra-class correlations (ICC) for test–retest reliability, correlated itemtotal correlations and Cronbach's α. The validity of the scale was evaluated using the content validity index (CVI), construct validity using exploratory factor analysis and predictive validity using independent t–tests. Results: The ICC was 0.861. The correlated item-total correlations ranged from 0.262–0.691. Cronbach's α was 0.623. The CVI was 0.996. Four factors were extracted using exploratory factor analysis and they contributed to 48.69% of the total variance. Conclusions: The mainland Chinese version of the IIFAS scale can be considered a reliable, valid and predictive scale for assessing infant feeding attitudes among women in mainland China. In-hospital scores on the scale were significant predictors of the infant feeding method and breastfeeding duration at 3 days, 6 weeks and 3 months postpartum. Construct validity was confirmed and showed four factors. However, future studies are required to improve the lower level internal consistency of the IIFAS.


Various approaches have been employed to study the possibility of non-linear feedback between the real and financial sector. We employ the threshold Bayesian VAR with block restrictions to evaluate the non-linear dynamics in a small open economy using the example of the Czech Republic. The study combines information on aggregate credit and non-performing loans (NPLs) to find that procyclicality of the financial sector matters for the real economy. A positive shock to credit and a negative shock to NPLs support industrial production over the entire time horizon, yet the responses do not differ substantially across credit spread regimes. Our results also suggest that the responses of the financial sector to real shocks differ depending on the credit market conditions. Finally, the direct impact of foreign factors on lending seems to be rather limited given that the financial sector in the Czech Republic is largely bank-based and funded predominantly by domestic deposits.


A DAILY DIARY EXAMINATION OF MICROAGGRESSIONS AND ALCOHOL USE AMONG EMERGING ADULT BISEXUAL WOMEN: THE ROLE OF ALCOHOL DEMAND Sarah J. Ehlke Old Dominion University, 2020 Director: Dr. Michelle L. Kelley Bisexual women are at far greater risk for alcohol use, alcohol-related negative consequences, and alcohol use disorder than heterosexual or lesbian women. However, research on sexual minority women often combines lesbian and bisexual women into a single group. One possible explanation for the increased alcohol use and associated consequences among bisexual women relates to their experiences of discrimination or microaggressions that are daily insults and comments, intentional or unintentional, about their sexuality from both the heterosexual and sexual minority communities. Thus, it is possible that bisexual women drink to cope with microaggressions. Specifically, bisexual women may drink more and have more alcohol consequences on days when they experience more microaggressions. There may also be individual differences that influence the association between microaggressions and alcohol use and alcohol-related negative consequences. Behavioral economic theory has been applied to examine alcohol demand, which in turn has been shown to be associated with drinking. Therefore, the current study incorporated an Alcohol Purchase Task (APT) to examine alcohol demand indices as a factor that potentially strengthens the relationship between microaggressions and drinking among bisexual women. The current study had two goals: (1) to examine the associations between drinking to cope motives, daily microaggressions, and same-day alcohol use and alcohol-related negative consequences among bisexual women, and (2) to examine if alcohol demand indices moderate the association between daily microaggressions and same-day alcohol use and alcohol-related negative consequences among bisexual women. A total of 103 emerging adult bisexual women completed a baseline and 28-day daily diary survey. Results indicated that daily microaggressions were associated with same day alcohol use and consequences. Although drinking to cope motivations did not moderate this association, several alcohol demand indices (intensity and breakpoint) moderated the association between microaggressions and same-day alcohol use and/or consequences. Specifically, the association between daily microaggressions and same day alcohol consequences was strongest for those with higher intensity. Also, daily microaggressions were associated with same day alcohol use and consequences for those with lower breakpoint values, but not higher breakpoint values. Results suggest that microaggressions may be one reason for the high rates of drinking among bisexual women. Clinicians should encourage clients who report microaggression experiences to engage in positive coping skills that do not involve alcohol use, and could incorporate an alcohol purchase task into their intake information. In addition, at a larger level, public health campaigns can be implemented to raise awareness about microaggressions and policies can be enacted to discourage microaggressions.


Increases in new HIV infections among men who have sex with men (MSM) are now reported from nearly every industrialised country context,1 and the news from resource-poor settings is worse still—extremely high background prevalence, increases in new infections and only very limited access to care and prevention.2 3 With the weakening commitment of MSM to consistent condom use (at the population level),4 5 and with the growing popularity of different behavioural risk-reduction strategies (negotiated agreements, serosorting and strategic positioning),6 7 8 and the increasing uptake and enactment of pharmacoprophylaxis by MSM (pre and postexposure prophylaxis),9 10 it is little wonder public health and prevention practitioners are highly sensitive to changes in the HIV testing practice and patterns of MSM. From a public health perspective HIV testing rates are a factor in estimating the scale of the problem in this population group.

For MSM as individuals knowing their HIV status is something quite different. It is no longer important just because it permits them to maximise the benefits of early HIV treatment interventions (if it ever was?). Regular and repeated HIV testing are becoming increasingly understood as gateway behaviours that open a range of potentially effective HIV prevention options, which may not include condoms, but for which knowledge of HIV status is the essential starting point. Whether as public health and prevention practitioners this was our intention, whether we choose to acknowledge and support it, and whether we are willing to step up and work to support MSM who enact these practices to do so as effectively as possible is the point …


In our previous paper (Bulletin of the Karaganda University. Chemistry series, 2019, 2(94), P. 35–43) we considered the behavior of quenched (or strongly charged) polyampholytes based on fully charged anionic monomer — 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid sodium salt (AMPS) and cationic monomer — (3-acrylamidopropyl) trimethylammonium chloride (APTAC) in aqueous-salt solutions. In the present paper we report the mechanical properties of quenched polyampholyte hydrogels synthesized by free-radical copolymerization of the same monomers in the presence of N,N-methylenebisacrylamide (MBAA) as crosslinking agent. The hydrogel samples in dependence of the molar amount of AMPS were abbreaviated as AMPS-75H, AMPS-50H and AMPS-25H. The swelling, rheological, and mechanical properties of quenched polyampholyte hydrogels were evaluated for different compositions of copolymers at fixed initial monomer concentration C0 = 0.5 wt.% and constant amount of [MBAA] = 20 mol.%. The formation of hydrogels in the course of (co)polymerization of oppositely charged monomers in presence of MBAA was monitored by rheometric measurements using oscillatory deformation tests at an angular frequency ω = 6.3 rad⋅s and strain amplitude γo = 0.01. The strain-stress curves of as-prepared and swollen polyampholyte gels demonstrate that the highest values of Young's modulus E, fracture stress σf and elongation ε% are characteristic for as-prepared AMPS-75H and swollen AMPS-50H samples. These results are interpreted in terms of polyelectrolyte and polyampholyte effects.


Studies were initiated in 1980 and 1984 to compare animal performance, dietary P levels, and serum mineral levels of P supplemented and unsupplemented replacement beef heifers (Bos taurus). Phosphorus supplementation levels averaged 4 g day-1 from 14 November 1980 and 24 January 1984, respectively, until 1 September 1980 and 15 October 1984, respectively, when supplemental P was raised to 6 g day-1. Heifers in both studies received mixed hay, primarily smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss.), and rolled oats during their first winter and hay only the second winter. During the summer they grazed on native pastures which contained primarily western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii (Rydb.) A. Love), needleandthread (Stipa comata Trin. and Rupr.), green needlegrass (S. viridula Trin.), blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis (H.B.K.) Griffiths), and upland sedges (Carex spp.). Hereford and Hereford-Angus cross heifers in the first study showed no weight gain or serum P response to supplemental P, but conception rate over the 2 studies was lower (P<0.05) for the unsupplemented heifers and 75% of the open heifers occurred in the first study. Hereford-Simmental heifers used in the second study demonstrated an immediate weight gain response (P<0.06) to supplemental P which persisted to the end of the study in 1985, but there was only 1 open heifer in the unsupplemented group in this study, compared to 3 in the first study. Serum P was higher (P<0.06) for P supplemented than control heifers only when they were removed from summer pasture in the second study. Diet P (2.10 g kg-1) for unsupplemented Hereford-Simmental heifers during the winter of 1984 was marginal, but diet P (2.53 g kg-1) for unsupplemented Hereford and Hereford-Angus heifers during the winter of 1980-1981 was clearly above recommended levels. Modest weight gain differences in the second study, serum P data and differences in conception rate suggest that Northern Great Plains forages are marginal to deficient in P for replacement beef heifers, but P supplementation would be expected to produce small and variable benefits.


We explore a function with two shape parameters for the dark-matter halo density profile subject to baryonic effects, which is a special case of the general Zhao family of models applied to simulated dark-matter haloes by Dekel et al. This profile has variable inner slope and concentration parameter, and analytic expressions for the gravitational potential, velocity dispersion, and lensing properties. Using the Numerical Investigation of a Hundred Astrophysical Objects cosmological simulations, we find that it provides better fits than the Einasto profile and the generalized NFW profile with variable inner slope, in particular towards the halo centres. We show that the profile parameters are correlated with the stellar-to-halo mass ratio Mstar/Mvir. This defines a mass-dependent density profile describing the average dark-matter profiles in all galaxies, which can be directly applied to observed rotation curves of galaxies, gravitational lenses, and semi-analytic models of galaxy formation or satellite–galaxy evolution. The effect of baryons manifests itself by a significant flattening of the inner density slope and a 20 per cent decrease of the concentration parameter for Mstar/Mvir = 10−3.5–10−2, corresponding to $M_{\rm star} \!\sim \! 10^{7-10}\, \mathrm{ M}_\odot$. The accuracy by which this profile fits simulated galaxies is similar to certain multiparameter mass-dependent profiles, but its fewer parameters and analytic nature make it most desirable for many purposes.


The study of cold state testing and evaluation analysis were carried on the practical running chain-grate stoker, which has an air-supply system with air storehouse and airtrough, to study the air-distribution, air leakage, air tightness and air governing. The result shows that horizontal air distribution across the furnace and the air tightness of the components such as the air port (damper) and airtrough are good. However the air leakage is large because of the complex structure and the high demand of integrated air tightness either in the front or the back of the stoker. The cost of the stoker is high because of large quantity of machine work after casting and high demand of installation, thus the structure should be improved.