This thesis is based upon a study of a Dutch family with a unique skeletal dysplasia first described by Elsbach in 1959. Because of the presence of microepiphyses, he called this disorder bilateral hereditary micro-epiphyseal dysplasia (BHMED) and distinguished it from more common multiple epiphyseal dysplasia (MED). Clinical features were early onset of bilateral symmetric synchronic complaints of pain in hip and knee, and radiographically small epiphyses of the hip joint. Although Elsbach regarded this disorder as different from common multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, others suggested that it was only a variant of common MED. Recent advances in molecular genetics allow for solving this etiological question of lumping versus splitting of entities by molecular genetic identification of the basic gene defects. Furthermore, the original family requested genetic counselling and wanted be informed about the genetic risks to the offspring and to obtain more information about the nature of the disease, which would clearly benefit from resolving the genetic defect underlying the skeletal disorder in their family.
The aim of the study was to obtain answers to four main questions:
1.Is BHMED indeed a separate clinical entity among the MEDs?
2.What are the diagnostic radiographic features of BHMED?
3.What is the molecular genetic basis of BHMED?
4.What is the diagnostic value of metacarpophalangeal pattern (MCPP) profile analysis?
The study included the original family including 40 years follow-up period, as well as new family members born since the first report by Elsbach. The clinical and radiological findings confirmed Elsbach's conclusion that the disease in this family, designated by him as BHMED, indeed represents a separate entity that can be differentiated from common MED. Short stature was not only observed in affected patients, but also though to a lesser degree in their healthy siblings and the unaffected parents, which was explained by height-related partner choice consistently over several generations.
Through linkage analysis, three candidate gene loci, EDM1-3, were excluded. A whole genome scan showed linkage to a region on chromosome 2 harbouring a functional candidate gene, matrilin-3. Mutation analysis of matrilin-3 revealed a previously unreported pathogenic missense mutation in the Von Willebrand domain of this gene (G382C base pair substitution leading to an A128P amino acid substitution). The mutation segregated completely with the affection status defined by both clinical and radiographic diagnostic criteria.
The metacarpophalangeal pattern (MCPP) profile observed in BHMED was found to be different from that of one of the currently known common MED variants (EDM2) and was consistent with the clinical diagnosis, the radiological observations and the segregation of the matrilin-3 mutation.
BHMED affected patients were frequently affected by secondary aspecific osteoarthritis. In view of the current findings, the authors suggest that subtler sequence variants of this gene or its promotor may predispose to more common osteoarthritis, and that this deserves further studies in large population-based samples.
This investigation proved that BHMED is indeed a separate variant within the MED group that is more heterogeneous than thought before. Furthermore, the identification of the gene defect helped the genetic counselling of family members, especially in support of the clinical and radiological diagnosis


In order to estimate the carbon footprint of bridge during whole life cycle, a quantitative model is established in this paper. The life cycle is divided into five phases as design, manufacturing, construction, operation & maintenance and demolishing. According to energy and resource consumption, the carbon footprint of different source, such as material, transportation, construction, facility etc, is accounted according to the criterion of mass and cost. The carbon intensity index is proposed considering the feature of bridge engineering and economic cost. A multi-level assessment method is developed based on modified analytic hierarchy process and comprehensive variable weight analysis. As a case study, south lake bridge in Wuhan is analyzed, the assessment results indicate that the carbon intensity of this bridge is between small and moderate, and the carbon footprint is mainly concentrated in the phases of manufacturing and construction. The carbon footprint model and carbon intensity index assessment method which combine environmental impact together with economic cost, are of high applicability in real bridge project, and could be used as a reference for bridge management section to assess the life cycle environmental impact.


The core and key of the "Excellent Engineer Program" of the Ministry of Education in China is to improve the students' engineering consciousness and engineering quality and cultivate the students' engineering practical ability and innovative capability, which is based on society demands and engineering needs. This paper is a case study of the "Excellent Engineer Program" experimental class of Shandong University. An ability centric model for education system optimization in mechanical engineering is put forward. Through five years' practice of improving the educational concept, optimizing the program of talent cultivation, strengthening the cooperation with the enterprises and transforming the teaching methods, it has preliminary formed the relatively integrated system of excellent engineer education, which is oriented toward practical and innovative ability


Short dental implants are an alternative to surgical bone augmentation procedures and longer implant placements. The high predictability of short dental implants has encouraged clinicians to load them immediately. However, there are few studies assessing the influence of immediate versus delayed loading of short (< 8 mm) dental implants. The purpose of this retrospective study was to report the midterm outcomes (survival and marginal bone loss) of immediate versus delayed loading of short (< 8 mm) implants. A total of 44 patients with 149 short implants fulfilled the inclusion criteria (95 and 54 implants with delayed and immediate loading, respectively). The descriptive clinical variables of implant survival, marginal bone loss, and prosthetic complications were recorded and statistically analyzed during the follow-up period. The mean follow-up time was 60 ± 40 months. The overall cumulative implant survival was 95.6%, and marginal bone loss was -0.1 ± 0.7 mm. No statistically significant differences were detected between the immediate and delayed loading groups in terms of implant survival (92.6% vs 97.5%) or marginal bone loss (-0.2 ± 0.8 mm vs -0.1 ± 0.7 mm), respectively. According to the results of this study, the immediate loading of short dental implants demonstrated predictability after midterm follow-up time. These results must be confirmed in future prospective studies.


V'Oct(Ritual) [2011] an interactive vocal work for vocalist, Bodycoder System, live Max/MSP and automated and performer controlled 8-channel spatialization.

V'Oct(Ritual) places the audience inside a circular liminal space of sonic evocation and transformation the boundary of which is defined by the presence of eight loudspeakers (21st century standing stones) that mediate and are the containers for the performers' vocal transmogrifications.

V'Oct(Ritual) features the Bodycoder System© the first generation of which was developed by the artists in 1995. The Bodycoder interface is a flexible sensor array worn on the body of a performer that sends data generated by movement to an MSP environment via radio. Movement data is mapped in a variety of ways to live processing and manipulation. All processed sound is derived from the live and acoustic voice of the performer. The Bodycoder also provides the performer with real-time access to processing parameters and patches within the MSP environment as well as control over the sensitivity of sensors. In this way all vocalisations, decision making, navigation of the MSP environment and qualities of expressivity are selected, initiated and manipulated by the performer, uniquely, this also includes access to gestural control of live 8-channel spatialization. This piece is fully scored with few moments of improvisation.

To enable the accurate and sensitive positioning of generated material over multiple channels an 8-channel performer monitoring system is used in performance.


Inter-Vehicle Communication is expected to be widely adopted during the next years by the car industry, enabling Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure communication targeting at safer commuting. Therefore, the research community have been working towards providing a robust communication solution that will interoperate with existing network infrastructure and will provide an effective way of communicating using location information. One of the proposed solutions is the GeoNetworking protocol, standardized by ETSI, using location based addresses and an IPv6 adaptation sublayer for communicating with the Internet. Several implementations of the protocol exist currently, however most of them are integrated in simulation environments, thus ignoring several factors induced when experimenting under real conditions. In this paper we present our own implementation of an ETSI compliant GeoNetworking protocol and its integration in the NITOS Future Internet facility that enables open and remote access to experimenters on a 24/7 basis. This is the first real implementation in an open wireless testbed, which offers to the research community high diversity in the configuration parameters of their ITS experiments. We further explain our extensions that enable real world testing of our protocol implementation and we finally evaluate our solution in a real large scale wireless setup.


Rocker sole shoes are commonly prescribed to diabetic patients with insensate feet. Recent passage of the therapeutic shoe bill has drawn an increased focus on prescription of rehabilitative footwear. The purpose of this work is to investigate the dynamics of lower extremity joints (hip, knee, and ankle) with the application of a toe-only rocker sole shoe under controlled laboratory conditions. Forty (40) normal adults volunteered for gait analysis using controlled baseline and prescription toe-only rocker sole shoes. Three-dimensional motion analysis techniques were used to acquire kinematic and kinetic data using a six camera Vicon 370 motion system and two AMTI force plates. While significant changes from baseline to toe-only rocker were noted in cadence (increased) and stride length (decreased), no significant change in walking speed was observed. The most significant kinematic changes with the application of the toe-only shoe occurred at the ankle and knee in the sagittal plane during stance. The most significant kinetic effects were observed in the hip and knee during swing phase. Changes in power were noted at all joints, mostly in terminal stance. These kinematic and kinetic changes, along with previously studied effects of pressure relief at the metatarsal heads, should aid medical professionals in prescribing prophylactic footwear.


Abstract Background Omics technologies have been widely applied in toxicology studies to investigate the effects of different substances on exposed biological systems. A classical toxicogenomic study consists in testing the effects of a compound at different dose levels and different time points. The main challenge consists in identifying the gene alteration patterns that are correlated to doses and time points. The majority of existing methods for toxicogenomics data analysis allow the study of the molecular alteration after the exposure (or treatment) at each time point individually. However, this kind of analysis cannot identify dynamic (time-dependent) events of dose responsiveness. Results We propose TinderMIX, an approach that simultaneously models the effects of time and dose on the transcriptome to investigate the course of molecular alterations exerted in response to the exposure. Starting from gene log fold-change, TinderMIX fits different integrated time and dose models to each gene, selects the optimal one, and computes its time and dose effect map; then a user-selected threshold is applied to identify the responsive area on each map and verify whether the gene shows a dynamic (time-dependent) and dose-dependent response; eventually, responsive genes are labelled according to the integrated time and dose point of departure. Conclusions To showcase the TinderMIX method, we analysed 2 drugs from the Open TG-GATEs dataset, namely, cyclosporin A and thioacetamide. We first identified the dynamic dose-dependent mechanism of action of each drug and compared them. Our analysis highlights that different time- and dose-integrated point of departure recapitulates the toxicity potential of the compounds as well as their dynamic dose-dependent mechanism of action.


The classic autoimmune liver diseases (AILDs) are one of the main causes of chronic liver disease; which include primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) constitute and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).This pathological condition represents an immune attack on the bile epithelial liver cells, which leads to chronic inflammation in the liver, due to the proliferation of cells and the deposition of the matrix proteins between the hepatocytes and their types. Then the liver cells gradually lose their functions until the liver reaches the stage of myofibroblasts.The liver lost its functions inevitably and gradually gets until the liver loses its normal size leads to high blood pressure in the hepatic portal vein and from here begins the rapid deterioration of the liver condition so this requires follow-up and monitoring of liver cirrhosis and at this stage requires a liver biopsy examination In this case, liver transplantation is the effective and golden treatment option for liver disease at this stage. The abundance of MHC receptors class II in the surface liver cells, genetic predisposition or due to acute infection of the liver, leads to an immune response in the body, which leads to autoimmune hepatitis. This abnormal immune response leads to persistent hepatitis, which may lead to more symptoms and complications such as fatigue and cirrhosis. The disease may be related to race or age, diagnosis is often after the age of 40 years.


Smart grid initiative is based on several pillars among which integrating a wide variety of distributed generation (DG) is of particular importance. The connection of a large number of DG units among loads may result in a severe voltage regulation problem and the utility-side voltage regulators might no longer be able to use conventional control techniques. In addition, smart grid should provide new digital technologies such as monitoring, automatic control, and two way communication facilities to improve the overall performance of the network. These technologies have been applied in this paper to construct a distributed control that has the capability to provide proper voltage regulation in smart distribution feeders. The functions of each controller have been defined according to the concept of intelligent agents and the characteristics of the individual DG unit as well as utility regulators. To verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control structure, a real time simulation model has been proposed. The simulation results show that distributed control structure has the capability to mitigate the interference between DG facilities and utility voltage regulators.


Recent research suggests that bounded number line tasks, often used to measure number sense, measure proportion estimation instead of pure number estimation. The latter is thought to be measured in recently developed unbounded number line tasks. Children with dyscalculia use less mature strategies on unbounded number lines than typically developing children. In this qualitative study, we explored strategy use in bounded and unbounded number lines in adults with (N = 8) and without dyscalculia (N = 8). Our aim was to gain more detailed insights into strategy use. Differences in accuracy and strategy use between individuals with and without dyscalculia on both number lines may enhance our understanding of the underlying deficits in individuals with dyscalculia. We combined eye-tracking and Cued Retrospective Reporting (CRR) to identify strategies on a detailed level. Strategy use and performance were highly similar in adults with and without dyscalculia on both number lines, which implies that adults with dyscalculia may have partly overcome their deficits in number sense. New strategies and additional steps and tools used to solve number lines were identified, such as the use of the previous target number. We provide gaze patterns and descriptions of strategies that give important first insights into new strategies. These newly defined strategies give a more in-depth view on how individuals approach a number lines task, and these should be taken into account when studying number estimations, especially when using the unbounded number line.


A high temperature process for recycling spent nickel-metal hydride
 rechargeable batteries has been recently developed at SINTEF/NTNU. The spent
 battery modules were first frozen with liquid nitrogen for the de-activation
 and brittle fracture treatment. The broken steel scraps and plastics were
 then separated by the mechanical classification and magnetic separation. The
 remaining positive and negative electrodes, together with the polymer
 separator, were heated to 600-800oC in order to remove the organic components
 and further separate the Ni-based negative electrode. XRF analyses indicate
 that the heat-treated materials consist mainly of nickel, rare earth and
 cobalt oxides. The valuable rare earth oxides were further recovered by the
 high-temperature slagging treatment. The waste metallurgical slags, consist
 mainly of SiO2 and CaO, were used as the rare earth oxide absorbent. After
 the high temperature slagging treatment, over 98% of nickel and cobalt oxides
 were reduced to the metal phase; meanwhile almost all rare earth oxides
 remain in the molten slags. Furthermore, EPMA and XRF analyses of the slag
 samples indicate that the rare earth oxides selectively precipitate in the
 forms of solid xSiO2•yCaO•zRe2O3. The matrix of slag phase is Re2O3
 deficient, typically being less than 5 wt%. This provides a sound basis to
 further develop the high-temperature process of concentrating the Re2O3
 oxides in slags.


Limitations in the use of public spaces have impacted the frequency and duration of movement behaviours (physical activity, sedentary behaviour, sleep) and outdoor activities of children and adolescents. Whether pandemic-induced changes in movement behaviours are related to the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of children and adolescents is unknown. The aim of the current study was to examine the association between meeting 24 h movement guidelines and HRQoL during the COVID-19 lockdown among children and adolescents. Data from 1099 3–17-year-old children and adolescents from Spain and Brazil were analysed. An online questionnaire was used to collect parent-reported information concerning physical activity, screen time, and sleep duration. For the assessment of HRQoL, the EQ-5D-Y proxy version was used. The highest prevalence of reported problems was related to the 'worries/sadness/unhappiness' factor, where 36.3% of participants declared to have at least 'some problems'. Participants meeting the 24 h guidelines had a higher HRQoL score compared with those who did not (91.9 ± 2.5 vs. 84.3 ± 0.5, respectively; p < 0.05). The current study shows that children and adolescents that met 24 h movement guidelines presented a higher HRQoL during the COVID-19 lockdown, providing support for the promotion of healthy movement behaviours—especially during a pandemic.


PURPOSE The adjunctive use of intraoperative molecular imaging (IMI) is gaining acceptance as a potential means to improve outcomes for surgical resection of targetable tumors. This confirmatory study examined the use of pafolacianine for real-time detection of folate receptor–positive ovarian cancer. METHODS This phase III, open-label, 11-center study included subjects with known or suspected ovarian cancer, scheduled to undergo cytoreductive surgery. The objectives were to confirm safety and efficacy of pafolacianine (0.025 mg/kg IV), given ≥ 1 hour before intraoperative near-infrared imaging to detect macroscopic lesions not detected by palpation and normal white light. RESULTS From March 2018 through April 2020, 150 patients received a single infusion of pafolacianine (safety analysis set); 109 patients with folate receptor–positive ovarian cancer comprised the full analysis set for efficacy. In 33.0% of patients (95% CI, 24.3 to 42.7; P < .001), pafolacianine with near-infrared imaging identified additional cancer on tissue not planned for resection and not detected by white light assessment and palpation, exceeding the prespecified threshold of 10%. Among patients who underwent interval debulking surgery, the rate was 39.7% (95% CI, 27.0 to 53.4; P < .001). The sensitivity to detect ovarian cancer was 83%, and the patient false-positive rate was 24.8%. Investigators reported achieving complete R0 resection in 62.4% (68 of 109) of patients. Drug-related adverse events were reported by 30% of patients (45 of 150) and most commonly included nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. No drug-related serious adverse events or deaths were reported. CONCLUSION This phase III study of pafolacianine met its primary efficacy end point, identifying additional cancers not otherwise identified or planned for resection. Pafolacianine may offer an important real-time adjunct to current surgical approaches for ovarian cancer.


This paper presents a control architecture based on a linear MPC formulation that addresses the lane keeping and obstacle avoidance problems for a passenger car driving on low curvature roads. The proposed control design decouples the longitudinal and lateral dynamics in two successive stages. First, plausible braking or throttle profiles are defined over the prediction horizon. Then, based on these profiles, linear time-varying models of the vehicle lateral dynamics are derived and used to formulate the associated linear MPC problems. The solutions of the optimization problems are used to determine for every time step, the optimal braking or throttle command and the corresponding steering angle command. Simulations show the ability of the controller to overcome multiple obstacles and keep the lane. Experimental results on an autonomous passenger vehicle driving on slippery roads show the effectiveness of the approach.


Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is an electronic medium that combines orthographic form with real time, synchronous transmission in an unregulated global multi-user environment. The orthographic letters mediate the interaction in that users can only access the IRC session through reading and writing; they have no access to any visual representations at all. In addition to all the characteristics that IRC has, the 3-D virtual environment supports users with three-dimensional graphics that represent an individual through the use of an avatar in a virtual environment. This research examines the extent to which 3-D virtual chat differs from text-only IRC chat, and proposes an explanatory framework for 3-D chat for interaction management. The interaction management strategies found in the data have been categorized under a single general heading: opening phase and invitation. These phases are discussed in terms of their similarities and differences to IRC; the functions they appear to serve are discussed in terms of two subheadings: interpersonal goals, and level of experience and acquaintance. (AEF) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** Interaction Management Strategies on IRC and Virtual Chat Rooms


We introduce the family of limited model information control design methods, which construct controllers by accessing the plant's model in a constrained way, according to a given design graph. This class generalizes the notion of communication-less control design methods recently introduced by one of the authors, which construct each sub-controller using only local plant model information. We study the trade off between the amount of model information exploited by a control design method and the quality of controllers it can produce. In particular, we quantify the benefit (in terms of the competitive ratio and domination metrics) of giving the control designer access to the global interconnection structure of the plant-to-be-controlled, in addition to local model information.


The focus of my research has developed in the following ways; first, is the sense of 'layers' that are distinct in my work. Second, is the importance of scale and the
transformation of the image into a larger scale than the original and which completely changes its appearance and reception. Third, is the use of patterns and
geometrical elements and their relationship to drawing and the drawn work. Fourth is the reference to renaissance paintings and the appropriation of Old Masters' work. The fifth element is the aesthetics of the medium, in for example, the use of 3D software to produce three-dimensional images. Finally the sixth element is the investigation of the possibilities of craft in the digital
world and where I am placed within it as a practising artist, working with available software and yet addressing issues of physical space, form and the material aspects of the object.
In the introduction I set out the issues in my investigation and discuss my use of the computer as a medium in my creative practice.
In the methodology chapter, I refer to different historical periods and how I have made use of their understanding of organisation of form and space in order to support my practice and the nature of my work. In this I have experimented with scale and I have considered illusion and experiments with geometrical and mathematical theories and structures. I have addressed the use of computers as a
creative medium in my practice and the relation of traditional mosaics to the computer's use of pixels and its close affinities with modern styles.
In the chapter which discusses my professional practice, I reflect upon the experience of exhibiting and the feedback gained throughout the research period from dialogue and critique. I refer to the response I have had from the people for the work and to seminars that I attended which helped me to understand better the objectives and the possible outcome of my practice within a research degree.


Thermodynamic characterization is crucial for understanding molecular interactions. However, methodologies for measuring heat changes in small open systems are extremely limited. We document a new approach for designing molecular sensors that function as calorimeters: sensors based on memory. To design a memory-based sensor, we take advantage of the unique kinetic properties of nucleic acid scaffolds. Particularly, we elaborate on the differences in folding and unfolding rates in nucleic acid quadruplexes. DNA-based i-motifs unfold fast in response to small heats but do not fold back when the system is equilibrated with surroundings. We translated this behaviour into a molecular memory function that enables the measurement of heat changes in open environments. The new sensors are biocompatible, operate homogeneously, and measure small heats released over long time periods. As a proof-of-concept, we demonstrate how the molecular calorimeters report heat changes generated in water/propanol mixing and in ligand/protein binding.


This paper discusses the effects of different exchange rate regimes with different assumptions about the speed of adjustment of capital flows and expectations about changes in the exchange rate. It does this using simulation and eigenvalue analysis of the RBA79 model of the Australian economy. Use of this model allows for a much wider range of interactions between the domestic economy and the balance of payments than has so far been attempted in theoretical work or in empirical analysis of single equations. Responses of key macro-economic variables are examined under a range of domestic and external shocks. It is shown that these responses can vary substantially depending on assumptions about: - the exchange rate regime; - the speed of adjustment of capital flows; and - the speed by which expectations about changes in the exchange rate adjust to information about relative prices. Specifically it is found that, in the RBA79 model, a flexible exchange rate produces instability if capital flows adjust sluggishly to changes in income, interest rates and expectations about the exchange rate. For this reason, a managed float may be desirable if capital flows are slow to adjust. If capital flows adjust rapidly, however, a much more flexible exchange rate is possible and contributes to the control of money and inflation in the model without additional detrimental effects on unemployment or output. The paper is intended mainly to illustrate the implication of assumptions and to stimulate further work rather than to make assertions either about the nature of reactions in the Australian economy or about exchange rate management in Australia.


Abstract
Hypertension is a common condition in the elderly. It is not a normal aging change and leads to serious sequelae at any age. Both diastolic/systolic hypertension and isolated systolic hypertension present serious risk at all ages, but the efficacy of therapy is more certain for the diastolic/systolic hypertension. Treatment consists of the usual non-drug therapy as well as the classic `stepped-care' approach. If therapy is sensible and careful, side effects of the drugs can be minimized and controlled. In choosing from among the numerous antihypertensive agents, the physician must consider patients' concomitant illnesses as well as drugs that they are already taking for other reasons.


We study how the wage gap between exporting and non-exporting firms (export wage premium) differs across skill groups, using unique matched employer–employee data from China. We find robust evidence that exporters pay relatively higher wages than non-exporters to more educated workers. The differences in export wage premium across education groups are sizable. Further investigations show that the positive correlation between export wage premium and education is more pronounced in sectors with higher scope for quality differentiation. This is consistent with the theory that exporters produce relatively higher quality goods which require relatively higher quality skilled workers.


Anxiety level, perception of control over illness, stage of cognitive development, and stage of reasoning about illness were examined in pediatric oncology, obese, and healthy children and adolescents. Among the groups, there were no mean differences with regard to any of these measures. Older participants in the higher stages of cognitive development were higher on stage of reasoning about illness in general and their own illness than were younger and less cognitively mature participants. In the pediatric oncology and obese groups, participants higher on perception of control over illness were higher on stage of reasoning about illness in general and their own illness, in particular, than those lower on perception of control. Anxiety level was not related to stage of reasoning about illness, but participants higher on anxiety were lower on perception of control over illness. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed. J Dev Behav Pediatr 8:266–273, 1987. Index terms: cognitive development, reasoning about illness, anxiety, perception of control over illness, hospitalization.


THE CHANGES in electrical potential along the walls of the esophagus can be expected to reflect motor activity. The electrical activity may be recorded in a manner similar to that used in recording intraluminal pressure.1,2The present study is a comparison of hiatus hernia patients with a control group. Method Combined pressure-electrode probes were used, consisting of three open-end pressure tubes placed 5 cm or 2.5 cm apart. Silver ring electrodes were mounted adjacent to the open ends for recording the pressure and electrical potentials simultaneously from the same sites. The probe was introduced perorally into the esophagus and passed to a distance of about 50 cm distal to the upper incisor teeth. It was then withdrawn until the distal probe end was located 40 cm from the incisors. The external portion of the probe was taped to the chin. A series of recordings of pressure and electrical potentials


The geometrical structure, energy band structure, density of states and optical properties of La, Ce and Th doped two-dimensional (2D) SiC are investigated by using the first-principle method. Geometrical structure results show that all of the doping atoms cause obvious distortion of the crystal lattice near the doping atoms, and the degree of distortion is related to the covalent radius of different doping atoms. The pure 2D SiC is a direct-gap semiconductor with a gap of 2.60 eV. Near the Fermi energy, the density of states is mainly composed of C-2p and Si-3p. When doping with La, Ce and Th, the band gap of 2D SiC decreased and all of them turn into quasi-direct band-gap semiconductors. The valence band of La and Th doped 2D SiC are mainly composed of C-2p, Si-3p, La-5d and Th-6d, respectively, while Ce-doped has little effect on the valence band of 2D SiC. The conduction band of La, Ce and Th doped 2D SiC are mainly composed of Si-3p, La-5d, Ce-4f and Th-6s6d5f, respectively. When Si atom is replaced by rare earth atom, the rare earth atoms lose their charges. The bond of rare earth atom and C atom has weak covalent, while ionic is stronger. Among all of the studied systems, La-doped 2D SiC has the biggest static dielectric constant 2.33, the biggest peak of e2(ω) in the low energy region, the maximum refractive index n0 1.53. Ce-doped 2D SiC has the maximum absorption 6.88 × 104 cm-1 in the lower energy region. La or Ce doped 2D SiC can enhance the absorption in the lower energy region, while Th-doped will decrease the absorption of 2D SiC in the range of 0 ~ 15 eV. The research results will provide some theoretical guidance for the development and application of 2D SiC.


A scalable distributed virtual environment (DVE) may be achieved by ensuring virtual world objects communicate their actions to only those objects that fall within their influence, reducing the need to send and process unnecessary messages. A missed interaction may be defined as a failure to exchange messages to appropriately model object interaction. A number of parameters under the control of a DVE developer may influence the possibility of missed interactions occurring (e.g., object velocities, area of influence). However, due to the complexities associated with object movement and the deployment environment (e.g., non-deterministic object movement, network latency), identifying the value for such parameters to minimise missed interactions while maintaining scalability (minimal message passing) is not clear. We present in this paper a tool which simulates a DVE and provides developers with an indication of the appropriate values for parameters when balancing missed interactions against scalability.


This paper presents the design of a radiation tolerant configurable discrete time CMOS signal conditioning circuit for use with resistive sensors like strain gauge pressure sensors. The circuit is intended to be used for remote handling in harsh environments in the International Thermonuclear Experimental fusion Reactor (ITER). The design features a 5 V differential preamplifier using a Correlated Double Sampling (CDS) architecture at a sample rate of 20 kHz and a 24 V discrete time post amplifier. The gain is digitally controllable between 27 and 400 in the preamplifier and between 1 and 8 in the post amplifier. The nominal input referred noise voltage is only 8.5 μV while consuming only 1 mW. The circuit has a simulated radiation tolerance of more than 1 MGy.


ABSTRACT The Barqueiro Ria, located on the north coast of the Iberian Peninsula, is one of the Galician "Rías Altas", which includes Arealonga Beach, the longest beach in the Ria, located in the inner portion. During the 1990s strong erosion has been registered on the beach and associated dunes, while a wide intertidal spit has grown westward. This behaviour is related to the hydrodynamic and sedimentary characteristics of the Ría and Sor Estuary. Tide and wave influence are evaluated using numerical simulations for storm events. Seasonal topographic monitoring of beach and dune profiles and surface sediment samples allow to describe the variations in sedimentary volume and map sediment units. Furthermore, grain size parameters trends are used to determine the sediment transport patterns. Three different zones have been defined along beach and foredune according to their sedimentary dynamics behaviour: i) Eastern zone, with a clear erosive tendency generating the backshore and foredune destruction ii) Middle zone, with dune erosion but sediment accumulation in the intertidal zone, and iii) Western zone, where the beach presents an accumulative profile, with a well developed supratidal area and active dunes.


CONTEXT
Prostaglandins play important roles in parturition and have been used to induce cervical ripening and labor. Prior to cervical ripening at term, 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (15-PGDH) is highly expressed in the cervix and metabolizes cyclooxygenase-2-mediated increases in active prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) to inactive 15-keto PGE2. At term, 15-PGDH gene expression decreases and PGE2 accumulates, leading to cervical ripening and labor. Previously, we found that the cervical isoform of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MiTF-CX) serves as a progestational transcription factor that represses IL-8 and hypoxia-mediated increases in cyclooxygenase-2.

OBJECTIVE
We tested the hypothesis that PGE2 regulates its own inactivation through MiTF-CX.

DESIGN
We used human cervical stromal cells to investigate the regulation of 15-PGDH.

SETTING
This was a laboratory-based study using cells from clinical tissue samples.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
We evaluated the mechanisms by which PGE2 regulates 15-PGDH in human cervical stromal cells.

RESULTS
PGE2 repressed MiTF-CX and 15-PGDH, whereas ectopic overexpression of MiTF-CX induced 15-PGDH expression levels. Stabilization of HIF-1α by deferoxamine resulted in concomitant down-regulation of MiTF-CX and 15-PGDH. Ectopic overexpression of MiTF-CX abrogated PGE2- and deferoxamine-mediated loss of MiTF-CX and 15-PGDH. PGE2-induced loss of MiTF-CX and 15-PGDH was mediated through prostaglandin E2 receptor (EP2) receptors (PTGER2), but not cAMP.

CONCLUSIONS
The 15-PGDH gene is a MiTF-CX target gene in cervical stromal cells and is down-regulated by PGE2 through EP2 receptors. The findings suggest that EP2 receptor-specific antagonists may be used as an adjunct to present clinical management for the prevention of preterm cervical ripening and preterm labor.


The globalisation of processing industry and the consolidation of the international retail trade, together with the increase of imports after the EU access, supported the competition hot up and saturation of domestic food market. Both food processors and food retailers are exposed to increasing competition. In order to maintenance on the market they are increasingly pressed to minimize their costs and/or to accomplish higher prices for products with competitive advantage. Besides of that all participants of the agri-food chain are pressed to intensify marketing support of their goods. Aiming to reduce the costs, some of processors choose the way by the substitution of part of the input material by another, cheaper one. On the other hand, the offer of foods with specific quality attributes such as organic foods, regional marks, specialities or other quality food products is a way, how to surpass the sharp competition. On the background of the retail network development, of shopping behaviour and of development of competition, this study recapitulates main marketing trends on the food market in the Czech Republic, the reasons of these trends and their impacts. In the study a space for food quality products on the Czech market is being searched in the competition with products of lower price categories.


What is so special about a face? It is the one personally identifiable feature that we all show in public. Faces are particularly good for identification purposes because, unlike getting a new coat or haircut, significantly altering a face to make it unrecognizable is difficult. But since most people have only a limited set of acquaintances, they can often remain anonymous when doing something personal by themselves — even in public. The use of face recognition technology in social networks shifts this paradigm. It can connect an otherwise anonymous face not only to a name — of which there can be several — but to all the information in a social network profile, including one's friends, work and education history, status updates, and so forth.In this Article, I present two central ideas. First, applying the theory of contextual integrity, I argue that the current use face recognition technology in social networks violates users' privacy by changing the information that they share (from a simple photo to automatically identifying biometric data) and providing this information to new recipients beyond the users' control. Second, I identify the deficiencies in the current law and argue that law alone cannot solve this problem. A blanket prohibition on automatic face recognition in social networks would stifle the development of these technologies, which are useful in their own right. But at the same time, our traditional privacy framework of notice and consent cannot protect users who do not understand the automatic face recognition process and recklessly continue sharing their personal information due to strong network effects. Instead, I propose a multifaceted solution aimed at lowering switching costs between social networks and providing users with better information about how their data is used. My argument is that once users are truly free to leave, they will be able to exercise their choice in a meaningful way to demand that social networks respect their privacy expectations.Though this Article specifically addresses the use of face recognition technology in social networks, the proposed solution can be applied to other privacy problems arising in online platforms that accumulate personal information. More broadly, the undertaking to open up social networks and make them more transparent and interoperable could address the concern that these networks threaten to fragment the Web and lock in our personal information.


In 11/07/2008, with recommendation of a physician, a patient' serum sample was sent to laboratory of Arboviruses and Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers Laboratory (National Reference Laboratory), Pasteur Institute of Iran for Dengue Fever diagnosis. He was a 61 years old man with travel background to Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) in 26 June 2008 with a history of going to forest in this journey. Serological (ELISA) and molecular tests (RT-PCR) have been used for the diagnosis. The serological assay result showed IgM positive in the first and second serum samples, but the IgG in the second one has been started to raise .Also, the molecular results demonstrated the presence of virus genome in the first sample. It is the first documented report of imported DF in Iran.


Summary: Partnership Care West is a voluntary organisation that contracts with the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC) to provide ten placements for social work students. NISCC is a statutory organisation, with responsibility for registering and regulating social care/work, improving standards in education and training and standardising practice in Northern Ireland NISCC (2003). The students attend the practice learning centre and are then given placements in voluntary sector sites established by the centre. Traditionally, the students were supervised on a one to one basis using the long arm approach. In recent years however, the centre has developed a model for supervising these students in groups. Building on my positive experience of conducting group supervision and to further my knowledge, skills and values in this area, I recently undertook an international comparison with the School of Social Work in Haifa Israel. This School has an already well established model for supervising students in groups and I hoped that I could learn something to help me develop my model further. I would like to thank Nava Arkin at the University of Haifa for her willingness to take part in this comparison and for her encouragement throughout. This article aims to outline my fi of the comparison and outline the theoretical constructs that make international comparisons in social work possible.


Cloud computing has emerged as a new technology that provides large amounts of computing and data storage capacity to its users with a promise of increased scalability, high availability, and reduced administration and maintenance costs. As the use of cloud computing environments increases, it becomes crucial to understand the performance of these environments. So, it is of great importance to assess the performance of computing clouds in terms of various metrics, such as the overhead of acquiring and releasing the virtual computing resources, and other virtualization and network communications overheads. To address these issues, we have designed and implemented C-Meter, which is a portable, extensible, and easy-to-use framework for generating and submitting test workloads to computing clouds. In this paper, first we state the requirements for frameworks to assess the performance of computing clouds. Then, we present the architecture of the C-Meter framework and discuss several cloud resource management alternatives. Finally, we present ourearly experiences with C-Meter in Amazon EC2. We show how C-Meter can be used for assessing the overhead of acquiring and releasing the virtual computing resources, for comparing different configurations, and for evaluating different scheduling algorithms.


Recent developments in mobile networks have looked at placing more autonomy and intelligence at base stations to encourage cooperation between them using a distributed approach in order to try and develop a network more robust to attacks and failures. A real time fully distributed algorithm that would allow base stations in cellular networks to autonomously and cooperatively find the wireless coverage pattern to optimize network performance is described. The semi-smart antenna system is assumed at each base station. Simulations based on Mobile WiMAX technology show the effectiveness and robustness of the approach.


In cancer cells, aberrant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) methylation plays key roles in the epigenetic dysregulation of tumour-related genes, thereby affecting numerous cellular processes. Here we discuss the mechanism by which epigenetic events drive genetic alterations in cancer. Epigenetic inactivation of mutL homolog 1 (MLH1) is a major cause of microsatellite instability, while methylation of O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) is often associated with specific mutations. In addition, the silencing of breast cancer 1 (BRCA1), Fanconi anemia, complementation group F (FANCF) and checkpoint with forkhead and ring finger domains (CHFR) impairs the machinery involved in maintaining genomic integrity. Conversely, a recently discovered link between isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1)/2 or tet methylcytosine dioxygenase 2 (TET2) mutations and genome-wide aberrant methylation suggests the hypermethylator phenotype may lie downstream of genetic alterations. Dissecting the association between epigenetic and genetic alterations could provide important clues for developing novel approaches to the treatment of cancer.

Key Concepts:

Epigenetic alteration of driver genes can lead to genetic alterations in cancer.

Epigenetic drivers include genes involved in DNA repair and cell cycle checkpoints.

Global hypomethylation may be another epigenetic driver that induces chromosomal instability.

Epigenetic alteration of driver genes is often associated with the CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP).

The CIMP may lie downstream of specific gene mutations.

Keywords:

DNA methylation;
DNA repair;
cell cycle checkpoint;
chromosomal instability;
CIMP


The power consumption of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) grows linearly in the number of antennas in massive MIMO base stations. To reduce power consumption, one-bit ADCs can be used. It is believed that the nonlinear distortion of onebit ADCs makes channel estimation and symbol equalization in such systems computationally complex and resource demanding. In this paper, it is shown that low-complexity linear channel estimation and symbol equalization are feasible in massive MIMO with one-bit ADCs when the number of channel taps is large. The effective SINR of the received symbol estimates of a maximum-ratio combiner with estimated channel state information is 4 dB lower in a system with one-bit ADCs than in an equivalent unquantized system.


14.00 Normal 0 false false false EN-IN X-NONE X-NONE Background: Periodontal disease is a group of inflammatory disorders, the pathophysiology of which is related to tooth accumulated microbial plaque and the host response to those accumulations. The development of periodontal disease has been thought to be associated with several restricted members of oral anaerobic species such as Spirochetes, Porphyromonas etc. Aims & Objectives: The aim of the present study was to compare the effect of oral irrigation with Ozonated water, 0.2% Chlorhexidine and 10% Povidone iodine in patients with chronic periodontitis. Materials and Methods: A randomized clinical trial was performed. A total of 30 patients of both sexes in age group 30-50 yrs suffering from generalized chronic periodontitis were selected for the study. They were divided into three groups (ten patients in each) A, B, C in which they were irrigated with ozonated water, 0.2% Chlorhexidine (CHX) and Povidone iodine respectively. The use of all three types of irrigation was randomized. Results: A higher percentage of Gingival index (72%), Plaque index (57.69%) and Pocket probing depth reduction (39.68%) was observed in four weeks using ozonated water irrigation as compared to Chlorhexidine and Povidone iodine. The percentile reduction of spirochetes (30.50%) using ozonated water was appreciable as compared to Chlorhexidine (t-stat value 0.14) and Povidone iodine(t-stat value 0.16). P value of 0.05 or less was considered statistically significant. Conclusion: Local ozone application can serve as potent atraumatic, antimicrobial agent to treat periodontal disease non surgically both for home care and professional practice. It may also serve as good tool during supportive periodontal therapy.


In this article a more accurate methodology for the measurement of absolute poverty, developed by Slabbert, is discussed and compared to the methodology applied by Statistics South Africa in 2000 for the mapping of poverty in South Africa. When both methodologies were applied on the same set of data of Sharpeville Township, the poverty rate measured by the Slabbert method was over three times higher than the poverty rate measured by the Stats SA method (43.1% compared to 13.7%). The study shows that both the use of a standard national poverty line as well as proxy incomes could lead to huge inaccuracies in the measurement of poverty. On the whole, the application of a less accurate method to measure poverty was found to lead to lower determined poverty rates. When the poverty rate is lower, it leads to a lower number of households and people that are being determined as poor (5,621 people were determined to be poor in Sharpeville by the Stats SA method, compared to 17,685 by the Slabbert method). This will lead to a totally different kind of action and degree of urgency in the formulation of policies aimed at the alleviation of poverty. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n14p67


Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in organ transplantation significantly contributes to graft failure and is untreatable using current approaches. I/R injury is associated with activation of the complement system, leading to the release of anaphylatoxins, such as C5a, and the formation of the membrane attack complex. Here, we report a novel therapy for kidney I/R injury through silencing of the C5a receptor (C5aR) gene using siRNA. Mice were injected with 50 g of C5aR siRNA 2 days before induction of ischemia. Renal ischemia was then induced through clamping of the renal vein and artery of the left kidney for 25 minutes. The therapeutic effects of siRNA on I/R were evaluated by assessment of renal function, histopathology, and inflammatory cytokines. siRNA targeting C5aR efficiently inhibited C5aR gene expression both in vitro and in vivo. Administering C5aR siRNA to mice preserved renal function from I/R injury, as evidenced by reduced levels of serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen in the treated groups. Inhibition of C5aR also diminished in vivo production of the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factorand chemokines MIP-2 and KC, resulting in the reduction of neutrophils influx and cell necrosis in renal tissues. This study demonstrates that siRNA administration represents a novel approach to preventing renal I/R injury and may be used in a variety of clinical settings, including transplantation and acute tubular necrosis. (Am J Pathol 2008, 173:973–980; DOI: 10.2353/ajpath.2008.080103)


The message passing framework is the foundation of the immense success enjoyed by graph neural networks (GNNs) in recent years. In spite of its elegance, there exist many problems it provably cannot solve over given input graphs. This has led to a surge of research on going"beyond message passing", building GNNs which do not suffer from those limitations -- a term which has become ubiquitous in regular discourse. However, have those methods truly moved beyond message passing? In this position paper, I argue about the dangers of using this term -- especially when teaching graph representation learning to newcomers. I show that any function of interest we want to compute over graphs can, in all likelihood, be expressed using pairwise message passing -- just over a potentially modified graph, and argue how most practical implementations subtly do this kind of trick anyway. Hoping to initiate a productive discussion, I propose replacing"beyond message passing"with a more tame term,"augmented message passing".


: Cyclosporine therapy is frequently complicated by dose related nephrotoxicity. In this review, the pharmacology, pathophysiology and clinical features of cyclosporine nephrotoxicity are contrasted with the adverse renal reactions of aminoglycoside antibiotics. From this analysis, it is apparent that these two common nephrotoxins produce renal dysfunction by different mechanisms. Aminoglycosides produce primarily direct toxic effects on the proximal tubular cell while cyclosporine nephrotoxicity is probably predominantly mediated by hemodynamic processes.


Human Wildlife Conflict is as old as agriculture in the world and in Africa in particular. The main objective was to contribute to the sustainable management of MCNP via mapping out the extent and occurrence of human wildlife conflict. Questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and a focus group discussion guide were used to determine local people's perceptions and to identify animals causing human wildlife conflict in the four sample villages. The second method used was the line transects method (tracts for instance; footpaths or motor able roads) where bio-indicators of these species causing conflicts were recorded and on foot. The universal pacing method was used to estimate the area damaged and quantity lost. GIS technique was used to map out the spatial distribution of the conflict zones. Results revealed that elephants represented an individual percentage of 14.93 in terms of animal most involved in human wildlife conflict specifically crop raiding. The intensity of damage was higher cumulatively in rodents more than elephants and other species with occurrence from January to December with peaks being August and March. Farms closer to the protected area recorded more damage in monetary value. Cocoyam's, cocoa, maize and plantain/banana were the most affected in terms of economic loss. Bomana village experienced 30% of cocoa loss. Cocoa and banana had a strong correlation coefficient of r= 0.8 in term of quantity damaged and distance of the conflict area from the four villages (Bomana, kotto1, kukekumbu and Ebie). Concerning the local perception of animals involve in HWC, most respondents (98.2%) recognized elephant as dangerous. The spatial distribution of the conflict areas revealed a high concentration of conflict in Bomana and kotto1 owing to the closeness (less than 3km) of the village to the protected area. Thus, creating community awareness of the importance of wildlife and the collaborative participation of all stakeholders in management will reduce encroachment into the park and minimize human wildlife conflict around the peripheries. Keywords— Crops Raided, Crops Raiders, Human Wildlife Conflict, Perception, Protected Area, Sustainable Management.


We describe a simple system that localizes two-dimensional curved shapes through touch sensing, offering computational and experimental studies. The idea lies in determining the placement of a manipulator on a curved object during some special motion-rolling. A geometric algorithm is introduced to locate the boundary segment traced out by their contact using tactile data. Both completeness and local convergence have been established. The algorithm is asymptotically as efficient as evaluating the object's perimeter through numerical integration. For implementation, a two-axis force/torque sensor has been designed to realize contact sensing. Functioning like a "wrist," the sensor is calibrated over the ratio between the bending and twisting moments, eliminating the need for known weights. A simple geometry-based control strategy is devised to implement the rolling motion. Experiments have been conducted with an Adept Cobra 600 manipulator.


This research is motivated by a phenomenon of poor communication between parents and children. In the world of education, there was a lack of approaches and methods used by educators in providing subject matter so that what was delivered by the educator did not achieve the expected goals. The problem in this research is how the participatory methods, lectures and discussions contained in the As-Shaffat letter verse 102. The purpose is to describe the educational methods contained in the As-Shaffat letter verse 102 in the form of participatory methods, lecture methods and discussion methods. This research is a Library Research. The method of interpretation used in this study is the method of interpretation of maudhu 'or thematic methods which interpret verses of the Qur'an based on specific themes. The method used in the explanation of the verse is the method of tahlili or analysis that explains the verses of the Qur'an by examining its aspects and revealing its whole purpose. The results of study and analysis, as well as data processing from various sources, obtained the first result that the educational method contained in the As-Shaffat verse 102 is a participatory method used by educators, which involves all elements in the educational process especially students, with active participation from participants students will facilitate educators in delivering the material to be given. Both lecture methods, in conveying information, especially learning materials can be done with the lecture method. An educator prioritizes good attitudes so that the material can be accepted by students. The third method of discussion is to involve students in giving their opinions. With the discussion in learning, the lessons will become warmer and will train students to be more courageous in opinion.


South of the Lake Algonquin hinge line through Bad Axe, Michigan, and Grand Bend, Ontario, a prominent lake terrace at about 183 m (600 ft) has been previously attributed to formation by Lake Algonquin about 11 000 years ago. Radiocarbon dates and mollusc assemblages in near-shore lacustrine sediments on the terrace indicate formation by the Nipissing stage, about 5000 years ago. The gradual and vigorous Nipissing transgression extensively removed and destroyed the older Algonquin features.


BACKGROUND
Youth display suboptimal levels of[1] physical activity and sedentary behaviors. Few studies have examined the existence of the "displacement hypothesis" or the effect of parental strategies on activity behaviors during the after-school period.

METHODS
A total of 3471 students (12-18 years old) completed a self-report survey that assessed after-school physical activity and television (TV) use and perceived parental strategies (ie, encouragement to be active, TV-viewing rules). Participants were grouped into 4 activity groups: high TV/low active, high TV/active, low TV/low active, or low TV/active. Descriptive statistics and nominal logistic-regression analyses were conducted.

RESULTS
Compared with students who watched less than 1 h of TV, participants who watched >or=4 h of TV were half as likely to be active after school (>or=4 h; adjusted odds ratio 0.51, 95% CI .40-.65). Compared with the low TV/active group, the other activity groups were at least 1.28 times more likely to have parents that provided only 1 parental strategy (encouragement for activity or TV rules) and up to 4.7 times more likely to have parents that provided neither strategy.

DISCUSSION
Sedentary behaviors are associated with displacement of active pursuits. Parental strategies exert a strong influence on after-school behaviors of high school students.


THE management of the patient with a stab wound of the abdomen has, in most institutions, been rather standardized in the past two decades. Based on the experiences of World War II and Korea, patients with a suspected intraperitoneal injury due to perforating trauma were subjected to immediate laparotomy. 1,2 There is little disagreement that laparotomy is mandatory in the treatment of perforating high velocity bullet or missile injuries, either in military or in civilian life. However, the application of the principle of immediate surgery to the penetrating abdominal stab wound seen so often in civilian life has not met with unqualified success. At the heart of the matter is the fact that a disturbingly high proportion of patients subjected to laparotomy require no specific surgical repair, 3 presumably because the viscera tend to slide away from the advancing point of the stabbing instrument. Furthermore, these patients often constitute considerable


The results of a density functional study on a plutonyl compound with two tri ̄ uoroacetone ligands are presented. Several conformations of the complex have been examined, namely the structure in which the two ligands are in a cis conformation one with respect to the other, in a trans conformation one with respect to the other, and the structure in which the two ligands lie on the same plane. The calculations have been carried out at the local density approximation level of theory. The relative energies of the conformers have been determined and their geometries have been optimized in the gas phase and in an organic solution. The liquidstate environmental e€ ects are included via a simple cavity model and by using the selfconsistent reaction ® eld method. This study shows that the trends in stability of the di€ erent conformers in the gas and liquid phases are similar and that the most stable conformer has a cis structure.


Repair and rehabilitation of existing structures is becoming a major part of the present construction activities. Corrosion of reinforcement is a major contributing factor to the deterioration of reinforced concrete steel structure. Corrosion of reinforcing steel severely influences the bond at the steel-concrete interface.

The aim of this research is to study the effect of corrosion on bond strength using pullout specimens and four different types of concrete having three different types of steel embedded. The study is conducted for four levels of corrosion ranging from uncorroded to severely corroded specimens. The four concrete types used were fly ash concrete mixture, silica fume concrete mixture, normal Portland Cement (NPC) concrete mixture with a water/cement ratio (w/c) of 0.32 and a 0.52 w/c ratio concrete mixture. Each type of these concretes has three different types of steel embedded in them: regular carbon, stainless, and epoxy coated steel bars. The relationship between the bond strength, weight loss and the rib profile loss is studied. The results showed preference for using regular carbon steel bars than stainless steel bars, stainless steel bars exhibited badly damaged shape with lots of voids compared to the regular carbon steel bars. Also, the bond strength for corroded and un-corroded stainless steel bars was lower than that of the regular carbon steel bars. Low levels of corrosion (about 0.5 to 1% of mass loss) were noted to improve the bond strength slightly when using either regular carbon steel bars or stainless steel bars embedded in any type of the concrete mixtures. However, bond strength decreases rapidly with an increase in the corrosion level for both regular carbon and stainless steel bars in any type of the concrete mixtures used. The use of supplementary cementing materials (SCM) such as fly ash and silica fume was very effective in delaying the corrosion process compared to that of NPC concrete with no SCM. Also, the bond performance of any steel bars embedded in NPC concrete with low w/c (0.32) was found to be superior to that of a concrete mexture with high w/c (0.52). However, the bond strength for F.A and S.F concrete was slightly lower than that for the NPC concrete with 0.32 w/c ratio.


SUMMARY: The strain of Saccharomyces carlsbergensis 4228 studied differed from those previously used for the assay of vitamin B6 in that it required this vitamin for rapid growth in the absence of added thiamine. The rate, rather than the ultimate extent, of growth of the organism is proportional to the concentration of vitamin B6, and the size of the inoculum and its physiological age, the duration and temperature of incubation and the degree of aeration, must be strictly controlled. Non-phosphorylated forms of the vitamin only are utilized, and natural materials are acid-extracted before assay. The organism responds a little less well to pyridoxamine than it, does to pyridoxal and pyridoxine. A linear response curve is obtained over a range of pyridoxine concentrations (0·2 to 2 x 10-8
m) when incubation is in static culture at 37° (24 hr.) in a basal medium slightly modified from those previously used.


Co-production in its ideal sense, involves new roles for front-line workers and citizens. The potentials and barriers for the development of new roles for socially vulnerable citizens through co-production within social work has been discussed in the literature. Still, the consequences of these new roles, and in particular their transferability to other social work contexts has not been adequately investigated, why this is the aim of the article. Data are based on two qualitative case studies of co-production involving a Danish-Somali women's association and the users of a Drop-in center for socially vulnerable citizens, respectively. The analysis is conducted through a lens of selected theoretical notions from Goffman's role theory. It shows that although the citizens acquire new roles transcending the traditional professional-client relation, this only takes place within the concrete social situation of the specific co-production process and are not easily transferable to other contexts with other social actors.


Abstract This article considers the distributed control of a swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) investigating autonomous pattern formation and reconfigurability. A behaviour-based approach to formation control is considered with a velocity field control algorithm developed through bifurcating potential fields. This new approach extends previous research into pattern formation using potential field theory by considering the use of bifurcation theory as a means of reconfiguring a swarm pattern through a free parameter change. The advantage of this kind of system is that it is extremely robust to individual failures, is scalable, and also flexible. The potential field consists of a steering and repulsive term with the bifurcation of the steering potential resulting in a change of the swarm pattern. The repulsive potential ensures collision avoidance and an equally spaced final formation. The stability of the system is demonstrated to ensure that desired behaviours always occur, assuming that at large separation distances the repulsive potential can be neglected through a scale separation that exists between the steering and repulsive potential. The control laws developed are applied to a formation of ten UAVs using a velocity field tracking approach, where it is shown numerically that desired patterns can be formed safely ensuring collision avoidance.


Background The primary prevention of illness at the population level, the ultimate aim of medicine, seems out of reach for schizophrenia. Schizophrenia has a strong genetic component, and its pathogenesis begins long before the emergence of psychosis, as early as fetal brain development. Cholinergic neurotransmission at nicotinic receptors is a pathophysiological mechanism related to one aspect of this genetic risk. Choline activates these nicotinic receptors during fetal brain development. Dietary supplementation of maternal choline thus emerges as a possible intervention in pregnancy to alter the earliest developmental course of the illness. Aim Review available literature on the relationship of choline supplementation or choline levels during pregnancy and fetal brain development. Methods A Medline search was used to identify studies assessing effects of choline in human fetal development. Studies of other prenatal risk factors for schizophrenia and the role of cholinergic neurotransmission in its pathophysiology were also identified. Results Dietary requirements for choline are high during pregnancy because of its several uses, including membrane biosynthesis, one-carbon metabolism, and cholinergic neurotransmission. Its ability to act directly at high concentrations as a nicotinic agonist is critical for normal brain circuit development. Dietary supplementation in the second and third trimesters with phosphatidyl-choline supports these functions and is associated generally with better fetal outcome. Improvement in inhibitory neuronal functions whose deficit is associated with schizophrenia and attention deficit disorder has been observed. Conclusion Prenatal dietary supplementation with phosphatidyl-choline and promotion of diets rich in choline-containing foods (meats, soybeans, and eggs) are possible interventions to promote fetal brain development and thereby decrease the risk of subsequent mental illnesses. The low risk and short (sixmonth) duration of the intervention makes it especially conducive to population-wide adoption. Similar findings with folate for the prevention of cleft palate led to recommendations for prenatal pharmacological supplementation and dietary improvement. However, definitive proof of the efficacy of prenatal choline supplementation will not be available for decades (because of the 20-year lag until the onset of schizophrenia), so public health officials need to decide whether or not promoting choline supplementation is justified based on the limited information available.


Addicted individuals are highly susceptible to relapse when exposed to drug-associated conditioned stimuli (CSs; "drug cues") even after extensive periods of abstinence. Until recently, these maladaptive emotional drug memories were believed to be permanent and resistant to change. The rediscovery of the phenomenon of memory reconsolidation—by which retrieval of the memory can, under certain conditions, destabilize the previously stable memory before it restabilizes in its new, updated form—has led to the hypothesis that it may be possible to disrupt the strong maladaptive drug-memories that trigger a relapse. Furthermore, recent work has suggested that extinction training "within the reconsolidation window" may lead to a long-term reduction in relapse without the requirement for pharmacological amnestic agents. However, this so-called "retrieval-extinction" effect has been inconsistently observed in the literature, leading some to speculate that rather than reflecting memory updating, it may be the product of facilitation of extinction. In this mini review article, we will focus on factors that might be responsible for the retrieval-extinction effects on preventing drug-seeking relapse and how inter-individual differences may influence this therapeutically promising effect. A better understanding of the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms underpinning the "retrieval-extinction" paradigm, and individual differences in boundary conditions, should provide insights with the potential to optimize the translation of "retrieval-extinction" to clinical populations.


Rabe, Stephen G. The Killing Zone: The United States Wages Cold War in Latin America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. xxxvii + 247 pages. Paper, $19.95. Historian Stephen G. Rabe's The Killing Zone is a powerful indictment of United States policy in Latin America during the Cold War. Rabe effectively argues that covert and overt U.S. interventions in Latin America from 1952 to 1990 were responsible for ushering in brutal dictatorships from Chile to Guatemala that killed hundreds of thousands of their citizens in an effort to suppress movements seeking greater political and economic inclusion. In contrast to Cold War triumphalism that dismisses Latin America's dead as "collateral damage" in a noble crusade to save the world from totalitarianism, Rabe makes a convincing case that the United States' primary goal was to maintain its historical domination of Latin America and the Caribbean rather than to defend itself against communist expansion into these regions. The Killing Zone is an engaging synthesis of the literature on recent United States-Latin American relations that, as Rabe himself admits, contains few new revelations for scholars of Latin American history and politics. The Killing Zone, however, provides an accessible and detailed account that will likely surprise undergraduate students and the general public, particularly in the United States. Rabe relies upon declassified U.S. government documents to push past public officials' pro-democracy rhetoric, demonstrating that administrations from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan undermined democratically elected governments as well as funded and trained Latin American dictators who were known to suppress dissent by murdering and torturing their citizens. Rabe not only covers the better known accounts of American interventions in Cuba, Chile, and Nicaragua, but also makes an important contribution in dedicating a chapter to the United States' overthrow of democratically-elected Guatemalan president Jacobo Arbenz Guzmfin in 1954. Although the event often receives short shrift in comprehensive studies of Latin America, the Guatemalan coup served as a model for U.S. covert action in the region and convinced many Latin American activists, including Che Guevara, that the United States would never permit their countries to restructure economies to address gross inequalities. Finally, Rabe also provides a great service in detailing the country-by-country chronologies often glossed over in textbooks, demonstrating that Latin American governments' engagement with the Soviet Union typically followed United States aggression rather than vice versa. While The Killing Zone's narrative will be familiar to scholars of Latin America, Rabe pushes the analysis of U.S. policy in Latin America in important directions. While policymakers' racism toward Latin Americans and assertions of cultural superiority are generally emphasized in the literature, Rabe repeatedly quotes U. …


Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) is a cardiac hormone that occurs predominantly in the ventricle. To study the roles of BNP in chronic cardiovascular regulation, we isolated mouse BNP cDNA and genomic clones, and generated transgenic mice with elevated plasma BNP concentration. The mouse BNP gene was organized into three exons and two introns. Two BNP mRNA species were identified, which were generated by the alternative mRNA splicing. The ventricle was a major site of BNP production in mice. Mouse preproBNP was a 121- (or 120-) residue peptide, and its COOH-terminal 45-residue peptide was the major storage form in the heart. Transgenic mice carrying the human serum amyloid P component/mouse BNP fusion gene were generated so that the hormone expression is targeted to the liver. In the liver of these mice, considerable levels of BNP mRNA and peptide were detected, reaching up to 10-fold greater than in the ventricle. These animals showed 10- to 100-fold increase in plasma BNP concentration accompanied by elevated plasma cyclic GMP concentration, and had significantly lower blood pressure than their nontransgenic littermates. The present study demonstrates that these mice provide a useful model system with which to assess the roles of BNP in cardiovascular regulation and suggests the potential usefulness of BNP as a long-term therapeutic agent.


Defect related contributions to the reduction of the internal quantum efficiency of InGaN-based multiple quantum well light emitting diodes under high forward bias conditions are discussed. Screening of localization potentials for electrons is an important process to reduce the localization at high injection. The possible role of threading dislocations in inducing a parasitic tunneling current in the device is discussed. Phonon-assisted transport of holes via tunneling at defect sites along dislocations is suggested to be involved, leading to a nonradiative parasitic process enhanced by a local temperature rise at high injection.


The occurrence of genetic exchange is not only a fundamental property of an organism but its occurrence provides us with methods of analysis that can be used to dissect the basis of important traits. This paper will review the current evidence for a sexual cycle in Trypanosoma brucei and illustrate how genetic analysis can be used as a tool to identify genes of relevance to the disease, its treatment and transmission. The role of this process in the generation of diversity in the field will be illustrated by considering populations of the three sub-species of T. brucei and how the availability of genome sequence data has been exploited to study whether genetic exchange occurs in the trypanosomes infecting livestock. Finally, the use of population genetics as a methodology to identify genes under selection will be discussed and this will be illustrated as an approach to validating markers for drug resistance with examples from other parasitic protozoa.


The diffuse form of systemic sclerosis (SSc) can often lead to a rapidly progressive course with the involvement of the visceral organs which causes a severe prognosis. The 5-years cumulative mortality is between 30 and 60%, depending on the clinic form at the onset. Until now, no drug treatment has been proved to be efficacious against the progression of the disease or the regression of the fibrosis. Recently autologous peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplantation has been found to be promising. We introduce the case of a patient, male, 56 years old, who came under our observation on February 2001, suffering from a SSc with a severe multisystem involvement of lungs, skin, heart and gastrointestinal tract, and a positive antibodies anti-Scl-70. The 8 months therapy, at first with iloprost and cyclophosphamide, then with bolus of cyclophosphamide, was ineffective, with a rapid worsening of the cutaneous and pulmonary involvement. Under the patient agreement we decided to carry out an autologous PBSC transplantation. On December 2001, we obtained the PBSC mobilization after the administration of cyclophosphamide and lenograstim and the PBSC recovery with two leucoaferesis procedures. On February 2002, we gave the conditioning therapy with: thiotepa, cyclophosphamide, fludarabine, rabbit antilymphocytic globulin; then we made the infusion of PBSC. The bone marrow recovery (GN >500 and PLT >20.000) arrived at the day + 10. For three months after the transplantation we made an antibacterial, antiviral and antifungin prophylaxis with valacocyclovir, co-trimoxazole and fluconazole. The one-year follow-up has shown an essentially good response with the improving of the skin involvement and of the subjective indicators of the disease, while the pulmonary involvement don't seen modified from the high dose therapy.


The performance of production cell for motorcycle engine parts is critical for the competitive capacity of motorcycle products. In order to meet the maximum beneficial result with minimum cost, simulation approach is applied to find the best improvement scheme of the production cell. Performance indicators including rate of comprehensive utilization of equipment and rate of utilization of workers are established. Two different production schemes are analyzed based on work study. Flexsim simulation software was used to simulate and evaluate the schemes. The comparative simulation results show that simulation provides an effective way to find the best improvement scheme by evaluating overall performance of the production cell, instead of partial performance evaluation by traditional work study methods.


Objectives To analyse long-term adverse events of occipital nerve stimulation (ONS). Design Prospective open-label observational study. Subjects 134 patients with refractory headaches implanted between 2007–2014 in a single specialised centre. Methods Information was collected on ONS device, implantable pulse generator (IPG) site and adverse event rates. The impact of implanter experience and the association between IPG site and adverse event rates was also explored. Results Mean follow up was 46 months (6–108 months). A total of 139 adverse events were recorded in 75 patients (56%). A total of 59 additional surgeries were needed in 39 patients. A significant difference was seen in the rates of adverse events recorded between 2007–2010 and 2011–2014 (60.7% vs 42.6%, p=0.002). A significant reduction in ONS revision was seen over time (25.7% vs 5.9%, p=0.002). Analysis of adverse events with IPG site showed those with abdominal implants recorded higher adverse event rate that those with an IPG in the chest (65.8% vs 40.3%, p=0.004). Conclusions In specialist centres, adverse event rates of ONS can be much lower than reported in the literature. Our results suggest implanter experience and IPG site both have an effect on adverse event rate.


Inspirational Leadership (IL) is pivotal in the spaces of educational leadership to inspire and motivate teachers to achieve organisational goals. Concerning it, this study intends to explore the existence of inspirational leadership among teachers of Bagmati Province. For this purpose, this study employed explanatory sequential mixed method design, a cross-sectional survey in Quan strands and narrative inquiry in Qual strands. The data in the Quan and Qual strands were gathered via survey questionnaires from 502 respondents and in-depth interviews from four participants, respectively. The collected Quan data were carried out to assess the levels of inspirational leadership and their dimensions (Intellectual stimulation, envisioning, managing impression, moulding follower's expectations) as high levels due to the presence of supportive relationships, appreciative and innovative culture, critical thinking, and emotional attachment among school teachers. However, meaning-making as one of the dimensions of inspirational leadership is recognised as a very high level of supportive relationships, appreciative and innovative culture, critical thinking, and emotional attachment among school teachers. Furthermore, the social exchange relations also inspired teachers to perform their job. So the high level of inspirational leadership assists teachers in achieving high job productivity in their school.


Listeriosis is associated with the consumption of contaminated food and has a higher incidence in the elderly, immunocompromised and pregnant. There are a few reported cases of pericarditis due to Listeria monocytogenes , with a high mortality. We present a successful case of Listeria monocytogenes pericarditis in a 61-year-old patient and provide the clinical presentation, pathology and diagnostic challenge. Increasing awareness of foodborne infections would be important to promote its early diagnosis. J Med Cases. 2019;10(2):49-52 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jmc3244


"I don't know what you mean by 'glory'," Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't—till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!'" "But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument'," Alice objected. "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less." "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master—that's all." (Carroll, 1939, p. 196)


Inspired by the recent realization of a 2D chiral fluid as an active monolayer droplet moving atop a 3D Stokesian fluid, we formulate mathematically its free-boundary dynamics. The surface droplet is described as a general 2D linear, incompressible, and isotropic fluid, having a viscous shear stress, an active chiral driving stress, and a Hall stress allowed by the lack of time-reversal symmetry. The droplet interacts with itself through its driven internal mechanics and by driving flows in the underlying 3D Stokes phase. We pose the dynamics as the solution to a singular integral-differential equation, over the droplet surface, using the mapping from surface stress to surface velocity for the 3D Stokes equations. Specializing to the case of axisymmetric droplets, exact representations for the chiral surface flow are given in terms of solutions to a singular integral equation, solved using both analytical and numerical techniques. For a disc-shaped monolayer, we additionally employ a semi-analytical solution that hinges on an orthogonal basis of Bessel functions and allows for efficient computation of the monolayer velocity field, which ranges from a nearly solid-body rotation to a unidirectional edge current depending on the subphase depth and the Saffman-Delbrück length. Except in the near-wall limit, these solutions have divergent surface shear stresses at droplet boundaries, a signature of systems with codimension one domains embedded in a three-dimensional medium. We further investigate the effect of a Hall viscosity, which couples radial and transverse surface velocity components, on the dynamics of a closing cavity.


A healthy 5-year-old boy came to our clinic for a generalized asymptomatic eruption that had been present for 3 months. He had been unsuccessfully treated with topical steroids and immunomodulators. On physical examination, we found numerous tiny flesh-colored flattopped papules on the anterior and posterior trunk, extremities, and face (Figure 1 and Figure 2). The oral mucosa, palms, soles, and nails were spared. Histologic features are shown in Figure 3. What is your diagnosis?


As financial turmoil in Europe preoccupies political leaders and global markets, it becomes more important than ever to understand the forces that underpin the European Union, hold it together and drive it forward. This timely book provides a gripping account of the realities of power politics among European states and between their leaders. Drawing on long experience working behind the scenes, Luuk van Middelaar captures the dynamics and tensions shaping the European Union from its origins until today. It is a story of unexpected events and twists of fate, bold vision and sheer necessity, told from the perspective of the keyplayers -- from de Gaulle to Havel, Thatcher to Merkel. Van Middelaar cuts through the institutional complexity by exploring the unforeseen outcomes of decisive moments and focusing on the quest for public legitimacy. As a first-hand witness to the day-to-day actions and decisions of Europe's leaders, the author provides a vivid narrative of the crises and compromises that united a continent. By revisiting the past, he sheds fresh light on the present state of European unification and offers insights into what the future may hold.


The present report considers the ideas of T. Sydenham regarding the causes and essence of epidemics and their role in origin of new methodological approach to studying epidemics. The corresponding issues of health maintenance and disease prevention are also discussed.


We report a case of acute facial oedema in an elderly hospitalized patient which was initially misdiagnosed as angioedema secondary to antibiotics in a patient with an allergic diathesis. We describe the differential aetiologies and then the true cause of the oedema, which was an uncommon complication of a very common condition in the elderly: a pneumomediastinum with subcutaneous emphysema probably due to rupture of an emphysematous lung bulla during chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation. Lastly, we focus on the therapeutic procedures instituted for the treatment of the pneumomediastinum.


Epstein-Barr virus-transformed human B cells expressed cell surface varicella-zoster virus (VZV) antigens after superinfection with VZV although they did not form infectious centers in a plaque assay. The VZV-superinfected cells were lysed by autologous VZV-stimulated T-cell lines and their derivative clones. The effector cells were specific for VZV and an HLA DR antigen and were T4+. The specificity of lysis of Epstein-Barr virus-transformed, VZV-superinfected targets by prestimulated mononuclear cells in this system contrasted with the unrestricted lysis seen when the targets were VZV-infected fibroblasts.


In a multi-access channel, completion time refers to the number of channel uses required for users, each with some given fixed bit pool, to complete the transmission of all their data bits. In this paper, the characterization of the completion time region is based on the concept of constrained rates, where users' rates are defined over possibly different number of channel uses. An information theoretic formulation of completion time is given and the completion time region is then established for two-user Gaussian multi-access channel, which, analogous to capacity region, characterizes all possible trade-offs between users' completion times.


Somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs) are important biological characteristics that can identify genome‐wide alterations in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Recent studies have shown that SCNAs have potential value for determining the prognosis of RCC. We examined SCNAs using the Affymetrix platform to analyze samples from 59 patients with clear cell RCCs (ccRCCs) including first cohort (30 cases) and second cohort (validation cohort, 29 cases). We stratified SCNAs in the ccRCCs using a hierarchical cluster analysis based on SCNA types, including gain, loss of heterozygosity (LOH), copy neutral LOH, mosaic, and mixed types. In this way, the examined two cohorts were categorized into two subgroups (1 and 2). Although the frequency of mixed type was higher in subgroup 1 than in subgroup 2 in the two cohorts, the association did not reach statistical significance. There was a significant difference in the frequency of metachronous metastasis between subgroups 1 and 2 (subgroup 2 > 1). In addition, subgroup 2 was retained in multivariate analysis of both cohorts. We examined whether there were specific alleles differing between subgroups 1 and 2 in both cohorts. We found that there was indeed a statistically significant difference in the 3p mixed types. Among the 3p mixed type, we found that 3p24.3 mixed type was inversely correlated with the presence of metachronous metastasis in ccRCC. The association was also retained in multivariate analysis in second cohort. We suggest that the 3p24.3 mixed type may be a novel marker to predict a favorable prognosis in ccRCC.


This thesis investigates the integrated fault detection, estimation and fault tolerant control problem for linear systems and Lipschitz nonlinear systems. Faults and disturbances are taken into consideration in a unified formulation. A H-infinity observer-based fault detection filter (FDF) is applied to generate residual signals. The FDF is designed to minimize the influence of disturbances and maximize the sensitivity of faults at the same time. Then a new online fault estimation scheme is designed by applying H-infinity filtering to residual signals instead of system outputs. Compared with existing literature, in which system outputs are commonly adopted for fault estimation, the proposed fault estimation scheme based on residual signals can achieve more accurate fault estimation results due to the fact that the influence of disturbances is minimized in the residual signal produced by the Hinfinity FDF. Finally a fault tolerant controller is designed to retain the system stability and performance by compensating for the faults. The integrated scheme consists of three essential steps that are centered around the residual signal, namely, generating the residual signal for fault detection, and filtering the residual signal for fault estimation and fault compensation. In this framework, fault diagnosis and fault compensation are designed simultaneously in a closed-loop system. This integrated scheme is considered to be one of the most important contributions of this thesis. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, two examples are given and simulation results are presented.


Since the publication of Peter Gay's The Enlightenment: An Interpretation, scholarly interest in the classical presence in Enlightenment culture has waned. Over the past decade, however, this topic has returned to center stage. This review article discusses the ways in which recent research has contributed to the rediscovery of the classical past in the Enlightenment. It starts with an evaluation of the current reinterpretation of the Querelle des anciens et des modernes, continues with an overview of recent scholarship on the various intellectual and institutional environments in which knowledge of the classical past was acquired and transmitted, and ends with a discussion of the crucial role of the ancient world in eighteenth-century historiography and political thought. In its conclusion the article draws attention to the many ways in which recent scholarship on the eighteenth-century reception of the classics has broken new ground. It also argues that the 'classical turn in Enlightenment studies' is still unjustifiably neglected in general interpretations of the Enlightenment.


This article analyses if and how barriers to entry are evaluated. The findings are based on interviews with 30 people, responsible for 13 major internal business development projects and entries. The study shows that not all entrants succeed in evaluating all relevant barriers. Furthermore, evaluation takes place in the course of a learning process. It is important that the project proposal receives relevant feedback if learning is to take place. It is also true to say that there have often been other potential entrants better qualified to carry out the project successfully, but which have not had the same need to develop a new field of business.


Background Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a global pathogen and an important but seldom investigated cause of morbidity and mortality in lower and middle-income countries where it can place a major burden on limited resources. Quantifying nosocomial transmission in resource-poor settings is difficult because molecular typing methods are prohibitively expensive. Mechanistic statistical models can overcome this problem with minimal cost. We analyse the transmission dynamics of MRSA in a hospital in south India using one such approach and provide conservative estimates of the organism's economic burden. Methods and Findings Fifty months of MRSA infection data were collected retrospectively from a Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) in a tertiary hospital in Vellore, south India. Data were analysed using a previously described structured hidden Markov model. Seventy-two patients developed MRSA infections and, of these, 49 (68%) died in the MICU. We estimated that 4.2% (95%CI 1.0, 19.0) of patients were MRSA-positive when admitted, that there were 0.39 MRSA infections per colonized patient month (0.06, 0.73), and that the ward-level reproduction number for MRSA was 0.42 (0.08, 2.04). Anti-MRSA antibiotic treatment costs alone averaged $124/patient, over three times the monthly income of more than 40% of the Indian population. Conclusions Our analysis of routine data provides the first estimate of the nosocomial transmission potential of MRSA in India. The high levels of transmission estimated underline the need for cost-effective interventions to reduce MRSA transmission in hospital settings in low and middle income countries.