The discovery of the first definitively correlated earliest Jurassic (200 million years before present) tetrapod assemblage (Fundy basin, Newark Supergroup, Nova Scotia) allows reevaluation of the duration of the Triassic-Jurassic tetrapod extinction event. Present are tritheledont and mammal-like reptiles, prosauropod, theropod, and ornithischian dinosaurs, protosuchian and sphenosuchian crocodylomorphs, sphenodontids, and hybodont, semionotid, and palaeonisciform fishes. All of the families are known from Late Triassic and Jurassic strata from elsewhere; however, pollen and spore, radiometric, and geochemical correlation indicate an early Hettangian age for these assemblages. Because all "typical Triassic" forms are absent from these assemblages, most Triassic-Jurassic tetrapod extinctions occurred before this time and without the introduction of new families. As was previously suggested by studies of marine invertebrates, this pattern is consistent with a global extinction event at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. The Manicouagan impact structure of Quebec provides dates broadly compatible with the Triassic-Jurassic boundary and, following the impact theory of mass extinctions, may be implicated in the cause.


Natural Language Inference (NLI) has garnered significant attention in recent years; however, the promise of applying NLI breakthroughs to other downstream NLP tasks has remained unfulfilled. In this work, we use the multiple-choice reading comprehension (MCRC) and checking factual correctness of textual summarization (CFCS) tasks to investigate potential reasons for this. Our findings show that: (1) the relatively shorter length of premises in traditional NLI datasets is the primary challenge prohibiting usage in downstream applications (which do better with longer contexts); (2) this challenge can be addressed by automatically converting resource-rich reading comprehension datasets into longer-premise NLI datasets; and (3) models trained on the converted, longer-premise datasets outperform those trained using short-premise traditional NLI datasets on downstream tasks primarily due to the difference in premise lengths.


BACKGROUND
In an attempt to reduce the coagulopathic and inflammatory responses seen after cardiopulmonary bypass, the use of fresh whole blood during heart operations has become the standard of care for neonates and infants at many institutions. We compared the use of fresh whole blood with the use of a combination of packed red cells and fresh-frozen plasma (reconstituted blood) for priming of the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit.

METHODS
We conducted a single-center, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial involving children less than one year of age who underwent open-heart surgery. Patients were assigned to receive either fresh whole blood that had been collected not more than 48 hours previously (96 patients) or reconstituted blood (104 patients) for bypass-circuit priming. Clinical outcomes and serologic measures of systemic inflammation and myocardial injury were compared between the groups.

RESULTS
The group that received reconstituted blood had a shorter stay in the intensive care unit than the group that received fresh whole blood (70.5 hours vs. 97.0 hours, P=0.04). The group that received reconstituted blood also had a smaller cumulative fluid balance at 48 hours (-6.9 ml per kilogram of body weight vs. 28.8 ml per kilogram, P=0.003). Early postoperative chest-tube output, blood-product transfusion requirements, and levels of serum mediators of inflammation and cardiac troponin I were similar in the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS
The use of fresh whole blood for cardiopulmonary bypass priming has no advantage over the use of a combination of packed red cells and fresh-frozen plasma during surgery for congenital heart disease. Moreover, circuit priming with fresh whole blood is associated with an increased length of stay in the intensive care unit and increased perioperative fluid overload.


1mentions that the potential influence of histology has been largely ignored in clinical trials of oesophageal cancer. He notes that the frequency of adenocarcinoma is rising, but that only a fairly small number of patients with adenocarcinomas are included in trials. In Scotland, most oesophageal cancers are adenocarcinomas, whereas in the clinical trials most cancers (77%) were squamous cell carcinomas. 1 Munro therefore concludes that the results of the clinical trials on oesophageal cancer have limited relevance for most patients with such cancer. This conclusion might be so for Scotland, but in other regions of the world patients' characteristics and types of oesophageal cancer might be more comparable with those reported in the clinical trials. In Uganda, for example, between 1998 and 2003, in the Kyadondo county (Kampala region), 111 histologically proven oesophageal cancers were reported; 85 (77%) of them were squamous cell carcinomas, eight (7%) adenocarcinomas, and 18 (16%) histologically unspecified; 63% were in men. These frequencies have not changed over time. 2


Experiments on Wistar rat males modelled crush syndrome (CS). Stability of blood protein composition in rats undergoing CS decompression was found. This reflects activation of protein synthesis in the defense systems of the body due to stress reaction to CS. It seems that the lymphatic system takes a detoxicating function which is essential in conditions when the same function of the liver in CS weakens. The conclusion is made on stressor depletion in CS as a typical pathological process rapidly realizing main links of alimentary dystrophy.


Many plants close their leaves in the evening, as if to sleep, and open them early in the morning. Such a circadian rhythm has been known to be controlled by their internal clock. Since Ricca's ingenious experiments suggested that some chemicals play an important role in the leaf-movement of Mimosa pudica, many biologists and chemists have attempted to locate the leaf - closing substances, and a number of compounds have been obtai
ned, particularly, by Schildknecht et al. Recently, we were also able to isolate a small amount of a stimulant (activity: ca. 108 - 10·9 M) from the same plant, which consists of three different
components (potassium L-malate; magnesium trans-acconitate; dimethylammonium salt). Further extensive study on other nyctinastic plants led to the isolation of a variety of leaf-closing substances.

On the other hand, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) has been reported to be effective for Mimosa pudica as a leaf-opening factor. Three leaf-opening substance named potassium lespedezate, cis-p-coumaroylagmatine, and calcium 4-O-β-D-glucopyranoyl-cis-p-coumarate have been isolated from Lespedeia cuneate G. Don , Albizzia julibrissin D. and Cassia mimosoides, respectively. Based on our experiments using the leaf-opening and -closing substances, the circadian rhythm of these plants must be controlled by their internal clock which regulates a balance of concentration between the leaf-opening and closing substances.


The paper empirically explores the international economic effects of gender discrimination, namely the linkages of gender inequality with comparative advantage (trade) and foreign direct investment flows. It discusses different forms and the extent of gender discrimination across countries and presents the results of empirical tests of those linkages. The results indicate that gender inequality is positively associated with comparative advantage in unskilled-labour-intensive goods, that is, commodities where the impact of gender bias is likely to be felt most strongly. In contrast, foreign direct investment is negatively linked with gender inequality. These results even hold for relatively poor developing countries.


The controversial Dutch poet and thinker, Willem Bilderdijk (1756–1831), filled his letters with observations on his own health and well-being. These frequent appraisals of his physical and mental condition served as 'meta-medical' reflections by which he enhanced his self-understanding and 'constructed' his own self. In more than 1,500 published letters that Bilderdijk wrote to different correspondents in the course of five decades, he makes it clear that he regarded his head as the main locus and source of his many afflictions. His head-related complaints enabled him to draw together medical, cultural, biographical, psychological, religious, philosophical and aesthetic strands in his life and thought. His life's motto semper idem, his indebtedness to Leibniz, his practice of spontaneously 'ejaculating' verse and his ability to contact the metaphysical world, centred on his head as both the focal point of adversity and the seat of the soul. While evidently inspired by well-known medical-cultural traditions—melancholy or hypochondria and the scholars' illness (the morbus eruditorum, on which he wrote a lengthy didactic poem)—Bilderdijk's meta-medical reflections on sickness, identity, and poetry at the same time illustrate the complexities involved in the often highly individual, early modern understandings of illness.


Incorrect feeding will lead to malnutrition and if over will caused obesity (Septiana, 2009) The ignorance of right and proper baby's feeding and child care and the existence of inproper  habits  were main cause of the less nutrition problem in children aged 0 -24 months. The role of the mother  crucial in the successful delivery of MP-ASI. A good role is supported with good knowledge. The purpose of this study was to know the relationship of family knowledge with the implementation of family role in the provision of complementary feeding of milk.The research design used was correlation with crossectional approach. Knowledge  categorized in good knowledge, sufficient, lacking and the role categorized in the role of good, enough, less. The instrument used was questioner. The research was taken place at Posyandu of Lirboyo Kediri sub-district which consist of 10 posyandu in May 2018. Population in this research was families having baby aged 6 - 12 months with sample number counted 50 family using sampling total sampling technique. This research used Spearman rho statistic test with significant level 0,05. The results showed that there was a relationship between family knowledge and family role in the provision of MP-ASI with significant level p = 0.00. It Concluded that The better knowledge of the importance of complementary feeding of milk the better   implementation of family role  in the provision of complementary feeding of milk. It is suggested that the respondents are expected  to increase their knowledge by actively participating in POSYANDU  and for the community should be aware of the importance of nutritious food  to the children and always consult to the  nutritionist in the health center or Posyandu in addition to the increased family participation for caring the baby's growth and development.


This paper considers one of the paradoxes of incentive pay used in Britain's public services, namely that despite much evidence that it does not motivate employees, it continues to be widely used. It is argued that behind this evidence, there are significant examples in which its use has been associated with improved performance. A good part of this is to be explained by the way performance pay links pay and appraisal, and the pressure this puts on line managers to set clearer goals for their staff. There is also some evidence that the goal setting is the outcome of a form of integrative, or positive sum, negotiation between individual employees and their managers, and that it is not just 'top down'


Mycoplasma bovis is an important pathogenic mycoplasma, causing the cattle industry serious economic losses. Adhesion is a crucial step in the mycoplasmas' infection and colonization process; fibronectin (Fn), an extracellular matrix glycoprotein, is a molecular bridge between the bacterial adhesins and host cell receptors. The present study was designed to characterize the Fn-binding ability of methylenetetrahydrofolate-tRNA-(uracil-5-)-methyltransferase (TrmFO) and its role in M. bovis cytoadherence. The trmFO (MBOV_RS00785) gene was cloned and expressed in E. coli BL21, and polyclonal antibodies against the recombinant TrmFO (rTrmFO) were raised in rabbits. Immunoblotting demonstrated that TrmFO was an immunogenic component, and the TrmFO expression was conserved in different M. bovis isolates. The mycoplasmacidal assay further showed that in the presence of complement, rabbit anti-recombinant TrmFO serum exhibited remarkable mycoplasmacidal efficacy. TrmFO was detected in both the M. bovis membrane and cytoplasm. By ligand dot blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) binding assay, we found that rTrmFO bound Fn in a dose-dependent manner. Immunostaining visualized by confocal laser scanning microscopy showed that rTrmFO had capacity to adhere to the embryonic bovine lung (EBL) cells. In addition, the adhesion of M. bovis and rTrmFO to EBL cells could be inhibited by anti-rTrmFO antibodies. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to characterize the Fn-binding ability of TrmFO and its role in the bacterial adhesion to host cells.


We developed novel interconnection technology for heterogeneous integration of MEMS and LSI multi-chip module, in which MEMS and LSI chips would be horizontally integrated on substrate and vertically stacked each others. The cavity chip composed of deep Cu TSV-beam lead wires was developed for interconnecting MEMS chips with high step height of more than 100um. Fundamental characteristics were successfully obtained from pressure sensing MEMS chip with 360µm thickness, which was connected to the substrate by the cavity chip. MEMS and LSI chips were vertically integrated by using the cavity chip without changes of chip design and extra processes. This interconnection technology can give strong solution for heterogeneous integration of MEMS and LSI chips multi-chip module.


Purpose: To evaluate if preoperative assessment with A Quick Test of Cognitive Speed (AQT) could increase the accuracy of predicting delirium after cardiac surgery compared to Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and examine if a composite of variables, including cognitive function and depressive symptoms, could be useful to predict delirium. Patients and Methods: Cardiac surgery was performed in 218 patients (mean age 72 years). Preoperative evaluation involved AQT, MMSE and Hospital Anxiety And Depression Scale (HADS). Postoperative delirium was assessed using Nursing Delirium Screening Scale (Nu-DESC) and Confusion Assessment Method-ICU (CAM-ICU). Logistic regression was performed to detect predictors of postoperative delirium and receiver operator characteristic curves (ROC) with area under the curve (AUC) to determine the accuracy. Results: Postoperative delirium occurred in 47 patients (22%) who had lower MMSE scores (median (range), 27 (19–30) vs 28 (20– 30), p =0.009) and slower AQT (median (range), 76 (48–181) vs 70 (40–182) seconds, p =0.030) than patients without delirium. Predictive power measured as AUC (95% CI) was 0.605 (0.51–0.70) for AQT and 0.623 (0.53–0.72) for MMSE. Logistic regression (OR, 95% CI) showed MMSE <27 points (2.72, 1.27–5.86), AQT >70 sec (2.26, 1.03–4.95), HADS-D >4 points (2.60, 1.21–5.58) and longer cardiopulmonary bypass-time (1.007, 1.002–1.013) to be associated with postoperative delirium. Combining these parameters yielded an AUC of 0.736 (0.65–0.82). Conclusion: The ability of predicting delirium using AQT was similar to MMSE, and only slightly higher by combining AQT and MMSE. Adding HADS-D and cardiopulmonary bypass-time to MMSE and AQT increased the predictive power to a borderline acceptable discriminatory value. Preoperative cognitive tests and screening for depressive symptoms may help identify patients at risk of postoperative delirium. Yet, there is still a need to establish useful preoperative tests. and the combination of AQT and MMSE marginally increased the predictive power measured by AUC. A composite of MMSE, AQT, HADS-D and cardiopulmonary bypass time further increased the predictive accuracy to an AUC of 0.736, which is a borderline acceptable discriminatory value in clinical practice. Our results confirm the association of impaired


ABSTRACT Pregnant and nursing women are at higher risk of zinc deficiency which can have detrimental consequences on health. We assessed blood zinc levels in 72 nursing women from the West Bank of Palestine and investigated the association between sociodemographic variables and blood zinc levels. Blood samples were analyzed for their zinc contents using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Blood and data collection were performed between July and December 2016. The median blood zinc level was 4.53 mg/L (interquartile range of 0.38 mg/L). In unadjusted analyses, blood zinc levels were higher in nursing women who lived in cities (p-value <.001), had higher household income (p-value <.001), whose husbands had a white collar job (p-value <.05), were nonsmokers (p-value <.05), did not use hair dyes (p-value <.05), and consumed energy beverages (p-value <.001). Multiple linear analysis showed that living in cities and consuming energy beverages remained significantly associated with higher blood zinc levels (p-value <.05). Blood zinc levels were in the range previously reported for similar non-malnourished populations. Nursing women living in cities and those consuming energy beverages tended to have higher blood zinc levels. Urbanized lifestyle might have enhanced blood zinc levels in nursing women.


Purpose: The aim of this study is to assess and discuss the relationship between the financial situation and the level of socio-economic development of coastal rural and urban-rural municipalities in Poland. Approach/Methodology/Design: The diversity of coastal municipalities in Poland due to the level of socio-economic development and financial situation was examined using a synthetic indicator. The analysis was carried out on the basis of data from the Local Data Bank of the Central Statistical Office and from the Ministry of Finance and Regional Accounting Chambers. The time range covers 2004-2017. Findings: The analysis shows that there was a statistically significant and bilateral relationship between the financial situation and the socio-economic development in Polish coastal municipalities in the years 2004-2017. Moreover, the results of an extensive analysis of this relationship showed that despite the fact that a statistical relationship was found in the analyzed period, such a relationship was not proven for each class and each municipality. In the case of the study taking into account classes of different levels, a significant relationship did not occur in the extreme classes, but only in the average. Practical Implications: The conclusions refer to the assumptions of the regional and local policy. Originality/Value: The study concerns current issues of regional and local policy. The results can contribute to the analysis of creating development at the local level.


The goal of the present study was to investigate the relations between people's communication styles, communication satisfaction, communication effectiveness, functional maturity and their change goals. A pilot study with 11 participants was used to explore the level of social desirability of the six communication style domains namely Expressiveness, Preciseness, Verbal Aggressiveness, Questioningness, Emotionality and Impression Manipulativeness. In the main study, the communication styles and change goals of 132 participants were measured using two questionnaires – the Communication Styles Inventory (CSI) and the Change Goals CSI (C-CSI). Furthermore, participants' level of communication satisfaction, communication effectiveness and functional maturity were measured using questionnaires adapted from previous studies.
Preciseness, Questioningness, Expressiveness and Impression Manipulativeness were identified as a socially desirable (positive) communication style while Verbal Aggressiveness and Emotionality were negative relative to the theoretical scale mean. The results showed that most people wanted to increase with respect to Preciseness and wanted to decrease with respect to Verbal Aggressiveness. CSI-X, CSI-P and CSI-Q showed positive correlations with communication satisfaction, communication effectiveness and functional maturity (except the correlation between CSI-X and communication satisfaction). The other CSI domain scales, namely CSI-VA, CSI-E and CSI-IM had negative correlations with communication satisfaction, communication effectiveness and functional maturity.


Perception is an influential phenomenon as people usually act upon their perceptions. Perception eventually transforms into reality. The absence of a distinctly defined role of employees and an amorphous perception of their roles and responsibilities in the organization may have a downturn effect on the employees' morale and self-esteem. Role Perception of the employees acts as one of the most critical components in the workplaces today. It also plays a key role in an individual's performance. A misty perception of the role may also lead to underperformance by and underutilization of the potential of the individual. Consequently, the organization may lose not only some vital man-hours but also some of the most competent employees, in the long run. It is, therefore, in the organization's interest to provide a clearly-defined role to every employee as a step towards combating the ever-increasing competition in the global milieu.


In this paper, the technology of semi-solid casting was to used are produced Sn-Bi alloy. The influence of agitating time at 125 °C on the microstructure and mechanical properties of of Sn-58Bi casting alloy were discussed. The eutectic Sn-Bi alloy was mechanically agitated during the casting solidification process. The results indicated that non-lamellar Sn-Bi structure with long plate shape, short strip, small size block and suborbicular block shape Sn phase was obtained for different stirring time. The elongation of Sn-Bi alloy with non-lamellar eutectic structure is improved prominently. Compared with the elongation of lamellar eutectic Sn-Bi alloy prepared by conventional die casting, the elongation of semi-solid Sn-Bi alloy with suborbicular block shape Sn phase is enhanced up to 45%.


This thesis was prepared in cooperation with the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ), the Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), the Gesellschaft fur Angewandte Fernerkundung (GAF), and the Umweltforschungszentrum Leipzig/Halle (UFZ) in frame of the project "Airborne and laboratory spectroscopic studies for differentiation of reactively alterated lignite mining pits in Central Germany" (No. 02 WB 9667/5) which was gratefully supported by the Bundesministerium fur Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie (BMBF). The major idea of the project was to achieve a calibration of the spectroscopic data acquired by the remote sensing though the results obtained from conventionally petrographical, mineralogical and geochemical analyses. The main goal of this thesis was the characterization of the hydro- and geochemical alterations in the conveyor bridge dump of the open lignite mining pit Zwenkau which is located in the Central Germany District southern of Leipzig. Therefore, dependent on their ages in terms of dumping and their surface-near locations the dump sediments were investigated and the specific properties of the different types of dump water and soil gases were acquired as well in order to describe the ongoing chemical, petrographical and structural alterations and interactions between the sediments, the water and the soil gases in the conveyor bridge. Finally, a model of the chronological development of the overburden sediments starting from their spilling up to an age of about 20 years is proposed which well explains the observed phenomena regarding the appearing endogenous and exogenous interaction factors.


Inappropriate food intake-related obesity and more importantly, visceral adiposity, are major risk factors for the onset of type 2 diabetes. Evidence is emerging that nutriment-induced β-cell dysfunction could be related to indirect induction of a state of low grade inflammation. Our aim was to study whether hyperphagia associated obesity could promote an inflammatory response in pancreatic islets leading to ß-cell dysfunction. In the hyperphagic obese insulin resistant male Zucker rat, we measured the level of circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines and estimated their production as well as the expression of their receptors in pancreatic tissue and β-cells. Our main findings concern intra-islet pro-inflammatory cytokines from fa/fa rats: IL-1β, IL-6 and TNFα expressions were increased; IL-1R1 was also over-expressed with a cellular redistribution also observed for IL-6R. To get insight into the mechanisms involved in phenotypic alterations, abArrays were used to determine the expression profile of proteins implicated in different membrane receptors signaling, apoptosis and cell cycle pathways. Despite JNK overexpression, cell viability was unaffected probably because of decreases in cleaved caspase3 as well as in SMAC/DIABLO and APP, involved in the induction and amplification of apoptosis. Concerning β-cell proliferation, decreases in important cell cycle regulators (Cyclin D1, p35) and increased expression of SMAD4 probably contribute to counteract and restrain hyperplasia in fa/fa rat islets. Finally and probably as a result of IL-1β and IL-1R1 increased expressions with sub-cellular redistribution of the receptor, islets from fa/fa rats were found more sensitive to both stimulating and inhibitory concentrations of the cytokine; this confers some physiopathological relevance to a possible autocrine regulation of β-cell function by IL-1β. These results support the hypothesis that pancreatic islets from prediabetic fa/fa rats undergo an inflammatory process. That the latter could contribute to β-cell hyperactivity/proliferation and possibly lead to progressive β-cell failure in these animals, deserves further investigations.


Pain perception to minor physical stimuli has been hypothesized to be related to subsequent pain ratings after surgery. The objective of this systematic review was to evaluate the correlation between preoperative pain sensitivity and postoperative pain intensity. After a literature search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and meeting abstracts, we identified 15 studies (n = 948 patients) with univariate and/or multivariate analysis on the topic. In these studies, three types of pain stimuli were applied: thermal, pressure, and electrical pain. The intensity of suprathreshold heat pain (i.e., pain beyond patient threshold) was most consistently shown to correlate with postoperative pain. The most common limitation of the included studies was the method of statistical analysis and lack of multivariate analysis. More research is required to establish the correlation of other pain sensitivity variables with postoperative pain outcomes.


Dynamic Partial Function (DPF), which dynamically selects a subset of features to measure pairwise image similarity, has been shown to be very effective in near-replica image recognition. DPF, however, suffers from the one-size-fits-all problem: it requires that all pairwise similarity measurements must use the same number of features. We propose methods for enhancing DPF's performance by allowing different numbers of features to be selected in a pairwise manner. Through extensive empirical studies, we show that our three schemes: thresholding, sampling and weighting, and hybrid schemes of these three basic approaches, substantially outperform DPF in near-replica image recognition.


The usage of IT and the capacity of managing IT projects in developing countries are significantly far behind from that of developed countries. Realizing the benefits of using IT, developing countries have tried using it in different sectors but with a high failure rate. The microfinance sector in Bangladesh covers almost one-third of the households of the country through hundreds of microfinance organizations, but has a poor history of unsuccessful IT projects in the majority of cases. This paper describes approaches to IT project management in the microfinance sector of Bangladesh, and looks into the factors that make the projects unsuccessful.


Background: Beta-2 glycoprotein I antibodies (B2-GPI Ab) are significant markers of thrombosis in otoimmune diseases. No literature has been found in Bcr Abl (-) MPNs to exclude the risk of hereditary thrombophilia and to investigate the association of B2-GPI Ab levels with thrombosis. This study aimed to investigate the relation between levels of B2-GPI Ab and thrombosis in BcrAbl (-) MPN without the risk of hereditary thrombophilia.
Methods: Plasma samples from healthy volunteers and BcrAbl (-) MPN's patients with and without thrombosis were collected after receiving consent. Β2-GPI Ab in plasma was quantified by enzymelinked immunosorbent assay and the data were analyzed to determine whether plasma Β2-GPI Ab correlates significantly with thrombosis.
Result: There was a statistically significant difference between the B2-GPI Ab levels of the patients and the control group (p=0.006). However, no statistically significant difference in levels of B2-GPI between patients with and without thrombosis history was determined (p=0.144).
Conclusion: This study supports that no relationship between levels of B2-GPI Ab and thrombosis complications in BcrAbl (-) MPN.


In addition to primary circulatory disturbance, the presence of congenital heart disease may compromise the development of organ systems including the myocardium, the pulmonary vasculature and the central nervous system. Therefore, early elective repair of complex congenital heart defects is desirable. Today repair of complex congenital heart defects in the neonate can be achieved at low early and late mortality and morbidity with favorable long-term functional results. However, much remains to be learnt about the cellular and molecular effects of open heart surgery and hypothermia on the neonate.


PURPOSE
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of perceived service attributes in the development of overall customer satisfaction (OCS) and customer loyalty (CL) in a health-care setting. This paper also sheds light on the role of hospitalist physicians (HPs) and offers suggestions to improve patient satisfaction and loyalty.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH
A telephone survey was used to collect data from recently hospitalized patients with respect to their HP. Structural equations modeling (SEM) was used to confirm the overall relationships between perceived service quality (PSQ), OCS and CL. The sample was then divided into customer relationship groups (CRGs) based on satisfaction and loyalty measures. Discriminant analysis was used to determine which attributes differentiated most between high and low satisfaction and loyalty groups.

FINDINGS
Overall relationships among PSQ, OCS and CL were in conformity with the conceptual model. Findings also revealed that service attributes played an important role in distinguishing between high and low satisfaction and loyalty groups, although some attributes were more important than others and different attributes emerged as being key influencers for satisfaction and loyalty.

RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS
The conceptual model used is a fairly straight forward model, and we have not considered the impact of individual factors such as expectations and value perceptions or involvement levels and demographic characteristics on service quality and overall satisfaction. The data for this study were provided by a major health maintenance organization (HMO), and there is room for improvement in the manner in which certain constructs were measured. For example, OCS, recommendation and retention all used single item measures, and it might have been preferable to use multiple item measures for these constructs.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
The study shows that organizations can benefit by identifying and focusing on critical attributes as part of their customer relationship management program.

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The SEM results provide strong support for the overall model linking service quality, OCS and CL in a health-care setting. As one would expect, PSQ has a strong impact on OCS, which, in turn, has a fairly strong impact on CL. However, there is also a significant direct linkage between PSQ and CL. This linkage shows that at least a certain portion of CL could evolve independent of the satisfaction level with the HP. This shows that, in addition to trying to improve satisfaction, organizations should also explore influencing loyalty directly, perhaps by the strategic use of service attribute perceptions.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE
The study shows that customer perceptions at the service attribute level can often be the key to the generation and management of customer satisfaction and loyalty. It also has significance for how satisfaction and loyalty with HPs can be improved in a hospital setting.


Intraperitoneal administration of disulphide pyridoxine (pyriditol) to albino mice in a dose of 300 mg/kg brings down the GABA level and the GABA-transaminase activity in the brain, the glutamic acid content and the glutamate-decarboxylase activity remaining unchanged. In the liver and, especially, in the kidneys of test animals the activity of aspartate-and alanine-aminotransferase goes down. The diurnal urinary output of the animals shows a decreased passage of 4-pyridoxic acid. These results are interpreted to be consequent upon the antivitamin action of pyriditol with respect to pyridoxine.


Al2124 alloy composites containing 10 wt.% SiCp and 15 wt.%Ti powders are prepared by powder metallurgy (PM) method and sintered at 630 degrees C for 3 h, followed by ageing at 250 degrees C for 3 h. Abrasive wear behaviour of MMCs is investigated in a pin-on-disc type of configuration to find out effects of operating variables such as abrasive size, load, sliding distance and materials type on the aged material in terms of the Taguchi approach. A L9 orthogonal array and analysis of variance are also employed to investigate which design parameters significantly affect the wear behaviour of composites. Macro-hardness both of heat-treated sample and unheated samples increase significantly with introduction of both particles. On air quenching and ageing for 3 h, Al2124 alloy exhibits a maximum improvement in hardness of around 44.7%, but Al2124+15Ti alloy, Al2124+15Ti+10 SiCp reinforced composites indicate a maximum improvement in hardness of around 20 and 6.09%, respectively. The wear results reveal that the abrasive size exerts the greatest effect on the weight loss, followed by the hardness when tested at heat treated samples.


Summary Anticoagulation with vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) has been shown to be effective in the prevention and treatment of thrombotic complications in various clinical settings, including atrial fibrillation (AF), venous thromboembolism (VTE), acute coronary syndromes and after invasive cardiac procedures. Bleeding is the most important complication of VKAs and a major concern for both physicians and patients. The occurrence of bleeding during treatment is not only important for the treated subjects, but also for a correct and complete use of this therapy in all the subjects who have a clear clinical indication for anticoagulation. This review analyses the treatment- and person- associated risk factors for bleeding during VKAs and their combination in clinical prediction rules that have been proposed in the attempt to identify those patients at higher risk for bleeding. The clinical prediction rules may help physicians stratify patients into categories of risk and thus to evaluate their individual risk/benefit ratio of starting or prolonging an anticoagulant treatment.


Does after the crisis mean before the crisis? Financial crises are part of the economic cycle and therefore not only absolutely normal but under certain circumstances beneficial. Is this also true for the ongoing financial crisis? It might be too soon to draw final conclusions, but financial crises show a great potential to encourage learning from the past and to foster socio-economic education. That's not meant as a belittlement of the financial crisis, but should sharpen the mind to notice a primary dilemma of our economic system: Even though increasing credit facilities contributed to the economic prosperity during the last decades, the development of savings and debts should be in balance with the long-term productive capacity of society, economy and environment. The authors will review certain aspects and causes of the financial crisis under social und environmental constraints and will discuss possible long-term paths of development from an economic perspective. Following this, didactical implications will be considered and feasible learning content will be discussed.


One of the models time series which also involves spatial aspects (spatio-temporal) is Generalized Space Time Autoregressive (GSTAR). Until now, GSTAR modelling don't involve metric-type, which is called GSTARX. Parameter estimation for spatio temporal modeling is still limited by using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) which is less efficient because the residuals are correlated. Generalized Least Square (GLS) is one of the alternative methods for parameter estimation residuals are correlated. In this study would like to looking at the efficiency of GLS estimation method is compared with OLS to correlated data in GSTARX model. Simulation results show that the estimation GLS method is more efficient than using OLS if residual correlated.


A power vertical double-diffusion metal-oxide-semiconductor (VDMOS) transistor is designed with the step oxide trench based on the oxide-bypassed concept proposed by Liang and co-workers. It is suitable for breakdown voltage below 300 V to obtain ultra-low specific on-resistance. The electric field of the drift region is modulated because of the new electric field peak introduced by the various thicknesses of sidewall oxide. As a result, the breakdown voltage was increased no less than 20 because of more uniform electric field distribution in the drift region, while the specific on-resistance was reduced by 40 60 resulting from the step oxide trench compared with the oxide-bypassed structure. The limit line of the silicon has been broken because the trade-off is improved between the breakdown voltage and the specific on-resistance. The low R on,sp of 15.0 m mm 2 with the breakdown voltage (BV) of 150 V and 28.0 m mm 2 with the BV of 230 V in the proposed step oxide trench MOS are improved greatly compared to the R on,sp of 163.4 m cm 2 with the BV of 150 V and 475.75 m mm 2 with the BV of 230 V in the conventional VDMOS.


Canonical translation initiation involves ribosomal scanning, but short 5= untranslated region (5=UTR) mRNAs are translated in a scanning-independent manner. The extent and mechanism of scanning-independent translation are not fully understood. Here we report that short 5=UTR mRNAs constitute a substantial fraction of the translatome. Short 5=UTR mRNAs are enriched with TISU (translation initiator of short 5=UTR), a 12-nucleotide element directing efficient scanning-independent translation. Comprehensive mutagenesis revealed that each AUG codon-flanking nucleotide of TISU contributes to translational strength, but only a few are important for accuracy. Using site-specific UV cross-linking of ribosomal complexes assembled on TISU mRNA, we demonstrate specific binding of TISU to ribosomal proteins at the E and A sites. We identified RPS3 as the major TISU binding protein in the 48S complex A site. Upon 80S complex formation, RPS3 interaction is weakened and switched to RPS10e (formerly called RPS10). We further demonstrate that TISU is particularly dependent on eukaryotic initiation factor 1A (eIF1A) which interacts with both RPS3 and RPS10e. Our findings suggest that the cap-recruited ribosome specifically binds the TISU nucleotides at the A and E sites in cooperation with eIF1A to promote scanning arrest.


Multinomial distributions are often used to model text documents. However, they do not capture well the phenomenon that words in a document tend to appear in bursts: if a word appears once, it is more likely to appear again. In this paper, we propose the Dirichlet compound multinomial model (DCM) as an alternative to the multinomial. The DCM model has one additional degree of freedom, which allows it to capture burstiness. We show experimentally that the DCM is substantially better than the multinomial at modeling text data, measured by perplexity. We also show using three standard document collections that the DCM leads to better classification than the multinomial model. DCM performance is comparable to that obtained with multiple heuristic changes to the multinomial model.


The contemporary socio-political situation in Manipur has been studied in its breadth and depth by social scientists. As a social anthropologist examining the process of militarisation in sacred sites in my PhD thesis I have been facing difficulties in the representation of the field. In doing 'fieldwork under fire' the factual contents of ethnography often have to be re-presented through fiction, especially when the lives of informants depend on what factual details are revealed. On the other hand as a poet I have relative ease in capturing the poignancy of violence, which I am unable to represent in my ethnographic research due to disciplinary constraints. It is this schizophrenic tension between the personal and professional, poetry and ethnography, fact and fiction that I wish to explore in this paper. I write thus as a subject struggling between non-hyphenated and yet a necessary marking of boundaries between a poet-anthropologist, an informant-anthropologist, insider-outsider and many such permeable identities.


This paper attempts to establish the fact that Multi State Network Classification is essential for performance enhancement of Transport protocols over Satellite based Networks. A model to classify Multi State network condition taking into consideration both congestion and channel error is evolved. In order to arrive at such a model an analysis of the impact of congestion and channel error on RTT values has been carried out using ns2. The analysis results are also reported in the paper. The inference drawn from this analysis is used to develop a novel statistical RTT based model for multi state network classification. An Adaptive Multi State Proactive Transport Protocol consisting of Proactive Slow Start, State based Error Recovery, Timeout Action and Proactive Reduction is proposed which uses the multi state network state classification model. This paper also confirms through detail simulation and analysis that a prior knowledge about the overall characteristics of the network helps in enhancing the performance of the protocol over satellite channel which is significantly affected due to channel noise and congestion. The necessary augmentation of ns2 simulator is done for simulating the multi state network classification logic. This simulation has been used in detail evaluation of the protocol under varied levels of congestion and channel noise. The performance enhancement of this protocol with reference to established protocols namely TCP SACK and Vegas has been discussed. The results as discussed in this paper clearly reveal that the proposed protocol always outperforms its peers and show a significant improvement in very high error conditions as envisaged in the design of the protocol. Keywords—GEO, ns2, Proactive TCP, SACK, Vegas


An exceptionally complete skull, mandible and other bones of Pliosaurus brachyspondylus were collected from the Kimmeridge Clay of Westbury, Wiltshire, in 1980. The recovery and preparation of this large specimen required special techniques. The specimen is apparently part of a more complete skeleton, mostly destroyed before discovery. The decayed carcass was apparently disrupted so that the skull finally lay upside down over many of the teeth, which had fallen out, while the mandible lay several metres away. The reasons for this are unclear. The skull does not differ markedly from the usual pliosauroid pattern, being long and low, with a wide gape, narrow snout, and high temporal region. There are no nasals. The mandible cannot be satisfactorily reconstructed due to crushing but does not appear to deviate from the usual pliosauroid pattern. The dentition is robust and caniniform anteriorly, presumably to penetrate, hold and kill large prey. The posterior teeth are hook-shaped posteriorly to act as ratchets, helping to move large prey items back into the gullet. The jaw musculature is reconstructed as a dual-function system, the pterygoideus musculature being specialized to close the open jaws rapidly against inertia and drag, and the main adductor mass being specialized to clamp the jaws tightly onto prey. The cranial skeleton is well adapted to resist bending stresses induced when the animal bit onto prey. However, there is no evidence for any adaptation to torsional resistance, such as a pterygoid flange-mandible contact, as would be useful in twist-feeding to dismember large prey. Pliosaurus, at about 10 m overall length, may have been large enough to swallow most potential prey without being particularly specialized to dismember it. Its wide gape would help it swallow large prey. However, the comparatively narrow anterior snout, and evidence from gut contents in other specimens, suggest that it was an opportunistic feeder on a wide variety of prey of different sizes, including cephalopods and presumably fish and other reptiles. Large orbits and the lack of acoustically isolated ears indicate that it was primarily a visual hunter. The nares seem too small to be used in respiration, and may instead have been used in underwater olfaction.


Abstract Stomach nematodes were collected from 151 live American alligators, Alligator mississippiensis, from 3 lakes (Apopka, Griffin, and Woodruff) in north-central Florida using a gastric lavage technique. Four species were identified: Dujardinascaris waltoni, Ortleppascaris antipini, Brevimulticaecum tenuicolle, and larvae of Contracaecum sp. Of these, D. waltoni was the most prevalent species in all 3 lakes and was more prevalent in Lake Apopka than in the other 2 lakes. This is the first record of Contracaecum larvae in the American alligator and the second record of O. antipini.


The Location-to-Service Translation (LoST) protocol is an XML-based
protocol for mapping service identifiers and geodetic or civic
location information to service URIs and service boundaries. In
particular, it can be used to determine the location-appropriate
Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) for emergency services. The
 element in the LoST protocol specification
encapsulates information about service boundaries and circumscribes
the region within which all locations map to the same service Uniform
Resource Identifier (URI) or set of URIs for a given service. This
document defines an XML protocol to exchange these mappings between
two nodes. This mechanism is designed for the exchange of
authoritative elements between two entities.
Exchanging cached elements, i.e., non-authoritative
elements, is possible but not envisioned. Even though the
 element format is reused from the LoST specification,
the mechanism in this document can be used without the LoST protocol.
This document defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
community.


Background The accurate evaluation of favorable response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) is critical to determine the extent of surgery. We investigated independent clinicopathological and radiological predictors to discriminate no residual carcinoma (ypT0) from residual ductal carcinoma in situ (ypTis) in breast cancer patients who received NCT. Patients and Methods Parameters of 117 patients attaining pathological complete response (CR) in the breast after NCT between January 2010 and December 2013 were retrospectively evaluated by univariate and multivariate analyses. All patients underwent mammography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before and after NCT. Results There were 67 (57.3%) patients with ypT0. These patients were associated with hormone receptor-negative status, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2)-negative tumors, and a higher likelihood of breast-conservation surgery. Baseline mammographic and MRI presentation of the main lesion, absence of associated microcalcifications, shape, posterior features, and absence of calcifications on ultrasound were significantly associated with ypT0. CR in mammography, ultrasound, or MRI after NCT was also related to ypT0. By multivariate analysis, independent predictors of ypT0 were the triple-negative subtype [Odds ratio (OR), 4.23; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.11–16.09] and CR in MRI after NCT (OR, 5.23; 95% CI, 1.53–17.85). Stratified analysis by breast cancer subtype demonstrated that MRI well predicted ypT0 in all subtypes except the HER2-positive subtype. In particular, of 40 triple-negative subtypes, 22 showed CR in MRI and 21 (95.5%) were ypT0 after NCT. Conclusion Among imaging modalities, breast MRI can potentially distinguish between ypT0 and ypTis after NCT, especially in patients with triple-negative breast cancer. This information can help clinicians evaluate tumor response to NCT and plan surgery for breast cancer patients of all subtypes except for those with HER2-enriched tumors after NCT.


Neural evaluation metrics derived for numerous speech generation tasks have recently attracted great attention. In this paper, we propose SVSNet, the first end-to-end neural network model to assess the speaker voice similarity between converted speech and natural speech for voice conversion tasks. Unlike most neural evaluation metrics that use hand-crafted features, SVSNet directly takes the raw waveform as input to more completely utilize speech information for prediction. SVSNet consists of encoder, co-attention, distance calculation, and prediction modules and is trained in an end-to-end manner. The experimental results on the Voice Conversion Challenge 2018 and 2020 (VCC2018 and VCC2020) datasets show that SVSNet outperforms well-known baseline systems in the assessment of speaker similarity at the utterance and system levels.


This report is part of a larger cross-country comparative project and constitutes an account and analysis of the measures comprising the Norwegian national response to the COVID-19 pandemic during the year of 2020. This time period is interesting in that mitigation efforts were predominantly of a non-medical nature. Mass vaccinations were in Norway conducted in early 2021. With one of the lowest mortality rates in Europe and relatively lower economic repercussions compared to its Nordic neighbours, the Norwegian case stands unique (OECD, 2021: Eurostat 2021; Statista, 2022). This report presents a summary of Norwegian response to the COVID-19 pandemic by taking into account its governance, political administration and societal context. In doing so, it highlights the key features of the Nordic governance model and the mitigation measures that attributed to its success, as well as some facets of Norway's under-preparedness. Norway's relative isolation in Northern Europe coupled with low population density gave it a geographical advantage in ensuring a slower spread of the virus. However, the spread of infection was also uneven, which meant that infection rates were concentrated more in some areas than in others. On the fiscal front, the affluence of Norway is linked to its petroleum industry and the related Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund. Both were affected by the pandemic, reflected through a reduction in the country's annual GDP (SSB, 2022). The Nordic model of extensive welfare services, economic measures, a strong healthcare system with goals of equity and a high trust society, indeed ensured a strong shield against the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, the consequences of the pandemic were uneven with unemployment especially high among those with low education and/or in low-income professions, as well as among immigrants (NOU, 2022:5). The social and psychological effects were also uneven, with children and elderly being left particularly vulnerable (Christensen, 2021). Further, the pandemic also at times led to unprecedented pressure on some intensive care units (OECD, 2021). Central to handling the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway were the three national executive authorities: the Ministry of Health and Care services, the National directorate of health and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. With regard to political-administrative functions, the principle of subsidiarity (decentralisation) and responsibility meant that local governments had a high degree of autonomy in implementing infection control measures. Risk communication was thus also relatively decentralised, depending on the local outbreak situations. While decentralisation likely gave flexibility, ability to improvise in a crisis and utilise the municipalities' knowledge of local contexts, it also brought forward challenges of coordination between the national and municipal level. Lack of training, infection control and protection equipment thereby prevailed in several municipalities. Although in effect for limited periods of time, the Corona Act, which allowed for fairly severe restrictions, received mixed responses in the public sphere. Critical perceptions towards the Corona Act were not seen as a surprise, considering that Norwegian society has traditionally relied on its 'dugnadskultur' – a culture of voluntary contributions in the spirit of solidarity. Government representatives at the frontline of communication were also open about the degree of uncertainty coupled with considerable potential for great societal damage. Overall, the mitigation policy in Norway was successful in keeping the overall infection rates and mortality low, albeit with a few societal and political-administrative challenges. The case of Norway is thus indeed exemplary with regard to its effective mitigation measures and strong government support to mitigate the impact of those measures. However, it also goes to show how a country with good crisis preparedness systems, governance and a comprehensive welfare system was also left somewhat underprepared by the devastating consequences of the pandemic.


Fur (ferric uptake regulator) is a prokaryotic transcriptional regulator that controls a large number of genes mainly related to iron metabolism. Several Fur homologues with different physiological roles are frequently found in the same organism. The genome of the filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena (Nostoc) sp. PCC 7120 codes for three different fur genes. FurA is an essential protein involved in iron homoeostasis that also modulates dinitrogen fixation. FurA interacts with haem, impairing its DNA-binding ability. To explore functional differences between Fur homologues in Anabaena, factors affecting their regulation, as well as some biochemical characteristics, have been investigated. Although incubation of FurB with haem severely hinders its ability to interact with DNA, binding of haem to FurC could not be detected. Oxidative stress enhances the transcription of the three fur genes, especially that of furB and furC. In addition, overexpression of FurA and FurB in Escherichia coli increases survival when the cells are challenged with H(2)O(2) or Methyl Viologen (paraquat), a superoxide-anion-generating reagent. When present in saturating concentrations, FurB exhibits unspecific DNA-binding activity and protects DNA from cleavage produced by hydroxyl radicals or DNaseI. On the basis of these results, we suggest that, whereas at low concentrations FurB would act as a member of the Fur family, at saturating concentrations FurB protects DNA, showing a DNA-protection-during-starvation-like behaviour.


BACKGROUND/PURPOSE
Neurofibromatosis frequently is complicated by the development of symptomatic lesions such as optic gliomas and plexiform neurofibromas that require operative resection. Although characteristically benign, these neoplasms have often devastating functional and cosmetic effects and must be monitored for malignant transformation. The purpose of this study is to identify and describe the surgical considerations in the care of children with neurofibromatosis.

METHODS
The authors reviewed the charts of all children (<21) at our institution with neurofibromatosis who underwent an operative procedure from 1979 to 1999. Patient demographics, symptomatic lesions, malignant transformation, form of surgical intervention, type of anesthesia, and outcome were collected.

RESULTS
A total of 249 patients with either neurofibromatosis 1 or 2 were identified. Of these, 50 (20%) underwent a total of 93 operations. The average age at operation was 9.4 years (1.2 to 21 years). There were 40 soft tissue procedures, 21 intracranial, and 32 miscellaneous. The soft tissue masses typically were treated with wide local excision, and in 8 of these procedures multiple resections were performed. Fourteen of the 50 patients had malignancies. Five of the tumors were soft tissue sarcomas, and 9 were intracranial malignancies. Three patients died, 2 from malignancy and 1 from acute, obstructive hydrocephalus after operation. There were 3 patients alive with malignancy and 8 others living with varying levels of disability.

CONCLUSIONS
Neurofibromatosis in the pediatric patient frequently requires surgical intervention, often because of symptoms such as pain or cosmetic deformity, or for malignancy. Children should be watched carefully for signs of malignant transformation and undergo biopsy for neurofibromas that exhibit rapid growth. Management of sarcomas should be aggressive with consideration given to re-excision, placement of brachytherapy catheters, metastectomy, and limb salvage with adjuvant therapy when possible. Preoperatively, children should receive clinical and radiographic (computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging) evaluation for hydrocephalus.


ExoU is a 74 kDa cytotoxin that undergoes substantial conformational changes as part of its function, that is, it has multiple thermodynamically stable conformations that interchange depending on its environment. Such flexible proteins pose unique challenges to structural biology: (1) not only is it often difficult to determine structures by X-ray crystallography for all biologically relevant conformations because of the flat energy landscape (2) but also experimental conditions can easily perturb the biologically relevant conformation. The first challenge can be overcome by applying orthogonal structural biology techniques that are capable of observing alternative, biologically relevant conformations. The second challenge can be addressed by determining the structure in the same biological state with two independent techniques under different experimental conditions. If both techniques converge to the same structural model, the confidence that an unperturbed biologically relevant conformation is observed increases. To this end, we determine the structure of the C-terminal domain of the effector protein, ExoU, from data obtained by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy in conjunction with site-directed spin labeling and in silico de novo structure determination. Our protocol encompasses a multimodule approach, consisting of low-resolution topology sampling, clustering, and high-resolution refinement. The resulting model was compared with an ExoU model in complex with its chaperone SpcU obtained previously by X-ray crystallography. The two models converged to a minimal RMSD100 of 3.2 Å, providing evidence that the unbound structure of ExoU matches the fold observed in complex with SpcU.


We evaluated the diagnostic value of serum amylase, isoamylase, and lipase for the diagnosis of acute pancreatitis from sera of patients with acute abdominal pain. Comparison was first made in condition A between 32 patients with image-proven pancreatitis and 414 patients with nonpancreatic acute abdomen (the control group), then in condition B, between 62 pancreatitis patients with or without image proof and the control group. We found (a) that patients with image-proven pancreatitis suffer a more severe clinical course than those without; (b) that the sensitivity, positive predictive value, and accuracy in condition B are higher than in condition A at any cutoff level; (c) that none of the enzyme assays is specific at the upper reference limit, but their diagnostic yields are much improved by raising cutoff levels to about three or four times the upper limit; and (d) that at these selected cutoff levels, amylase had a diagnostic value similar to p-isoamylase or lipase in both conditions (sensitivity 84% and 92% for amylase in conditions A and B, respectively; specificity 98% and 98%; positive predictive value 75% and 90%; negative predictive value 99% and 99%; accuracy 91% and 97%). In conclusion, at an appropriately selected cutoff level, amylase can be effectively used as the first-line test and isoamylase or lipase as adjunct tests for acute abdominal conditions.


Fabricating thin film solar cells on the light-trapping structures is an effective way to improve the absorption of the active layer. Here, we report a non-fullerene organic solar cell based on a PBDB-T:ITIC active layer, a wrinkled metal rear electrode, and a MoO3/Ag/ZnS front transparent electrode. Optical characterization shows that the wrinkled metal structure can remarkably increase the absorption of the active layer in a broadband range. The resulting device shows a power conversion efficiency of 8.2%, which increases by 4.6% compared to that of the flat counterpart. Apart from higher absorption, the improved performance can also be ascribed to the efficient charge transport and collection in the device due to the lower defect density, larger interfacial area, and smaller active layer thickness. A device with a power conversion efficiency of 10.19% based on the flat ITO/glass substrate is also achieved. Accordingly, a power conversion efficiency of about 10.66% is predicted under the condition where the wrinkled rear electrode and the ITO front electrode are employed. In addition, the power conversion efficiency of the wrinkled device could increase by about 50.48% compared to that of the flat device under an incident angle of 60 °C, illustrating that a better omnidirectional ability is achieved.


Defects are introduced into (11-20) highly N-doped 4H-SiC by one surface scratch followed by annealing at 550°C or 700°C with or without an additional compressive stress. The defects are planar and always consist of double stacking faults dragged by a pair of partial dislocations. In a pair, the partial dislocations have the same line direction, Burgers vector and core composition. All the identified gliding dislocations have a silicon core. An analysis of their expansion during annealing proves that C(g) partial segments can be created but that C(g) partial dislocations are immobile.


A quarter century ago, there was a very influential paper that shaped thinking on how best to design what we now call the Internet. The article offered a design principle called "end-to-end." The idea was to keep the inner part of a computer network as simple as possible and allow the "intelligence" to reside at the edges of the network closer to the end user. Proponents of this grand design have pushed for net neutrality legislation, which would discourage access providers from placing any intelligence in the inner part of the network. Their ideal of a "dumb network" would be achieved by preventing access providers from charging content providers for prioritized delivery and other quality enhancements made possible by placing intelligence at the center of the network. This essay examines the merits of the end-to-end argument as it relates to the net neutrality debate. First, we review the evidence on the current status of the Internet, concluding that all bits of information are not treated equally from an economic standpoint. Second, we demonstrate that because consumers and business place a premium on speed and reliability for certain kinds of Internet services, network owners and specialized service providers have responded with customized offerings. Third, we consider our findings in the context of the current legislative proposals involving net neutrality. Fourth, we consider some of the problems with regulating prices and quality of service, which is essentially what the net neutrality proponents propose. Our principle conclusions are that the end-to-end principle does not make sense from an economic perspective and that further regulation of the Internet is not warranted at this point in time.


The hardware complexity is one of the most crippling handicaps of implementing a blind channel estimation scheme in a wireless receiver. The state-of-the-art blind channel estimation methods either need matrix decomposition methods, which are implementation inefficient and expensive, or higher order cumulant functions of the received data, which eventually leads to the need for long data records for accurate estimation of higher order statistics of the received signal. The Blind Matched Filter (BMF) receiver on the other hand makes use of an adaptive algorithm, i.e. the Constant Modulus Algorithm (CMA), to estimate the channel without the need for an implementation inefficient approach as stated above. The BMF method assumes that the receiver utilizes channel matched filtering before the equalization of the channel. For receivers, employing multiple antennas, it is well known that the optimal detection strategy is to pass the received signals through a multidimensional matched filter. For this reason a signal transmission strategy similar to that of the BMF receiver would definitely benefit communication systems employing multiple antennas.

In this thesis four novel approaches have been proposed, all implementing multidimensional matched filtering blindly in their architecture, for wireless communication channels with multiple antennas. Two of these approaches are for channels utilizing multiple antennas only for signal reception. These two approaches differ from each other in the channel equalizer structure that they employ. The first approach is the blind implementation of the correlation-based Decision Feedback Equalizer (DFE). The second approach equalizes the Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) channel and obtains its estimate by making use of the multichannel DFE. The multidimensional matched filter equivalents were established through the use of an adaptive filter as well as the channel equalization being performed blindly for both novel receivers. It has been shown in this thesis that the equalization performance of the proposed methods are close to that of the matched filter bound, and to support this finding, a comparison between the matched filter estimation error performances of the proposed techniques is also provided. A short discussion to improve the convergence speed of the proposed approaches is also included.

The other two novel receivers are for the channels utilizing multiple antennas in their transmitter sides, i.e. Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) channels. Different from the state-of-the-art blind techniques in the literature proposed for the MISO channels, in the novel MISO receiver reported in this thesis the channel estimation and channel equalization are implemented all in
one receiver without any need for an extra step to perform any one of these two. The blind receiver does also perform the decoding of a coded data stream, deploying a space-time block coding scheme, to realize the spatial diversity in the channel. Step by step derivation of the novel receiver is shown in this thesis alongside the simulation section, where the performance of the novel MISO receiver is illustrated and vindicated.

The MIMO counterpart of this receiver was also explained as the fourth novel receiver. Different from the other three, this receiver further benefits from spatial multiplexing.As it was mentioned before, the BMF receiver is advantageous over the state-of-the-art
blind schemes due the simplicity in its implementation. However, the realization of the BMF receiver requires the noise variance to be estimated and the equalizer parameters to be calculated in state-space with costly matrix operations. In this thesis, a novel architecture is proposed to simplify a potential hardware implementation of the BMF receiver. The novel approach transforms the BMF receiver into a computationally efficient all-adaptive format which replaces the matrix operations. Furthermore, the novel design does not have any need for any extra step to estimate the noise variance. Comparative channel equalization and channel identification performance analysis of the conventional and the novel all-adaptive BMF receiver is reported and evaluated through exhaustive simulations in this thesis.


The relative antimicrobial activity of a large series of semisynthetic coumermycins has been determined. Most of the derivatives, which were 3-substituted-4-hydroxy-8-methyl-7-[3-O-(5-methyl-2-pyrrolylcarbonyl) noviosyloxy] coumarins, had an in vitro antibacterial spectrum similar to that of the parent compound, coumermycin A(1), but were generally less potent in minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) tests. Derivatives with an alkylcarboxamido, arylcarboxamido, or arylsulfonamido group in the 3 position had considerably greater in vitro activity than those possessing an amino-, aryl-, or alkyureido substituent. Efficacy in Staphylcoccous aureus Smith infections of mice was greater for those compounds with branched-chain alkylcarboxamido, unsubstituted, mono- or disubstituted aryl- and heteroaryl-carboxamido groups than for derivatives having an n-alkylcarboxamido, aralkyl-carboxamido, arylsulfonamido, or trisubstituted arylcarboxamido substituent. Significant in vitro activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae and other gram-negative species was restricted to those compounds having a 3-(3-n-alkyl-4-hydroxy-phenyl-carboxamido) group. Only the n-hexyl homologue demonstrated in vivo activity in a K. pneumoniae infection. Many derivatives were two- to threefold more active than coumermycin A(1) in orally treated mouse infections, despite the fact that their MIC values were considerably higher. This result was undoubtedly a reflection of the markedly greater oral absorbability possessed by many of the derivatives. Although peak oral mouse blood levels of some compounds were > 25 times higher than those of coumermycin A(1), their toxicity for the host was no greater. In addition, the semisynthetic coumermycins caused much less local irritation than coumermycin A(1) when administered parenterally.


Bile duct and gallbladder cancer are relatively uncommon. Predisposing factors include primary sclerosing cholangitis and gallstones larger than 3 centimeters. Patients present with signs of biliary obstruction and cholestasis. A serum CA 19-9 elevated above 100 U/mL is a useful marker. The diagnosis is implied on imaging studies and confirmed by tissue obtained at endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography or surgery, or by the clinical course. Surgery is the only curative therapy and survival is improved with resection of early stage disease. Endoscopic or percutaneous transhepatic stenting provides effective palliation. Generally, survival is less than 1 year.


Terpenes are essential secondary metabolites they are important defensive compounds of plants and insects. The biosynthesis of terpenes starts with the formation isopentenyl diphosphate (IDP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMADP). In the next step of biosynthesis, isoprenyl diphosphate synthases (IDS) condense DMADP with a varying number of IDP molecules to produce longer prenyl diphosphates, like geranyl- (GDP), farnesyl- (FDP) and geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGDP), which are substrates for terpene synthases that produce the various terpene skeletons. IDS have a critical role in terpene biosynthesis since they are located at a central point where the pathway branches towards products of different sizes. The published findings of the present dissertation begin with the description of a new LC-MS/MS based method for identification of the product specificity of IDS and the quantification of total IDS activity. This was the methodical basis for investigations on the regulatory function of IDS1 after overexpression in Picea glauca. Here it was shown that overexpression is only functional in needles. Overexpression increases the total IDS-activity. Despite the increases in terpene precursors the defensive oleoresin was unaltered. Instead large amounts of geranylgeranyl fatty acid esters were formed that were shown to have defensive properties against the needle feeding insect Lymantria monacha. Also insect employ terpenes to defend themselve. One example here is the horseradish leaf beetle Phaedon cochleariae, which has pairs of dorsal glands, that excrete the terpene chrysomelidial in case of an attack. Here IDS1 was identified to produce either GDP or FDP, depending on the metal ion cofactor. With an RNAi approach it was revealed that IDS1 is indeed a key enzyme in chrysomelidial biosynthesis. RNAi mediated transcript suppression, reduced the total IDS enzyme activity, the amount of intermediates in the larvae and the volume of the defensive secretions.


Controlling the Dirac point of graphene is essential for complementary circuits. Here, we describe the use of 2-(2-methoxyphenyl)-1,3-dimethyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-benzoimidazole (o-MeO-DMBI) as a strong n-type dopant for chemical-vapor-deposition (CVD) grown graphene. The Dirac point of graphene can be tuned significantly by spin-coating o-MeO-DMBI solutions on the graphene sheets at different concentrations. The transport of graphene can be changed from p-type to ambipolar and finally n-type. The electron transfer between o-MeO-DMBI and graphene was additionally confirmed by Raman imaging and photoemission spectroscopy (PES) measurements. Finally, we fabricated a complementary inverter via inkjet printing patterning of o-MeO-DMBI solutions on graphene to demonstrate the potential of o-MeO-DMBI n-type doping on graphene for future applications in electrical devices.


We investigate the influence of narrowband interference on different multiple access techniques including classic frequency-division multiple access (FDMA), time-division multiple access (TDMA), code-division multiple access (CDMA), and orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA). A major finding of this study is that CDMA with pseudonoise spreading sequences (PN-CDMA) does not perform any better than TDMA and that both multiple access schemes give virtually identical performance. We give a supporting interpretation of this result pointing out that TDMA is a special case of CDMA and that the argument of increased robustness to narrowband interference through spectral spreading equally applies to TDMA. Another finding is that orthogonal CDMA (OCDMA) has an entirely different behavior from TDMA and PN-CDMA in that the performance degradation is not the same for all users. Using continuous-wave (CW) interference, it was found that OCDMA can support a significant number of users at interference values which break both TDMA and PN-CDMA. We also point out some similarities between OCDMA and OFDMA, and highlight the fact that OFDMA is the most resistant multiple access technique to narrowband interference.


Introduction. Thyroid tumors are a borderline pathology approached equally by endocrine surgeons, ENT surgeons, thorax surgeons or general surgeons. The cooperation with the endocrinologist is mandatory in preoperative balance sheet, but also in postoperative treatment. The large size of a thyroid tumor (over 10 cm) causes a big surgical risk and a special preoperative preparation. Material and method. We present two cases of giant thyroid tumors: an anaplastic carcinoma developed on a papillary carcinoma and a medullar carcinoma.  We present our therapeutic options for every single case, including the surgical treatment in mixed team with thorax surgeon' "long time hard surgery". In one case we performed intubation on bronchoscope to avoid tracheotomy, and in the other case we made preoperative embolization. Results. The immediate therapeutic result depends on team work with thoracic surgeon, with the endocrinologist and intensive care specialist. The final therapeutic result depends on complex oncological treatment, but also on clinical and endocrine supervision. Discussions. The decision to operate a giant thyroid tumor had to put in balance risks and benefits maybe more than in other types of head and neck tumors because of the major intraoperative risk of bleeding and of bilateral injury of recurrent nerves. Conclusions. The surgical indication must be assessed judiciously. Preoperative (endocrine and general) complete clinical balance is indispensable. The surgical intervention has to be well prepared by both patient and surgeon. Effective therapeutic result depends on the interdisciplinary collaboration and on patient compliance to treatment.


The present work includes anatomical and histological study of the kidney of guinea pig. The current study was performed on (10) kidneys from (5) mature (male and female) gene pig clinically healthy. The animals were anaesthetized by the ether after which they were carefully dissected and examined. The anatomic studies showed the urinary system of guinea pig was composed of two kidneys. The kidneys are retroperitoneal organs bean in shape, red pink in colure and situated in the posterior part of the abdomen on each side of the vertebral column. The mean weight of right and left kidney (0.205±1.998) mm. The mean length, width and thickness of right kidney (20.356± 0.850) mm, (14.396±830) mm, (8.198±0.450) mm respectively .While the mean length, width and thickness of left kidney (18.296±0.722) mm, (13.776±0.939) mm, (8.192±0.440) mm respectively. The cross section of kidney showed two anatomical distinct regions, the outer cortex and inner medulla, both terminate by renal papilla. The renal cortex is reddish brown in colour. The mean width of cortex and medulla of right kidney (5.554±0.371) mm, (5.508±0.180) mm respectively while the mean width of cortex and medulla of left kidney (5.780±1.792) mm, (5.492±0.205) mm respectively . The result of histologic study demonstrate the kidney consist of outer dark red region (cortex) and inner lighter colored region (medulla) there is no evident boundary between the cortex and medulla . The renal corpuscle (malpighian) is aspherical structure formed of glomerulus, which is enclosed by a double-walled Bowman's capsule. Proximal convoluted thin tubules carctrestic by have widest lumen and internally lining by cuboidal epithelial cells which resting on the basement membrane. This cells characterized by have ground eosinophilic cytoplasm, large centrally nuclei and the apical surface covered by a brush border called microvilli. While the epithelial lining of distal convoluted tubules have extensive lumen and cuboidal cells have ground cytoplasm was clearly less eosinophilic than that of the proximal tubules and the apical surface of the distal convoluted tubule was uncovered by short microvilli.


Author(s): Jia, Ruoxi | Advisor(s): Spanos, Costas | Abstract: With the deployment of large sensor-actuator networks, Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs), such as smart buildings, smart grids, and transportation systems, are producing massive amounts of data often in different forms and quality. These data are in turn being used collectively to inform decision-making of the entities that engage with the CPSs. The impact of these systems on people's lives has led to a strong call for accountability of system decisions made based upon various data sources. The collection, analysis, and dissemination of these data also present a privacy risk that needs to be addressed.The first part of this dissertation focuses on accountable data fusion. We develop an online prediction framework that integrates dynamic sensor measurements with prior knowledge. The proposed framework facilitates reasoning about prediction confidence, which is crucial to making dependable decisions. We also move beyond predictive modeling to interpretable analytics by evaluating the influence of each data instance on the algorithmic outcome. We formalize the notion of ``data value,'' and provide efficient algorithms to compute it. This value notion not only enables us to better understand black-box predictions through the lens of training data, but allows for fair allocation of the profit generated from a prediction model that is built with data from cooperative entities. We further use the proposed value notion to develop an effective data sanitization mechanism, which screens off low-quality or even adversarial data instances from the training set.In the second part, we address the problem of incorporating privacy as an active engineering constraint into the CPS design and operation. We discuss a privacy metric inspired by information theory and provide algorithms to optimize the privacy mechanism for a given system or co-design the privacy mechanism and system control. In order to avoid unnecessary privacy-utility tradeoffs, we develop a framework to identify redundant data for specific decision-making processes. Furthermore, we present a privacy-preserving data publishing system, which can achieve improved data utility by optimizing the privacy mechanism according to the use of published data. While the algorithms and techniques introduced can be applied to many CPSs, we will mainly focus on the implications for smart buildings.


The arrests and subsequent conviction of two Czech entomologists by an Indian court in September 2008 has opened a Pandora's box of controversy. Petr Svacha, of the Institute of Entomology at the Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and his associate Emil Kucera (an amateur entomologist) were arrested for collection of beetles and butterflies without a valid permit from the Singalila National Park in the Indian state of West Bengal, a violation of the 1972 Indian Wildlife Protection Act and the 2002 Biological Diversity Act. The arrests triggered debate in the global scientific community regarding the implications of biodiversity conservation laws for scientific research (Venkataraman 2008) and underscored the tensions in the three-way relationship between scientific collecting, species conservation, and efforts of nations to protect themselves from biopiracy. Roughly 1200 scientists from across the world have protested the arrest and have petitioned the government of India for the scientists' immediate release (Dubey 2008). In determining whether the arrest and conviction of the Czech entomologists erected unreasonable barriers to the access of biological resources for legitimate scientific research two pertinent questions need to be addressed: Were the Indian officials overzealous in arresting the two researchers? And is the scientific community justified in its criticism of conservation laws now that two of its own have broken them?


Context-based learning approaches have been implemented in school science over the last 40 years as a way to enhance students' interest in, as well as learning outcomes from, science. Contexts are used to connect science with the students' lives and to provide a frame in which concepts can be learned and applied on a 'need-to-know'-principle. While effects on interest are coherently reported as positive, they are more diverse regarding cognitive learning outcomes. Hence, the demand for further research on criteria of context-based problems and problem-solving processes has been stated. In this paper, a study is presented investigating students' application of chemical concepts when solving context-based chemistry problems. Tasks for context-based problem solving have been designed systematically, using different combinations of contexts, topics and chemistry concepts in relation to the syllabus. Empirical data were collected using think-aloud interviews where 20 upper secondary students used their chemical content knowledge to solve the problems. The 15 context-based problems raised challenges within organic chemistry where concepts like electronegativity, polarity and solubility had to be applied. The difficulty to differentiate between intra- and intermolecular bonding emphasised in earlier research has also been apparent in this study. Besides the structural formula, which was an important part for the students when solving the tasks, the contextualisation of the problems was often used in the responses; students related their answers to the personal, societal or professional context in different ways. The paper explores the results and gives implications for context-based teaching, learning and assessment.


A guide to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010), the inaugural book of the First Year Reading Program at Stevens


At the terrestrial magnetopause the dense magnetosheath flowing around the magnetosphere interfaces with the normally much more tenuous magnetospheric plasma. Temporal variations in the solar wind dynamic pressure cause the magnetopause to be in continuous motion. When it decelerates and rebounds sunward after a strong and rapid drop in the solar wind dynamic pressure, we have a situation of a heavy-over-light plasma in an effective gravitational field. In this paper we investigate theoretically the conditions under which this configuration may become Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) unstable. The motion of the magnetopause is studied using a gas-dynamic model which takes into account forces arising from hypersonic flow past an object of prescribed shape. Thus the effect of the magnetic field near the magnetopause is not included. For sufficiently large and rapid dynamic pressure variations we obtain accelerations ≥ 1kms−2 lasting for periods of the order of 1–2 min. We discuss the possible instability of both global (λ ≫ Δ, thickness of the magnetopause) and internal (λ < Δ) modes, taking into account the stabilizing effects of (1) magnetic shear across the magnetopause and (2) viscosity of the magnetosheath plasma. We find that both modes are stable when the magnetic shear across the magnetopause is large. When the magnetosheath field points strongly northward, however, we find that both modes may be RT unstable. Among the effects of RT instability on the magnetopause and its environs are (1) large distortions of the magnetic field lines, (2) localized compressions of the magnetospheric magnetic field, (3) increased magnetopause thickness, and (4) reduced average density gradient across the magnetopause. (Since we only concentrate here on the linear stage of the development of the instability, no mass transfer into the magnetosphere is included.) These are all, in principle, observable effects, though the rapid motion of the magnetopause would require a fortuitous spacecraft-magnetopause configuration for them to be actually seen in single-spacecraft data. This work may be considered as a contribution to the current research on the structure and physics of the low-shear magnetopause.


Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are devices that employ Seebeck effect in thermopile to convert temperature gradient induced by waste heat into electrical power. Recently, TEGs have enticed increasing attention as green and flexible source of electricity able to meet wide range of power requirements from thermocouple sensors to power generators in satellites. Thermoelectric generators suffer from low-conversion efficiency; however, they could be promising solutions, when they are used to harvest waste heat coming from industry processes or central-heating systems. This chapter covers the working principles behind TEGs, depicts numerous schematics explaining functionality of TEGs, and investigates performance of TEGs. A detailed derivation process, which provides performance expressions dictating operation of TEGs, is exposed in this chapter. In addition, thermal resistance network is shown to explain thermal connection of thermocouples in TEGs in parallel and electrical connection of thermocouples in series. Performance features shown in this chapter are power output, efficiency, and voltage induced within TEG as functions of numerous parameters.


The relationships between symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) activity and C fluxes were investigated in pea plants (Pisum sativum L. cv. Baccara) using simultaneous 13C and 15N labelling. Analysis of the dynamics of labelled CO2 efflux from the nodulated roots allowed the different components associated with SNF activity to be calculated, together with root and nodule synthetic and maintenance processes. The carbon costs for the synthesis of roots and nodules were similar and decreased with time. Carbon lost by turnover, associated with maintenance processes, decreased with time for nodules while it increased in the roots. Nodule turnover remained higher than root turnover until flowering. The effect of the N source on SNF was investigated using plants supplied with nitrate or plants only fixing N2. SNF per unit nodule biomass (nodule specific activity) was linearly related to the amount of carbon allocated to the nodulated roots regardless of the N source, with regression slopes decreasing across the growth cycle. These regression slopes permitted potential values of SNF specific activity to be defined. SNF activity decreased as the plants aged, presumably because of the combined effects of both increasing C costs of SNF (from 4.0 to 6.7 g C g-1 N) and the limitation of C supply to the nodules. SNF activity competed for C against synthesis and maintenance processes within the nodulated roots. Synthesis was the main limiting factor of SNF, but its importance decreased as the plant aged. At seed-filling, SNF was probably more limited by nodule age than by C supply to the nodulated roots.


Background
Gene transfection is an effective therapeutic avenue to target many kinds of eye diseases.Non-viral vectors with high transfection efficiency, long-term expression, low toxicity and high expression levels are pivotal in gene therapy of corneal disease.

Objective
This study was to evaluate and compare the safety and efficiency between Entranster™ and liposome vectors for transfer of CD25 siRNA in rat cornea.

Methods
Eighty male SPF SD rats were randomly divided into Entranster™-CD25 siRNA group, liposome-CD25 siRNA group, simple CD25 siRNA group and normal saline solution (NSS) group with the right eye as experimental eyes.Corneal epithelia of the rats were completely removed after ocular surficial anesthesia, and 50 μl Entranster™-CD25 siRNA, liposome-CD25 siRNA, CD25 siRNA solution and NSS were topical administered in the eyes respectively.Ocular response and green fluorescence number on the corneas were examined under the slit lamp assisted microscope 12 hours, 24 hours, 3 days and 7 days after use of the drugs.The rats were sacrificed and the corneas were obtained, and corneal histopathological examination was performed by using hematoxylin eosin stain.The gene transferred efficiency in the corneas was evaluated by fluorescence technology, and the safety of Entranster™ and liposome carriers was assessed using TUNEL stain.The expression and location of CD11b in the corneas were detected by immunofluorescence technology.The use and care of the experimental animals complied with Regulations for the Administration of Affair Concerning Experimental Animals by State Science and Technology Committee.

Results
The quantity and intensity of fluorescence staining in the corneas were significantly increased in the Entranster™-CD25 siRNA group in comparison with the liposome-CD25 siRNA group, and the corneal fluorescence appeared earlier in the simple CD25 siRNA group, but it disappeared in 24 hours after transfection.Corneal histopathological examination revealed that the corneal edema and inflammatory cell infiltration in corneal epithelium after gene transfection were more dominant in the liposome-CD25 siRNA group than those in the Entranster™-CD25 siRNA group, simple CD25 siRNA group and NSS group, and no abnormality was seen in the stroma and endothelium.The number of inflammatory cells was more in the liposome-CD25 siRNA group than that in the Entranster™-CD25 siRNA group, simple CD25 siRNA group and NSS group (all at P=0.00). The number of apoptosis cells was significantly more in the liposome-CD25 siRNA group than that in the Entranster™-CD25 siRNA group, simple CD25 siRNA group and NSS group in 12 hours and 3 days after transfection (all at P=0.00). Immunofluorescence assay showed the expression of CD11b primarily located in the corneal epithelial and stromal layers.The expression of CD11b was gradually enhanced over time in the liposome-CD25 siRNA group and peaked in 24 hours after transfection.However, the expression was absent in the Entranster™-CD25 siRNA group, simple CD25 siRNA group and NSS group.

Conclusions
Entranster™ nanometer material-mediated transfection of CD25 siRNA in corneas of normal SD rats appears to have high transfection efficiency, low toxicity and slight irritating response to corneas, and Entranster™ vector is currently available for the gene therapy of corneal disease.

Key words:
Gene transfer techniques; Small interfering RNA; Cornea; Gene therapy/methods; Apoptosis/drug effects; Nano-polymer; Liposome; Rats


The study involves 204 cases of interpersonal assault reported to the police during a period of 1 year. The patterns of domestic violence and community violence involving friends, neighbors, and strangers are described. The most common type of violence reported to the police is community interpersonal violence in which victims are mostly females and perpetrators are mostly males and members of gangs. Cases of rape are reported, whereas spousal violence tends to be underreported. On the whole, female victims are more likely to be younger than their male counterparts, whereas the male perpetrators are more likely to be unemployed. Repeat assault is found in 43 instances. Possible psychological and sociological explanations are offered for violent gang activities. The need to sensitize the police to become more involved is emphasized. The author proposes suggestions that may help reduce the incidence of community violence.!


In this paper, , the combination of antenna array detection method of ground penetrating radar is put forward to solve the actual engineering problem that is difficult to monitor the integrity of the flexural pile composite foundation. The experiments of defects of six tamping soil cement piles find that the relative error of the pile position of defects is 5.25%. The result indicates that it is enough reliability to determine the pile defects by using the GPR method and can meet the engineering needs. Furthermore, the effect of age of cement, the ration between soil and cement, depth and types of defects on the monitoring quality is obtained.


This study analyzes whether mutual fund distributors are more likely to recommend products with higher sales compensation to maximize their profit. The lists of the 'fund of the month' on their webpages are utilized from April of 2015 to August of 2015. A simple comparative analysis shows that the average sales fees and the average front-end load are significantly higher in the recommended funds among the A share class of domestic equity funds. The results of a regression analysis confirm that funds with high sales compensation levels are more likely to be recommended. This holds true for both domestic equity funds and hybrid bond funds even after controlling for fund age, fund size, and past returns.


OBJECTIVE
To assess efficacy and tolerability of ulipristal acetate, a selective progesterone receptor modulator, for treatment of symptomatic uterine leiomyomas.

METHODS
This phase 3, double-blind, placebo-controlled study enrolled premenopausal women (aged 18-50 years) with abnormal uterine bleeding, one or more discrete leiomyomas, and uterine size 20 weeks of gestation or less. Patients were randomized 1:1:1 to 5 mg ulipristal, 10 mg ulipristal, or placebo once daily for 12 weeks followed by 12-week drug-free follow-up. Coprimary endpoints were rate of and time to amenorrhea, defined as no bleeding for the last 35 consecutive days of treatment. Secondary endpoints included rates of amenorrhea from day 11 and change from baseline to endpoint in the Revised Activities subscale of the Uterine Fibroid Symptom and Quality of Life questionnaire, which includes questions pertaining to physical and social activities. Safety assessments included adverse event monitoring and endometrial biopsies. A sample size of 150 was planned to compare separately each dose of ulipristal with placebo.

RESULTS
From March 2014 to March 2016, 157 patients were randomized. Demographics were similar across treatment groups. Amenorrhea was achieved by 25 of 53 (47.2% [97.5% CI 31.6-63.2]) and 28 of 48 (58.3% [97.5% CI 41.2-74.1]) patients treated with 5 mg and 10 mg ulipristal, respectively, compared with 1 of 56 (1.8% [97.5% CI 0.0-10.9]) placebo-treated patients (both P<.001). Time to amenorrhea was shorter for both ulipristal doses compared with placebo (P<.001), and both doses of ulipristal resulted in improved quality of life compared with placebo (P<.001). Common adverse events (5% or greater in either ulipristal group during treatment) were hypertension, elevated blood creatinine phosphokinase, and hot flushes. Serious adverse events occurred in four patients, but none was considered related to treatment. Endometrial biopsies were benign.

CONCLUSION
Ulipristal at 5 mg and 10 mg were well tolerated and superior to placebo in rate of and time to amenorrhea in women with symptomatic uterine leiomyomas.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION
Clinicaltrials.gov number, NCT02147197.