BACKGROUND
Ceramides have been implicated in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Limited data exist on how habitual dietary intake of foods that can alter hepatic lipid metabolism may influence circulating ceramide concentrations.

OBJECTIVES
We investigated the cross-sectional association of cumulative sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption with concentrations of 3 circulating ceramides and ceramide ratios.

METHODS
We examined participants from the Framingham Heart Study's Offspring Cohort who had 3 ceramides measured (n  = 1561, mean age 66 y, 59% women). SSB consumption was measured 4 times over ∼14 y. Participants were categorized by cumulative SSB intake as nonconsumers (0 to <1 SSB serving/mo) and occasional (1 SSB serving/mo to <1 serving/wk), frequent (1 SSB serving/wk to <1 serving/d), and daily (≥1 SSB serving/d) consumers. Multivariable linear regression models were used to relate cumulative SSB consumption (independent variable) to blood concentrations of ceramides (C16:0, C22:0, and C24:0) and ceramide ratios (C22:0/C16:0 and C24:0/C16:0).

RESULTS
In adjusted models, more frequent cumulative SSB consumption was positively associated with concentrations of the C16:0 and C22:0 ceramides (Ptrend < 0.05). Compared with nonconsumers, daily consumers had 0.01 μg/mL (95% CI: 0.002, 0.017 µg/mL) and 0.06 µg/mL (95% CI: 0.018, 0.092 µg/mL) higher mean concentrations of the C16:0 and C22:0 ceramides, respectively. Results were consistent when modeling continuous cumulative SSB consumption per 1 serving/d. We observed effect modification by diabetes status in the relation between cumulative SSB consumption and concentrations of the C24:0 ceramide (Pinteraction = 0.014). In a stratified analysis, more frequent cumulative SSB consumption was positively associated with concentrations of the C24:0 ceramide only in individuals with prediabetes or diabetes (Ptrend = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
Our study raises the possibility that higher concentrations of distinct ceramide species, previously associated with adverse metabolic health, may be one mechanism by which SSB consumption contributes to higher risk of cardiometabolic diseases.


Distributions of irradiance H in the sharply focused diffraction images of self-radiant line elements are examined for objectives of Sonine type S0, S1, and S2 with the view to finding a common characteristic that can be applied to the systematic measurement of length of line elements. With respect to the distribution H(x) along the length x of the diffraction image, the only outstanding, common characteristic is the point of steepest slope, at which dH(x)/dx assumes its greatest value. The relationships between the distance xa from the center of the image to the point of steepest slope and the half-length K of the geometrical image are derived and tabulated for types S0, S1, and S2. Distances xa have a strong tendency to equal K. It is found that objectives of type S0 are more sensitive than the classical Airy type S1 for measuring the shortest measurable line elements.


Synopsis The western part of the Moine Nappe in north-west Sutherland consists of a thick belt of blastomylonite of greenschist facies overlain by non-mylonitic Moinian metasediments. It rests on a complex dislocation zone, the Moine Thrust Zone. A four-fold deformation sequence, similar to that established by earlier workers in the Moine Thrust Belt in Wester Ross, is described and interpreted in terms of repeated displacement of the orogen north-westwards relative to the Caledonian foreland. The composition and fabric of the mylonites are described; they are shown to have been derived from both the basement and cover rocks of the foreland. Evidence is adduced that the whole deformation sequence is of post-Cambrian age. Some regional implications are discussed.


The empirical Colebrook equation from 1939 is still accepted as an informal standard way to calculate the friction factor of turbulent flows (4000 < Re < 108) through pipes with roughness between negligible relative roughness (ε/D ⟶ 0) to very rough (up to ε/D = 0.05). The Colebrook equation includes the flow friction factor λ in an implicit logarithmic form, λ being a function of the Reynolds number Re and the relative roughness of inner pipe surface ε/D: λ = f(λ, Re, ε/D). To evaluate the error introduced by the many available explicit approximations to the Colebrook equation, λ ≈ f(Re, ε/D), it is necessary to determinate the value of the friction factor λ from the Colebrook equation as accurately as possible. The most accurate way to achieve that is by using some kind of the iterative method. The most used iterative approach is the simple fixed-point method, which requires up to 10 iterations to achieve a good level of accuracy. The simple fixed-point method does not require derivatives of the Colebrook function, while the most of the other presented methods in this paper do require. The methods based on the accelerated Householder's approach (3rd order, 2nd order: Halley's and Schröder's method, and 1st order: Newton–Raphson) require few iterations less, while the three-point iterative methods require only 1 to 3 iterations to achieve the same level of accuracy. The paper also discusses strategies for finding the derivatives of the Colebrook function in symbolic form, for avoiding the use of the derivatives (secant method), and for choosing an optimal starting point for the iterative procedure. The Householder approach to the Colebrook' equations expressed through the Lambert W-function is also analyzed. Finally, it is presented one approximation to the Colebrook equation with an error of no more than 0.0617%.


International initiatives such as the Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium (METABRIC) are collecting multiple data sets at different genome-scales with the aim to identify novel cancer bio-markers and predict patient survival. To analyse such data, several machine learning, bioinformatics and statistical methods have been applied, among them neural networks such as autoencoders. Although these models provide a good statistical learning framework to analyse multi-omic and/or clinical data, there is a distinct lack of work on how to integrate diverse patient data and identify the optimal design best suited to the available data. In this paper, we investigate several autoencoder architectures that integrate a variety of cancer patient data types (e.g., multi-omics and clinical data). We perform extensive analyses of these approaches and provide a clear methodological and computational framework for designing systems that enable clinicians to investigate cancer traits and translate the results into clinical applications. We demonstrate how these networks can be designed, built and, in particular, applied to tasks of integrative analyses of heterogeneous breast cancer data. The results show that these approaches yield relevant data representations that, in turn, lead to accurate and stable diagnosis.


Abstract Virginia creeper and wild grape are troublesome perennial vines that often infest Christmas tree plantations. Field studies were conducted to evaluate Fraser fir injury and Virginia creeper and wild grape control with directed applications of triclopyr (1,680 g ai/ha) alone and in combination with 2,4-D (1,120 g ai/ha), clopyralid (280 g ai/ha), and halosulfuron (36 g ai/ha). Additional treatments included 2,4-D, clopyralid, glyphosate (1,120 g ai/ha), halosulfuron, hexazinone (560 g ai/ha), mesotrione (105 g ai/ha), and sulfometuron (71 g ai/ha) applied alone; and a mixture of hexazinone plus mesotrione. In the triclopyr-containing treatments, Fraser fir injury ranged from 6 to 13% at 1 mo after treatment (MAT) and was 4 to 8% at 11 MAT. Leader growth was not impacted by the herbicide treatments. At 11 MAT, all triclopyr-containing treatments controlled Virginia creeper 93 to 98% and wild grape 98 to 100%, which was greater than the control observed with glyphosate at 63 and 59%, respectively. Virginia creeper and wild grape control with 2,4-D was 88 to 90%. Clopyralid, halosulfuron, hexazinone, hexazinone plus mesotrione, mesotrione, and sulfometuron provided less than 66% control of both perennial vines. Directed applications of triclopyr-containing treatments or 2,4-D were effective management tools for selective removal of wild grape and Virginia creeper from Fraser fir Christmas tree plantations. Additional research is needed on the potential sensitivity of other commonly grown Christmas tree species to triclopyr-containing treatments. Nomenclature: Clopyralid; glyphosate; halosulfuron; hexazinone; mesotrione; sulfometuron; triclopyr; 2,4-D; Virginia creeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia (L.) Planch. PRTQU; wild grape, Vitis spp. VITSP; Fraser fir, Abies fraseri (Pursh) Poir


This paper establishes a new neuron model in the effect of induction electric field (IEF) based on the Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) model to investigate how a single-compartment neuron encodes the stimulus and how the sensitivity of firing rate to input fluctuations changes under different IEF. Then add noisy direct current IEF (DCIEF) and alternating current IEF (ACIEF) to the neuron model respectively at the bifurcation point. By the data obtained and our analysis, this paper shows how the variance of IEF frequency or amplitude influences the neuronal sensitivity of firing rate.


Background and Objectives To investigate intrathymic B lymphopoiesis in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) and explore thymus pathology associated with clinical impact. Methods Thymic lymphocytes from 15 young patients without MG, 22 adult patients without MG, 14 patients with MG without thymoma, and 11 patients with MG with thymoma were subjected to flow cytometry analysis of T follicular helper (Tfh), naive B, memory B, plasmablasts, CD19+B220high thymic B cells, B-cell activating factor receptor, and C-X-C chemokine receptor 5 (CXCR5). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 16 healthy subjects and 21 untreated patients with MG were also analyzed. Immunologic values were compared, and correlations between relevant values and clinical parameters were evaluated. Results The frequencies of circulating and intrathymic plasmablasts were significantly higher in patients with MG than controls. On the other hand, the frequency of CD19+B220high thymic B cells was not increased in MG thymus. We observed a significant increase in CXCR5 expression on plasmablasts in MG thymus and an increased frequency of intrathymic plasmablasts that was correlated with preoperative disease activity. The frequency of intrathymic Tfh cells was significantly lower in patients who received immunosuppressive (IS) therapy than those without IS therapy. However, there was no significant difference in the frequency of intrathymic plasmablasts irrespective of IS therapy. Discussion Our findings confirmed a correlation between increased frequency of intrathymic plasmablasts and disease activity before thymectomy. We postulate that activated intrathymic plasmablasts endow pathogenic capacity in MG.


In order to measure complexity and stay competitive, manufacturing companies need to be able to quantify production complexity. For this reason, two methods were developed within the context of two concurrent research projects are compared: the Belgian Complexity Calculator, CXC, measures objective complexity and the Swedish Complexity Index, CXI, focuses on subjective complexity, as experienced by operators in the stations. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the two methods by comparing them to seven relevant existing quantitative methods and by examining results from case studies. It is observed that the two methods can be used as a compliment to one another, where CXC can be used for scanning data automatically CXI can be used for in-depth analysis. In addition, the comparison of existing methods provides insight on how to measure complexity depending on need and scope.


This dissertation is an investigation of a number of themes in financialisation and financial stability in a European and cross-border context. Continental European countries are the primary objects of interest, though the US and the UK are also considered given the relationship and similarities between the different regions. The PhD follows a three essay structure but with several unifying threads. Among them are financialisation as a demand-led process (that is, the growth of finance has been driven by factors external to financial markets), comparative and cross-border dynamics, interactions between institutional investors and the banking system, and housing market dynamics. In particular, the thesis examines the transformation and growth of banking activities, the nature and financial stability consequences of the expansion of financial trading generally and also proprietary trading in particular, and the determinants of cross-border debt flows in Europe in the 2000s. From these a number of diverse policy implications emerge. Common among them, and a unifying theme of the PhD, is that financialisation needs to be managed as opposed to reversed. The PhD adds to existing research on financialisation in a number of ways. The chapter on the growth of banking identifies the aggregate growth of investment banking as driven by the increase in scale and scope of modern capital markets. Deregulation and/or disintermediation processes have not been the driving force. The imposition of the first Basel Accord is found to be the largest single factor in the rise of mortgage lending over the past four decades or so. A capital market-led view of investment banking is a novel approach, whereas the invocation of the Basel agreements in this study is one of greater emphasis compared to existing literature.
The following chapter finds that in the post-Bretton Woods landscape Europe graduated from recurrent currency crises to repeated credit-based housing crises. Financial trading has recently played a more indirect role in financial instability through the provision of liquidity to the banking system. Proprietary trading is largely dependent on the institutional investor-led increase in trading volume and, while important, has not posed the same threat to stability as housing market dynamics have. These points have not been adequately appreciated in the financialisation literature to date. The final content chapter develops this point further. It finds that institutional investors were the principal driving force in the expansion of debt-based capital flows in Europe in the 2000s. This point has not been appreciated thus far. Position taking by large banking groups was important, but banks largely availed of opportunities for gain as they arose. Institutional investors, in contrast, had a structural need for those instruments that were central to the expansion of flows. This dissertation utilises institutional and historical political economy analysis with frequent use of descriptive statistics. While aspects of the social world occasionally exhibit relatively stable relationships and forms (for example, lognormal distribution of income, Pareto distribution of city size, and so on), this is not the norm. Typically in quantitative social science and economics such forms are assumed a priori, and quantitative techniques such as regression then applied. However, there are reasons to be doubtful of this approach in general, which leads us to favour institutional analysis. For one, free-will imparts on economic agents behaviour that eludes capture by a formal deterministic or stochastic model. A deterministic (or stochastic) view of human agency violates our everyday intuitions that we have control over our actions and lives. The fact that people in general try to influence some outcome in their lives rather than just stay in bed because it has already been determined implies they believe their actions have the capacity to affect their world. Second, the social world is highly complex. Independent of free-will, the conditions under which a deterministic or stochastic model can be applied are highly circumscribed outside of laboratory conditions. Lawson's (1997) example of a leaf blowing in the wind is a case in point. The problem of complexity applies, writ large, to human action. Further, institutional reasons include distortions arising from model-induced bias reinforcement, publishing bias, and issues surrounding the cleanliness of data. It is for such reasons that quantitative modelling is deemed inappropriate. Institutional and historical analysis also allows the examination of contextual factors which enable interpretation of events, processes, and so on.
Some of the dissertation's findings complement existing research. Others entail a difference in emphasis while others still are minority positions and contrary to a number of presuppositions held in the financialisation literature.


Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) mRNA vaccine-induced myocarditis is a rare but well-documented complication in young males. The increased incidence of sudden death among athletes following vaccination has been reported and requires further investigation. Whether the risk of myocarditis, a known major cause of sudden death in young male athletes, also increases after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection is unknown. The severity and implications of these critical adverse effects require a thorough analysis to elucidate their key triggering mechanisms. The present review aimed to evaluate whether there is a justification to hypothesize that catecholamines in a "hypercatecholaminergic" state are the key trigger of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine-induced myocarditis and related outcomes and whether similar risks are also present following COVID-19 infection. A thorough, structured scoping review of the literature was performed to build the hypothesis through three pillars: detection of myocarditis risk, potential alterations and abnormalities identified after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination or COVID-19 infection and consequent events, and physiological characteristics of the most affected population. The following terms were searched in indexed and non-indexed peer review articles and recent preprints (<12 months): agent, "SARS-CoV-2" or "COVID-19"; event, "myocarditis" or "sudden death(s)" or "myocarditis+sudden death(s)" or "cardiac event(s)"; underlying cause, "mRNA" or "spike protein" or "infection" or "vaccine"; proposed trigger, "catecholamine(s)" or "adrenaline" or "epinephrine" or "noradrenaline" or "norepinephrine" or "testosterone"; and affected population, "young male(s)" or "athlete(s)." The rationale and data that supported the hypothesis were as follows: SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine-induced myocarditis primarily affected young males, while the risk was not observed following COVID-19 infection; independent autopsies or biopsies of patients who presented post-SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine myocarditis in different geographical regions enabled the conclusion that a primary hypercatecholaminergic state was the key trigger of these events; SARS-CoV-2 mRNA was densely present, and SARS-CoV-2 spike protein was progressively produced in adrenal medulla chromaffin cells, which are responsible for catecholamine production; the dihydroxyphenylalanine decarboxylase enzyme that converts dopamine into noradrenaline was overexpressed in the presence of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA, leading to enhanced noradrenaline activity; catecholamine responses were physiologically higher in young adults and males than in other populations; catecholamine responses and resting catecholamine production were higher in male athletes than in non-athletes; catecholamine responses to stress and its sensitivity were enhanced in the presence of androgens; and catecholamine expressions in young male athletes were already high at baseline, were higher following vaccination, and were higher than those in non-vaccinated athletes. The epidemiological, autopsy, molecular, and physiological findings unanimously and strongly suggest that a hypercatecholaminergic state is the critical trigger of the rare cases of myocarditis due to components from SARS-CoV-2, potentially increasing sudden deaths among elite male athletes.


Chondrichthyans (sharks, rays and chimaera) are one of the most speciose groups of higher order predators on the planet and are often cited as playing an important functional role in many ecosystems. However, most studies to date have focused on oceanic and shelf habitats, and there is limited information on the ecological role that chondrichthyans play in the deep-sea. This research aims to examine the trophic and spatial ecology of deep-sea chondrichthyans using stable isotope analysis. Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen vary among different trophic levels and between spatially separated areas, and therefore provide a potential tool for uncovering some ecological characteristics of deep-water chondrichthyans. In this study, I found that on a global scale, oceanic sharks appear to transfer nutrients over large spatial scales, whereas sharks found in shelf habitats couple ecologically varied food webs close to their capture location. Although global data is limited for deep-sea sharks, in the northeast Atlantic it appears that sharks found on seamounts are more tightly coupled to pelagic production than their counterparts on the continental slopes. Continental slope habitats may provide access to more isotopic niches, where sharks integrate nutrients from benthic and pelagic nutrient pathways. On the other hand, chimaeras appear to fill a unique role feeding on benthic prey items that are inaccessible to other fishes (e.g hard shelled benthic animals). Depth gradients in nutrient availability are reflected in the bathymetric distribution patterns of chondrichthyan families, with depth segregations likely reducing interspecific competition for resources. For some of the largest shark species in this ecosystem, such as Portuguese dogfish (Centroscymnus coelolepis) and leafscale gulper shark (Centrophorus squamosus), whole life-history ecology was recovered from sequential analysis of eye lens proteins. Both these species appear to undertake relatively consistent latitudinal migrations linked with ontogeny and reproductive development. This study reveals the ecological characteristic of diverse deep-sea chondrichthyan assemblages, and how trophic and spatial behaviours facilitate the transfer of nutrients in these ecosystems. Subsequently, chondrichthyans likely play an important role in deep-sea ecosystems and should be managed appropriately within fisheries.


In document image recognition, orientation detection of the scanned page is necessary for the following procedures to work correctly as they assume that the text is well oriented. Several methods have been proposed, but most of them rely on heuristics of the script such as the graphical asymmetry between ascenders and descenders for Roman script. The literature shows that as soon as this assumption is not fulfilled, e.g. plain capital text, noisy or degraded characters, etc. they fail. For a large-scale digitalization process, a low error and rejection rate are expected in order to reduce the amount of human intervention. We propose a Recognition Driven Page Orientation Detection (RD-POD) which does not depend on external criteria or assumption on the shape of the script. It uses the OCR engine for estimating the right orientation with a few lines of the document image. The RD-POD is highly robust and accurate, and is able to detect multiple orientations. Experimental evaluation shows that our method outperforms the current state-of-the-art on UW-1 dataset with an accuracy of 99.7%. Further tests on other three large and public datasets (MARG, ICDAR07, Google 1000 books) show accuracies of above 99% on each of them.


There is little existing research on the ethical issues facing researchers amongst resistance activists in conflict settings. This paper engages this research gap using the case study of field research amongst resistance activists in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara. It argues that fieldwork amongst activists resisting authoritarian regimes involves unique ethical challenges. Researchers and academic institutions must overcome these challenges if Resistance Studies is to continue to flourish as a discipline. Sometimes, this paper contends, the most ethical way to surmount said challenges necessitates undermining some of the traditional plinths of academic ethical frameworks. The paper makes two further, interlinked arguments: firstly, research amongst resistance activists demands a highly-nuanced and politically-aware approach with regards to ethical considerations. Secondly, however, the researcher under review can only demand such flexible treatment if she is prepared to actively contribute to the resistance struggle that she studies. This is because an activist standpoint is the only ethical response, the paper argues, to the particular ethical challenges associated with researching resistance to an authoritarian regime. In summary, we need an understanding of activist ethics from researchers.


This report reviews research on the potential affect cold climate might have on cargoes carried onboard commercial vessels. Due to the recent years' shrinkage and melting of the sea ice in the Arctic the possibility of a shorter route between Asia and Europe has been enhanced. Companies within the shipping industry hope to benefit from the reduced fuel costs and shorter transit time that the Northern Sea Route (NSR) could offer.
With the increased interest from shipping companies, the need for increased knowledge of the potential risks for cargoes has emerged. This report provides an overview of the NSR as well as presenting possible affects on cargoes and related equipment in cold Arctic climate. The research focuses on three primary cargo segments identified as General and Unitised Cargo, Liquid Bulk and Dry Bulk.
Information has been gathered by interviewing proficient personnel within the shipping industry such as ship-owners within the different cargo segments, insurance companies with experience and knowledge of potential damage to cargoes, and cargo owners with great knowledge about their cargoes' properties. We have managed to compile the information into a report that provides a general picture of potential affects within our chosen cargo segments.
The risk factors that have been identified in this report have also made us aware of the available solutions. If shipping wants to use the Northern Sea Route as a new commercial shipping route they must be aware of risk factors such as solidification, condensation, and required heating precautions as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the solutions for these problems. It is especially important in such a remote area as the Arctic Ocean, where infrastructure and support are undeveloped.
Nevertheless, the common opinion from our interview objects is that there are generally no increased problems to ship cargoes in a cold climate as long as the cargo related gear operates properly. This report will present some cargoes that are examples of specific properties that without certain precautions get affected if transported in a cold climate.


Intrusion detection research has so far concentrated on techniques that effectively identify the malicious behaviors. No assurance can be assumed once the system is compromised. Intrusion tolerance, on the other hand, focuses on providing minimal level of services, even when some components have been partially compromised. The challenges here are how to take advantage of fault tolerant techniques in the intrusion tolerant system context and how to deal with possible unknown attacks and compromised components so as to continue providing the service. This paper presents our work on applying one important fault tolerance technique, acceptance testing, for building scalable intrusion tolerant systems. First, we propose a general methodology for designing acceptance testing. An Acceptance Monitor architecture is proposed to apply various tests for detecting the compromises based on the impact of the attacks. Second, we make a comprehensive vulnerability analysis on typical commercialoff-the-shelf (COTS) web servers. Various acceptance testing modules are implemented to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach. By utilizing the fault tolerance techniques on intrusion tolerance system, we provide a mechanism for building reliable distributed services that are more resistant to both known and unknown attacks.


Organic anion transporters (OATs) and organic cation transporters (OCT) play pivotal roles in the uptake of drugs into epithelial cells at the basolateral membranes, and multidrug and toxin extrusion (MATE) mediates drug secretion into urine at the brush-border membranes. In this study, the expression and distribution of apical MATE1 and MATE2-K, and basolateral OAT1, OAT3, and OCT2 were compared using serial sections of human kidney cortex. First, mRNA expression in the proximal tubules was evaluated using laser microdissection. Levels of OAT, OCT2, and MATE mRNA in the proximal tubules were greatly higher compared with glomerulus. The results quantitatively indicated that these transporters were localized to proximal tubules in the renal cortex. Second, MATE1 and MATE2-K protein were detected in proximal epithelial cells in which OCT2 protein was expressed at the basolateral membranes. In addition, MATE1 was expressed at the brush-border membranes of tubular epithelial cells in which OAT1 and OAT3 were expressed. The results confirmed that OAT1, OAT3, OCT2, MATE1, and MATE2-K were coexpressed in tubular epithelial cells. The cooperation among OAT, OCT, and MATE in renal drug secretion was consistent with their distribution.


The purpose of this study was to extend previous findings on joystick task engagement by a group of pigtail macaques. The goals were to determine the influence of task difficulty on daily levels of task activity and to test the hypothesis that previously identified preferences among identical devices at different locations derived largely from the level of anxiety induced at each location. It was found that the number of daily trials decreased when the task was made more difficult, with more time required to complete each trial with the difficult task. Preferences among locations became more pronounced with the more difficult task. Analysis of errors made on devices at different locations supported the view that preferences did derive, at least in part, from levels of induced anxiety. Locations of enrichment devices may influence not only amount of use but also levels of anxiety in captive monkeys.


Prediction of urban water consumption can help to improve the performance of water distribution systems. Despite the obvious presence of uncertainty in measurements and in assumed model types/structures, most of the existing water consumption prediction models are developed and used in a deterministic context. Methods for more realistic assessment of parameter and model prediction uncertainties have begun to appear in literature only recently. A novel application of the Shuffled Complex Evolution Metropolis algorithm (SCEM-UA) for the calibration of a water consumption prediction model is proposed here. The model is applied to a case study of the city of Catania (Italy) with the aim to predict daily water consumption. The SCEM-UA algorithm is used to calibrate the parameters of the artificial neural network based prediction model and in turn to determine the associated parameter and model prediction uncertainties. The results obtained using the SCEM-UA ANN approach were compared to the corresponding results obtained using other predictive models developed recently by the authors of the paper. When compared to the these models, the SCEM-UA ANN based water consumption prediction model shows similar predictive capability but also the ability to identify simultaneously the prediction uncertainty bounds associated with the posterior distribution of the parameter estimates.


Porosity of oil reservoir rock is usually determined by Core Analysis. But this method is expensive and time consuming. Also because of lithology changes, heterogeneity of reservoir rock, and nonexistence of sufficient well cores, determination of the parameters by the usual methods is not accurate. So the best way to decrease cost, increase accuracy, and decrease time is applying advanced software such as Geolog and Back-Propagation of Error Artificial Neural Network (BP-ANN). In this paper, a BP-ANN was designed to predict the porosity of formations using the well logs data in Parsi field, located in southwest of Iran. The data of two wells (No. 33 and No. 19) that have core data were used for training, testing, validation, and generalization processes. Then the BP-ANN results were compared to evaluations obtained from Geolog Software (GS). With respect to the results, it was concluded that the BP-ANN is more accurate than GS in determining oil reservoir porosity. At the end, porosity was simulated in three other wells (No. 48, 49, and 64) that lack core data.


Background and Hypothesis: The Oxford Knee is a unicompartmental knee replacement (UKR) for patients with end-stage knee osteoarthritis (OA). It contains a polyethylene (PE) mobile bearing between the femoral and tibial components that helps maintain normal knee kinematics. Unfortunately bearing wear is one of the leading causes of UKR failure. In this study, we sought to investigate PE wear rate over time and the initial deformation (creep) in early months.
Project Methods: This study used radiostereometric analysis (RSA) to precisely track polyethylene bearing thickness over time in 40 medial Oxford UKR patients. The patients underwent stereo radiographs at 1 week post-op (reference), 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, and 5 years. Model-based RSA software was used to determine the exact position of the femoral and tibial components, and Matlab was used to calculate the minimum linear distance between these two components, taken as bearing thickness.
Results: The average wear rate was 0.32mm/yr (SD 0.42) in the first 3 months, 0.16mm/yr (SD 0.55) from 3 to 6 months, and 0.07mm/yr (SD 0.03) between 1 and 5 years. No correlation was found between wear rate and BMI, fixation, implant size, or 5 year Oxford Knee Score.
Conclusion and Potential Impact: This was the first study to investigate detailed early and late time points of polyethylene wear in the Oxford UKR. Mean bearing wear was higher in the first 6 months, presumably due to creep, and significantly reduced from 1 year onwards, presumably while true wear took place.


This study implements an updated set of projections for Philippine agriculture, which addresses the following key issues: (1) the proper modeling of land allocation to better analyze the implications of land scarcity under climate change; (2) the impact of climate change, agricultural productivity growth, and trade liberalization on agriculture; (3) the indirect impacts of climate change and agricultural productivity growth on the rest of the economy; and (4) the impact of productivity growth in manufacturing and services on agriculture, including on agricultural wages. To address the first and second issues, the study provides a new approach toward modeling land allocation, and updated projections for agriculture to 2030 using the extended Agricultural Model for Policy Evaluation (AMPLE). The study will address the third and fourth issues by extending AMPLE into a computable general equilibrium (CGE) version, called AMPLE – CGE, which is still being developed. This report documents the compilation of the AMPLE – CGE data set, namely, the 2013 Social Accounting Matrix.


In this collection are some of his most extraordinary and gripping stories that will take readers to realms of adventure, fantasy and horror. While 'Bonku Babu's Friend' deals with a mofussil schoolteacher's encounter with a friendly and somewhat awkward alien, 'Anath Babu's Terror' is the tale of a ghost hunter's foray into a haunted house. Meet Bipin Chowdhury, who seems to be suffering from a most disagreeable bout of amnesia, and read the amazing story of a carnivorous plant with a monstrous appetite in 'The Hungry Septopus'. This collection also includes two stories featuring everyone's favourite detective, Feluda. Published originally in Bengali as Ek Dojon Goppo, this collection - the first in a series of short stories written by the master storyteller - is funny, sinister and intriguing by turns and truly a must-have.


Progress in airborne gradiometer instrumentation has advanced to the point that procedures for determining corrections for the variable effects of topography merit consideration. An approximate practical method, based on real‐time recording of flight elevation and variable terrain clearance as a function of position along the flight line, appears to be appropriate for the purpose. The procedure is similar to that for determing topographic corrections for airborne gravity published previously by the author in Geophysics (Hammer, 1974a).


During the survey phase of the Kepler mission, several thousand stars were observed in short cadence, allowing for the detection of solar-like oscillations in more than 500 main-sequence and subgiant stars. These detections showed the power of asteroseismology in determining fundamental stellar parameters. However, the Kepler Science Office discovered an issue in the calibration that affected half of the store of short-cadence data, leading to a new data release (DR25) with corrections on the light curves. In this work, we re-analyzed the one-month time series of the Kepler survey phase to search for solar-like oscillations that might have been missed when using the previous data release. We studied the seismic parameters of 99 stars, among which there are 46 targets with new reported solar-like oscillations, increasing, by around 8%, the known sample of solar-like stars with an asteroseismic analysis of the short-cadence data from this mission. The majority of these stars have midto high-resolution spectroscopy publicly available with the LAMOST and APOGEE surveys, respectively, as well as precise Gaia parallaxes. We computed the masses and radii using seismic scaling relations and we find that this new sample features massive stars (above 1.2 M and up to 2 M ) and subgiants. We determined the granulation parameters and amplitude of the modes, which agree with the scaling relations derived for dwarfs and subgiants. The stars studied here are slightly fainter than the previously known sample of main-sequence and subgiants with asteroseismic detections. We also studied the surface rotation and magnetic activity levels of those stars. Our sample of 99 stars has similar levels of activity compared to the previously known sample and is in the same range as the Sun between the minimum and maximum of its activity cycle. We find that for seven stars, a possible blend could be the reason for the non-detection with the early data release. Finally, we compared the radii obtained from the scaling relations with the Gaia ones and we find that the Gaia radii are overestimated by 4.4%, on average, compared to the seismic radii, with a scatter of 12.3% and a decreasing trend according to the evolutionary stage. In addition, for homogeneity purposes, we re-analyzed the DR25 of the main-sequence and subgiant stars with solar-like oscillations that were previously detected and, as a result, we provide the global seismic parameters for a total of 526 stars.


Summary. Four box cores collected from the Ontong-Java plateau during the Eurydice expedition have been used to make relative geomagnetic palaeointensity measurements. Rock magnetic measurements on the sediments show that they are characterized by a uniform magnetic mineralogy, and that they are suitable for relative intensity estimates. These are obtained by normalizing the NRM by an ARM imparted in a low DC bias field. The palaeoceanographic event known as the preservation spike is used to establish a crude time-scale for the record so that it may be compared with other data from the same region, and also with global palaeointensity estimates. The marine sediment data are quite similar to Australian intensity data from lake sediments and archaeomagnetic sources, but as might be expected exhibit some obvious differences from the global record.


OBJECTIVE It is predicted that Africa will have the greatest increase in the number of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) within the next decade. T2DM patients are at risk for cardiovascular disorders. In Sub-Saharan African countries, sickle cell trait (SCT) is frequent. Despite the presence of modest abnormalities in hemorheology and oxidative stress, SCT is generally considered a benign condition. Little is known about vascular function in SCT, although recent studies demonstrated an increased risk of cardiovascular disorders, including venous thromboembolism, stroke, and chronic kidney disease. We hypothesized that SCT could accentuate the vascular dysfunction observed in T2DM. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The current study, conducted in Senegal, compared vascular function, hemorheological profile, and biomarkers of oxidative stress, inflammation, and nitric oxide metabolism in healthy individuals (CONT), subjects with T2DM or SCT, and patients with both T2DM and SCT (T2DM-SCT). RESULTS Flow-mediated dilation was blunted in individuals with T2DM, SCT, and T2DM-SCT compared with CONT, with vascular dysfunction being most pronounced in the latter group. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity measurements demonstrated increased arterial stiffness in T2DM-SCT. Oxidative stress, advanced glycation end products, and inflammation (interleukin-1β) were greater in patients with T2DM-SCT compared with the other groups. Blood viscosity was higher in individuals with TD2M, SCT carriers, and individuals with T2DM-SCT, and the values were further increased in the latter group. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrate severe biological abnormalities and marked vascular dysfunction in patients with both T2DM and SCT. SCT should be viewed as a risk factor for further cardiovascular disorders in individuals with T2DM.


Biological structure of female and cultural construct of gender injustice, women and girl-children are much more vulnerable to health risks such as HIV-AIDS, anaemia, PEM, reproductive tract infections etc. Their domestic and economic burdens, lack of decision making capacity, social stigma, altogether hamper easy accessibility to health delivery, both preventive and curative. The blow of dreaded diseases such as HIV-AIDS and social injustice on the fair-sex is very unfair. In-depth study on the gender dimension of HIV-AIDS in one of the most HIV-AIDS affected state of India throws light on the issue 'Gender and HIV-AIDS'. This concise capsule is a rare ingredient of the synergistic chemistry of personalities of different backgrounds synthesizing specially for social scientists, students, scholars, health professionals and general readers.


We present a study of permitted emission lines of Fe I and Fe II in the spectrum of the high-accretion rate classical T Tauri star DR Tau. Echelle spectra collected at the 4 m Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory between 1988 and 1992 include four epochs with red spectral coverage (~5000-6800 Å) and three with blue spectral coverage (~4000-4950 Å). A total of 62 unblended Fe I and Fe II lines are identified, their profiles are examined, and ratios of line pairs that are sensitive to column density or temperature are analyzed. The unblended Fe profiles exhibit a systematic behavior, with FWHM increasing from 20 to between 70 and 90 km s-1 as the equivalent width increases from 0.05 to several Å. Two-component fits to the profiles suggest a composite origin, comprising a narrow component (NC), with FWHM ~ 20 km s-1 and a radial velocity at rest with respect to the photosphere, and a broad component (BC), with FWHM ~ 100 km s-1 and a tendency to be blueshifted by ≤10 km s-1. These two kinematic components are present in differing proportions among lines of differing intensity, thereby accounting for the systematic behavior of the profiles with line strength. Estimates of opacities and column densities are obtained by comparing observed intensity ratios of lines from a common upper level with values expected from a local escape probability calculation. We find that (1) opacities in the NC exceed those in the BC by factors of 2-4 and (2), for the BC, NFe I ≳ 1017-1018 cm-2 and NFe II ≳ 1018-1019 cm-2 for kinetic temperatures in the range 4000-10,000 K. Ratios of NC-to-BC emission from a pair of Fe I lines that are insensitive to opacity suggest that the kinetic temperature in the NC exceeds that in the BC by several thousand degrees. The centroid velocity and width of the NC in Fe I and Fe II are comparable to those from photospheric lines, suggesting a thermal or turbulent origin further broadened by stellar rotation. In the context of a magnetospheric accretion model, the NC is consistent with an origin in the postshock gas close to the stellar surface. In contrast, the BC is likely to be broadened by bulk motion, such as infalling gas in the accretion funnel or rotation in the region coupling the inner disk to the stellar magnetic field.


Load-frequency control (LFC) in interconnected power systems is undergoing fundamental changes due to rapidly growing amount of wind turbines, and emerging of new types of power generation/consumption technologies. The infrastructure of modern LFC systems should be able to handle complex multiobjective regulation optimization problems characterized by a high degree of diversification in policies, and widely distribution in demand and supply sources to ensure that the LFC systems are capable to maintain generation-load balance, following serious disturbances. Wind power fluctuations impose additional power imbalance to the power system and cause frequency deviation from the nominal value. This paper addresses a new decentralized fuzzy logic-based LFC schemes for simultaneous minimization of system frequency deviation and tie-line power changes, which is required for successful operation of interconnected power systems in the presence of high-penetration wind power. In order to obtain an optimal performance, the particle swarm optimization technique is used to determine membership functions parameters. The physical and engineering aspects have been fully considered, and to demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed control scheme, a time domain simulation is performed on the standard 39-bus test system. The results are compared with conventional LFC design for serious load disturbance and various rates of wind power penetrations.


CONTEXT
Though many rural hospitals offer a broad array of services, local residents may choose more distant facilities for inpatient care services. Depending on the extent of the bypass phenomenon, hospitals may experience financial distress, reduced service offerings, or closure.

PURPOSE
This study provides a descriptive analysis of rural hospital bypass behavior in 7 states.

METHODS
We examine hospital discharge data for calendar years 1991 and 1996 to determine the extent to which patients admitted from rural areas are bypassing local facilities. We also assess whether there are trends in bypass patterns over time. Our primary specification of bypass is defined as a discharge from a hospital between 15 and 1000 miles from the closest facility.

FINDINGS
We found an overall bypass rate of 30%. This overall rate changed little between 1991 and 1996. Subgroups of patients, defined by payer and diagnosis, had differing propensities to bypass local rural facilities. Patients with managed care or commercial insurance had higher bypass rates compared to patients who relied on other payer sources. Medicare and uninsured (self-pay) patients had lower bypass rates. Payer type differences persisted when cases were divided into emergent and scheduled categories. Patients seeking general medical or obstetrical care had lower bypass rates than patients discharged with a diagnosis related group (DRG) related to complex medical, general surgery, or specialty surgery services. With the exception of normal delivery, DRG codes frequently associated with bypass discharges involved procedures or surgery that may not be offered by smaller rural facilities.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that rural patients, or their admitting physicians, perceive local rural hospitals as a viable option for many inpatient care services but prefer other facilities for treatments beyond the scope of general medical or surgical treatment.


2,3 Abstract: Payroll is a critical operation for every organization to pay employee accurately their salary and enrollments on time.(1)The idea of taking control of employees pay calculations are quite tedious if done manually and require more effort and time mainly for big organizations. Hence if this process is automated, it would be of great benefit as it would require less time to calculate the salary of the employees. The software for payroll management system service on the cloud is provided as a solution in this paper.(2) This system provides multiple user data access. Each user like employee or HR or admin can login into the software by writing username and password which are allocated to them from the company. It involves keeping track of hours worked and is capable of keeping a record of employee data including their pay, allowances, deductions and taxes on monthly bases so that fresh definitions are reflected from the month onwards, which leaves all the past data intact.(3) The proposed payroll system is advantageous as it provides a user friendly environment and also increases security and minimizes human calculation errors.


[1] The Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) has recorded the inner heliospheric response in white-light Thomson scattering to the 28 October 2003 coronal mass ejection (CME). This preliminary report shows the evolution of this particular event in SMEI observations, as we track it from a first measurement at approximately 20° elongation (angular distance) from the solar disk until it fades in the antisolar hemisphere in the SMEI 180° field of view. The large angle and spectrometric coronagraph (LASCO) images show a CME and an underlying bright ejection of coronal material that is associated with an erupting prominence. Both of these are seen by SMEI in the interplanetary medium. We employ a three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction technique that derives its perspective views from outward flowing solar wind to reveal the shape and extent of the CME. This is accomplished by iteratively fitting the parameters of a kinematic solar wind density model to both SMEI white-light observations and Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory (STELab), interplanetary scintillation (IPS) velocity data. This modeling technique separates the true heliospheric signal in SMEI observations from background noise and reconstructs the 3-D heliospheric structure as a function of time. These reconstructions allow separation of the 28 October CME from other nearby heliospheric structure and a determination of its mass. The present results are the first utilizing this type of 3-D reconstruction with the SMEI data. We determine an excess-over-ambient mass for the southward moving ejecta associated with the prominence material of 7.1 × 1016 g and a total mass of 8.9 × 1016 g. Preliminary SMEI white-light calibration indicates that the total mass of this CME including possible associated nearby structures may have been as much as ∼2.0 × 1017 g spread over much of the earthward facing hemisphere.


An anisotropic intermolecular potential of the He-HF complex has been obtained by utilizing the BFW analytic function to fit the intermolecular energy data, which have been calculated at the theoretical level of the single and double excitation coupled-cluster method with noniteractive perturbation treatment of triple excitation CCSD (T). And the reliability of the potential has been verified by comparing it with other potential models. The differential, partial and total scattering cross sections for collisions between He atoms and HF molecules have been calculated respectively by using the quantum close-coupling method at five different potential models, and the calculated results have been compared and analysed in detail. The research shows that the scattering cross sections are sensitive to the position where potential is zero, the well depth, the strength of the repulsive wall of the spherically averaged and to the anisotropy of the region of the well depth. We hope that the results can provide profitable reference for determining exactly the interaction potential of the atomic-molecular collision systems from the scattering cross sections.


It is becoming increasing acknowledged that we live and work in a global economy where cultural, educational and health ideologies are suggested to collide. Working together to address global mental health is key to improving health and strengthening health care systems (APPG 2014, Prince et al. 2007). Inequalities in finance, employment, accommodation, nutrition, education, access to healthcare can be seen throughout the world (WHO 2015). Within this melee mental health issues are subjugated in an attempt to disassociate with its lingering stigma (WHO 2013).
Regardless of the attempt to hide the 'shame' of mental ill health there are many throughout the world attempting to develop innovative and caring practices to enable people experiencing mental health problems to gain recovery and a good quality of life (WHO 2013). Over the past year we have been developing a mental health nursing education partnership between Cardiff University and Oman Specialised Nursing Institute. A shared belief of students as partners in learning has enabled the working relationships to promote standards and quality (QAA 2014).
We have developed a shared understanding of mental health nursing based on the principles of recovery and person centre care and used a number of educational approaches to influence mental health nursing practice. No health without mental health (2011), Mental health measures (2010), Oman's Health Vision 2050 (Ministry of Health 2014) and the World Health Organisations Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020 (WHO 2013) provides a platform for collaborative working.
In this presentation we will share our experiences of our partnership working and programme development (both undergraduate and post graduate) along with our blended teaching methods. In addition to the academic achievements of our students we have found partnership working has enabled a greater personal and cultural awareness for ourselves as lecturers and for our students


Objective: The objective of the present study was to determinate the presence of nuchal cord by sonography and to analyze the perinatal outcome in pregnancies ≥ 41 weeks. Material and Methods: Inclusion criteria was pregnancies ≥ 41 weeks referred to the fetal day assessment unit. The following variables were obtained by sonography: presence of nuchal cord, amniotic fluid index, umbilical artery pulsatility index (UAPI) and middle cerebral artery pulsatility index (MCAPI). The obstetrician was not informed about the presence or absence of nuchal cord. Perinatal outcomes were evaluated considering the presence or absence of nuchal cord by sonography. Chi-2 and t-Student tests were used for statistical analysis. Results: A total of 145 patients were included in this study, of wich 44 had sonographically detected nuchal cord identified antenatally. The presence of nuchal cord was confirmed at delivery. We found a correlation Kappa index of 0.524 between sonographically and delivery time detection.


This report presents the findings of an operations research study conducted to assess the implementation of the Government of Bangladesh's National Nutrition Services Program (NNS) and to identify the achievements, determine the bottlenecks that adversely impact these achievements, and highlight potential solutions to ensure smooth delivery of the program. A mixed methods research approach was used to evaluate five major domains of the program: management and support services; training and capacity development; service delivery; monitoring and evaluation, and; exposure to interventions. The study found that the overall NNS effort is an ambitious, but valuable approach to support nutrition actions through an existing health system with diverse platforms. The results indicate that although the maintenance of strong and stable leadership of NNS is an essential element to ensure integrated and well-coordinated comprehensive service delivery for the line directorate, the current arrangement is unable to ensure effective implementation and coordination of NNS. Focusing on some of the critical challenges related to leadership and coordination in the first instance, and on embedding a small core set of interventions into well-matched (for scale, target populations, and potential for impact) health system delivery platforms is most likely to help achieve scale and impact. Strategic investments in ensuring transparency, engaging available technical partners for monitoring and implementation support, and not shying away from other potential high coverage outreach platforms like some NGO platforms also could prove fruitful. Moreover, although the Government of Bangladesh, and the health system in particular, must lead the effort to deliver for nutrition, it is clear that development partners who have expressed a commitment to nutrition must coordinate their own activities and provide the support that can deliver on nutrition's potential for Bangladesh.


In this paper, we propose a GPU-based acceleration method to speed up volume image registration using Compute Unified Device Architecture(CUDA). A novel CUDA-based method for joint histogram computation is introduced in this paper, which is also valuable for 2D image registration and other general graphics applications. Additionally, an algorithm refinement is proposed to improve the widely used FMRIB's Linear Image Registration Tool (FLIRT). Although extra time is taken by applying that algorithm refinement, our implementation showed the ability to perform a full 12 DOF (Degrees of Freedom) registration of two brain volume images in nearly 35 seconds, which is about 10 times faster than the native FLIRT implementation.


Background: People gain weight when assume more calo- ries than their body can consume. Instead, they lose weight when they consume more than what they eat. Comparing the body to a closed system, we can call calorie balance the dierence between the input and output calories. However, keep a balanced diet regime is never a rewarding activity and often people give up.
Objectives: The goal is to help subjects with overweight problems: educate these people reduces the number of peo- ple that might migrate in the obese class. We propose an application to encourage healthier lifestyles, whose inno- vative feature is an automatic adaptive monitoring of the daily calorie balance. The system uses a familiar device and motivates the users to reach best result with the diet.
Methods: The energy consumption is related to the oxy- gen consumption, obviously also if combined with physical activity. The heart rate is directly related to the supply of oxygen. Using this simple relation, the heartbeats are bound to the calorie consumption.
Results: People achieve a greater awareness about food dosage and its calories weight. Moreover the application allows a more careful choice in food selection in order to not vanish the eorts made to change the lifestyles.
Conclusions: We have obtained good result with o-the- shelf hardware and user friendly software solutions. The users consider the system like a game where they have to keep higher the burned calories level. A motivational application has been found to be a winning card to promote healthier lifestyles, without intimidating the user.


4 5 Objective: To explore factors determining the level of satisfaction of surgical in-patients with services rendered at the Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DELSUTH), Oghara, Delta State, Nigeria. Methodology: A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out among 115 adult surgical in-patients using an interviewer administered structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 17 software. Results: A hundred and fifteen respondents participated in this survey. The mean age of respondents was 40.9 ±16.0 years. Most respondents were male 62 (53.9%). Average overall satisfaction was 63.1%. Of the seven dimensions of patient satisfaction among respondents, financial sub-scale and time spent seeing doctor had the lowest satisfaction ratings of 30.4% and 47% respectively. Technical quality of care (82.6%) was one of the sub-scales patients were most satisfied with. It was observed that it was only with regards to the dimensions of satisfaction with communication and satisfaction with access to care that any socio-demographic characteristic showed a significant association with the patient satisfaction. Conclusion: Although, many surgical in-patients were satisfied with the technical quality of care and interpersonal relationship with doctors, most of them find it difficult to pay hospital fees and feel they spend too much time in the process of seeing doctors and accessing other services. There is need for a possible downward review of our fees and efforts geared at shortening waiting time. 6


The mismatch negativity (MMN) is a key biomarker of automatic deviance detection thought to emerge from two cortical sources. First, the auditory cortex (AC) encodes spectral regularities and reports frequency-specific deviances. Then, more abstract representations in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) allow to detect contextual changes of potential behavioral relevance. However, the precise location and time asynchronies between neuronal correlates underlying this fronto-temporal network remain unclear and elusive. Our study presented auditory oddball paradigms along with 'no-repetition' controls to record mismatch responses in neuronal spiking activity and local field potentials at the rat medial PFC. Whereas mismatch responses in the auditory system are mainly induced by stimulus-dependent effects, we found that auditory responsiveness in the PFC was driven by unpredictability, yielding context-dependent, comparatively delayed, more robust and longer-lasting mismatch responses mostly comprised of prediction error signaling activity. This characteristically different composition discarded that mismatch responses in the PFC could be simply inherited or amplified downstream from the auditory system. Conversely, it is more plausible for the PFC to exert top-down influences on the AC, since the PFC exhibited flexible and potent predictive processing, capable of suppressing redundant input more efficiently than the AC. Remarkably, the time course of the mismatch responses we observed in the spiking activity and local field potentials of the AC and the PFC combined coincided with the time course of the large-scale MMN-like signals reported in the rat brain, thereby linking the microscopic, mesoscopic and macroscopic levels of automatic deviance detection.


Abstract Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) in patients with the severe disease primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) constitutes a distinct clinical phenotype (PSC-UC) with a high incidence of colorectal cancer. Today, PSC-UC diagnosis is built on clinical observations only. Tissue factor (TF) has a potential use in UC diagnostics, and also in colorectal cancer prognostication. Here we evaluate TF expression in an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) cohort, with special focus on differences between UC and PSC-UC patients. Materials and methods: Colonic biopsies from UC (n = 23), PSC (n = 24), and healthy controls (n = 11) were stained for TF by immunohistochemistry. Mononuclear cell contribution to TF expression was verified using flow cytometry. Results: TF was distributed at three distinct colonic locations: in subepithelial pericryptal sheath cells, in mononuclear cells, and in the intestinal stroma. In contrast to UC—where inflammation was accompanied with TF up-regulation—PSC-UC activity remained low during inflammation. Stromal TF positivity was found exclusively in ongoing inflammation. Conclusion: Our study provides additional support for a divergent pathogenesis in PSC-UC, with an inflammatory environment that differs from classical UC. Stromal TF emerges as a new marker of colonic inflammation.


This study aims to investigate the curing behavior of a vinyl ester-polyester resin suspensions containing 0.3 wt % of multiwalled carbon nanotubes with and without amine functional groups (MWCNTs and MWCNT-NH 2 ). For this purpose, various analytical techniques, including Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Fourier infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman Spectroscopy, and Thermo Gravimetric Analyzer (TGA) were conducted. The resin suspensions with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were prepared via 3-roll milling technique. DSC measurements showed that resin suspensions containing CNTs exhibited higher heat of cure (Q), besides lower activation energy (E a ) when compared with neat resin. For the sake of simplicity of interpretation, FTIR investigations were performed on neat vinyl ester resin suspensions containing the same amount of CNTs as resin. As a result, the individual fractional conversion rates of styrene and vinyl ester were interestingly found to be altered dependent on MWCNTs and MWCNT-NH 2 . The findings obtained from RS measurements of the cured samples are highly proportional to those obtained from FTIR measurements. TGA measurements revealed that CNT modified nanocomposites have higher activation energy of degradation (E d ) compared with the cured polymer. The findings obtained revealed that CNTs with and without amine functional groups alter overall thermal curing response of the surrounding matrix resin, which may probably impart distinctive characteristics to mechanical behavior of the corresponding nanocomposites achieved.


From study of the case records of 113 patients with isolated affection of the middle lobe or lingular segments of the left lung the authors believe that nonspecific inflammatory diseases of the lungs are the most frequent cause of the development of the syndrome. Tomography and bronchography of the involved lung play the principal role in the diagnosis of the middle-lung syndrome. The etiological factor is verified by the findings of tracheobronchoscopy. The authors consider surgery to be the main method of treatment of the middle-lobe syndrome or syndrome of the lingular segments.


Heavy metals are usually present in trace amounts in real samples such as natural waters, soil and plants samples but many of them are toxic even at very low concentrations, therefore, cloud point extraction (CPE) used for heavy metal separation. The CPE usage comes back to the works of Watanabe and co-workers who recommended the application of CPE by employing the non-ionic surfactants as an alternative solvent for the extraction of metal ions. In principle, CPE depends on the separation of hydrophobic analyte (i.e. inorganic and/or organic analyte) between two phases generated from micellar of non-ionic surfactant solution when heated to its critical cloud point temperature-CPT. In this review, CPE approach and features elucidated. The mechanism phenomena of CPE explained in addition to the methodology of analytical procedure by this process. Then, the significant applications of this method listed for separation of some heavy metals such as ( Cd, Cu and Co). Finally, this review, mentioned the factors that affected on the CPE approach and results. In general, using this kind of analytical process provides a most reliable and trustworthy results with almost simplicity approach.


Over the past decade, network RTK technology has become popular as an efficient method of precise, real-time positioning. Its relatively low-cost and single receiver ease-of-use has allowed it to mostly replace static relative GPS and single baseline RTK in urban areas where such networks are economically viable (e.g., cadastral and construction survey). The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) and York University have investigated the performance of commercial network RTK services in Southern Ontario, where performance is defined by a set of developed metrics. It was found that the user horizontal solution had an overall precision of ∼2.5 cm (95%), though there were cases of solution biases, drifts and gaps. A follow-up study is developing criteria and pathways for the certification of such commercial network RTK services, focusing on: reference station integration, reference station maintenance, and user solution monitoring. A set of recommendations for network certification is in preparation.


Three herbicide experiments were conducted at the Lajas Research and Development Center to evaluate asulam (methyl sulfanilycarbamate) alone or in combination with other postemergence herbicides from 1960 to 1982. In the first experiment with sugarcane cv. P.R. 1028, application of asulam at 3.25 kg/ha, preceded by an early postemergence application of metribuzin [(4- amino-6-dimethyl)-3-methylthio-1,2,4-trianzin-5 (4H)-one] at 4.48 kg/ha, controlled weeds best (83% after 15 weeks) for the highest yield (218.4 tons cane/ha or 31.1 tons sugar/ha). Asulam alone (2.80 and 3.74 kg ai./ha) applied 5 weeks after planting was inferior in total weed control (59% and 71%) and a lower yield was obtained (111.8 and 99.9 tons cane/ha or 13.0 and 12.1 tons sugar/ha, respectively). In the second experiment, with sugarcane cv. P.R. 980, postemergence application of asulam (3.74 kg ai./ha) gave better control of grasses (75%) when applied 4 weeks after planting than at 6 weeks (66%). Asulam sprayed either 4 or 6 weeks after planting was not phytotoxic to sugarcane. In the third experiment, also with sugarcane cv. P.R. 980, dicamba (2-Methyl-3,6-Dichloro-o-anisic acid) at 0.56 kg ai./ha and Weedmaster™3 (a mixture of 10.3% dicamba + 29.6% 2-4.D) at 2.34 and 4.68 L/ha gave excellent control of broadleaf weeds (84% to 90%). These results were similar to those from the treatment with 2,4-0 (86%) and two handweedings (89%). The yields obtained from herbicide treated plots (113.0 to 117.6 tons cane/ha) were inferior to those from hand-weeded check plots (160.1 tons cane/ha).


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Objectives: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is an established therapy for refractory cardiac and/or pulmonary failure that is not available in all centers. When infants and children require extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, they are sometimes placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support in peripheral centers where extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is not available and then transferred on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation to specialized centers. The objective of this study is to first describe one of the largest cohorts of infants and children transported by a mobile unit while on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Design: We undertook a single-center retrospective study that included patients transported while on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation between November 1, 2014, and May 31, 2019. Patients: All patients transported by our mobile extracorporeal membrane oxygenation unit during the study period were included. Computerized data collection was approved by the French Data Protection Authority (Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés n° 2121127V0). Main Results: Over the study period, our extracorporeal membrane oxygenation mobile team transported 80 patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation among which 20 were newborns (25%) and 60 were children of 1 month to 17 years old (75%); 57 patients were on venoarterial-extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (71%) and 23 on venovenous-extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (29%). The average duration of transport was 8.4 hours with a median of 8 hours; the average distance travelled was 189 ± 140 km. Transport was by air and then ground for 50% of the patients and by ground for 42%. We observed a significant decrease in the Vasoactive-Inotropic Score (125 vs 99; p = 0.005) and Paco2 levels (67 vs 49 mm Hg; p = 0.0005) after arrival in our unit. Survival rate 6 months after PICU discharge was 46% (37). There was a statistically significant relationship between initial lactate level and mortality (p = 0.02). We observed minor adverse events in 39% of the transports and had no mortality during transport. Conclusions: We describe one of the largest cohorts of infants and children transported by a mobile unit while on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Our findings confirm that it is safe to start extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in a referring center and to transport patients using an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation mobile team. The only risk factor associated with higher mortality was an initially elevated lactate level.


In this article, we investigate whether the mid-career stability of Finnish men and women has changed for the birth cohorts 1958 to 1972 and, if so, what the driving forces are behind such changes. We analyse career stability during a 15-year period following the age of 30 using 'career turbulence' indicators. To identify the impact of cyclical and structural changes in the labour market, we analyse the association between initial employment status and sector with subsequent career stability. We distinguish between sectors that are exposed to a greater or lesser extent to global competition, those that are characterised by goods production or service provision, and those that are part of the market or non-market sector. In a series of OLS regression and regression decomposition analyses, we also control for the impact of education, regional unemployment and family-formation processes. The results show little change in mid-career stability across cohorts. Stability increased somewhat when only including transitions between employment and non-employment, whereas slight destabilisation was observed when accounting for changes between jobs. The findings indicate that the small changes in stability across cohorts were mostly driven by structural changes in the labour market, albeit with different mechanisms for men and women.


Skeletal muscle is a crucial organ in mediating (exercise-induced) beneficial health effects. In this thesis we gained important knowledge on the molecular biology of the muscle. With our focus on the muscle, we investigated the crosstalk with other organs, the regulation of myokines and the role of nuclear receptors. First, we used an exercise mimic, electric pulse stimulation (EPS), to investigate the effect of the exercise-induced muscle secretome on the liver. We subjected C2C12 myotubes to EPS and hepatocytes were treated with this contraction-induced secretome. We demonstrate that EPS can induce both cell-mediated and non-cell-mediated effects on hepatocytes. Direct effects of EPS on C2C12 myotube function were mainly caused by EPS-induced contraction and not due to EPS-induced changes in cell culture media. This indicates that EPS clearly represents a valuable tool in exercise research, but care should be taken in experimental design to control for non-cell-mediated effects. Secondly, we assessed the importance of cellular context in Nur77-mediated gene regulation by comparing genome-wide DNA binding and gene expression profiles in C2C12 myotubes and RAW264.7 macrophages. These experiments revealed predominantly cell-type specific DNA binding of Nur77, with less than 16% of the Nur77 binding sites being shared between the two cell types. In addition, cell-type specific transcriptional regulation was observed, with genes differentially regulated in the same direction, in one cell-type only or even in an opposing manner. Newly identified Nur77 target genes include the genes encoding the myokines IL-15 and MCP-1. We suggest that besides Nur77 DNA binding itself, other mechanisms, including interplay with cell-specific factors, determine whether a potential Nur77 target gene is actually activated or repressed in a given cellular context. The third aim was to assess to what extent elevation of the myokine MCP-1 in muscle and elevated MCP-1 levels in plasma may be able to interfere with insulin signaling in skeletal muscle and cause insulin resistance. We made use of MCK-MCP-1 transgenic mice that specifically over-expresses MCP-1 in skeletal muscle. Our studies indicate that elevation of MCP-1 production in skeletal muscle and elevated MCP-1 levels in plasma promote inflammation in skeletal muscle but do not influence insulin signaling in skeletal muscle and have no effect on insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance in lean and obese mice. Our data argue against MCP-1 promoting insulin resistance in skeletal muscle and raises questions about the impact of inflammation on insulin sensitivity in muscle. Last, we elucidated the impact of the first natural human LXRβ mutation on LXRβ function. By exome, sequencing, an alanine-to-threonine mutation in the LBD of LXRβ at the position 440 (LXRβ-A440T) was identified in a patient with several disorders (e.g. extremely fatty muscle). We demonstrate that this mutation results in a loss-of-function for classical LXRβ targets genes (Abcg1), while it also results in a gain-of-function of new targets genes (Gpr56) in C2C12 muscle cells.


In linear predictive speech coding algorithms, transmission of linear predictive coding (LPC) parameters-often transformed to the line spectrum frequencies (LSF) representation-consumes a large part of the total bit rate of the coder. Typically, the LSF parameters are highly correlated from one frame to the next, and a considerable reduction in bit rate can be achieved by exploiting this interframe correlation. However, interframe coding leads to error propagation if the channel is noisy, which possibly cancels the achievable gain. In this paper, several algorithms for exploiting interframe correlation of LSF parameters are compared. Especially, performance for transmission over noisy channels is examined, and methods to improve noisy channel performance are proposed. By combining an interframe quantizer and a memoryless "safety-net" quantizer, we demonstrate that the advantages of both quantization strategies can be utilized, and the performance for both noiseless and noisy channels improves. The results indicate that the best interframe method performs as good as a memoryless quantizing scheme, with 4 bits less per frame. Subjective listening tests have been employed that verify the results from the objective measurements.


This paper relates to a unique pioneering British association established in London in 1805, for the 'philosophical, physical and biblical' study of Palestine/the Holy Land. The short-lived Syrian Society/Palestine Association (PA) adopted the model of the African Association, founded by Sir Joseph Banks in 1788 for the promotion of travel and discovery in Africa. The PA was a predecessor of two important British scholarly societies: the Royal Geographical Society (RGS, founded 1830) and the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF, founded 1865). We first consider the historical, religious and scientific contextual background to the period, following the Napoleonic Wars in the Ottoman Empire and the revival of Christian religious beliefs and biblical criticism in Britain and Europe. Based on primary archival sources not previously studied, we then analyse the declared objectives of the Association, its founders, membership, structure, mode of operation, interrelations with consuls, traders, bankers and organisations (such as the Levant Company, the East India Company and contemporary missionary societies), accomplishments, and possible reasons for its failure. We discuss its closure in 1834, the transfer of its funds to the newly founded RGS, and the later establishment of its 'daughter in spirit', the PEF in 1865.


One obstacle to retrovirus-mediated gene therapy for human hematopoietic disorders is the low efficiency of gene transfer into pluripotent hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). We have previously shown a direct correlation between retrovirus receptor mRNA levels in mouse HSC and the efficiency with which they are transduced. In the present study, we assayed retrovirus receptor mRNA levels in a variety of mouse and human HSC populations to identify HSC which may be more competent for retrovirus transduction. The highest levels of amphotropic retrovirus receptor (amphoR) mRNA were found in cryopreserved human cord blood HSC. The level of amphoR mRNA in Lin- CD34(+) CD38(-) cells isolated from frozen cord blood was 12-fold higher than the level in fresh cord blood Lin- CD34(+) CD38(-) cells. In mice, the level of amphoR mRNA in HSC from the bone marrow (BM) of mice treated with stem cell factor and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor was 2.8- to 7.8-fold higher than in HSC from the BM of untreated mice. These findings suggest that HSC from frozen cord blood and cytokine-mobilized BM may be superior targets for amphotropic retrovirus transduction compared with HSC from untreated adult BM.


PURPOSE
Punctal stenosis can result in symptoms such as epiphora and can significantly reduce the quality of life of patients. Perforated punctal plug insertion is an easy procedure that is commonly used as the first step of treatment for punctal stenosis.

METHODS
Clinical, demographic, and outcome data were retrospectively collected for 54 eyes of 21 males and 11 females who consecutively presented to our Oculoplastic Clinic and underwent silicone Micro Flow perforated punctal plug insertion. All patients had epiphora with punctal stenosis.

RESULTS
Of the 54 plugs, 26 plugs (48.1%) were lost and 28 (51.8%) stayed in place. Of the latter, eight were explanted because of the occlusion of the plug with secretions and recurrent conjunctivitis; moreover, two plugs migrated deep into the vertical canaliculus. Of the 54 plugs, only 18 (33.3%) were well-tolerated with significant symptomatic improvement.

CONCLUSION
Plug loss is a prominent problem in patients implanted with perforated punctal plugs. Silicone punctal plugs failed in 66.7% of our patients over a mean follow-up of 14.2 months.


Silver (AgNPs) and gold (AuNPs) nanoparticles in aqueous solution were generated and stabilized using the 10-oxo-10H-dibenzene thiopyran-3-4-dicarboximide chitosan (TXICh) macrophotoinitiator. The photoinitiator and the nanoparticles in aqueous solution were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Pure TXICh in aqueous solution forms self-assembled particles with diameter around 30 nm. AgNPs were prepared using TXICh in the presence and absence of triethanolamine (TEOH). During irradiation, a broad band in the range of 410-415 nm was observed, corresponding to the plasmon absorption, indicating the AgNPs formation. TEM images revealed that the AgNPs had spherical shape in the absence and presence of TEOH. The synthesis of AgNPs in the presence of TEOH occurred rapidly (maximum conversion reached after 15 min), whereas in its absence 4 hours were required. The AgNPs prepared with TXICh/TEOH presented smaller and more uniform nanoparticles size. AuNPs were also prepared using TXICh as photoinitiator/stabilizer system. These nanoparticles showed an intense surface plasmon band at 530 nm and the TEM images revealed spherical particles of around 4 nm. These studies indicate that TXICh can act not only as a photoinitiator, but also as a stabilizer in the AgNPs and AuNPs formation.


Given a bargraph B, a border cell of B is a cell of B that shares at least one common edge with an outside cell of B. Clearly, the inner site-perimeter of B is the number of border cells of B. A tangent cell of B is a cell of B which is not a border cell of B and shares at least one vertex with an outside cell of B. In this paper, we study the generating function for the number of k-ary words, represented as bargraphs, according to the number of horizontal steps, up steps, border cells and tangent cells. This allows us to express some cases via Chebyshev polynomials of the second kind. Moreover, we find an explicit formula for the number of bargraphs according to the number of horizontal steps, up steps, and tangent cells/inner site-perimeter. We also derive asymptotic estimates for the mean number of tangent cells/inner site-perimeter.


The aim of this study is to get a better understanding of the benefits of networking activities among firms operating in the tourism industry. The study classifies a sample of 421 tourism firms from three Mediterranean countries – Croatia, Italy and Slovenia – into three distinct groups based on their networking activities – Non-networkers (group 1), Great Networkers (group 2) and Limited Networkers (group 3) – and seeks to identify similarities and differences among these groups. The research results show that tourism firms from these three groups differ from each other based on the firm's country of origin, industry, age, size, and performance. According to the results, we may be able to advise firms operating in the tourism industry regarding how to increase their collaboration with their internal and external environment in order to achieve better firm performance.


Abstract: The awareness of one's self as a unique sentient agent might be thought of as fundamental to mental health. Though disrupted in most if not all psychiatric disorders, it is the hallmark of depersonalisation disorder. This is a non-psychotic condition in which sufferers feel themselves to be "unreal" in some way and that their experience of the world is also unreal. Evidence suggests that part of the problem may be due to suppression of physiological arousal especially in response to emotion, which interrupts the experience of a vital sense of self, and that this maps on to lateral prefrontal and insula systems. Insight in neuropsychiatry may be thought of as a particular kind of self-awareness involving the appraisal and judgement on whether one's functions or experiences are pathological in some way. A midline cortical system has been identified as critical for self-appraisal. Lack of awareness of illness or deficits has been studied in patients with for example: schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease and brain injury. Unawareness may apply to several domains such as social behaviour, psychopathology, memory and executive function and can be measured by different methods including discrepancy scores between patients' own and others' ratings. Our research has shown that patient groups with varying levels of deficit in each domain show varying levels of awareness. Low mood and executive impairment is associated with lack of insight in all groups while insight into memory deficits is closely tied to memory deficits themselves. We can conclude that insight is multidimensional and domain specific but that it also has associations, which are common across domains and disorders. The sense of self and awareness that one is ill or impaired appear to be separate phenomena and may relate to lateral and medial frontal executive systems, respectively.


The authors conducted a retrospective analysis of 201 patients with intermediate, posterior or panuveitis to determine the most frequent etiologies and collect some epidemiological data. A specific diagnosis was made in 70% of the cases: 35% were of infectious origin, 23% were associated with a systemic disease and 24% had a specific ocular condition. The most common entities included toxoplasmosis (24%), sarcoidosis (7.5%) and Behcet disease (5.5%). Birdshot retinochoroidopathy was the most frequent specific ocular disease (3.5%). The findings of this study are compared with those previously published in the literature.


Especially in recent years, with the increase of anthropogenic effect in land use, species diversity at the patch level is decreasing. As a result, biodiversity is decreasing, and species are in danger of extinction. Long-term conservation of biodiversity depends on the conservation of biodiversity elements at different natural levels, from the lowest scales (genetic and species) to landscapes.

This study aims to reveal the changes in diversity in the Denizli province of Türkiye according to the years. The change at the landscape level of the diversity in natural and semi-natural areas in Denizli province between the years of 2000 and2018 was revealed with Shannon index using the CORINE Land Use/Land Cover data. The area was divided into zones to spatially determine the change in diversity. According to the analysis, diversity has decreased in zones 1 -11, 15, and 19. These areas are also the areas where the anthropogenic effect causes change.

This study, which was carried out in Denizli province, is one of the pioneering studies in the literature in terms of both the spatial determination of diversity and revealing the change over the years. With this study, it is anticipated that the biological diversity of the Denizli province will be protected and transferred to future generations. It is important to determine the change of biodiversity at the landscape level over the years and the reasons for this change, as it is a guiding factor for the planning studies to be carried out.


Many signaling functions in molecular biology require proteins to bind to substrates such as DNA in response to environmental signals such as the simultaneous binding to a small molecule. Examples are repressor proteins which may transmit information via a conformational change in response to the ligand binding. An alternative entropic mechanism of "allostery" suggests that the inducer ligand changes the intramolecular vibrational entropy, not just the mean static structure. We present a quantitative, coarse-grained model of entropic allostery, which suggests design rules for internal cohesive potentials in proteins employing this effect. It also addresses the issue of how the signal information to bind or unbind is transmitted through the protein. The model may be applicable to a wide range of repressors and also to signaling in trans-membrane proteins.


This paper describes a genetic-algorithm based scheduling method of charging electric vehicles. This method basically determines sub-optimal charging time-table which satisfies a given electric-load versus time curve under the structural constraint of the charging facilities such that the vehicles must be assigned to a few charging bays with given number contactors, and that the vehicles in a bay must be charged sequentially by one charger. By adopting the proposed methods, a cost-saving charging schedule can be obtained, which is blessed with the benefit of night electricity by using low-cost charging facilities.


Problem statement: Sanitation is a critical step to insure safety of fresh-cut produce. The inadequacies of chlorine, currently used as a sanitizer, have stimulated interest in finding safer, more effective sanitizers, however little is known on the impact of these novel sanitizers on sensory and nutrimental quality of the treated products. Approach: The effect of four sanitizers: Sodium hypochlorite (OCl), Peroxiacetic Acid (PA), Acidified Sodium Chlorite (ASC) and carvacrol on microbiological, sensorial and nutritional quality (total phenols, vitamin C and antioxidant capacity) of fresh-cut jalapeno peppers stored at 5°C during 27 days was evaluated. Results: All sanitizers (except carvacrol) maintained microbiological and overall quality of jalapeno peppers during 27 days. ASC (500 and 250 mg L-1) maintained the best microbiological and sensorial properties at the end of the storage period. Carvacrol, active ingredient of oregano essential oil, maintained shelf life for only 17 days. At the end of the storage period, all treatments showed a decrease of 12-43% respect to the initial vitamin C values. Total phenols and antioxidant capacity decreased in a lesser degree. None of the treatments except ACS 500 mg L-1, induced higher losses of vitamin C, total phenols or antioxidant capacity compared to control. Conclusion: Our results showed that all sanitizers were capable of controlling microbial growth without inducing major loss of antioxidant capacity and photochemical. Carvacrol was the only sanitizer that reduced sensory acceptability of fresh-cut jalapeno peppers, however carvacrol treated samples retained the highest levels of photochemical and antioxidant capacity. ASC was the most effective sanitizer even though it was used at concentrations lower that those currently approved by the FDA.


Technological advancements have extracted a vast amount of useful knowledge and information for applications and services. These developments have evoked intelligent solutions that have been utilized in efforts to secure this data and avoid potential complex problems. Advances in Secure Computing, Internet Services, and Applications presents current research on the applications of computational intelligence in order to focus on the challenge humans face when securing knowledge and data. This book is a vital reference source for researchers, lecturers, professors, students, and developers, who have interest in secure computing and recent advanced in real life applications.


Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are attractive due to their high specific energy and low-cost prospect. Most studies in the past decade are based on these batteries with liquid electrolytes, where many exciting material/structural designs are realized at the nanoscale to address problems of Li-S chemistry. Recently, there is a new promising direction to develop Li-S batteries with solid polymer electrolytes, although it is unclear whether the concepts from liquid electrolytes are applicable in the solid state to improve battery performance. Here we demonstrate that the nanoscale encapsulation concept based on Li2S-TiS2 core-shell particles, originally developed in liquid electrolytes, is very effective in solid polymer electrolytes. Using in situ optical cell measurement and sulfur K-edge X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy, we find that polysulfides form and are well trapped inside individual particles by the nanoscale TiS2 encapsulation. This TiS2 encapsulation layer also functions to catalyze the oxidation reaction of Li2S to sulfur, even in solid-state electrolytes, proved by both experiments and density functional theory calculations. A high cell-level specific energy of 427 W∙h∙kg-1 at 60 °C (including the mass of the anode, cathode, and solid-state electrolyte, but excluding the current collector and packaging) is achieved by integrating TiS2 encapsulated Li2S cathode with ultrathin polyethylene oxide-based solid polymer electrolyte (10~20 µm) and lithium metal anode. The solid-state cells show excellent stability over 150 charge/discharge cycles at 0.8 C at 80 °C. This study points to the fruitful direction of borrowing concepts from liquid electrolytes into solid-state Li-S batteries.


The contralateral uninjected hind paws of rats which had been injected with Freund's complete (FCA) or incomplete (FIA) adjuvant 10,14, 18, or 22 days previously were perfused under urethane anaesthesia using a stainless steel coaxial catheter. In one series of experiments cyclic AMP (cAMP) levels were determined after a 2-hour perfusion. cAMP levels were also determined in rats treated on days 16-22 with either prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) (500 μg/kg per day subcutaneously) or saline. When compared with control rats injected with FIA, after 22 days, cAMP levels in FCA-injected rats fell between days 10 and 18 and then rose between days 18 and 22. After PGE1 treatment, paw volume on day 22 increased in rats injected with FCA, but cAMP levels were not significantly altered when compared with day 22 FCA-injected controls treated with saline. In a second series of experiments, using a slightly modified perfusion method, PG levels in extracts of 30-minute perfusates were determined after chromatography and bioassay. Protein levels and paw volume were also measured. No PGF was detectable in any perfusate. Changes in PGE levels in FCA-injected animals paralleled changes in paw volume, increasing from day 14 and reaching a maximum on day 22. Both parameters remained unchanged in FIA-injected rats. Protein levels in perfusates from FCA-injected animals were significantly greater than FIA-injected controls only on day 22. We suggest that the early changes in cAMP reflect the infiltration of activated leucocytes into the inflamed joint and that the increase in PGE is attributable to lysosomal enzyme activity. Later increases in cAMP are attributable both to the increasing PGE levels and to other changes in cellular activation. We suggest that high levels of PGE contribute to tissue damage which is reflected in raised protein levels.