Background and Objectives CSF biomarkers β‐amyloid 1-42 (Aβ42), phosphorylated tau 181 (p-tau181), total tau (t-tau), and neurogranin (Ng) can diagnose Alzheimer disease (AD) in life. However, it is unknown whether CSF concentrations, and thus their accuracies, are affected by concomitant pathologies common in AD, such as α-synuclein (αSyn). Our primary goal was to test whether biomarkers in patients with AD are altered by concomitant αSyn. We compared CSF Aβ42, p-tau181, t-tau, and Ng levels across autopsy-confirmed AD and concomitant AD and αSyn (AD + αSyn). Antemortem CSF levels were related to postmortem accumulations of αSyn. Finally, we tested how concommitant AD + αSyn affected the diagnostic accuracy of 2 CSF-based strategies: the amyloid/tau/neurodegeneration (ATN) framework and the t-tau/Aβ42 ratio. Methods Inclusion criteria were neuropathologic diagnoses of AD, mixed AD + αSyn, and αSyn. A convenience sample of nonimpaired controls was selected with available CSF and a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) ≥ 27. αSyn without AD and controls were included as reference groups. Analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) tested planned comparisons were CSF Aβ42, p-tau181, t-tau, and Ng differences across AD and AD + αSyn. Linear models tested how biomarkers were altered by αSyn accumulation in AD, accounting for pathologic β-amyloid and tau. Receiver operating characteristic and area under the curve (AUC), including 95% CI, evaluated diagnostic accuracy. Results Participants were 61 patients with AD, 39 patients with mixed AD + αSyn, 20 patients with αSyn, and 61 controls. AD had similar median age (73 [interquartile range {IQR} = 12] years), MMSE (23 [IQR = 9]), and sex distribution (male = 49%) compared with AD + αSyn age (70 [IQR = 13] years; p = 0.3), MMSE (25 [IQR = 9.5]; p = 0.19), and sex distribution (male = 69%; p = 0.077). ANCOVAs showed that AD + αSyn had lower p-tau181 (F(1,94) = 17, p < 2.6e-16), t-tau (F(1,93) = 11, p = 0.0004), and Ng levels (F(1,50) = 12, p = 0.0004) than AD; there was no difference in Aβ42 (p = 0.44). Models showed increasing αSyn related to lower p-tau181 (β = −0.26, SE = 0.092, p = 0.0065), t-tau (β = −0.19, SE = 0.092, p = 0.041), and Ng levels (β = −0.2, SE = 0.066, p = 0.0046); αSyn was not a significant factor for Aβ42 (p = 1). T-tau/Aβ42 had the highest accuracy when detecting AD, including mixed AD + αSyn cases (AUC = 0.95; CI 0.92–0.98). Discussion Findings demonstrate that concomitant αSyn pathology in AD is associated with lower CSF p-tau181, t-tau, and Ng levels and can affect diagnostic accuracy in patients with AD.


This paper addresses the techno-economic evaluation and optimisation of processes converting lignocellulosic biomass into liquid fuels, through the development of a suitable framework and the modelling and design of Biomass to Liquids (BTL) processes. In particular, the focus is on the production of drop-in fuels through gasification and Fischer–Tropsch (FT) synthesis. Several conversion technologies are presented and evaluated in the literature, but the comparison of different options is hazardous because of the different assumptions and methodologies adopted in each study. A systematic and consistent approach is therefore developed to explore the trade-offs of alternative process configurations and of the operating conditions. The comparison presented in this study explores the trade-offs of different technological options in terms of competing economic and thermodynamic objectives. Results show that for 200 MWth biomass input plant capacities, production costs are in the range of 1.0–1.4 € l−1 for technologies producing up to about 0.5 kJFT kJth−1 and close to being neutral in terms of electricity balance. For technologies using electrolysis the conversion can increase to 0.8 kJFT kJth−1 with production costs of 1.8 € l−1. The electricity storage capacity, in this case, is of 0.5 kJe kJFT−1, corresponding to a net electricity requirement of about 0.4 kJe kJth−1.


Development of efficient photocatalysts for hydrogen (H2) production from water splitting is highly sought for the current sustainable energy issue. This paper has demonstrated a one-pot hydrothermal approach for the preparation of hierarchical nanostructures (HNs) composed only of Nb3O7F single-crystalline nanorods by using H2NbF7 as a precursor and 2-propanol as a selective adsorption agent. In our protocol, modulating the hydrolysis rate of the coordination complex H2NbF7via simply controlling its concentration not only produces Nb3O7F single crystalline nanorods by the restrictive growth on [110] due to the selective adsorption of 2-propanol on the sidewalls, but also leads to secondary nucleation for the growth of new nanorods on the pre-formed ones, leading to the formation of Nb3O7F HNs. The resultant Nb3O7F HNs strongly respond to ultraviolet light and have a band gap of 3.22 eV as well as the conducting band minimum at −0.44 eV. They exhibit excellent photocatalytic H2 production activity with a good recycling stability when 0.5 wt% Pt is used as a cocatalyst. The H2 production rate reaches 830 µmol h−1 g−1, about 23.7 and 5.7 times higher than that of Nb2O5 sphere-shaped micro-particles and commercial Nb2O5 nanoparticles, respectively. Furthermore, they can also show notable photocatalytic H2 production activity even without any cocatalysts. This suggests that the resultant Nb3O7F HNs are promising as a new photocatalyst for H2 production.


The aim of the article is to accomplish a critical discussion of the terms service user/user and through this highlight the power of language in social work. Two main issues are dealt with: to study to what extent the terms service user/user are applied when addressing recipients of social services in the UK and in Sweden, and to discuss the relevance and meaningfulness of the term in Swedish social services discourse. The point of departure for the study is the reappearance of the term user in Swedish social work discourse in the context of a campaign for evidence-based social work. Through search in 11 volumes of research journals in the UK and in Sweden, it can be concluded that the application of the term service user are quite common in the UK, simply as a synonym for client. The term's equivalent in Swedish, user is not extensively applied in Sweden. The application of the term user in Swedish social work discourse can be relevant when considering the supportive side of social work, but is shown to be problematic when it comes to statutory services like compulsory treatment or the removal of children from parents. The term hides questions of power and unequal relations immanent in the delivery of social services and social work.


Electronic commerce has been increasingly popular and has become a must tool for the enterprises. Since the Internet had started to be used commonly by all segments of the society, electronic commerce gained a crucial significance as a practical way for people to meet their needs. The main purpose of this study is to examine the perception of and the expectations from electronic commerce by Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to evaluate the effect of the obstacles to e-commerce in the innovation processes and performance. Within this study, the impact of the innovation processes and innovation data sources in the field of electronic commerce on the performance of the enterprises is analyzed. A survey comprising of 50 questions was conducted by the participation of middle and higher level managers of the SMEs in Istanbul. In total, 277 surveys were examined. Reliability and validity of these surveys were checked via SPSS-17 and evaluated by using the methods of factor analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. As a result, it has been confirmed that factors of innovation processes and innovation data sources have a meaningful relation to the performance of companies. Therefore, the importance and necessity of investing in innovation processes and data sources for increasing the company performance are verified by this study.


Abstract The use of sodium nitrite (NaNO2) as a corrosion inhibitor for wet archeological metal objects presents potential advantages of near neutral pH, low concentration, effectiveness on several metals, and compatibility with organic materials. The effectiveness of NaNO2 as a corrosion inhibitor for storage of chloride-containing marine archeological metal objects from the wreck of the USS Monitor was evaluated using marine-corroded carbon steel analogs. The samples were tested in varying concentrations of NaNO2 and evaluated visually and by monitoring solution chemistry using ion chromatography (IC). It was found that a concentration of 1000 ppm NaNO2, replaced four times, was effective at protecting corroded carbon steel in the presence of chlorides. Nitrite solutions were no more rapid than sodium hydroxide (NaOH) at extracting chlorides from marine steel at equal concentrations and were considerably slower than 2% NaOH. IC analyses indicated that NO2 does not easily oxidize to NO3 under normal conditions, but does so readily when a polarizing current is applied, making nitrites unsuitable for electrolytic reduction treatments. Sodium nitrite does show promise as a storage solution prior to desalination of marine metals or after desalination to prevent flash corrosion during rinsing baths.


Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are throwing in the interstellar space huge jets of energy in the form of elementary particles. The calculation of the energy density of space in the centre of the black hole with the mass of the Sun shows that in the space-time singularity of such a black hole energy density of space there is so low that atoms become unstable and fall apart into elementary particles. In this sense, AGN is a rejuvenating system of the universe. It transforms its own old matter into fresh energy in the form of jets.


Professional development in family‐centred services was given to professionals supporting children with disabilities and their families with the purpose to influence ways to perform working tasks. Is it possible to change ways of working through in‐service training? In order to find answers to that question perceptions of in‐service training at different organisational levels were collected by interviews. Ways to perform working tasks were investigated by self‐reported ratings on questionnaires. What kind of change the teams experienced was analysed through written assignments at the end of professional development. The study builds on a longitudinal design. Watzlawick and co‐workers identified orders of change to analyse perceptions of, and changes following, professional development. The findings reveal that participants at different levels of the organisation have similar perceptions of the in‐service training. They are described more in depth by participants within the organisation, rather than the ones outside (parents and managers), who describe the consequences of the professional development rather than the professional development process. After professional development, the family approach has been adopted among most professionals; for example, are assessment tools and model for habilitation plans which were presented in the professional development used afterwards in everyday work? This implies a second‐order change. However, some professionals do claim that the family‐centred way of working is nothing new to them, which corresponds to a first‐order change. Professional development in conjunction with resources for implementing change after professional development are therefore seen as factors that facilitate second‐order change.


PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH, vol. 2. Nerve, Brain and Memory Models. Edited by Norber Wiener and J. P. Schad6. (Pp. viii + 280; illustrated. 80s.) Amsterdam, London, and New York: Elsevier. 1963. This is the Proceedings of a symposium on the 'Cybernetics of the nervous system' held as part of the Second International Meeting of Medical Cybernetics in April 1962. The contributions are primarily addressed to the explication of models representing a rather wider range of biological processes than is immediately suggested by the title. Many of the papers are strictly speaking concemed with purely psychological topics. The bridge between psychology and neurophysiology is provided by several authors in the form of the fashionable 'nerve nets'. Thus Cowan briefly describes his mathematical studies of the problem of error-free computation by a network subject to local random failures. Braitenberg points out the limitations of electrophysiological recording and shows how histological evidence may yield insight into the functioning of large networks. Ashby and his coworkers investigate possible pathological correlates of the oscillatory activity which characterizes the simpler hypothetical networks. At a more behavioural level, the substitution of 'information-processing logarithm' for the more familiar 'conditioned reflex' is an integral part of Napalkov's work in Moscow: he describes experiments on artificiallyinduced hypertension which he wishes to explain in terms of models derived from American studies in artificial intelligence. That is, he wishes to view behaviour in terms of a programme functionally organized into levels defined by different degrees of detail in the information that is being processed. Such an approach must be backed up by implementation on a digital computer, which Napalkov so far seems not to have done. With the possible exception of papers by Frank and Muller on the associative networks 'Lernen-matrizen', the symposium did not adequately reflect the current development in the use of computational techniques to model complex operations such as must be performed in the nervous system. Indeed several papers perpetuate the pseudophilosophical approach which characterized the early writings in cybernetics; they contribute to the general inhomogeneity of content, standard, and length among the 20 papers published here. M. B. CLOWES


The rise of Iranian cinema to world prominence over the last few decades is one of the most fascinating cultural stories of our time. There is scarcely an international film festival anywhere that does not honour the aesthetic and political explorations of Iranian artists. MASTERS & MASTERPIECES OF IRANIAN CINEMA celebrates this remarkable emergence. It focuses on twelve of the most important Iranian filmmakers of the past half-century -- among them, such pioneers as Forugh Farrokhzad, Dariush Mehrjui, Abbas Kiarostami, and Jafar Panahi. In his examination of their lives and their greatest works, Hamid Dabashi explains how, despite the censorship of both the Pahlavi monarchy and the Islamic Republic, the creativity of these filmmakers has transcended national and cultural borders. His account traces the ascendancy of Iranian cinema in modern Iranian intellectual history and also probes its links to Persian poetry, fiction, art, and philosophy. In Europe and in North America, in Asia and in Latin America, in Australia and Africa, the thematic and narrative richness of Iranian cinema has met with tremendous acclaim. Indeed, its particular modes of realism -- building on such cinematic antecedents as Italian, French and German neorealism -- have become truly transnational, contributing a new visual vocabulary to filmmaking everywhere. Masters & Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema studies the role that prominent film festivals have played in fostering the global success of Iranian cinema, and investigates the reception of these films within Iran, an intriguing story in its own right. This is a book that will reward not only the scholar and the film aficionado but also anyone interested in the cultural history of modern Iran.


Report of a new type of fracture dislocation of the wrist and the intercarpal joints, which has not been published until now. A perilunar dislocation was associated with fractures of the scaphoid and capitate bones as well as a fracture of the radialstyloid. Open reduction and internal fixation was followed by fracture healing and slight posttraumatic arthritis. Loss of function was minimal and working capacity not reduced.


We have created an open access web portal with pathosystem-wide resources and bioinformatics tools for the host citrus, the vector Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) and multiple pathogens including Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of a database to use the pathosystem as a holistic framework to understand an insect transmitted plant disease. This endeavor integrates and enables the analysis of data sets generated by the community to study the citrus greening disease complex. Users can submit relevant data sets to enable sharing and allow the community to better analyze their data within an integrated system. The portal contains a variety of tools for omics data. Metabolic pathway databases, CitrusCyc and DiaphorinaCyc provide organism specific pathways that can be used to mine metabolomics, transcriptomics and proteomics results to identify pathways and regulatory mechanism involved in disease response. Psyllid Expression Network (PEN) contains expression profiles of ACP genes from multiple life stages, tissues, conditions and hosts. Citrus Expression Network (CEN) contains public expression data from multiple tissues and conditions for various citrus hosts. All tools like Apollo/JBrowse, Biocyc, Blast, CEN and PEN connect to a central database containing gene models for citrus, ACP and multiple Liberibacter pathogens. The portal also includes electrical penetration graph (EPG) recordings of ACP feeding on citrus, information about citrus rootstock trials and metabolomics data in addition to traditional omics data types with a goal of combining and mining all information related to a pathosystem. The portal includes user-friendly manual curation tools to allow the research community to continuously improve this knowledge base as more experimental research is published. Bulk downloads are available for all genome and annotation datasets from the FTP site (ftp://ftp.citrusgreening.org). The portal can be accessed at https://citrusgreening.org/.


Helicopter tail shake phenomenon is a topic of main distress for the rotorcraft industry since it adversely affects the overall performance, occupants' comfort and handling qualities of helicopter. This research work is intended to investigate the unsteady aerodynamic wake characteristics induced by the helicopter rotor hub that lead to this tail shake phenomenon by executing a wind tunnel campaign. The experiments were carried out in the UTM wind tunnel with a test section of 2m (width) x 1.5m (height) x 5.8m (length) with the maximum wind speed of 80m/s. Dynamic pressure measurements inside the wake due to the effect of helicopter advance ratios and pylon configurations were performed. The dynamic analysis conducted through the power spectral density and r oot- m ean-square methods, has successfully managed to quantify the frequency and the amplitude of unsteadiness of the hub wakes that lead to the tail shake problem. The analyses tell that by employing pylon to the rotor hub, it could significantly reduce the wake unsteadiness up to 99.31%. Subsequently the findings of this research have potential to minimize this long running problem that undoubtedly could benefit the entire growing helicopter industry.


Vacuolar H (cid:1) -ATPases (V-ATPases) are essential for acidification of intracellular compartments and for proton secretion from the plasma membrane in kidney epi-thelial cells and osteoclasts. The cellular proteins that regulate V-ATPases remain largely unknown. A screen for proteins that bind the V-ATPase E subunit using the yeast two-hybrid assay identified the cDNA clone coded for aldolase, an enzyme of the glycolytic pathway. The interaction between E subunit and aldolase was confirmed in vitro by precipitation assays using E subunit-glutathione S -transferase chimeric fusion proteins and metabolically labeled aldolase. Aldolase was isolated associated with intact V-ATPase from bovine kidney microsomes and os-teoclast-containing mouse marrow cultures in co-immu-noprecipitation studies performed using an anti-E subunit monoclonal antibody. The interaction was not affected by incubation with aldolase substrates or products. In immunocytochemical assays, aldolase was found to colocalize with V-ATPase in the renal proximal tubule. In osteoclasts, the aldolase-V-ATPase complex appeared to undergo a subcellular redistribution from perinuclear compartments to the ruffled membranes following activation of resorption. In yeast cells deficient in aldolase, the peripheral V 1 domain of V-ATPase was found to dissociate


Possible engineering of spin polarization through a multistranded magnetic quantum network in the presence of light irradiation is reported. Each site of the network is associated with a net magnetic moment which provides a spin-dependent scattering via spin-spin exchange interaction, yielding a finite spin polarization across the network. The quantum system is described within a tight-binding framework where the irradiation effect is incorporated through Floquet-Bloch prescription. The spin-polarization coefficient, measured by determining spin-dependent transmission probabilities following the Green's function formalism, shows several atypical features with irradiation parameters. Apart from getting a high degree of spin polarization, a complete phase reversal can be achieved. These two issues are extremely important in designing efficient spin-based electronic devices. A detailed mathematical description is given to decouple the Hamiltonian of a generalized multistranded magnetic ladder into distinct one-dimensional lattices in separate spin subspaces for any arbitrary orientation of local spin, which clearly illustrates the allowed energy spin subbands. Effects of system size and uncorrelated disorder on spin polarization are critically examined. Finally, we discuss the possible experimental realization of our magnetic quantum systemto regulate the degree and phase of spin polarization by irradiating a magnetic sample, and thus we believe that the present analysis may provide a route of engineering spin-dependent electron transfer through a spin-polarized device.


The Snowy Owl has, during the last 70 years, bred in Finnish Lapland only in 1974, 1987, and 1988. We collected diet material directly from nest bowls, and from pellets found around the nests and at the resting sites of adults and young. These three parts may give different results of the diet. In the identification, bones of legs and pelvis were used. The Norwegian lemming was the main prey, but also Clethrionomysand Microtus-voles had large parts in the diet. This diet composition has not been observed earlier. The invasions of Snowy Owls to south have sometimes reached areas with good vole populations, but in other cases the owls have successfully preyed upon larger mammals and birds. The Snowy Owl is thus an effective and opportunistic bird of prey, but breeding is possible only if lemmings or voles are available in very large numbers in the arctic breeding area.


The objectives of this study were to establish the methods used to identify the target audiences to whom the marketing communication should be directed; to establish the extent of use of various marketing communication techniques in the industry; to identify
the constraints hindering appropriate and effective marketing communication in the
industry, and to come up with the necessary recommendations on improvements that
need to be effected by those in the industry to address the information requirements of the
different stakeholders.
A descriptive survey aimed at determining the marketing communication tools used by
suppliers of electrical materials to the construction industry in Nairobi was applied. A
census was conducted as the firms in question were only twenty one in Nairobi. A semi
structured self completion questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data was analyzed
using descriptive statistics.
The findings show' that 69% of the firms use either advertising in building professional
magazines and daily papers or sales promotion/exhibitions as their topmost marketing
communication techniques. Other techniques in popular usage were direct contact with
customers and word of mouth at 54% and use of database of contractors. The findings
also indicate that most (93%) of the firms make use of marketing tools with only 7~'o
failing to use the tools in reference. The findings indicate that lack of marketing
departments, differences in pricing of goods based on their countries of origins,
competition and the high cost of advertising are the key constraints in the industry. Some
of the suggestions were that the advertising companies must improve on their output.
The study recommends that there is need for the establishment of a marketing department
based on the firms needs and resources available where it is Jacking. This will help the
companies to improve on their marketing orientation that could spur demand of their
products. Another was in assigning of more resources to marketing. Advertising
companies must improve their output. The companies also need to invest some money to
encourage innovation and develop new ideas. They could develop customer intimacy
programs similar to one used by General Electric.


This article analyses some major works of poetry produced by and for the Javanese nobility, the priyayi. It attempts to show that an interpretation of ways of life is conditional upon first successfully circumscribing a specific scope of subjectivation, while at the same time avoiding two pitfalls: utilitarianism and culturalism. The hypothesis is that the codification by the priyayi of what they thought to be the "right Javanese way" of doing things was simultaneously the product and the language of conflicts of power and prestige, which opposed them to other social groups (notably princes and merchants). In other words, in response to Foucault's constant preoccupation with "eventalising" the story of the way in which discourses on moral rules were constituted, the priyayi's view of the self is related to a historically determined situation of social struggle. Finally, the conclusion reflects upon the possibility of escaping from an instrumentalist conception of power in the scope of the historical sociology of politics.


Existing research on learning with noisy labels mainly focuses on synthetic label noise. Synthetic noise, though has clean structures which greatly enabled statistical analyses, often fails to model real-world noise patterns. The recent literature has observed several efforts to offer real-world noisy datasets, yet the existing efforts suffer from two caveats: (1) The lack of ground-truth verification makes it hard to theoretically study the property and treatment of real-world label noise; (2) These efforts are often of large scales, which may result in unfair comparisons of robust methods within reasonable and accessible computation power. To better understand real-world label noise, it is crucial to build controllable and moderate-sized real-world noisy datasets with both ground-truth and noisy labels. This work presents two new benchmark datasets CIFAR-10N, CIFAR-100N, equipping the training datasets of CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100 with human-annotated real-world noisy labels we collected from Amazon Mechanical Turk. We quantitatively and qualitatively show that real-world noisy labels follow an instance-dependent pattern rather than the classically assumed and adopted ones (e.g., class-dependent label noise). We then initiate an effort to benchmarking a subset of the existing solutions using CIFAR-10N and CIFAR-100N. We further proceed to study the memorization of correct and wrong predictions, which further illustrates the difference between human noise and class-dependent synthetic noise. We show indeed the real-world noise patterns impose new and outstanding challenges as compared to synthetic label noise. These observations require us to rethink the treatment of noisy labels, and we hope the availability of these two datasets would facilitate the development and evaluation of future learning with noisy label solutions. Datasets and leaderboards are available at http://noisylabels.com.


The empirical focus of this paper is the distribution of strict and sloppy interpretations of reflexive pronouns in comparative stripping. We present a set of new data which indicates that strict readings of reflexives in comparative stripping, while possible, are blocked when the subject of the comparative clause is a name or pronoun. We then show that the pattern of strict readings in comparatives mirrors the pattern of long-distance anaphora in Chinese; in particular, the contexts in which strict readings are impossible are strikingly similar to the environments in which long-distance anaphora is blocked. We therefore propose that strict readings of reflexives in comparatives involve binding of a long-distance anaphor from the subject position of the matrix clause. We explain the apparent absence of such an object in English by claiming that although the long-distance anaphor is a well-formed syntactic object, it has no morphological instantiation, and so cannot appear in a PF-representation without violating Full Interpretation. Such an object can appear in an elided constituent, however, because deletion of syntactic material in ellipsis bypasses the need for morphological realization.


Under study was the effect of oxyprogesterone-capronate (500 mg daily, total dosage of 10 g) on delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity reaction (DCHR) to tuberculin and candidine as well as the level of T-lymphocytes and cortisol in the peripheral blood in 34 patients with primary cancer of the corpus uteri. Prior to the treatment there was a considerable negative correlation between metabolic and immunological indices. Under OPC exposure DCHR enhanced in 62% of observations. In 7 of 12 patients the level of T-lymphocytes was increased and blood cortiol level decreased in 6 of 11 patients. 58 per cent of the observations showed a parallelism between the effect of OPC on the skin tests and the tumor histostructure, and in 8 of 12 patients on the level of T-lymphocytes and the tumor histostructure.


Background: Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have proved to be promising biomarkers for early diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring in cancers. Particularly for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), detection of circulating miRNA biomarkers as a new diagnostic approach has been written into the latest Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Primary Liver Cancer in China (2019 edition). However, no general consensus on an ideal endogenous normalizer for circulating miRNAs quantification has been reached, so it will affect the accuracy of quantitative results. In this study, we aim to identify a stable endogenous normalizer for analyzing circulating miRNAs. Methods: Candidate miRNAs were selected by screening dataset GSE104310, as well as data statistics and analysis. Five commonly reference genes were chosen for further comparison and verification. Then, the expression levels of these genes in serum were analyzed by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) among four groups, including patients diagnosed with HCC, chronic hepatitis B (CHB), liver cirrhosis, and healthy subjects. Furthermore, the stability of target genes was evaluated using geNorm, NormFinder, comparative ΔCq programs, and validated by database. We also explored the availability of the miRNA combination, and compared the performance difference between combination and individuals, as well as the selectivity of miRNA references in the combinations. Results: 11 candidate miRNAs were obtained, and miR-4644 stood out among these miRNAs, and proved to be much more stable than other endogenous miRNAs. Further study showed that miR-4644 exhibited higher stability and expression abundance than other commonly miRNA reference controls. Finally, we discovered the combination of miR-4644 and miR-16 revealed high performance in stability when compared to miRNA individuals. Furthermore, the combination consisted of references with closer nature could give rise to amplification effects in stability. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated that miR-4644 is an ideal endogenous normalizer for circulating microRNA quantification in hepatocellular carcinoma. Besides, combining miR-4644 with miR-16 into a whole as a reference control would greatly improve the accuracy of quantification.


The vulnerability of biometric systems to external attacks using a physical artefact in order to impersonate the legitimate user has become a major concern over the last decade. Such a threat, commonly known as 'spoofing', poses a serious risk to the integrity of biometric systems. The usual low-complexity and low-cost characteristics of these attacks make them accessible to the general public, rendering each user a potential intruder. The present study addresses the spoofing issue analysing the feasibility to perform low-cost attacks with self-manufactured three-dimensional (3D) printed models to 2.5D and 3D face recognition systems. A new database with 2D, 2.5D and 3D real and fake data from 26 subjects was acquired for the experiments. Results showed the high vulnerability of the three tested systems, including a commercial solution, to the attacks.


Since the Internet has been shown in recent literature to be a pervasive system in tourism it is important to understand its roles in more detail. The basis for this study regarding to the Internet is an important information source for participants in tourism and, as such, figures prominently in various tourism decision-making processes. From this, the goal in order to develop e-tourism, stakeholders have to examine the use of the Internet as a
marketing tool in tourism in Tripoli of Libya. In addition to the importance of attitudes toward the behavior in question, some of these studies have found subjective norms to also be important, while others have found perceived behavioral control to also be important. This study demonstrates the increased power of the TPB over the simple
TRA. As more and more studies of Internet purchasing behavior and its antecedents are done within the TPB framework, we are more able to discover and confirm which
antecedents are most important, helping us build a robust theory of Internet behavior. From a practical perspective, as a cumulative body of work on Internet purchasing emerges, it will be better able to advise vendors on the elements they need to address in order to increase their Web site traffic. In this study, the one area of findings that may help Web merchants the most concerns trust. It has been found that beliefs about the trustworthiness of the Internet as a channel for conducting personal business were
associated with positive attitudes toward Internet purchasing, and these positive attitudes were in turn associated with actual purchasing behavior on e-Tourism.


The coordinated spatial and temporal regulation of gene expression in the murine hindlimb determines the identity of mesenchymal progenitors and the development of diversity of musculoskeletal tissues they form. Hindlimb development has historically been studied with lineage tracing of individual genes selected a priori, or at the bulk tissue level, which does not allow for the determination of single cell transcriptional programs yielding mature cell types and tissues. To identify the cellular trajectories of lineage specification during limb bud development, we used single cell mRNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to profile the developing murine hindlimb between embryonic days (E)11.5-E18.5. We found cell type heterogeneity at all time points, and the expected cell types that form the mouse hindlimb. In addition, we used RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to examine the spatial locations of cell types and cell trajectories to understand the ancestral continuum of cell maturation. This data provides a resource for the transcriptional program of hindlimb development that will support future studies of musculoskeletal development and generate hypotheses for tissue regeneration.


A Stiefel manifold of the compact type is often encountered in many fields of Engineering including, signal and image processing, machine learning, numerical optimization and others. The Stiefel manifold is a Riemannian homogeneous space but not a symmetric space. In previous work, researchers have defined probability distributions on symmetric spaces and performed statistical analysis of data residing in these spaces. In this paper, we present original work involving definition of Gaussian distributions on a homogeneous space and show that the maximum-likelihood estimate of the location parameter of a Gaussian distribution on the homogeneous space yields the Frechet mean (FM) of the samples drawn from this distribution. Further, we present an algorithm to sample from the Gaussian distribution on the Stiefel manifold and recursively compute the FM of these samples. We also prove the weak consistency of this recursive FM estimator. Several synthetic and real data experiments are then presented, demonstrating the superior computational performance of this estimator over the gradient descent based non-recursive counter part as well as the stochastic gradient descent based method prevalent in literature.


In the Nāṭyaśāstra, two main types of physical practices are described in some detail: the so-called "bodily acting" (āṅgikābhinaya) and dance (nṛtta). Although their building blocks are to a large extent common, their purpose appears to be different: while bodily acting is used for dramatic mimesis, dance is said to produce beauty and to be auspicious. Peculiar to the technique of dance are the one hundred and eight karaṇas, complex dance movements that require great coordination, balance and flexibility. Sculptural representations of the karaṇas in the mediaeval temples of South India and in Central Java, as well as some interpretations by contemporary dancers, have elicited comparisons with yogic āsanas, notwithstanding the fact that the karaṇas were first and foremost codified in the context of Sanskrit theatre. More generally, the overlap between dance and yoga-related concepts and practices in antiquity has not been studied in depth. In this chapter, I investigate the connection of dance with the pūrvaraṅga, the preliminary rite that precedes the performance of a play, in order to highlight the connection of some of the physical practices described in the Nāṭyaśāstra's chapter on dance with ideas of mental cultivation, ritual, and devotion. This connection is particularly evident in the case of the piṇḍībandhas, a set of movements of difficult interpretation that present ideological affinities with practices described in early religious sources, especially, but not exclusively, those of Śaiva affiliation. Finally, I argue that this interface between drama and ritual points to a shared ground for practices and beliefs connected with the body in ancient India.


Background: Roots from Glycyrrhiza glabra L. are known for their antiinflammatory and antimicrobial properties. This study focuses on the growth inhibitory activity of G. glabra root extracts against some bacterial triggers of autoimmune inflammatory disease alone and in combination with conventional antibiotics. Methods: G. glabra root powder was extracted with solvents of varying polarity and screened for bacterial growth inhibition by disc diffusion assay. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was quantified by both liquid dilution and disc diffusion techniques. To screen for combinatorial effects, the G. glabra root extracts were combined with a range of conventional antibiotics and tested against each bacterium using liquid dilution assays. Where synergy was detected, the optimal ratios were determined using isobologram analysis. Toxicity was examined using an Artemia nauplii and HDF bioassays. Results: G. glabra root methanolic, aqueous and ethyl acetate extracts displayed antimicrobial activity against bacterial triggers of some autoimmune inflammatory diseases. The ethyl acetate extract was particularly potent, with MIC values <500 μg/mL against K. pneumoniae and A. baylyi. The aqueous extract was also a moderate inhibitor of A. baylyi. The methanolic extract had moderate inhibitory activity against all bacteria except P. aeruginosa. Of further note, the aqueous extract interacted synergistically in combination with chloramphenicol against K. pneumoniae (Σ FIC 0.49). All extracts were nontoxic in the Artemia and HDF toxicity assays, further indicating their potential for medicinal use. Conclusion: The G. glabra ethyl acetate root extract was a strong inhibitor of the growth of K. pneumoniae and A. baylyi and therefore has potential in the prevention and treatment of ankylosing spondylitis and multiple sclerosis. In addition, the aqueous root extract potentiated the inhibitory activity of chloramphenicol against a chloramphenicol resistant K. pneumoniae strain. Although the mechanisms of synergy are still unclear, compounds within the G. glabra root extracts may mimic the actions of resistance modifying agents. Isolation of these agents may be beneficial in antibiotic drug design against bacterial triggers of ankylosing spondylitis.


Saving energy and enhancing performance are secular preoccupations shared by both nature and human beings. In animal locomotion, flapping flyers or swimmers rely on the flexibility of their wings or body to passively increase their efficiency using an appropriate cycle of storing and releasing elastic energy. Despite the convergence of many observations pointing out this feature, the underlying mechanisms explaining how the elastic nature of the wings is related to propulsive efficiency remain unclear. Here we use an experiment with a self-propelled simplified insect model allowing to show how wing compliance governs the performance of flapping flyers. Reducing the description of the flapping wing to a forced oscillator model, we pinpoint different nonlinear effects that can account for the observed behavior —in particular a set of cubic nonlinearities coming from the clampedfree beam equation used to model the wing and a quadratic damping term representing the fluid drag associated to the fast flapping motion. In contrast to what has been repeatedly suggested in the literature, we show that flapping flyers optimize their performance not by especially looking for resonance to achieve larger flapping amplitudes with less effort, but by tuning the temporal evolution of the wing shape (i.e. the phase dynamics in the oscillator model) to optimize the aerodynamics.


Entrepreneurship is a crucial ingredient of economic growth and job creation. Small business start-ups are currently of great interest to many state and local governments including Indiana. With the growing need to stimulate small business development, it is necessary to understand the obstacles faced by entrepreneurs as they attempt to start a business. The results have implications for small business development and university related centers and how they design programs to effectively meet the needs of entrepreneurs participating in small business start-ups. More explicitly, the results show that targeting educational programs by socio-economic and demographic segments would have lead to a better chance of programming success


Fay will discuss her latest book, 'Before the War' (2016), with Founder Chair of the Contemporary Women's Writing Association, Professor Mary Eagleton. They will reflect on changes in the social and literary landscape since the publication of Fay's first novel, 'The Fat Woman's Joke' (1967), almost 50 years ago.

This event is the first in an annual series of talks and lectures held in partnership with the Contemporary Women's Writing Association.


In this work, the effect of introducing a photonic crystal network of silicon nitride (SiN) micro-domes on the backside of silver coated gallium nitride (GaN) based light emitting diodes (LEDs) was studied. First, sapphire side of the top emitting LEDs, which is the bottom surface of the LEDs, is coated with silver (Ag). Light emitted towards the sapphire substrate is reflected upwards to the top surface and the amount of light extracted from the LED is expected to increase. In an alternative approach, SiN micro-domes forming a two dimensional photonic crystal, 2 μm in diameter and 80 nm in height in average, are deposited on the light emitting surface of the device with a period of 2 μm. Coating the backside with Ag has increased the efficiency of a top emitting LED by 11%. By introducing the SiN photonic crystal onto the Ag backside coated sample, total internal reflection is reduced via scattering and the amount of light emitted has been increased by 30% at 5·104 mA/cm2. Integration of SiN micro-domes with Ag coating has significantly impacted light extraction which has been shown to increase the efficiency of GaN based LEDs. Fabrication process and the results are discussed in detail.


The article makes an attempt to compare autobiographical memoirs of such scientists as S.B. Krymskii, H.P. Shchedrovyckii,, Yu. Orlov, Yu.V. Sheveliov, Karl Yaspers in order to define common moments of their childhood and adolescence that have constituted the foundation for their further professional selfdesining regardless  all the difference of their life circumstances. Such moments really were defined. The point concerns the emotional basis on which the building of professional (and also personal) values and senses is constructed. This emotional foundation comprises several components. The main of these components are: a) trust to the world, which is grateful to a tender and cheerful mother; b) the experience of strong and significant feelings; c) altruistic motivation of choice regarding future profession (for instance: "to make happy a large number of people" according to S. Krymskii); d) strongly marked cognitive interests (intensive reading, the interest to serious scientific literature); e) formation of diligence as a manifestation of inner duty to realize some overindividual value of sense (rewriting of "Capital" of K. Marx by H. Shchedrovyckii in his childhood); f) leadership (including adolescent aggression, tolerance concerning the conflict); g) wise selfishness (denial of comfort and temporary advantages to achieve  a great goal (auto-realisation) for the sake of future great achievements).All the points noted above are illustrated significantly by quotations of autobiographical memoirs by authors whom we chose.  The article presents the speculations regarding connection of these components of emotional childhood and adolescence experience with further professional activity of authors chosen for analysis. To our mind the particular importance is given to the event outlast in the childhood which was the breaking point in the life of the author. For S. Krymskii such an event was the strong impression at the sight of starry heaven, when the problem of infinity arose vividly in front of the seven years old boy. He realized it himself as "the first philosophical impulse" that embodied into the idea of "axiological universe". For Yu. Sheveliov such an event became the statement of a familiar person ("as a tack stabbed into heart"), after which he had discovered Ukraine and devoted his scientific activity to it. A frightful event occurred to Yu. Orlov, when he and his grandmother were attacked by wolves and could hardly escape the danger. Since that moment he had spent all his life in the circumstances of dangerous struggle against the Soviet Union regime. Even the name of his book is "Dangerous Thoughts". Keywords: professional selfdesigning, autobiographical memories, significant event, kind mother, cognitive interests, aggressiveness, eudemonism. * * * * * Download/read PDF


It is expected that in the mobile RFID systems, more personal services for individual needs will be offered than in the existing fixed RFID systems. This means that satisfying the requirements for the protection of personal information is essential. Systematic data protection can be achieved through the installation of technological devices such as an encryption algorithm. The encryption algorithm must be light-weight with minimal overhead in order for it to be executed on a mobile RFID terminal. In this paper, we propose an encryption algorithm based on EC-ElGamal which is effective against eavesdropping, replay attack and man-in-the-middle attack and is light enough for a mobile terminal. The proposed algorithm can be used in various services on mobile RFID systems.


Blockchain is offering new opportunities to develop new types of digital services. While research on the topic is still emerging, it has mostly focused on the technical and legal issues instead of taking advantage of this novel concept and creating advanced digital services. In this paper, we are going to leverage the open source Blockchain technology to propose a design for a new electronic voting system that could be used in local or national elections. The Blockchain-based system will be secure, reliable, and anonymous, and will help increase the number of voters as well as the trust of people in their governments.


Paracrine activation of cells contained in the tumor microenvironment promotes tumor progression and metastasis. In breast cancer, malignant cells recruit and educate macrophages into a M2 tumor-promoting phenotype that supports the metastatic spread of cancer cells. Here, we show that miR-149 functions as a metastasis-suppressing microRNA in breast cancer cells by limiting colony-stimulating factor-1 (CSF1)-dependent recruitment and M2 polarization of macrophages. In lymph node-positive, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) tissues, low miR-149 expression correlated with reduced macrophage infiltration and patient survival. By directly targeting CSF1, miR-149 expression in TNBC cell lines (MDA-MB-231 and BT-549) inhibited the recruitment of human monocytic THP-1 cells and primary human macrophages. Furthermore, in macrophages co-cultured with MDA-MB-231 cells expressing miR-149, epidermal growth factor (EGF) and amphiregulin expression levels were strongly reduced, resulting in reduced EGF receptor activation in the cancer cells. In vivo, lung metastases developing from orthotopic MDA-MB-231 tumors were reduced by 75% by miR-149 expression and this was associated with impaired M2 macrophage infiltration of the primary tumors. These data suggest that miR-149 downregulation functionally contributes to breast tumor progression by recruiting macrophages to the tumor and facilitating CSF1 and EGF receptor crosstalk between cancer cells and macrophages.


A "pebble game" is developed to model the process of scheduling computation-dags for Internet-based computing (IC, for short). Strategies are derived for scheduling three common, significant families of such dags for IC: reduction-meshes, which represent (the intertask dependencies of) computations that can be performed by "up-sweeps" of meshes; reduction-trees, which represent "accumulative" computations that can be performed by "up-sweeps" of trees; and FFT (fast fourier transform) dags, which represent a large variety of convolutional computations. Two criteria are used to assess the quality of a schedule: its memory requirements and its rate of producing tasks that are eligible for allocation to remote clients. These criteria are important because of, respectively, the typically enormous sizes of IC computations and the typical temporal unpredictability of remote clients in IC. In particular, a high production rate of eligible tasks decreases a computation's vulnerability to the gridlock that can occur when a computation stalls pending the return of intermediate results by remote clients. Under idealized assumptions, the schedules derived are optimal in the rate of producing eligible tasks and are either exactly or approximately optimal in memory requirements.


We investigate how the relative contribution of external factors to stock price movements varies with the degree of financial development. We find that financial development makes stock markets more susceptible to external influences (both financial and macroeconomic). Interestingly, this effect is present even after having accounted for capital controls and international trade effects. JEL Classifications: F4, G1, O1


We present an experimental review of the nature of the pseudogap in the cuprate superconductors. Evidence from various experimental techniques points to a common phenomenology. The pseudogap is seen in all high-temperature superconductors and there is general agreement on the temperature and doping range where it exists. It is also becoming clear that the superconducting gap emerges from the normal state pseudogap. The d-wave nature of the order parameter holds for both the superconducting gap and the pseudogap. Although an extensive body of evidence is reviewed, a consensus on the origin of the pseudogap is as lacking as it is for the mechanism underlying high-temperature superconductivity.


With the Indonesian invasion in late 1975, the self-determination conflict in East Timor gained international attention. Against all attempts on the part of Indonesia to silence international debate on its incorporation of East Timor, the Timorese resistance, with the support of selected states, continued to draw attention to its thwarted efforts at self-determination until the 1990s. Conflicts on self-determination are often analysed either as part of the larger picture of inter-national conflicts or as local territorial conflicts. Instead, we suggest a systems theoretical per-spective and understand conflict as a social system, which is based on repeated communication at various levels at the same time. Our analysis shows how the self-determination conflict in East Timor was successfully constructed as a matter of world politics by both the securitising and desecuritising speech acts of the conflict actors. These strategic speech acts from this early phase of the conflict in world politics, on the lack of self-determination of the Timorese people and the unlawful occupation, would prove to be important for the conflict system and renewed critical reaction to the Indonesian occupation in the early 1990s at the UN, ultimately leading to its resolution.


Microcrystalline diamond (MCD) and fine-grained diamond (FGD) films are deposited on silicon nitride (Si3N4) inserts using the hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) method. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X –ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectrum are employed to characterize these as-deposited diamond films. Cutting performance of as-fabricated CVD diamond coated Si3N4 inserts is examined in dry turning glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP) material, comparing with the uncoated Si3N4 inserts. The results indicate that the tool failure is mainly attributed to its severe flank wear, which is caused by continuous friction and impact brought by many hard SiO2 particles distributed in the GFPR work piece. The lifetime of Si3N4 inserts can be prolonged by depositing MCD or FGD films on them and the FGD coated insert shows better wear resistance than the MCD coated one.


This dissertation presents a multilevel comparative approach to investigating the degree
to which Japanese knowledge-driven work systems are implemented and internalised in
the UK business system. The focus is on processural and structural limits to accepting
structural, cultural, control-related and technological practices of Japanese multinational
corporations. The study addresses the national and local institutional, organisational and
group levels in order to consider the contextual embeddedness of work systems. There is
an interest in examining the interplay between the context and process of diffusion.
Whitley's (1999) work on divergent capitalisms is furthered here by linking structures to
micro-level social action in which they are implicated.
The study is based on qualitative case studies that systematically compare the ways in
which Japanesek nowledge-driven work systemsa re adoptedi n two UK subsidiary firms
and an Aglo-Japanese technical collaboration. It draws on 73 semi-structured interviews
conducted in the UK and Japan between August 1998 and April 2000, participant
observation carried out in the subsidiary firms over one week and factory tours in Japan.
The study concludes that firms face a double barrier in the adoption of work systems in
the form of, first, institutional embeddedness at the national level, and second,
embeddedness of tacit work systems at the firm level. Nationally distinct social
institutions show divergence in business systems across countries and local institutions
point to divergence within a particular national business system. Organisational and
group characteristics highlight the role of actors (management initiatives and
interpretation of alternative work systems by adopters). The research findings suggest
that firms attempt to locally interpret alternative work systems rather than submit to
environmental pressures towards isomorphism. There is an enactment through social
patterns of interaction in organisations, hence a variation in actors' response to similar
practices and procedures diffused from highly institutionalised settings.


A multisegmented model consisting of conventional and inverted parabolic segments, was proposed independently by Baker and Lambert (1988) and Dyson and Bennett (1988) to model the ionospheric electron density distribution. For convenience this model is termed the multi-parabolic (MP) model. The authors introduce the model and compare MP model electron density profiles corresponding with observed sample ionograms with the profiles obtained by using the program POLAN, and review some of the applications of the model. >


Selective NO Absorption from Gas Streams with Tertiary Organic Hydroperoxide Solutions by Huihong Ao The selective removal of nitric oxide from gas streams was investigated using 3,6-dimethyl-3-octyl hydroperoxide, p-menthane hydroperoxide, pinane hydroperoxide, and cumene hydroperoxide in solutions of n-hexadecane (cetane). The influence of different parameters such as temperature, gas stream flow rate (or residence time), and concentration of hydroperoxide compounds on efficiency of NO removal was evaluated. The basis of this research was to duplicate atmospheric reactions between hydroperoxides and NO in order to produce NO2. We succeeded in removing NO from gas streams, but failed to produce NO2. NO reacted with the hydroperoxides to produce nitrates. These nitrates are easily hydrolyzed with ammonium hydroxide to ammonium nitrates and alcohols. The hydroperoxides used in this study were selected to be inexpensive and commercially available, low vapor pressure to avoid loss of reagent when contacted with hot flue gas, and easily regenerated. This research was conducted in a scrubbing reactor system with associated feed and products flow measurement equipment. The reactor consisted of a fritted disk through which a gas stream of NO in helium was bubbled into the hydroperoxide solution. Feed and effluent gas stream were analyzed using a gas chromatograph (GC) with a thermal conductivity detector (TCD) or a chemiluminescent NOx analyzer. A Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) was used to determine organic product distribution and an ion chromatograph (IC) was used to measure inorganic products from the hydrolysis, and from an aqueous scrubber used to detect NO2. Higher rates of oxidation were obtained with cumene and pinane hydroperoxide than with the other two organic hydroperoxides tested. The highest rates of NO removal were obtained at the highest temperatures, highest concentrations, and lowest gas flow rates. With p-menthane hydroperoxide as the oxidizer, the main product is p-menthane nitrate. No NO2 was produced. Consequently, it is assumed that the main product from the other hydroperoxides is also the nitrate. In this research, excellent nitrogen mass balance were obtained to within 100 + 10% with p-menthane hydroperoxide. Again it is assumed that equivalent material balances are achieved with the other hydroperoxides. p-Menthane nitrate can be efficiently denitrated in dilute aqueous ammonia to produce ammonium nitrate and menthanol. Some experiments were conducted with hydroperoxylated polypropylene fibers as a solid oxidizer to remove NO. High rates of removal of NO was achieved at similar conditions to those used with the liquid hydroperoxides, namely, high temperature, high concentration of the hydroperoxide group, and low gas flow rate (high residence time). Selective NO Absorption from Gas Streams with Tertiary Organic Hydroperoxide Solutions


The New Zealand Government first embraced Neolibral market dergulation and privatisation in 1984, when policy took a sharp turn towards minimising the role of the State and opening the market. New Zealand has hence endured an explosive and sustained rise in income inequality (1985 Gini co-efficient = .271; 2000 Gini co-efficient = .339, OECD, 2013b). One might see this trend across South America, Asia, and Europe, with very few exceptions. New Zealand is a particularly strong example, with the Gino co efficient increasing in the late 1980s into the 1990s more than any other country recorded by the OECD in that decade (Ministry of Social Development N.Z., 2013). We argue that the neoliberal policy regime of market deregulation and minimal social support drive income disparity and a host of other undesirable social phenomena. From a Marxist perspective we find a root cause is the underlying mode of production - capitalism itself – and suggest that a solution is a maximumwage cap. We expect that such action would not only be an immediate step towards reducing income disparity but would also instigate mass-deconstruction of ideology that is maintaining inequality across a board of indicators. With a vision to more extensive and enduring effects than could be anticipated by policy alone, we place our recommendation of a maximum-wage within a larger, long-term strategy to build the social consciousness necessary to sustain more equal societies.


The oral toxicity of phorate oxon (PHO), with emphasis on gender- and age-related effects, was characterized in the Sprague-Dawley rat. The oral LD50 (95% fiducial limits) for PHO in corn oil was 0.88 (0.79, 1.04) mg/kg in males and 0.55 (0.46, 0.63) mg/kg in females with a probit slope of 15. Females had higher baseline blood cholinesterase titers, but males were significantly more tolerant. Younger rats generally had lower absolute cholinesterase blood titers. However as PHO challenges increased, baseline-normalized cholinesterase inhibition was independent of age and gender. Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and especially acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in brains of younger females were affected more than that in either males or older females. In summary, while female rats, especially older females, had higher titers relative to males, female rats were more susceptible in terms of absolute cholinesterase inhibition and 24-hr lethality data, but the differences were not observed when titers were normalized to baseline levels.


Platelets are the key elements of hemostasis and optimal model for analysis of normal and altered mechanisms of thrombogenesis. Adhesion of platelets is initiated by von Willebrand factor, collagen, fibronectin, thrombospondin and laminin through GP VI, GPIb-V-IX complex, integrine receptors α(2)β(1), α(IIb)β, and Fc(γ)-receptors IIA. Their activation is accompanied with signalosome formation, increase of intracellular Ca2+ level, proteins phosphorylation, adhesion and degranulation of platelets. Major stimulators of progression phase are humoral factors and factors accumulated in dense granules of platelets, which include ADP, TA2, epinephrine, serotonin and thrombin. Their action is mediated by stimulation of G-protein coupled receptors: Gq, Gi, Gs, Gz, G12, G13, which can modulate activity of adenilate cyclase, phospholipase C, phosphoinositid-3-kinase, p115-RhoGEF and promote recruitment of platelets in the zone of injury. The phase of stabilization is due to contact-dependent signaling by integrins - predominantly α(IIb)β(3), which ligand is fibrinogen, inducing reorganization of cytoskeleton in platelets, formation of strong intercellular junctions and retraction of thrombus.


Environmental factors significantly influence concrete surfaces. Infrastructures are affected by variety climatic conditions including: extreme temperatures, droughts, moist and humid conditions or even inundation, and they are more likely to experience negative influences on their concrete surfaces. Thus, this research aims to identify sustainable solutions to decrease the vulnerability of concrete exposed to climatic and environmental influences by assessing the response of concrete surfaces to high solar radiation, high temperatures, and wet weather conditions. Our results within warm and tropical regions show that temperature fluctuations lead to expansion and shrinkage of concrete, particularly in buildings with poor thermal insulation. Including iron components are prone to these shrink-swell processes, causing crack development and expansion over time. Then, this study is suggested some responding solutions including; plant covering over concrete surfaces of the structures as well as use of some light-coloured silicates to reduce solar radiation absorption. Another focus of this study is to analyse the roles of some environmental factors including salinity, humidity, rain, and snow that may influence the concrete surfaces, particularly within wet and coastal regions. Previous studies show that the permeability of concrete surfaces increase the Infiltration of water which can lead to corrosion of iron components, and salt accumulation within cavities, particularly affecting coastal-zone infrastructures. Thus, a suggestion of high-density, low-porous concrete to be used to prevent the diffusion of water into concrete surfaces. The concrete surface problems that are occurring due to various environmental factors can cause severe damage. The corrosions including peeling process is an example of such damage that often is notrepairable. Notably, if peeling occurs within the primary reinforcing structure, the metal bodies are likely exposed to corrosion, which then requires a greater response to be fixed. Thus, the information provided in this study yield base suggestions which can support informed decision-making during planning and construction stages to sustain longer-lasting concrete surfaces under different environmental conditions. Additionally, the concrete material industry can benefit from this research, as the findings provide guidance to the use of more suitable materials for improved structural integrity under various climatic conditions. Publication Details Alshammari, M. M.H., Al-Nasrawi, A. K.M. & Abdullah, A. Jabbar. (2019). Sustainable solutions for exposed concrete surfaces to climatic influences Within various regions: An industrial-geographic letter to civilconstructors. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 10 (1), 242-254. This journal article is available at Research Online: https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers1/572


The Iranian Ministry of Energy commands the Regional Electrical Companies to install DG resources at 63kV/20kV substations and at the end of 20kV lines. The first and foremost challenge in installing these resources is deciding on the optimal place and capacity of these resources. This paper is aimed to propose an appropriate algorithm for siting and sizing such resources in Bakhtar Regional Electrical Company. The proposed algorithm takes into consideration all technical and economic factors important to the company. Due to the variety of important factors in sizing and siting, this paper proposes a new method to reduce limitations and constraints of this process. Accordingly, all technical and economic factors are assigned monetarily, so violating limitations reduces considered benefits. This method increases the probability of convergence of results and accordingly is appropriate for application in actual network where there are numerous factors. Another feature of this paper is considering the parameter of earthquake for the first time and is assigned monetarily according to its devastating effects on considered parameters. Applying this parameter while sizing and siting leads to increase in distributed generation impacts in reducing customer outage in locations with high probability of earthquake. The obtained results are reported and discussed.


Sequential decision-making under cost-sensitive tasks is prohibitively daunting, especially for the problem that has a significant impact on people's daily lives, such as malaria control, treatment recommendation. The main challenge faced by policymakers is to learn a policy from scratch by interacting with a complex environment in a few trials. This work introduces a practical, data-efficient policy learning method, named Variance-Bonus Monte Carlo Tree Search~(VB-MCTS), which can copy with very little data and facilitate learning from scratch in only a few trials. Specifically, the solution is a model-based reinforcement learning method. To avoid model bias, we apply Gaussian Process~(GP) regression to estimate the transitions explicitly. With the GP world model, we propose a variance-bonus reward to measure the uncertainty about the world. Adding the reward to the planning with MCTS can result in more efficient and effective exploration. Furthermore, the derived polynomial sample complexity indicates that VB-MCTS is sample efficient. Finally, outstanding performance on a competitive world-level RL competition and extensive experimental results verify its advantage over the state-of-the-art on the challenging malaria control task.


Abstract This paper reports on a small-scale action research, which investigated the processes involved in problem-solving in a mathematics class. Grade ten learners (n = 47) at a South African middle school were involved in the study. The participants from two classes attempted the solution of tasks involving the fraction concept. In one class, the learners worked in groups and in the other class, the learners worked individually. A qualitative method was adopted for data capture and analysis. Social constructivism was adopted as a theoretical framework and the stages advocated by Polya were interrogated when analyzing the learner responses on their problem solutions. The results revealed that those learners working in groups demonstrated most of the stages of the Polya linear problem-solving model. The findings helped identify which stages of the model promote effective problemsolving and some recommendations are made for classroom practitioners engaging their learners in problemsolving.


Focusing regions, also known as caustic regions, are the singular solutions to the amplitude function of optical fields. Focusing regions are generated by the envelope curve of a set of critical points, which can be of attractor or repulsor type. The nature of the critical point depends on the refractive index. An important property of the critical points is that they present charge-like features. When a focusing region is generated in media with a random refractive index, current-like effects appear, and the evolution of the focusing regions follows a diffusion behavior. The morphology of the focusing regions may generate vortices or "eternal solutions" of solitonic type in a nonlinear medium. Herein, the condition under which these effects occur is analyzed and experimentally corroborated.


In 2014 the UK Supreme Court was asked to rule on whether three people with intellectual disabilities were deprived of their liberty. Each of these people were living in 'post-carceral' care settings in the community: a small care home, supported living and in foster care. The Supreme Court ruled that they were, and the resultant 'acid test' of deprivation of liberty under UK law means that over 300,000 people living in the community are considered to be detained and requiring legal safeguards. This chapter analyses the ruling in its historical context and in light of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It suggests future avenues for addressing some of the judgment's more paradoxical and troubling consequences.


BACKGROUND
Traumatic injury is a leading cause of death and disability among US workers. Severe injuries are less subject to systematic ascertainment bias related to factors such as reporting barriers, inpatient admission criteria, and workers' compensation coverage. A state-based occupational health indicator (OHI #22) was initiated in 2012 to track work-related severe traumatic injury hospitalizations. After 2015, OHI #22 was reformulated to account for the transition from the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) to ICD-10-CM. This study describes rates and trends in OHI #22, alongside corresponding metrics for all work-related hospitalizations.

METHODS
Seventeen states used hospital discharge data to calculate estimates for calendar years 2012-2019. State-panel fixed-effects regression was used to model linear trends in annual work-related hospitalization rates, OHI #22 rates, and the proportion of work-related hospitalizations resulting from severe injuries. Models included calendar year and pre- to post-ICD-10-CM transition.

RESULTS
Work-related hospitalization rates showed a decreasing monotonic trend, with no significant change associated with the ICD-10-CM transition. In contrast, OHI #22 rates showed a monotonic increasing trend from 2012 to 2014, then a significant 50% drop, returning to a near-monotonic increasing trend from 2016 to 2019. On average, OHI #22 accounted for 12.9% of work-related hospitalizations before the ICD-10-CM transition, versus 9.1% post-transition.

CONCLUSIONS
Although hospital discharge data suggest decreasing work-related hospitalizations over time, work-related severe traumatic injury hospitalizations are apparently increasing. OHI #22 contributes meaningfully to state occupational health surveillance efforts by reducing the impact of factors that differentially obscure minor injuries; however, OHI #22 trend estimates must account for the ICD-10-CM transition-associated structural break in 2015.


Ground-based LIDAR (also known as laser ranging) is a novel technique that may precisely quantify fuelbed characteristics important in determining fire behavior. We measured fuel properties within a south-eastern US longleaf pine woodland at the individual plant and fuelbed scale. Data were collected using a mobile terrestrial LIDAR unit at sub-cm scale for individual fuel types (shrubs) and heterogeneous fuelbed plots. Spatially explicit point-intercept fuel sampling also measured fuelbed heights and volume, while leaf area and biomass measurements of whole and sectioned shrubs were determined from destructive sampling. Volumes obtained by LIDAR and traditional methods showed significant discrepan- cies. We found that traditional means overestimated volume for shrub fuel types because of variation in leaf area distribution within shrub canopies. LIDAR volume estimates were correlated with biomass and leaf area for individual shrubs when factored by species, size, and plant section. Fuelbed heights were found to be highly variable among the fuel plots, and ground LIDAR was more sensitive to capturing the height variation than traditional point intercept sampling. Ground LIDAR is a promising technology capable of measuring complex surface fuels and fuel characteristics, such as fuel volume.


Changes in membrane protein localization are critical to establishing cell polarity and regulating cell signaling. Fluorescence microscopy of labeled proteins allows visualization of these changes, but quantitative analysis is needed to study this aspect of cell signaling in full mechanistic detail. We have developed a novel approach for quantitative assessment of membrane protein redistribution based on four-dimensional video microscopy of fluorescently labeled proteins. Our analytic system provides robust automated methods for cell surface reconstruction, cell shape tracking, cell-surface distance measurement, and cluster formation analysis. These methods permit statistical analyses and testing of mechanistic hypotheses regarding cell signaling. We have used this approach to measure antigen-dependent clustering of signaling molecules in CD4+ T lymphocytes, obtaining clustering velocities consistent with single-particle tracking data. Our system captures quantitative differences in clustering between signaling proteins with distinct biological functions. Our methods can be generalized to a range of cell-signaling phenomena and enable novel applications not feasible with single-particle studies, such as analysis of subcellular protein localization in live organ culture.


The microdistribution of Mn (786 to 9480 ppm), Sr (<5 to 461 ppm), and Fe (52 to 16,700 ppm) was determined for cleat-filling calcites in the Herrin, Springfield, and Colchester Coals, using focussed synchrotron radiation. Compositional zonation in the calcites reflects a multistage history of precipitation from fluids with differing trace-element characteristics. In nearly all of the samples, a high Fe ($$\geq\sim 5000 ppm$$) calcite is the latest composition to form, replacing earlier stages with varying, but generally lower Fe contents. Partitioning data for Sr suggest that a typical calcite with 200 ppm Sr formed from a fluid with a Sr/Ca of about 0.005. This Sr/Ca is ~4 times lower than seawater, and ~12 times lower than the average for present day Illinois Basin saline formation waters. Formation of cleat-filling calcite is best explained by precipitation from fluids similar to present day dilute (shallow) formation waters having a meteoric source.


This study is an ongoing research aiming to develop four prospective secondary mathematics teachers' skills in designing and teaching technology-based lesson plans within the scope of 14week Teaching Practice course. The Dynamic Geometry Task Analysis and Instrumental Orchestration frameworks have been chosen as the conceptual basis of the study. In this study, qualitative research paradigm has been adopted and action research methodology aiming to plan a cyclical process of designing technology-based lesson plans through modifying, implementing and reflecting has been used. Data mainly consisted of individual/group interviews, lesson observations/field notes and multiple versions of lesson plans. Data analysis process is in progress, however, preliminary results focusing on one task of one participant indicated that the participant developed, evaluated and implemented her technology-based task in the light of adopted frameworks.


N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors are broadly involved in the CNS physiological and pathological processes. The voltage-dependent block by external Mg2+ is a signature characteristic of the NMDA receptors and is partly responsible for the many important roles NMDA receptors play. The work included in this Dissertation was designed to advance our understanding of the mechanism of Mg2+ block of NMDA receptors by exploring the permeant ion and subunit dependence of this process. Whole-cell and outside-out patch recordings from primary cultures of rat cortical neurons or heterologous mammalian cell lines were performed in combination with kinetic modeling. I report that Mg2+ inhibition of whole-cell NMDA currents in cortical neurons, which express NMDA receptors with NR2A or NR2B NR2 subunits, is very sensitive to ionic conditions. This phenomenon can be explained by a kinetic model which incorporates external permeant ion binding sites within the pore. Permeant ions binding to these sites prevents Mg2+ blocking or unblocking the channel. The general mechanisms of Mg2+ channel block of NR1/2D receptors is fundamentally similar to that of cortical receptors. However, Mg2+ block of NR1/2D receptors is much weaker than cortical receptors, mostly due to faster Mg2+ unblocking. Permeant ions also greatly affect Mg2+ block of NR1/2D receptors. The results can be explained by a kinetic model that incorporates two external and one internal permeant ion binding sites in the channel of NMDA receptors. When these sites are occupied by permeant ions, Mg2+ blocking or unblocking is affected. Thus, the research included in this Dissertation has deepened our understanding of the mechanism of Mg2+ block . The work also provides insights into NMDA receptor structure and gating.


The corrosion resistance of bainitic steel was compared with a weathering steel 09CuPCrNi through accelerated corrosion tests. The results indicated that the corrosion resistance was better for bainitic steel than 09CuPCrNi based on the weight loss. The characteristics of the rust layers indicated the rust layers on two steels are composed of two parts: the loose outer rust layer and the dense inner rust layer. The rust layers are mainly composed of goethite (α-FeOOH) with a few of lepidocrocite (γ-FeOOH). The factors including homogeneous microstructure and lower carbon content played important roles in enhancing the corrosion resistance of bainitic steel.


: Propolis is bee-produced substance with pronounced anti-inflammatory effect. It is an ingredient of many drugs; it is added to toothpastes as a prophylactic component for periodontal diseases. The plaque-cleaning, plaque-inhibiting and anti-inflammatory actions of the silicate paste were studied. The study included 42 individuals in good clinical health and a minimum of 20 intact teeth - 11, 16, 24, 31, 36, 46. Control exams were performed on days 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28. The baseline values gradually decreased after each control tooth brushing with a statistically significant difference between them. The toothpaste shows very good plaque-cleaning, plaque-inhibiting and anti-inflammatory effect.


In this paper, we present an Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA)-based decentralized allocation enforcement system, developed with an emphasis on a consistent data model and easy integration into existing scheduling, and workload management software at six independent high-performance computing centers forming a Grid known as SweGrid. The Swedish National Allocations Committee (SNAC) allocates resource quotas at these centers to research projects requiring substantial computer time. Our system, the SweGrid Accounting System (SGAS), addresses the need for soft real-time allocation enforcement on SweGrid for cross-domain job submission. The SGAS framework is based on state-of-the-art Web and Grid services technologies. The openness and ubiquity of Web services combined with the fine-grained resource control and cross-organizational security models of Grid services proved to be a perfect match for the SweGrid needs. Extensibility and customizability of policy implementations for the three different parties the system serves (the user, the resource manager, and the allocation authority) are key design goals. Another goal is end-to-end security and single sign-on, to allow resources-selected based on client policies-to act on behalf of the user when negotiating contracts with the bank in an environment where the six centers would continue to use their existing accounting policies and tools. We conclude this paper by showing the feasibility of SGAS, which is currently being deployed at the production sites, using simulations of reservation streams. The reservation streams are shaped using soft computing and policy-based algorithms.


The normative environment, often represented by college peer and friend interactions, is a strong and consistent predictor of problem drinking in college. However, many students work in addition to attending college and the influence of this other peer group is not well studied. This study sought to address this gap using two objectives : 1) to test social identity as a moderator between descriptive drinking norms and problem drinking among students that work, and 2) to test the relationship between working in the hospitality industry among college students that work and drinking, and to examine factors that might mediate that relationship. The study was implemented via a cross-sectional web-survey conducted in the Fall of 2009 (n=760). Of the 760 students, 330 students were employed and included in the study. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), a test for the moderating effect of social identity was non-significant (CMIN=2.26 [64], CFI=.97, RMSEA= .05). A post hoc analysis splitting the model into two groups (hospitality vs. non- hospitality) showed a significant moderating effect of social identity among non-hospitality workers, (b=.14, p< .05, CMIN=1.17 [128], CFI=.94 RMSEA=.05). For the second objective, working in hospitality was significantly associated with problem drinking (b =.23, p<.001, CMIN=1.72 [17], CFI=.99, RMSEA=.05) and the descriptive drinking norm was a partial mediator (indirect effect = .078, p<.001). This study showed that coworker-drinking norms influence student drinking and that social identity may be an important moderator between norms and behavior. Also, norms seem to account for some of the effect of working in hospitality on drinking. This study establishes coworkers as an important peer group for college student interventions and that working in hospitality should be viewed as a risk group for drinking among college populations. Future studies should further examine both what are the factors that predict students working in hospitality and how those factors moderate the work environment's effect on drinking as well as the factors that mediate the association between hospitality and drinking


Background In vitro assays are widely used in studies on pathogen infectivity, immune responses, drug and vaccine discovery. However, most in vitro assays display significant differences to the in vivo situation and limited predictive properties. We applied medium perfusion methods to mimic interstitial fluid flow to establish a novel infection model of Leishmania parasites. Methods Leishmania major infection of mouse peritoneal macrophages was studied within the Quasi Vivo QV900 macro-perfusion system. Under a constant flow of culture media at a rate of 360μl/min, L. major infected macrophages were cultured either at the base of a perfusion chamber or raised on 9mm high inserts. Mathematical and computational modelling was conducted to estimate medium flow speed, shear stress and oxygen concentration. The effects of medium flow on infection rate, intracellular amastigote division, macrophage phagocytosis and macropinocytosis were measured. Results Mean fluid speeds at the macrophage cell surface were estimated to be 1.45 x 10−9 m/s and 1.23 x 10−7 m/s for cells at the base of the chamber and cells on an insert, respectively. L. major macrophage infection was significantly reduced under both media perfusion conditions compared to cells maintained under static conditions; a 85±3% infection rate of macrophages at 72 hours in static cultures compared to 62±5% for cultures under slow medium flow and 55±3% under fast medium flow. Media perfusion also decreased amastigote replication and both macrophage phagocytosis (by 44±4% under slow flow and 57±5% under fast flow compared with the static condition) and macropinocytosis (by 40±4% under slow flow and 62±5% under fast flow compared with the static condition) as measured by uptake of latex beads and pHrodo Red dextran. Conclusions Perfusion of culture medium in an in vitro L. major macrophage infection model (simulating in vivo lymphatic flow) reduced the infection rate of macrophages, the replication of the intracellular parasite, macrophage phagocytosis and macropinocytosis with greater reductions achieved under faster flow speeds.


Approach slab pavement at integral abutment (I-A) bridges are prone to settlement and cracking, which has been long recognized by the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT). A commonly recommended solution is to integrally attach the approach slab to the bridge abutment. This study sought to supplement a previous project by instrumenting, monitoring, and analyzing the behavior of an approach slab tied to a integral abutment bridge. The primary objective of this investigation was to evaluate the performance of the approach slab. To satisfy the research needs, the project scope involved reviewing a similar previous study, implementing a health monitoring system on the approach slab, interpreting the data obtained during the evaluation, and conducting periodic visual inspections of the bridge and approach slab. Based on the information obtained from the testing, the following general conclusions were made: the integral connection between the approach slab and the bridge appears to function well with no observed distress at this location and no relative longitudinal movement measured between the two components; the measured strains in the approach slabs indicate a force exists at the expansion joint and should be taken into consideration when designing both the approach slab and the bridge and the observed responses generally followed an annual cyclic and/or short term cyclic pattern over time; the expansion joint at one side of the approach slab does not appear to be functioning as well as elsewhere; much larger frictional forces were observed in this study compared to the previous study.


ABSTRACT Intercity transportation infrastructures and services determine the depth and breadth of the spatial interactions among cities within an urban agglomeration, and have profound impacts on the spatial structure of the urban agglomeration. To evaluate whether the public intercity ground transportation infrastructures and services (i.e. passenger trains and long-distance buses) can support the integration and development of urban agglomerations, we propose a method for 'transportation cluster' detection (TCD), which has three unique features: (1) the K-shortest paths are used to quantify the proximity between cities, which is more in line with people's travel behaviors; (2) a dendrogram is obtained through hierarchical clustering to reveal the structural hierarchies of transportation clusters; and (3) the integration of geo-modularity and hierarchical clustering assures high strength of division of transportation networks. The proposed TCD method was applied to the network of passenger trains, the network of long-distance buses, and the combined network of both in mainland China, respectively. By comparing the resultant transportation clusters with the urban agglomerations delineated by the Chinese government, cities that have weak transportation connections with other cities within an urban agglomeration were identified, and such findings could help devise transportation planning to better support the integrated development of urban agglomerations.


Previously it has been demonstrated that telehealth (TH) could help cover the gaps in health attention in remote locations. Today the expanded capabilities have transformed TH delivery, and from the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, it has remained one of our biggest allies. Telehealth has become a central piece in patient healthcare delivery during COVID-19 pandemic era. Telehealth allows health care services to reach patients in their homes, keeping other patients safe through social distancing and maintaining self-quarantine. Within this administration of health, TH allows health care providers to focus more resources to pandemic usage and at the same time continue caring for the health of non COVID-19 patients. During this time, clinicians are expanding knowledge about TH capabilities, such as application of forward triage as a tool to avoid patient contact in emergency departments. While previously TH was mainly used for primary care needs, specialized and urgent care health is now being utilized more than ever before. These advantages comes with limitations, some of them include a limited physical exam, lack of access to diagnostic testing or imaging, and many other pitfalls and persistent unmet needs. The 2020 pandemic has led to significant improvements leading into the next generation of telemedicine.


Background The intra-patient variability in tacrolimus exposure (TAC-IPV) after paediatric liver transplantation and its impact on patient outcomes has been poorly studied. The present study aims to investigate whether there is a trend in TAC-IPV during the first 5 years post transplantation, which variables influence IPV and wheth-er the IPV during the first year is associated with liver transplantation outcomes in paediatric patients. Methods We conducted a single centre retrospective study including 41 living paediatric patients transplanted between January 2003 and September 2016 at the Ghent University Hospital. The intra-patient variability in the dose-adjusted tacrolimus pre-dose concentrations was calculated yearly during the first five years following trans-plantation, expressed as coefficient of variation (CV%1–5) The difference in CV% in the years following transplanta-tion was analysed using the Friedman test. A linear uni-variate and multivariate regression analysis was applied to identify factors associated with TAC-IPV. The following parameters were tested: age, gender, origin, the number of missed clinic appointments as a surrogate marker for ther-apy adherence, the total number of medications, concom-itant medications potentially interfering with TAC metabo-lism-CYP3A4/A5 inductors or inhibitors and biochemical parameters. Logistic and linear regression models were fit-ted to test an association of TAC-IPV with patient outcomes: need for biopsy during year 1, 3 and 5; hypertension and renal function at 1, 3 and 5 years; acute rejection and CMV/EBV viremia during year 1 post-transplantation. Results We identified a significant decrease in TAC-IPV during the first 3 years after transplantation with the me-dian CV%1=39,4%; CV%2=30,9%; CV%3=28,5% (p=0,004), after which the CV% reaches a plateau (CV%4=23,6% en CV%5=28,9%). Multivariate analysis showed that serum albumin in the first year (p=0,029), haematocrit in the third year (p=0,019) and the number of missed clin-ic appointments in the fifth year after transplantation (p=0,009) were associated with TAC-IPV.in the 1 st, 3rd and 5th year, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that CV%1 was significantly associated with the need for bi-opsy during the first year post-transplantation (p=0.036) and the occurrence of one or more episodes of acute al-lograft rejection during the first year post-transplantation (p=0.031). In univariate analysis a trend was observed for association with hypertension one year after transplan-tation (p=0,085). Multivariate logistic regression analysis confirmed that CV%1 was an independent factor associ-ated with the need for liver biopsy in the first year follow-ing liver transplantation. (p=0.05; Exp(B)=1.045). Conclusion As expected, tacrolimus intra-patient vari-ability is higher during the first two years after transplantation. Our results suggest that while albumin and hae-matocrit are associated with TAC-IPV in the first 3 years, therapy adherence expressed as the number of missed clinic appointments is associated with TAC-IPV after a longer follow-up. A high TAC-IPV during the first year was an independent factor associated with the need for liver biopsy. Our results therefore highlight the importance of monitoring the variability of the tacrolimus trough levels.


This paper proposes a novel probabilistic framework for the design of probabilistic message passing mechanism for complex and large dynamical systems that are operating and governing under a decentralized way. The proposed framework considers the evaluation of probabilistic messages that can be passed between mutually interacting quasi-independent subsystems that will not be restricted by the assumption of homogeneity or conformability of the subsystems components. The proposed message passing scheme is based on the evaluation of the marginal density functions of the states that need to be passed from one subsystem to another. An additional contribution is the development of stochastic controllability analysis of the controlled subsystems that constitute a complex system. To facilitate the understanding and the analytical analysis of the proposed message passing mechanism and the controllability analysis, theoretical developments are demonstrated on linear stochastic Gaussian systems.


Accurate numerical simulation of thesea keeping of Floating Wind turbines (FWTs) is essential for the development of Marine Renewable Energy. State-of-the-art simulation tools assume a steady flow on the rotor. The accuracy of such models has been proven for bottom-fixed turbines, but has not been demonstrated yet for FWTs with substantial platform motions. This PhD thesis focuses on the impact of unsteady aerodynamics on the seakeeping of FWTs. This study is done by comparing quasi-steady to fully unsteady models with a coupled hydro-aerodynamic simulation tool. It shows that unsteady load shave a substantial effect on the platform motion when the rotor is highly loaded. The choice of a numerical model for example induces differences in tower base bending moments. The study also shows that state of the art quasi-steady aerodynamic models can show rather good accuracy when studying the global motion of the FWTs. Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) could lower infrastructure costs and are hence studied today for offshore wind projects. Unsteady aerodynamics for floating VAWT sand its effects on the sea keeping modelling have been studied during the PhD thesis,leading to similar conclusions than for traditional floating Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWTs). Those turbines have been compared to HAWTs. The study concludes that, without blade pitch control strategy, VAWTs suffer from very high wind thrust at over-rated wind speeds, leading to excessive displacements and loads. More developments are hence needed to improve the performance of such floating systems.