How latent error or violation induces a serious accident has been reviewed and a proper addressing measure of this has been proposed in the framework of decision making, emotional intelligence (EI) and social intelligence (SI) of organization and its members. It has been clarified that EI and SI play an important role in decision making. Violations frequently occur all over the world, although we definitely understand that we should not commit violations, and a secret to prevent this might exist in the enhancement of both social intelligence and reliability. The construction of social structure or system that supports organizational efforts to enhance both social intelligence and reliability would be essential. Traditional safety education emphasizes that it is possible to change attitudes or mind toward safety by means of education. In spite of this,accidents or scandals frequently occur and never decrease. These problems must be approached on the basis of the full understanding of social intelligence and limited reasonability in decision making. Social dilemma (We do not necessarily cooperate in spite of understanding its importance, and we sometimes make decision not to select cooperative behavior. Non-cooperation gives rise to a desirable result for an individual. However, if all take non-cooperative actions, undesirable results are finally induced to all.) must be solved in some ways and the transition from relief (closed) society to global (reliability) society must be realized as a whole. New social system, where cooperative relation can be easily and reliably obtained, must be constructed to support such an approach and prevent violation-based accidents.


Education researchers who study the effect of family social background on student achievement often use students' survey reports of parental education to investigate these effects. However, past research has demonstrated that students misreport their parents' education levels. We expand upon this research in two ways. First we use cognitive theories about the response process to develop and test hypotheses about reporting inconsistencies across these variables. Second we evaluate the impact of student misreporting on estimates of the relationship between parental education levels and student math achievement. Using data from the German administration of PISA 2000 (OECD Programme for International Student Assessment) in which both students and parents were asked to report parental variables, we show that reporting inconsistencies are a function of student achievement: students with higher math scores tend to provide reports that are more consistent with their parents' reports. This interesting case of differential measurement error has consequences for comparisons of the effects of parental background on student achievement across different subgroups of the population and across countries (a common use of PISA data and other international studies similar to PISA).


Decagonal single quasicrystals of the composition Al_70Ni_15Co_15 have been deformed in situ in a high-voltage transmission electron microscope at 730 °C along the 10-fold periodic axis to directly observe the dislocation motion. The deformation is carried by stress-assisted climb of dislocations with periodic Burgers vectors. These dislocations may also glide and move by a combination of glide and climb. Dislocations with Burgers vectors with components in the periodic and quasiperiodic directions probably move under the action of a chemical force. The observations are interpreted by a model established by P. Schall et al. under consideration of the activation parameters of macroscopic deformation and by analogies with the behavior of icosahedral quasicrystals.


Thomas Woltz, principal and owner of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBW), describes the fundamental role of historical and ecological research in the firm's design process. As Woltz illustrates in four case studies of urban park projects— Centennial Park in Nashville, Tennessee; Powell Avenue Steam Plant Plaza in Birmingham, Alabama; Memorial Park in Houston, Texas; and Hudson Yards, New York— the firm considers every site a cultural landscape. Through historical research and scientific analysis, NBW incorporates significant aspects of each site's past into the park plan. Traces of early settlements, the remains of industrial activities, and geological formations become allusions to the unique history of each landscape. The "ecology to culture continuum" is a way of thinking about design that exemplifies NBW's effort to engage people more closely with the landscape. This sense of connection with the past and concern for conserving the environment for the future are essential qualities of NBW's cultural landscapes.


An original device and a method of its application for restoring of the function of relatively incompetent valves (both patented) are elaborated. Application of the new device allows to lower the difficulty of surgical treatment, to decrease the duration of operation and post-operative period. The long-term results of six-year long experience of its application are presented. The patients examination after 2,5-3,0-year post-operation period shows perfect vein valve correction. A device for stone extraction from tubular organs (patented) fabricated with titanium nickelide super-elastic alloy is presented. The new suggested design is free of the drawback inherent in the previous one. The working element of the device is formed as a truncated cone or a truncated cone coaxial with the cylinder (the previous design was formed as a full cone) that prevents overstraining and residual strain accumulation during the manipulation process. Since the first publication the design of spiral stent and its delivering system were exposed to significant changes. In spite of a number of successful operations carried out by means of reported devices the last one is not free from some negative features. The new patented variants of the device for stent implantation also differs from the previous one by the performing of the assembly for adjusting and fixing the position of the stent. The new device comprises superelastic nitinol working elements which provide efficiency and reliability.


In order to examine what lessons radiological emergency management may offer for the management of the Covid-19 pandemic, and vice versa, a series of three online webinars were conducted with leading experts, scholars and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines essential for emergency management and long-term risk governance. The first webinar debated the lessons we are learning from the Covid-19 pandemic for radiological risk communication, the second explored issues around longer-term outcomes of a crisis and how to balance these with short-term actions whilst the third focused on the key challenges of the 'transition phase', using lessons learned from the Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima Daichii (2011) accidents. This paper reviews the discussions and provides valuable lessons for the radiation protection community. Results of the discussions indicated that: (a) non-radiological and non-epidemiological consequences of emergencies, for example psychological (mental health), societal and economic, should not be underestimated; (b) multidisciplinary expertise is imperative for communication efforts and for effective emergency management, including decision-making in the application of protective measures; (c) stakeholder engagement, including the involvement of the potentially affected population, should be encouraged from an early stage; and (d) trust is increased if policy-makers and the main science agencies show a unified voice.


Attribute selection (AS) refers to the problem of selecting those input attributes or features that are most predictive of a given outcome; a problem encountered in many areas such as machine learning, pattern recognition and signal processing. Unlike other dimensionality reduction methods, attribute selectors preserve the original meaning of the attributes after reduction. This has found application in tasks that involve datasets containing huge numbers of attributes (in the order of tens of thousands) which, for some learning algorithms, might be impossible to process further. Recent examples include text processing and web content classification. AS techniques have also been applied to small and medium-sized datasets in order to locate the most informative attributes for later use. One of the many successful applications of rough set theory has been to this area. The rough set ideology of using only the supplied data and no other information has many benefits in AS, where most other methods require supplementary knowledge. However, the main limitation of rough set-based attribute selection in the literature is the restrictive requirement that all data is discrete. In classical rough set theory, it is not possible to consider real-valued or noisy data. This paper investigates a novel approach based on fuzzy-rough sets, fuzzy rough feature selection (FRFS), that addresses these problems and retains dataset semantics. FRFS is applied to two challenging domains where a feature reducing step is important; namely, web content classification and complex systems monitoring. The utility of this approach is demonstrated and is compared empirically with several dimensionality reducers. In the experimental studies, FRFS is shown to equal or improve classification accuracy when compared to the results from unreduced data. Classifiers that use a lower dimensional set of attributes which are retained by fuzzy-rough reduction outperform those that employ more attributes returned by the existing crisp rough reduction method. In addition, it is shown that FRFS is more powerful than the other AS techniques in the comparative study


Aims. We investigate the role played by a pre-supernova (SN) ambient magnetic field in the dynamics of the expanding remnant of SN 1987A, and the origin and evolution of the radio emission from the remnant, in particular during the interaction of the blast wave with the nebula surrounding the SN.
Methods. We modeled the evolution of SN 1987A from the breakout of the shock wave at the stellar surface to the expansion of its remnant through the surrounding nebula using three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations. The model considers the radiative cooling, the deviations from equilibrium of ionization, the deviation from temperature-equilibration between electrons and ions, and a plausible configuration of the pre-SN ambient magnetic field. We explore the strengths of the pre-SN magnetic field ranging between 1 and 100 μG at the inner edge of the nebula and we assume an average field strength at the stellar surface B0 ≈ 3 kG. From the simulations, we synthesize the thermal X-ray and the non-thermal radio emission and compare the model results with observations.
Results. The presence of an ambient magnetic field with strength in the range considered does not change significantly the overall evolution of the remnant. Nevertheless, the magnetic field reduces the erosion and fragmentation of the dense equatorial ring after the impact of the SN blast wave. As a result, the ring survives the passage of the blast, at least during the time covered by the simulations (40 yr). Our model is able to reproduce the morphology and lightcurves of SN 1987A in both X-ray and radio bands. The model reproduces the observed radio emission if the flux originating from the reverse shock is heavily suppressed. In this case, the radio emission originates mostly from the forward shock traveling through the H II region and this may explain why the radio emission seems to be insensitive to the interaction of the blast with the ring. Possible mechanisms for the suppression of emission from the reverse shock are investigated. We find that synchrotron self-absorption and free–free absorption have negligible effects on the emission during the interaction with the nebula. We suggest that the emission from the reverse shock at radio frequencies might be limited by highly magnetized ejecta.


Despite the impact of market conditions on the popularity and success of leveraged buyouts, research is also needed on conditions leading to the failure of LBOs. In this article, the impacts of leverage, management processes, and the business cycle are analyzed in regard to their association with the failure of LBOs.


Background: Pregnancy induced hypertension is one of the most common causes of maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity. New born delivered to mothers with hypertension are more liable for intrauterine growth retardation and may be delivered prematurely. We aimed to determine the effect of pregnancy-induced hypertension on complete blood count, gestational age and birth weight of newborn. Materials and Methods: This study includes 200 neonates, 100 neonates born to mothers diagnosed as having pregnancy induced hypertension this is considered as the study group and 100 neonates born in the same period to healthy mothers considered as the control group, the study conducted in the neonatal unit of the department of pediatrics and gynecological ward in AL-Imamein Al-Kadhimein Medical city, Iraq, from 1st August 2015 to 30th May 2016. Details of the baby including gender, Apgar score, birth weight and gestational age were recorded and hematological parameters (complete blood count) of both babies and mothers have been studied. Results: The study showed the significant difference between the two groups regarding mode of delivery, 94 of mothers in study group delivered by cesarean section while 60 of control group, delivered by cesarean section. There was the significant effect of gestational hypertension on gestational age, birth weight, need for resuscitation, Apgar score, mean WBC count and mean platelet count since (P< 0.05). There were no significant differences between two groups regarding another element of complete blood count. Conclusion: At current study, gestational hypertension affects adversely growth parameter, wellbeing and both WBC and platelet count of a newborn.


The European Union's dairy industry has become increasingly export oriented and consequently the income of EU dairy farmers depends partly on their dairy processing firms' ability to successfully market dairy products in extra-EU markets. The export competitiveness of the EU dairy industry was examined on the basis of various indicators in order to identify structural determinants of export market success for a panel of EU country exports. Dynamic GMM panel results highlight the importance of innovation and investment for export competitiveness in world markets. The number of dairy products with protected geographical indication per country had no statistically significant effect.


The transition from plan to market provides a rare opportunity for insight into the endogenous development of economic institutions. Economic activities during the Soviet regime were coordinated by a central authority. These coordinating mechanisms were disrupted during the transition period, leading to an increase in the transaction costs for firms. Blanchard and Kremer (1997), among others, emphasize the negative impact of this "disorganization" on output behavior at the beginning of transition. Though this argument is correct, we believe that this and similar works stop short of a fuller characterization of transition by concentrating only on the disruptive effects of the reform process. This paper begins where the former works end by examining one of the key institutions that have emerged spontaneously in response to the challenges of transition: business associations. Its main contribution is to provide empirical evidence that institutions that help coordinate production and trade spontaneously emerge in an environment characterized by widespread "disorganization". Using a largely unexplored, firm-level data set, we document the emergence of business associations at the beginning of transition and provide evidence that these new coordinating institutions mitigated the initial output decline. Building on the growing literature on transaction costs and complexity, we interpret the emergence of these informal institutions as the firms' rational response to coordinate activities in a decentralized economy.


Species of the pantropical genus Erythrina (Fabaceae) are visited by perching and/or hovering birds in the mainland. At the oceanic island of Fernando de Noronha, north-eastern Brazil, we found that Erythrina velutina Willd. blooms during the dry season and the flowers are visited by a small vertebrate assemblage. Flowers last 2 days and their stigmas remain receptive, although only first-day flowers produce nectar. Nectar is dilute and produced copiously. All terrestrial native vertebrates (three of them endemics), the dove Zenaida auriculata noronha, the perching birds Vireo gracilirostris and Elaenia ridleyana, and the lizard Euprepis atlanticus are regular visitors and pollinators. The features of E. velutina conform to those of passerine-pollinated species within the genus. Its nectar is a resource sought by the vertebrates, which visit the inflorescences from dawn to sunset. Since none of the visitors depends on nectar as a major food source, the flowers are likely to serve a dual purpose, i.e. water balance and energy intake, similarly to the findings for some Erythrina species in Neotropic and Palaeotropic mainlands. However, E. velutina is the only species within the genus that is visited and pollinated by doves and lizards.


The focus of this Policy Brief is the Swiss referendum of 2014 against 'mass immigration' in Switzerland. It identifies the challenges that a quota on EU citizens' free movement rights to Switzerland would pose to EU-Swiss relations, considering: i) the value of freedom of movement in the EU and its indivisibility from the internal market and other economic freedoms; ii) the specificity of the EU legal system following the Lisbon Treaty that established democratic and judicial accountability mechanisms; iii) the lack of supranational judicial oversight of the EU-Switzerland agreements framework; and iv) the existence of the so-called guillotine mechanism, according to which the termination of the Free Movement Agreement would entail the automatic termination of the other agreements with the EU. The authors set out a number of options and consider their implications for EU-Swiss relations.


We propose the design of a ventilator which can be easily manufactured and integrated into the hospital environment to support COVID-19 patients. The unit is designed to support standard ventilator modes of operation, most importantly PRVC (Pressure Regulated Volume Control) and SIMV-PC (Synchronised Intermittent Mandatory Ventilation) modes. The unit is not yet an approved medical device and is in the concept and prototyping stage. It is presented here to invite fast feedback for development and deployment in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.


PURPOSE: To explore the relationships between physical activity, physical fitness and quality of life for the elderly population. METHODS: We included in our study 105 older adults (≥60 years old) from three community in Beijing, China. Data of physical activity was collected by physical activity survey for the elderly (PASE). Items of physical fitness included grip strength, flexibility and balance, assessing according to the measurement manual of National Physical Fitness Surveillance in China. T score (ranging from 0-100) was calculated for each physical fitness item and added up to a total score. Quality of life was measured by the Medical Outcome Study 36-item short form health survey (SF-36). Subscales of SF-36 were summarized into two subdomains of physical component summary regarding physical health, and mental component summary for mental health. Multivariable linear regression was used to explore the relationship between physical activity, physical fitness and quality of life. RESULTS: Among the study population physical activity and total score of all 3 items of physical fitness were the most important impact factors for physical component summary (standardized regression coefficients were 0.39 and 0.33, respectively). As regarded to mental component summary, total score of all 3 items of physical fitness, but not physical activity, was the major influencing factor (standardized regression coefficient was 0.24). No interactions were found between physical activity and physical fitness in relation to two subdomains of quality of life (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Both physical activity and physical fitness had independent effects on quality of life for older adults in Beijing,China. Physical activity was the most important factor that associated with physical health, but not with mental health. The summary condition of grip strength, flexibility and balance was positively correlated with both physical and mental health.


Most robotic manufacturing applications nowadays require tedious and expensive pre-programming of the chosen robot, each time when a new task is introduced. In order to eliminate the tedious robot programming for better productivity, this research proposes an adaptive approach that allows a robot to follow any arbitrary robot path defined by an operator. A so-developed system was designed to monitor and control the path following operation locally or remotely through an established web-based architecture, without the need of extra programming. The objective of the research is achieved by integrating an image processing module with a robotic system. The real benefits of such a system are the ability to control and monitor the stepwise processing stages, as well as to automate the whole operation to a certain level of control defined in advance. In particular, this paper introduces a prototype that can be extended to various industrial applications, such as arc welding, laser cutting and water jet cutting, which require controlling the 2D or 3D path of a robot.


Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) bone invasion are surgically treated with bone resection, which results in severe physical and psychological damage. Here, we investigated the potential of fractalkine (CX3CL1), which is regulated by transforming growth factor (TGF-β), as a novel biomarker for correct prediction and early detection of OSCC-associated bone invasion. TGF-β knockdown and treatment with a TGF-β-neutralizing antibody decreased the level of fractalkine in the culture media of HSC-2 and YD10B OSCC cells. Treatment with a fractalkine-neutralizing antibody reduced TGF-β-stimulated invasion by HSC-2 and YD10B cells. Fractalkine treatment increased the viability, invasion, and uPA secretion of both OSCC cell lines. Furthermore, OSCC cell bone invasion was assessed following subcutaneous inoculation of wild-type or TGF-β knockdown OSCC cells in mouse calvaria. TGF-β knockdown prevented erosive bone invasion, reduced the number of osteoclasts at the tumor-bone interface, and downregulated fractalkine expression in mouse tumor tissues. Our results indicate that the production of fractalkine is stimulated by TGF-β and mediates TGF-β-induced cell invasion in several OSCC cell lines showing an erosive pattern of bone invasion. Fractalkine may be a useful predictive marker and therapeutic target for OSCC-induced bone destruction.


Relativistically expanding sources of X-rays and gamma-rays cover an enormous range of (central) compactness and Lorentz factor. The underlying physics is discussed, with an emphasis on how the dominant dissipative mode and the emergent spectrum depend on these parameters. Photons advected outward from high optical depth are a potentially important source of Compton seeds. Their characteristic energy is bounded below by ~1 MeV in pair-loaded outflows of relatively low compactness, and remains near ~1 MeV at very high compactness and low matter loading. This is compared with the characteristic energy of O(1) MeV observed in the rest frame spectra of many sources, including gamma-ray bursts, OSSE jet sources, MeV Blazars, and the intense initial 0.1 s pulse of the March 5 event. Additional topics discussed include the feedback of pair creation on electron heating and the formation of non-thermal spectra, their effectiveness at shielding the dissipative zone from ambient photons, direct Compton damping of irregularities in the outflow, the relative importance of various soft photon sources, and the softening of the emergent spectrum that results from heavy matter loading. The implications of this work for X-ray and optical afterglow from GRB's are briefly considered. Direct synchrotron emission behind the forward shock is inhibited by the extremely low energy density of the ambient magnetic field. Mildly relativistic ejecta off axis from the main gamma-ray emitting cone become optically thin to scattering on a timescale of ~1 day (E/10^{52} erg)^{1/2}, and can be a direct source of afterglow radiation.


A description logics representation of the Foundational Model of Anatomy (FMA) in the Web Ontology Language (OWL-DL) would allow developers to combine it with other OWL ontologies, and would provide the benefit of being able to access generic reasoning tools. However, the FMA is currently represented in a frame language. The differences between description logics and frames are not only syntactic, but also semantic. We analyze some theoretical and computational limitations of converting the FMA into OWL-DL. Namely, some of the constructs used in the FMA do not have a direct equivalent in description logics, and a complete conversion of the FMA in description logics is too large to support reasoning. Therefore, an OWL-DL representation of the FMA would have to be optimized for each application. We propose a solution based on OWL-Full, a superlanguage of OWL-DL, that meets the expressiveness requirements and remains application-independent. Specific simplified OWL-DL representations can then be generated from the OWL-Full model by applications. We argue that this solution is easier to implement and closer to the application needs than an integral translation, and that the latter approach would only make the FMA maintenance more difficult.


This article explores the strategies carried out by the Spanish cotton industry, drawing the distinction between dynastic and non-dynastic companies, and the business strategies to preserve the family firm, to keep the control of management in the hands of the founder's family, and to maintain long-term living standards. To achieve this, companies showed a remarkable capacity to adapt to the changing institutional, political and economic context in Spain during the second half of the twentieth century. Finally, we measure the degree of success by looking at profits, profitability and ability of dynastic and non-dynastic companies to survive.


A fully integrated magnetically actuated micromachined relay has been successfully fabricated and tested. This particular device uses a single-layer coil to actuate a movable upper magnetically responsive platform. The minimum current for actuation was 180 mA, resulting in an actuation power of 33 mW. Devices have been tested which can make and break 1.2 A of current through the relay contacts when the relay is electromagnetically switched. Operational lifetimes in excess of 850000 operations have been observed. Contact resistances as low as 22.4 m/spl Omega/ have been observed under electromagnetic actuation. Magnetic and structural finite-element (FE) simulations have been performed using ANSYS to calculate both the actuation and contact forces.


This article analyzes the attitude of the Uruguayans towards the subjection to the law in the prosecution and punishment of offenders. Specifically, it addresses the approval of people taking justice into their own hands and justification for police action outside the law when capturing delinquents. The LAPOP database (Latin American Public Opinion Project, Vanderbilt University) conducted in 2008 is used for this purpose. Analyzing probit estimates, it is observed that the justification of people taking justice into their own hand is related to the respondent's experience and situation. Having been victimized in recent months, feeling unsafe in their neighborhood and considering their economic situation as not good, increases the probability of assuming such position. On the other hand, adherence to police procedures is related to individual's philosophical and political beliefs. This finding indicates that the formation of such attitudes has a differential dynamic and that Uruguayans, when justifying actions outside the law, consider the type of action and the actor involved.


Agricultural pests are responsible for millions of dollars in crop losses and management costs every year. In order to implement optimal site-specific treatments and reduce control costs, new methods to accurately monitor and assess pest damage need to be investigated. In this paper we explore the combination of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), remote sensing and machine learning techniques as a promising methodology to address this challenge. The deployment of UAVs as a sensor platform is a rapidly growing field of study for biosecurity and precision agriculture applications. In this experiment, a data collection campaign is performed over a sorghum crop severely damaged by white grubs (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). The larvae of these scarab beetles feed on the roots of plants, which in turn impairs root exploration of the soil profile. In the field, crop health status could be classified according to three levels: bare soil where plants were decimated, transition zones of reduced plant density and healthy canopy areas. In this study, we describe the UAV platform deployed to collect high-resolution RGB imagery as well as the image processing pipeline implemented to create an orthoimage. An unsupervised machine learning approach is formulated in order to create a meaningful partition of the image into each of the crop levels. The aim of this approach is to simplify the image analysis step by minimizing user input requirements and avoiding the manual data labelling necessary in supervised learning approaches. The implemented algorithm is based on the K-means clustering algorithm. In order to control high-frequency components present in the feature space, a neighbourhood-oriented parameter is introduced by applying Gaussian convolution kernels prior to K-means clustering. The results show the algorithm delivers consistent decision boundaries that classify the field into three clusters, one for each crop health level as shown in Figure 1. The methodology presented in this paper represents a venue for further esearch towards automated crop damage assessments and biosecurity surveillance.


S | Innate Immunity, Microbiology, and Microbiome 199 Activity of sarecycline in murine models of infection and inflammation 1 2 3 4 5 6 C Bunick , J Del Rosso , S Tyring , M Draper , JL Johnson and A Grada 1 Dermatology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States, 2 JDR Dermatology Research LLC, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, 3 The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, United States, 4 Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 5 Pathology and Dermatology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, United States and 6 Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States Sarecycline (SAR) is a tetracycline-class antibiotic FDA-approved for treatment of moderateto-severe acne. In vitro studies demonstrated a narrow-spectrum antibacterial activity, targeting clinically relevant Gram-positive bacteria with reduced activity against Gram-negative bacteria commonly found in the human gastrointestinal tract. A murine systemic (intraperitoneal) infection model was used to assess the in vivo efficacies of SAR, doxycycline (DOX), and minocycline (MIN) against S. aureus and E. coli. At 48 hours after systemic infection with S. aureus, SAR, DOX, and MIN had a protective dose required to achieve 50% survival (PD50) of 0.25, 0.3, and 0.03 mg/kg, respectively. In contrast, SAR did not demonstrate in vivo efficacy against E. coli even at the highest dose (PD50 >40 mg/kg), while DOX and MIN had a PD50 of 5.72 and 6.95 mg/kg, respectively. A murine neutropenic thigh wound infection model was used to model tissue-based infection to assess efficacies of SAR and DOX against S. aureus. At 24 hours post infection, SAR achieved a 2-log reduction of thigh bacterial burden comparable to DOX, with 50% effective dose (ED50) values of 8.23 and 8.32mg/kg, respectively. The anti-inflammatory effects of SAR, DOX, or MIN, were tested in male, Sprague Dawley rats using a carrageenan-induced footpad edema model. Mean percent inflammation at a dose of 100 mg/kg was 53.1, 36.0, and 20.5, respectively. SAR demonstrated in vivo efficacy against S. aureus but not E. coli in animal models of infection, confirming the narrow-spectrum activity observed in vitro. SAR also showed an antiinflammatory effect comparable to DOX and MIN. S36 Journal of Investigative Dermatology (2021), Volume 141 200 Phenotypic heterogeneity of heterozygous dedicator of cytokinesis 8 (DOCK8) mutations A Mahmoudabadi Medical School, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, United States Background: Dedicator of cytokinesis 8 (DOCK8) deficiency leads to a combined immunodeficiency characterized by cutaneous and systemic infections, atopy, and autoimmunity. Although there is an understanding of homozygous autosomal recessive DOCK8 deficiency, there is limited information about simple or complex heterozygous mutations in the DOCK8 region or whether heterozygosity for DOCK8 is associated with cutaneous or systemic infections. Inclusion of heterozygous mutation analysis may improve the collective understanding of DOCK8 genetic variants. Objective: The purpose of this review is to provide useful insights into the clinical features, genetic analysis and genetic variants of DOCK8 deficiency, with particular emphasis on heterozygous DOCK8 mutations. Methods: PubMed, NCBI, and Medline were searched for scientific articles that provide information on DOCK8 deficiency. The keywords queried included "DOCK8 deficiency", "mutations", "heterozygous", and "genetics". Results: Due to the vital role that DOCK8 plays in the immune system as well as the actin cytoskeleton, the clinical hallmarks of DOCK8 deficiency are recurrent upper respiratory tract, cutaneous infections and eczema. Although most symptomatic individuals have homozygous autosomal recessive mutations, this review revealed similar clinical findings in patients with heterozygous DOCK8 mutations. Conclusion: Although individuals with heterozygous DOCK8 mutations are generally asymptomatic, recent literature highlights the vast phenotypic heterogeneity of these individuals. 201 A basophil-neuronal axis promotes itch 1 1 2 2 3 2 2 2 F Wang , AM Trier , F Li , S Kim , Z Chen , J Chai , M Mack , S Morrison , JD Hamilton, J Baek, TB Yang, A M Ver Heul, AZ Xu, Z Xie, X Dong, M Kubo, H Hu, C Hsieh, X Dong, Q Liu, D Margolis, M Ardeleanu, MJ Miller and BS Kim 1 Dermatology, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, Missouri, United States, 2 Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, Missouri, United States, 3 Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc, Tarrytown, New York, United States, 4 Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 5 Rikagaku Kenkyujo Yokohama Campus, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan and 6 University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic and relapsing inflammatory skin disorder associated with severe, chronic itch. In addition to chronic itch, patients with AD often suffer flares of acute itch. Although recent seminal discoveries have unearthed the neuroimmune circuitry of itch, mechanisms underlying acute itch exacerbations remain overlooked. Herein, we identify that a large proportion of patients with AD harbor allergen-specific IgE and exhibit a propensity for acute itch flares, provoking the hypothesis that acute itch flares in AD may be driven by allergen-specific IgE. To definitively address this, we developed novel murine models of IgEmediated itch and found that, although in the steady-state, IgE indeed stimulates acute, mast cell-dependent, histaminergic itch, in the context of AD-like disease, both mast cells and histamine become entirely dispensable for acute itch flares that happen on top of chronic itch. Rather, we strikingly found that this form of itch was critically dependent on the presence of basophils. Inflammatory basophils were prone to release cellular contents and intravital imaging revealed basophil-sensory neuron interactions within the skin that was provoked by cutaneous allergen exposure. Functionally, allergen-stimulated basophils exhibited enhanced production of leukotriene C4 (LTC4). The presence of CysLTR2 on neurons, a receptor for LTC4, was critically required for acute itch flares in AD-associated inflammation. Collectively, our study demonstrates a previously unrecognized form of acute itch flare that emerges in the context of chronic skin inflammation to activate a non-canonical basophil-neuronal circuit. 202 Genotyping of 30 kinds of cutaneous human papillomaviruses by a multiplex microfluidic loop-mediated isothermal amplification and visual detection method Y Wang, R Qi, X Gao and H Chen The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China Human papillomaviruses (HPVs), a group of non-enveloped small viruses with doublestranded circular DNA which lead to multiple skin diseases such as benign warts, are commonly seen in clinics. The current HPV detection systems aim mainly at mucosal HPVs, however, an efficient clinical approach for cutaneous HPVs detection is lacking. To establish a rapid detection system for cutaneous HPVs, we used a colorimetric loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) with hydroxynaphthol blue (HNB) dye in combination with microfluidic technology. The lower detection limit of the LAMP assay was 10 viral DNA copies/ml when tested on synthesized L1 DNA sequences, which was better than the conventional PCR. Compared to PCR sequencing, the sensitivity of HPV27, HPV2, HPV1, HPV57, HPV3, HPV4, HPV7 and HPV75 genotypes detections were 100%, whereas the specificity was 34.55%, 45.12%, 95.83%, 98.59% and 97.62% respectively, when tested on clinical samples. The new cutaneous type HPV detection system is characterized by both a good sensitivity and specificity compared to conventional methods. 203 Heightened levels of microvesicle particles resulting from combination of ethanol and thermal burn injury C Brewer, Aa Awoyemi, C Rapp, CE Borchers and JB Travers Pharmacology & Toxicology, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, United States Ethanol, in combination with thermal burn injury, is a clinically significant problem resulting in an increase in morbidity and mortality due to acute multi-organ toxicity from excess systemic cytokine release. Moreover, murine models of intoxicated burn injury replicate the acute toxic effects as well as a delayed systemic immunosuppression. Almost half of the admitted hospital patients with burn injuries were alcohol intoxicated at the time of admission. Our group has demonstrated that the lipid mediator Platelet-activating factor (PAF) plays an important role in the delayed immunosuppressive effects of intoxicated thermal burn injury. As PAF receptor signaling causes generation of subcellular microvesicle particles (MVP), the objective of the present studies is to define the role of MVP in the toxicity associated with EtOH + burn injury. Using HaCaT keratinocyte-derived cell line, we demonstrate that both thermal burn injury and EtOH alone generate increased release of MVP into the supernatant. Combining the two agents results in an increased generation of MVP in at least an additive fashion. These studies suggest that MVP might play a role in the augmented toxicity of intoxicated thermal burn injury. 204 Age and circadian regulation of cutaneous innate antiviral immunity at homeostasis V Lei, SJ Kirchner, J Kwock, X Ling, DL Corcoran and AS MacLeod 1 Dermatology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, United States, 2 Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, United States, 3 Suzhou 9 People's Hospital, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China, 4 Immunology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, United States and 5 Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Caro


Abstract Background The frequency of arrhythmias increases after the Fontan operation over time; atrial tachycardia (AT) and sinus node dysfunction (SND) are frequently observed. Case summary Our patient was 63-year-old woman who underwent a lateral tunnel Fontan operation for double outlet right ventricle at age 36. She experienced paroxysmal AT for 1 year, and antiarrhythmic medication was not feasible due to symptomatic SND. Computed tomography revealed a 45 mm-sized thrombus in the high right atrium (RA). The patient had three coexisting conditions: paroxysmal AT, symptomatic SND, and the right atrial thrombus, for which total cavopulmonary connection conversion and epicardial pacemaker implantation (PMI) would have been effective; however, given her age and comorbidities, surgical treatment was considered high risk. Catheter ablation was avoided because of the right atrial thrombus. Finally, a transvenous pacemaker was implanted via the right femoral vein to avoid the right atrial thrombus and severe venous tortuosity from the left subclavian vein to the RA. After PMI, the patient was prescribed amiodarone and bisoprolol for AT suppression. Atrial tachycardia occurred once in the third month after discharge. We increased the dose of amiodarone, and she has been tachycardia-free. Discussion Transvenous PMI must be considered in cases where open thoracic surgery or catheter ablation cannot be performed. This is the first report of transvenous PMI via the right femoral vein and successful AT and SND management in an elderly Fontan patient.


Workplace language assessment poses special issues for language testers, but also, when it becomes very large scale, it poses issues for language policy. This article looks at these issues, focusing on the offshore and outsourcing (O&O) industry as it is transitioning from native-speaking (NS) countries into nonnative-speaking (NNS) destinations such as India and the Philippines. This is obviously most impacted in call centers, where the ability of customer service representatives (CSRs) to communicate with ease with their native-English speaking customers is central to business success and can be key to a nation's economy. Having reviewed the (limited) research in this area, we take the Philippines as our example to explore how government, academe, and the business sector are dealing with the language proficiency and personnel-training issues caused by the exponential growth in this industry. Appropriate language assessments that are practical, while also being valid and reliable, are critical if the Philippines is to retain its position in this emerging market. Currently, call centers in Philippines complain of very poor recruitment rates due to poor language ability, and of poor quality communication outcomes measures: But how do they assess these key areas? We describe and evaluate the current situation in call center language assessment in the Philippines and discuss possible ways forward, for the Philippines and for the O&O industry more broadly.


Considering the actuality of current speech recognition and the characteristic of RBF neural network, a noise-robust speech recognition system based on RBF neural network is proposed with the entire-supervised algorithm. If the traditional clustering algorithm is employed, there is a flaw that the node center of hidden layer is always sensitive to the initial value, but if the entire-supervised algorithm is used, the flaw will not turn up, and the classification ability of RBF network will be enhanced. Experimental results show that, compared with the traditional clustering algorithm, the entire-supervised algorithm is of higher recognition rate in different SNRs than that of clustering algorithm.


The authors review the principles of calculating the optimal dosage regimens of mebicar used in the treatment of borderline psychopathological abnormalities in alcoholics. Mebicar administered to patients according to the calculated dosage regimens ensures the positive clinical effect. This is supported by the clinicopsychopathological and electrophysiological data.


The role of agroindustry  to maintain the primary product into processing products to increase the added value is required. One of the solutions made is to increase the added value of local Palu onion become fried onions. This study aims to determine the added value of being processing the local Palu onion into fried onion which was conducted on Triple C Fried Onion Industry, Raja Bawang Fried Onion Industry and SAL-HAN Fried Onion Industry. The samples determined by intentionally (purposive), considering that these 3 industries categorized as home industry, small industry and middle industry. Respondents in this study was the leadership and employees of the company with a number of respondents as many as 11 people. The results showed that the added value obtained from fried Onion Industry at home level (Triple C fried onions Industry) of Rp.33.846.09 kg , small scale (Raja Bawang Fried Onion Industry) of Rp .39.117,40/kg and middle scale (SAL-HA Fried Onion Industry) of Rp.39.760/kg


In this work, a lightweight Ti-10Mg-5Al (wt. %) alloy for structural components was produced by mechanical alloying. A metastable α-Ti(Al,Mg) solid solution was obtained after 50h of milling. Diffraction peaks ascribed to the Mg phase were detected in the XRD pattern of the sample heat treated at 600°C. This phase tends to oxidize with the increase of temperature giving rise to MgO. The structure of the mechanically alloyed and 900°C heat treated sample consisted of a Ti(Al) solid solution with dispersed MgO particles in the matrix. Hardness and Young's modulus values obtained from ultramicrohardness tests confirm the strength improvement of the Ti-based alloy due to the MgO reinforcement.


Abstract Steam explosion (SE) is a promising hydrothermal pretreatment technology for future biorefineries. In this study, the three steps of the steam explosion process, (1) the steam treatment (2) the explosion, and (3) the impact step were separately considered and their effects on structural changes of wood were studied. The SE experiments were performed on single wood pieces in different experimental set-ups at 7 and 14 bar pressure with 5 and 10 min treatment times. Mercury porosimetry and environmental scanning electron microscopy analyses were conducted to characterise both internal and external changes in the wood. It was found that the explosion step is not responsible for the disintegration of the wood material into small pieces; instead, the disintegration occurs due to impact of softened wood chips. However, the porosity profiles of the tracheids change during the explosion step. Altogether, all three steps of the SE process contribute in a synergistic way to an increase in pore size and total intrusion volume.


Gray-scale displays of a time history of data in multiple channels are encountered in various applications. The signal tracks in a noisy display often have to be detected by a human operator. To exploit the pattern-recognition capability of the human "receiver", the perceptual factors influencing visual discrimination needs to be incorporated into the gray-scale transformation scheme of the data. To this end, an objective function, viz. the total perceived entropy, is proposed in this paper for optimum gray-scale quantizer design. Two types of quantizers, one designed with unconstrained maximization of the objective function and another which maximizes the objective function with the constraint enforced by Weber's law, are proposed. It is demonstrated, using simulated spectrogram data, that these quantizers provide better signal track discrimination than Lloyd-Max quantization.


This paper focuses on the impacts of exit strategy in existing fuzzy portfolio selection models. In the securities market, the term 'exit' means that the investor may sell his/her equity on account of some exogenous or endogenous incentives, especially when the security price becomes higher than his/her expectation or lower than his/her tolerance. It is a common problem that all investors need to face in the investment horizon. There have been various studies reported in the current literature employing fuzzy set theory to handle the uncertainty of portfolio selection. Nevertheless, none of these studies considers the influence caused by exit strategy which will be executed once a security price fluctuates out of the expected interval. In this paper, we first secure the future returns of each security by profit/loss exit points (prices) before rebuilding fuzzy portfolio selection models. Next, the properties of exit points are analyzed. Then a meta‐heuristic method is proposed to analyze the differences between the new models' experimental results and those of previous methods. Finally, we discuss how to assign proper exit point values to different securities based on different risk attitudes, and apply our approach to a real application on the New York Stock Exchange. © 2014 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


BIOMEDICAL PATENTSIn a major shift, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has proposed a policy that will raise the bar for patent applications on DNA--a change that could lead to the rejection of many claims that have been stalled because of enduring questions over exactly what can be patented. Although the proposed change is welcomed by many in the research community, some, including top scientists at the National Institutes of Health, argue that it still does not go far enough. Unless the PTO tightens its rules further, they warn, research and innovation could be stifled by a quagmire of overlapping rights and claims.


Abstract In this paper, we present workflows, key relationships and results of multiple stochastic fault seal analyses conducted on geocellular geological or (static) reservoir grids. Ranges of uncertainties are computed from new and published datasets for the different input relationships (e.g. throw, VShale to VClay, fault clay prediction, fault rock clay content to permeability); these are used as input into stochastic modelling processes and the impact of each is assessed. The power of stochastic modelling to focus interpretation and risking effort is reviewed. Reducing the uncertainty distributions from the published data ranges has a massive impact on the range of predicted fault seal properties. Halving the uncertainties associated with the computation of the transmissibility multiplier, for instance, reduces this range from 7 to 1–1.5 orders of magnitude of the base‐case value (no uncertainty). Importantly, when combined together, the median predictions from each individual parameter do not lead to the median value for the final prediction; average relationships combined together will not therefore produce the average final prediction. This is a powerful result for two reasons: first, current geological modelling packages use global trends to define fault properties and so are likely to predict spurious results; and secondly, reducing the uncertainty on specific relationships by around 50% is an achievable goal. Locally calibrated datasets and relationships (field‐specific) based on carefully characterized samples should allow for this improvement in prediction accuracy. This paper presents a review of fault seal techniques, published data and the potential pitfalls associated with the analyses.


Voltage fluctuations which cause lamp flicker tend to propagate from the point of origin to various parts of a power system exhibiting some level of attenuation depending on factors such as system impedances, composition of loads and frequency components of the fluctuating waveform. Maintaining the flicker levels at various busbars below the planning limits specified by the standards is crucial, and in this regard it is important to develop an insight into the manner in which the flicker propagates via systems operating at different voltage levels. This thesis presents flicker transfer analysis methodologies applicable for radial and interconnected power systems particularly considering the influence of induction motor loads on flicker attenuation. In the first phase of the work, development of the foundations towards flicker transfer analysis methodologies is carried out by investigating the stand-alone behaviour of induction motors that are subjected to regular supply voltage fluctuations. The electrical and mechanical response of induction motors to two types of sinusoidal fluctuations in the supply voltage where (a) a positive or negative sequence sinusoidal frequency component is superimposed on the mains voltage and (b) mains voltage amplitude is sinusoidally modulated are examined. State space representation of induction motors is used to develop a linearised induction motor model describing the response of the stator current and the rotor speed to small voltage variations in the supply voltage. The results from the model reveal that various sub-synchronous and/or super-synchronous frequency components that exist in the supply voltage as small voltage perturbations can influence the dynamic response of the machine in relation to flicker. In particular, oscillations in the electromagnetic torque and rotor speed arising as a result of the applied voltage perturbations are found to be the key influencing factors controlling the stator current perturbations. It has been noted that, the speed fluctuation caused by a superimposed positive sequence voltage v vi perturbation tends to produce extra emf components in the rotor which in turn can reflect back to the stator. This concept of multiple armature reaction has been found to be significant in large motors especially when the superimposed frequencies are closer to the fundamental frequency. The second phase of the work covers the development of systematic methods for evaluation of flicker transfer in radial and interconnected power systems taking the dynamic behaviour of induction motors into account. In relation to radial systems, small signal models are developed which can be used to establish the flicker propagation from a higher voltage level (upstream) to a lower voltage level (downstream) where induction motor loads are connected. Although this method can be applied for regular or irregular voltage fluctuations, emphasis has been given to sinusoidal voltage fluctuations arising from conventional sinusoidal amplitude modulation of upstream voltage. Moreover, the method examines the propagation of sub-synchronous and super-synchronous frequency components that exist in the supply voltage as side bands and hence determines the overall attenuation in the voltage envelope. The contribution of induction motors of different sizes and other influential factors such as system impedance, loading level of the motor are examined. It has been noted that in general higher frequency components of the upstream fluctuating voltage envelope tend to attenuate better at the downstream. A method is also presented which allows aggregation of induction motors at the load busbars in relation to flicker transfer studies. In relation to interconnected systems, a frequency domain approach which can be used to investigate the flicker transfer is presented. This approach can be considered as an extension to the impedance matrix method as described in the literature and can overcome some of the limitations of the latter method. In the proposed approach, induction motor loads are modelled in a more realistic manner to replicate vii their dynamic behaviour, thus enabling the examination of the frequency dependent characteristics of flicker attenuation due to induction motors and the influence of tie lines in compensating flicker at remote load busbars consisting of passive loads. To verify some of the theoretical outcomes real time voltage waveforms captured from a large arc furnace site have been used, in addition to the experimental work using a scaled down laboratory set up of a radial power system. List of Principal Symbols δi voltage angle of i th node [degree] ∆i variation in stator current [pu] ∆ids, ∆iqs d-q axes stator current variations [pu] ∆P active power drawn by the motor at frequency fi [kW] ∆Q reactive power drawn by the motor at frequency fi [kVAr] ∆v magnitude of voltage fluctuation [pu] ∆vs variation in amplitude of the supply voltage [pu] EPsti flicker emission limit of an individual load F coincidence factor fb fundamental frequency [Hz] fc cut-off frequency [Hz] fi superimposed sub-synchronous or super synchronous frequency [Hz] fm modulation frequency [Hz] fr rotor speed (electrical) [Hz] φb phase angle of fundamental frequency [rad] φm phase angle of modulating signal [rad] GPst global flicker contribution H inertia constant Ip amplitude of line current J moment of inertia [kgm] k load torque constant LPst short term flicker planning level m modulation depth (factor) ωb base angular frequency [rad/s]


A distributed Java Virtual Machine (DJVM) spanning multiple cluster nodes can provide a true parallel execution environment for multi-threaded Java applications. Most existing DJVMs suffer from the slow Java execution in interpretive mode and thus may not be efficient enough for solving computation-intensive problems. We present JESSICA2, a new DJVM running in JIT compilation mode that can execute multi-threaded Java applications transparently on clusters. JESSICA2 provides a single system image (SSI) illusion to Java applications via an embedded global object space (GOS) layer. It implements a cluster-aware Java execution engine that supports transparent Java thread migration for achieving dynamic load balancing. We discuss the issues of supporting transparent Java thread migration in a JIT compilation environment and propose several lightweight solutions. An adaptive migrating-home protocol used in the implementation of the GOS is introduced. The system has been implemented on x86-based Linux clusters and significant performance improvements over the previous JESSICA system have been observed.


Background: Hypertension is present in nearly 80% of dialysis patients yet adequately controlled in less than half. We designed a stepped antihypertensive regimen using long-acting antihypertensives (trandolapril, atenolol and amlodipine) administered thrice a week (TIW) after each hemodialysis, and compared blood pressure (BP) control, medication cost and pill burden to each patient's prior daily antihypertensive prescriptions. Methods: Patients were continued on their daily medications, pre-dialysis sitting BP was measured and a 44-hour interdialytic ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) was obtained. Then, their medications were stopped and replaced with trandolapril (2 mg TIW). Atenolol and/or amlodipine were also given TIW if the patients had any member of these classes of drugs as part of their daily regimen. Medications were titrated every 2 weeks to achieve a pre-dialysis mean arterial pressure (MAP) of <107 mm Hg. After 2 consecutive weeks with a pre-dialysis MAP of <107 mm Hg, a second 44-hour ABPM was obtained. Results: Ten patients completed the study. A persistent MAP of <107 was maintained in all 10 patients after conversion to TIW dosing. The systolic BP decreased from 122.2 ± 7.1 to 116.4 ± 11.6, and the diastolic BP decreased from 75.3 ± 10.4 to 70.4 ± 11.4 mm Hg. Pill burden and cost of medications were also significantly less. Conclusions: This pilot study found that ACE inhibitor-based, directly observed TIW therapy to be effective in hemodialysis patients with mild to moderate hypertension. Larger trials of directly observed therapy for hypertension in dialysis patients are warranted.


A custom DSP chip for mobile radio systems like the American IS-54 system is presented. The application is a digital intermediate frequency filter which is intended to replace expensive analog filters. It is a lattice wave digital filter with fixed coefficient bit-serial arithmetic. A technique which is useful for area efficient layouts in high throughput real time signal processing is discussed.<<ETX>>


This work has a twofold aim. First, it outlines the serious threats posed by transnational laundering operations in the context of economic globalization, showing, at the same time, the foremost reasons for sustaining the need of international responses to such crime. In the first part the focus is on the phenomenological aspect of money laundering as the necessary means through which criminal activity can live on and proliferate. Moreover, we analyse the main results economic studies on the matter has lately achieved. In this way, we aim at highlighting that money laundering is also (if not mainly) an economic issue and an accurate diagnosis of it can not exclude its economic essence and consequences. The economic analysis calls for an accurate legal response, which faces a typical trade-off. It should, indeed, deter criminals from laundering by increasing the costs for such illicit operations. Arguably this aim can be achieved by intensifying regulation and enhance the enforcing activities. However, a stronger enforcement yields increased costs and reduces the privacy of citizens. Both at the international level and within the single domestic legal systems, anti money-laundering law is typically characterised by a multidisciplinary approach combining the repressive profile with preventive mechanisms. The non-criminal measures lately implemented both at the international level and by the national legislation seem to be consistent with the insights the most recent economic studies on money laundering have put forward. On the other hand, the economic analysis highlights that some crucial criminal issues are in the need of further revision. Therefore, the second part of our work centres on elements of international criminal regulation of the crime under discussion. The adoption of international hard law instruments since 1988 is encouraging. The treaty-approach regarding criminalisation has unquestionably contributed in calibrating the national responses and, in some cases (e.g. the definition of the actus reus, and the promotion of the liability ex crimine for legal entities) formulating them ex novo. Nonetheless, there still seems to be a hiatus between the well-recognised need of concerted criminal strategies, the challenges posed by transnational dynamics of laundering crimes, and a certain determination of States to maintain their criminal prerogatives. For instance, issues regarding the national definitions of predicate offences persist. Again, the emergence of causal chains stretching across national jurisdictional boundaries with effects that transgress one or more national criminal norms poses serious jurisdictional challenges.


This paper presents an overview of recent trends in U.S. earnings inequality with a focus on gender differences. Data from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 Censuses are used. Earnings and per capita household income inequality measures have risen from 1980 to 2000, both overall and among women and men separately. Theil index decompositions illustrate that within-gender inequality is rising. Simulations that treat women "more like men" in the labor market raise women's earnings relative to men but also have the effect of increasing within-gender inequality for women.


The family Conescharellinidae Levinsen is defined and is regarded as comprising seven cheilostome genera (Conescharellina, Bipora, Trochosodon, Flabellopora, Zeuglopora, Crucescharellina and Ptoboroa). The astogeny of colonies, that consists of frontally budded zooids with "reversed" orientation, is briefly described and compared between genera. The morphology of zooids and heterozooids is defined and keys to genera and Australian species are provided. Taxa that were first described from Australia or from reliable subsequent records are redescribed and illustrated where possible. Australian specimens that have been identified as non-Australian species, have generally been found to be distinct and are here redescribed as new species. Some non-Australian records of specimens previously assigned to Australian species have also been re-examined. These are described and sometimes referred to other taxa. Altogether, eight previously described species that have not been found in the present material are discussed and 27 taxa are described from collections, principally from the eastern and southern coasts of Australia and from the Tertiary of Victoria. Eighteen of these are considered to be new species. Where possible, type or at least topotype material of previously described species has been examined. Colonies from the collections of Museum Victoria (NMV) and the Natural History Museum, London (BMNH), have been examined. New species from Australia described here are: Conescharellina cognata, C. ecstasis, C. diffusa, C. obscura, C. stellata, C. plana, C. perculta, C. pustulosa, C. ocellata, C. macgillivrayi, C. humerus; Trochosodon fecundus, T. asymmetricus, T. diommatus, T. aster, T. anomalus, T. praecox and Crucescharellina australis. In addition, the New Zealand bryozoan Trochosodon multiarmatus (Gordon, 1989) (not Bipora multiarmata Maplestone, 1909) is described as Trochosodon gordoni sp. nov.


In various diagnostic and therapeutic thoracic operations the use of thoracoscopy can replace the more radical thoracotomy. On account of the development of endoscopic video systems and specialised instrumentation, this technique is increasingly being used. Our first experiences with this new development in thoracic surgery are promising. In the period July 1991-June 1992 we performed 14 thoracoscopic operations in the Merwede Hospital in Dordrecht, for the surgical treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax (8x), for open lung biopsy (5x) and for resection of a peripheral benign tumour of the lung (Ix). No major complications occurred and patient recovery was surprisingly fast. Because of the decreased operation trauma, for several procedures already established via thoracotomy, the surgical thoracoscopy can be regarded as a great improvement in thoracic surgery.


Forty years ago Finnish photographer Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen came to Byker as a founder member of the Amber film and photography collective. Her photographs from the working class Tyneside terraced streets became an exhibition, book and film. Studied and feted across the world, the work was a celebration of the community that was demolished to make way for architect Ralph Erskine's visionary Byker Wall. "Byker Revisited" is Sirkka's return to Byker. Since 2003 she has been building a new portrait of the people and the estate - opening up the richly complex, often transient and fragile nature of contemporary urban lives and the architecture that is part of the story.


This paper presents an algorithm to compute the minimum distance from a point to a convex cone in n-dimensional space. The convex cone is represented as the set of all nonnegative combinations of a given set. The algorithm generates a sequence of simplicial cones in the convex cone, such that their distances to the single point converge to the desired distance. In many cases, the generated sequence is finite, and therefore, the algorithm has finite-convergence property. Recursive formulas are derived to speed up the computation of distances between the single point and the simplicial cones. The superior efficiency and effectiveness of this algorithm are demonstrated by applications to force-closure test, system equilibrium test, and contact force distribution, which are fundamental problems in the research of multicontact robotic systems. Theoretical and numerical comparisons with previous work are provided.


Several imaging modalities are suitable for in vivo molecular neuroimaging, but the blood–brain barrier (BBB) limits their utility by preventing brain delivery of most targeted molecular probes. We prepared biodegradable nanocarrier systems made up of poly(n-butyl cyanoacrylate) dextran polymers coated with polysorbate 80 (PBCA nanoparticles) to deliver BBB-impermeable molecular imaging probes into the brain for targeted molecular neuroimaging. We demonstrate that PBCA nanoparticles allow in vivo targeting of BBB-impermeable contrast agents and staining reagents for electron microscopy, optical imaging (multiphoton), and whole brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), facilitating molecular studies ranging from individual synapses to the entire brain. PBCA nanoparticles can deliver BBB-impermeable targeted fluorophores of a wide range of sizes: from 500-Da targeted polar molecules to 150,000-Da tagged immunoglobulins into the brain of living mice. The utility of this approach is demonstrated by (i) development of a "Nissl stain" contrast agent for cellular imaging, (ii) visualization of amyloid plaques in vivo in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease using (traditionally) non–BBB-permeable reagents that detect plaques, and (iii) delivery of gadolinium-based contrast agents into the brain of mice for in vivo whole brain MRI. Four-dimensional real-time two-photon and MR imaging reveal that brain penetration of PBCA nanoparticles occurs rapidly with a time constant of ∼18 min. PBCA nanoparticles do not induce nonspecific BBB disruption, but collaborate with plasma apolipoprotein E to facilitate BBB crossing. Collectively, these findings highlight the potential of using biodegradable nanocarrier systems to deliver BBB-impermeable targeted molecular probes into the brain for diagnostic neuroimaging.


Viruses are the eventual assertion of parasitism, they not only take nutriments from the host cell, apart from that they direct its metabolic machinery to amalgamate novel virus particle and to diminish the ability of flu viruses to reproduce in an individual antiviral drugs are used. When used as directed, antiviral drugs may help to lessen the duration of flu symptoms and may reduce the severity of common flu symptoms. Antiviral drugs are the class of drugs which comes under the antimicrobials, and that also accommodates the larger group i.e. of antibiotics. They are broad-spectrum in nature and can be effective against a wide range of viruses. They can be used as a single drug as well as in combination of drugs. Antiviral drugs are dissimilar from the antibiotics, they do not demolish their target pathogen ideally they obstruct development of pathogen. To the greatest extent antiviral drugs currently accessible are delineate to deal with herpes viruses, covid-19, HIV, the hepatitis b and c viruses herpes simplex, small pox, picornavirus and influenza a and b viruses etc. Scientists are searching to drag out the range of antiviral to the other families of pathogens. They mainly act by inhibiting the attachment of viruses on cells, prevent genetic reproduction of virus, prevent viral protein production and vital for production of virus. The emanation of antiviral is generally the outcome about an appreciably expanded skills or proficiency of the generative, microscopic and atomic activity of organisms, allowing biomedical analyst to acknowledge the structure, mechanism of action and activity of viruses, significant progress within the procedure for come across the current drugs. Coronavirus 2019 (COVID 19) is highly infectious disease triggered by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome) coronavirus 2 causing nearly 2.9 million deaths worldwide. With the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the repurposing of antiviral drugs has come into picture.


Cranioencephalic trauma (CET) is defined is the combination of neural and vascular injuries and their inflammatory effects in the brain, skull and scalp. This modality of trauma may lead to motor, psychological and cognitive sequels or even death. The present study aimed to assess the main epidemiological aspects in victims of CET treated at Cuiabá Municipal Hospital (CMH), Brazil. An observational and analytical study was performed in the medical records of patients diagnosed with CET treated at CMH between July and December of 2000, 2006 and 2011. The information retrieved from the patients consisted of age, sex, place of residence, cause of trauma, association with other trauma, outcomes (death or discharge) and the severity of neurological effect (Glasgow Coma Scale). The data obtained was analyzed descriptively with absolute (n) and relative (%) quantification. Medical records of 669 victims were analyzed, out of which 567 were males (84.7 %). Male patients were aged between 20 and 39 years old (mean age: 32.8 years). The most prevalent cause of trauma was the motorcycle accident (26.6 %). The neurological severity of the CET was mild in most of the cases (32.5 %). Considering the place of residence, most of the patients (n=331; 49.5 %) were from the capital city of Mato Grosso State (Cuiabá, Brazil). Four-hundred seventy-nine (71.6 %) patients progressed without death. A high prevalence rate of CET was observed at CMH. Major attention must be given to young adult victims of motorcycle accidents.


Background Premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) predict heart failure and death. Data regarding modifiable risk factors for PVCs are scarce. Methods and Results We studied 1424 Cardiovascular Health Study participants randomly assigned to 24‐hour Holter monitoring. Demographics, comorbidities, habits, and echocardiographic measurements were examined as predictors of PVC frequency and, among 845 participants, change in PVC frequency 5 years later. Participants exhibited a median of 0.6 (interquartile range, 0.1–7.1) PVCs per hour. Of the more directly modifiable characteristics and after multivariable adjustment, every SD increase in systolic blood pressure was associated with 9% more PVCs (95% confidence interval [CI], 2%–17%; P=0.01), regularly performing no or low‐intensity exercise compared with more physical activity was associated with ≈15% more PVCs (95% CI, 3–25%; P=0.02), and those with a history of smoking exhibited an average of 18% more PVCs (95% CI, 3–36%; P=0.02) than did never smokers. After 5 years, PVC frequency increased from a median of 0.5 (IQR, 0.1–4.7) to 1.2 (IQR, 0.1–13.8) per hour (P<0.0001). Directly modifiable predictors of 5‐year increase in PVCs, described as the odds per each quintile increase in PVCs, included increased diastolic blood pressure (odds ratio per SD increase, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.02–1.31; P=0.02) and a history of smoking (OR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.02–1.68; P=0.04). Conclusions Enhancing physical activity, smoking cessation, and aggressive control of blood pressure may represent fruitful strategies to mitigate PVC frequency and PVC‐associated adverse outcomes.


Background The macrophage is one of the most important types of immune cells that protect against harmful stimuli. Macrophage activation plays a pivotal role in the progression and development of various inflammatory diseases. The neurokinin 1 receptor (NK-1R) is a G protein-coupled receptor that plays an important role in inflammatory diseases. Aprepitant is a kind of NK-1R antagonist. The purpose of this study is to determine the protective effect of aprepitant in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory responses in macrophages. Methods We examined the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects of aprepitant in LPS-treated RAW264.7 macrophages by using real-time PCR, ELISA, and Western blot analysis. We also assessed cellular oxidative stress signaling by measuring the levels of cellular MDA, total ROS, and NADPH oxidase expression. Cellular NO production was measured by DAF-FM DA staining. The inhibitory effect of aprepitant against NF-κB signaling was evaluated by luciferase assay and Western blot analysis. Results The expression of NK-1R is increased in LPS-induced macrophages, suggesting a potential role of the receptor in the inflammatory response. We show that aprepitant protects macrophages against oxidative stress by reducing the generation of ROS and the expression of NOX-4. Furthermore, aprepitant inhibits the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemotactic factors by mediating the NF-κB signaling pathway. Conclusion The NK-1R receptor antagonist aprepitant acts as an anti-inflammatory agent, indicating that the blockage of the NK-1R pathway in macrophages has the potential to suppress inflammation.


Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) has been evaluated as an alternative to conventional furnace technique for oxidation of 4H- and 3C-SiC. We show that the growth of the SiO2 films in a RTP chamber is orders of magnitude faster than in a conventional furnace. As well as being fast, this process leads to oxide films with quality comparable or even better than the one grown in classical furnaces. Studying different gas for oxidizing and annealing ambient, we demonstrate that SiO2/SiC interface is significantly improved when using N2O instead of O2 or even N2-O2 dilution.


A study was done in 75 patients who underwent induction of labour with Prostaglandin E2 gel. All these patients had an unripe cervix. The commonest indications were post-datism, intrauterine growth retardation and pregnancy-induced hypertension. All patients were primigravidas with singleton pregnancy and beyond 35 weeks of pregnancy. The mean Bishop score at the time of instillation was less than three. The improvement of another 2-3 points within six hours and by 7-8 points within 12 hours was found after instillation of the gel. 92% of the patients went into spontaneous labour and 8% required reinstillation. The incidence of failed induction was 1.33%. The mean duration of latent phase was 10.34 hours. Induction delivery time was 16.43 hours. 68.1% patients required augmentation of labour and 31.9% did not require augmentation of labour with oxytocin drip. The incidence of vaginal delivery was 81.33% and that of caesarean section was 17.33%. The commonest indication of caesarean section was foetal distress.


OBJECTIVE
Possible nosocomial transmission of blood-borne pathogens is a serious concern for health care workers and patients alike. Needle-stick injuries and blood contacts pose a risk of pathogen transmission during procedures. We performed a study to determine the frequency of injuries and blood contacts during invasive radiologic procedures and to examine procedure-related factors that may increase risk of injury or exposure.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
A prospective study of needle-stick injuries and blood contacts during invasive radiologic procedures was performed. During a 10-week period, information about procedures was recorded by technologists or physicians, and needle-stick injuries and exposures to patients' blood and body fluids were noted. Data were analyzed with the SAS statistical package.

RESULTS
Accidental exposure to patients' blood and body fluids occurred in 15 of 501 cases (3.0%; 95% confidence interval, 1.7-4.9%). Of 729 operators at risk, 15 were exposed (2.0%; 95% confidence interval 1.1-3.3%). Exposure was parenteral in one case and cutaneous in 14. Risk of exposure was correlated with procedure duration (p = .003), but not with emergency vs elective procedure status (p = .796), procedure type (p = .275), or operator experience level (p = .554). Three needle-stick injuries (0.6% of cases) occurred, all with sterile instruments; bleeding occurred in two cases. Risk of injury was correlated only with procedure type (p = .046). In no case was a patient exposed to a physician's blood.

CONCLUSION
Whereas cutaneous exposure of physicians to patients' blood was not infrequent, parenteral exposure was rare in this series. Most of the exposures in this study could have been prevented by the use of protective equipment. Patients' contact with physicians' blood did not occur in this study.


Imagine a collection of individuals who each possess private data that they do not wish to share with a third party. This paper considers how individuals may represent and publish their own data so as to simultaneously preserve their privacy and to ensure that it is possible to extract large-scale statistical behavior from the original unperturbed data. Existing techniques for perturbing data are limited by the number of users required to obtain approximate answers to queries, the richness of preserved statistical behavior, the privacy guarantees given and/or the amount of data that each individual must publish.This paper introduces a new technique to describe parts of an individual's data that is based on pseudorandom sketches. The sketches guarantee that each individual's privacy is provably maintained assuming one of the strongest definitions of privacy that we are aware of: given unlimited computational power and arbitrary partial knowledge, the attacker can not learn any additional private information from the published sketches. However, sketches from multiple users that describe a subset of attributes can be used to estimate the fraction of users that satisfy any conjunction over the full set of negated or unnegated attributes provided that there are enough users. We show that the error of approximation is independent of the number of attributes involved and only depends on the number of users available. An additional benefit is that the size of the sketch is minuscule: [log log O(M)] bits, where M is the number of users. Finally, we show how sketches can be combined to answer more complex queries. An interesting property of our approach is that despite using cryptographic primitives, our privacy guarantees do not rely on any unproven cryptographic conjectures.


Malignant hypercalcemia and thrombocytopenia may result from bone metastasis of cholangiocarcinoma (CC). Our case was 53-year-old man admitted to emergency department with symptoms of anorexia, weight loss, nausea, vomiting, and general fatigue in February 2012. His laboratory findings showed hypercalcemia and thrombocytopenia. CT showed a large multinodular mass in the right lobe and, extending through left lobe of the liver. We considered the diagnosis of hypercalcemia of malignancy with elevated calcium levels and suppressed PTH level with the existence of skeletal bone metastasis and the absence of parathyroid gland pathology. Treatment of hypercalcemia with IV saline, furosemide, and calcitonin improved the patient symptoms. After the 8th day of admission, calcium level, thrombocytopenia, and other symptoms were normalized. Patient was sustained surgically inoperable and transferred to medical oncology department for the purpose of palliative chemotherapy and intended radiotherapy for bone metastasis. Hypercalcemia relapsed 4 weeks after discharge and patient died at the 5th month after admission due to disseminated metastasis. We should be aware of CC with symptomatic hypercalcemia and rarely low platelet count. The correction of hypercalcemia provides symptomatic relief and stability of patients.


Because of their large population sizes and rapid cell division rates, marine microbes have, or can generate, ample variation to fuel evolution over a few weeks or months, and subsequently have the potential to evolve in response to global change. Here we measure evolution in the marine diatom Skeletonema marinoi evolved in a natural plankton community in CO2-enriched mesocosms deployed in situ. Mesocosm enclosures are typically used to study how the species composition and biogeochemistry of marine communities respond to environmental shifts, but have not been used for experimental evolution to date. Using this approach, we detect a large evolutionary response to CO2 enrichment in a focal marine diatom, where population growth rate increased by 1.3-fold in high CO2-evolved lineages. This study opens an exciting new possibility of carrying out in situ evolution experiments to understand how marine microbial communities evolve in response to environmental change.


Multiple small robots (swarms) can work together using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to perform tasks that are difficult or impossible for a single robot to accomplish. The problem considered in this paper is exploration of an unknown environment with the goal of finding a target(s) at an unknown location(s) using multiple small mobile robots. This work demonstrates the use of a distributed PSO algorithm with a novel adaptive RSS weighting factor to guide robots for locating target(s) in high risk environments. The approach was developed and analyzed on multiple robot single and multiple target search. The approach was further enhanced by the multi-robot-multi-target search in noisy environments. The experimental results demonstrated how the availability of radio frequency signal can significantly affect robot search time to reach a target.


A theoretical analysis of a tuneable optical filter is presented by proposing an optical ring resonator (ORR) using photonic crystal fiber (PCF) as the resonance loop. The influences of the characteristic parameters of the PCF on the filter response have been analyzed under steady-state condition of the ORR. It is shown that the tuneability of the filter is mainly achieved by changing the modulation frequency of the light signal applied to the resonator. The analyses have shown that the sharpness and the depth of the filter response are controlled by parameters such as amplitude modulation index of applied field, the coupling coefficient of the ORR, and hole-spacing and air-filling ratio of the PCF, respectively. When transmission coefficient of the loop approaches the coupling coefficient, the filter response enhances sharply with PCF parameters. The depth and the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the response strongly depend on the number of field circulations in the resonator loop. With the proposed tuneability scheme for optical filter, we achieved an FWHM of ~1.55 nm. The obtained results may be utilized in designing optical add/drop filters used in WDM communication systems.


BACKGROUND
The prevalence and clinical patterns of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) varies in different parts of the world and there is little clinical and epidemiological data from the Indian subcontinent.

AIMS
Our study was designed to evaluate the prevalence and clinical patterns of PsA in Indian patients.

METHODS
This was a non-interventional, cross-sectional study, in which 1149 consecutive psoriasis patients seen over 1 year were screened for PsA according to classification of psoriatic arthritis (CASPAR) criteria. Demographic and disease parameters were recorded including Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI), Nail Psoriasis Severity Index (NAPSI), and number of swollen and tender joints.

RESULTS
Among 1149 patients with psoriasis, 100 (8.7%) patients had PsA, of which 83% were newly diagnosed. The most common pattern was symmetrical polyarthritis (58%), followed by spondyloarthropathy 49%, asymmetric oligoarthritis (21%), isolated spondyloarthropathy (5%), predominant distal interphalangeal arthritis (3%), and arthritis mutilans (1%). Enthesitis and dactylitis were present in 67% and 26% of cases, respectively. The mean number of swollen and tender joints were 3.63±3.59 (range, 0-22) and 7.76±6.03 (range, 1-26), respectively. Nail changes were present in 87% of the cases. The median PASI and NAPSI of the subjects with PsA was 3.6 and 20, respectively. There was no significant correlation of number of swollen/tender joints with PASI or NAPSI.

CONCLUSION
There is a relatively low prevalence of PsA among Indian psoriasis patients presenting to dermatologists. No correlation was found between the severity of skin and nail involvement and articular disease.


A regional sequence stratigraphic model for the Kharaib and Shu'aiba formations (Barremian, Aptian) is proposed based on outcrop and subsurface transects in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The model shows distinct variations in depositional facies and geometrical patterns in relation to third-order sequences. The sedimentary systems evolved from a low-angle carbonate ramp (Kharaib Formation), to an organic-rich intrashelf basin surrounded by carbonate platforms (Hawar Member and Lower Shu'aiba), to a clay-dominated sedimentation restricted to the intrashelf basin (Upper Shu'aiba). Eustatic sea-level changes and, to a lesser extent, local tectonic controls influenced the development of the systems. This high-resolution sequence stratigraphic model has implications for both exploration and production strategies.
 This study presents a revised sedimentological facies interpretation based on detailed outcrop observations with geological constraints provided by a regional well-log correlation from Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Time control was provided by biostratigraphy (including new nannofossil data), and carbon isotope stratigraphy. Four third-order depositional sequences bounded by regional exposure surfaces were defined that are composed of at least two higher-order sequences (fourth- and fifth-order).
 Depositional sequences I and II have a flat ramp setting. The typical ecological succession was orbitolinid and/or miliolid wackestone-packstone deposited in a low-energy, inner ramp environment during early transgression; a mixed-fauna mudstone-wackestone in an open lagoon during maximum flooding and early highstand; and a rudist/miliolid wackestone-packstone-grainstone-framestone of the succeeding late highstand in a high-energy, inner- to mid-ramp environment. The doubling in thickness of the sequences from Oman to Abu Dhabi is attributed to differential subsidence. The Sequence III succession was somewhat similar, but differences were caused by the creation of the intrashelf Bab Basin, and by well-developed microbial boundstones. The basin morphology was primarily due to differential accumulation rates and tectonism was of only minor importance. Rapidly aggrading and backstepping microbial boundstones formed the platform, whereas condensed sedimentation and the accumulation of carbonate source rocks occurred in the basin. Highstand deposits were primarily grainy, high-energy rudist-dominated facies. The sequence ended with a forced regressive wedge along the basin margins. Sequence IV was restricted to the Bab Basin and sedimentation consisted of a clay-rich infill phase. At that time, the Oman and Abu Dhabi platforms were exposed on both sides of the basin. Nannofossils dated this major relative fall in sea level to the early-late Aptian.


Abstract Humans deftly parse statistics from sequences. Some theories posit that humans learn these statistics by forming cognitive maps, or underlying representations of the latent space which links items in the sequence. Here, an item in the sequence is a node, and the probability of transitioning between two items is an edge. Sequences can then be generated from walks through the latent space, with different spaces giving rise to different sequence statistics. Individual or group differences in sequence learning can be modeled by changing the time scale over which estimates of transition probabilities are built, or in other words, by changing the amount of temporal discounting. Latent space models with temporal discounting bear a resemblance to models of navigation through Euclidean spaces. However, few explicit links have been made between predictions from Euclidean spatial navigation and neural activity during human sequence learning. Here, we use a combination of behavioral modeling and intracranial encephalography (iEEG) recordings to investigate how neural activity might support the formation of space-like cognitive maps through temporal discounting during sequence learning. Specifically, we acquire human reaction times from a sequential reaction time task, to which we fit a model that formulates the amount of temporal discounting as a single free parameter. From the parameter, we calculate each individual's estimate of the latent space. We find that neural activity reflects these estimates mostly in the temporal lobe, including areas involved in spatial navigation. Similar to spatial navigation, we find that low-dimensional representations of neural activity allow for easy separation of important features, such as modules, in the latent space. Lastly, we take advantage of the high temporal resolution of iEEG data to determine the time scale on which latent spaces are learned. We find that learning typically happens within the first 500 trials, and is modulated by the underlying latent space and the amount of temporal discounting characteristic of each participant. Ultimately, this work provides important links between behavioral models of sequence learning and neural activity during the same behavior, and contextualizes these results within a broader framework of domain general cognitive maps.


Treatment planning in facial asymmetry is complex and requires precise diagnosis and planning. In the case of a fourteen year old boy with Parry Romberg syndrome, cone beam computerized tomography scanning was used to analyse the asymmetry. Linear, angular and volumetric measurements helped to make clear the extent of the asymmetry, giving the orthodontist and surgeon as well as the patient insight into the possibilities and expectations of treatment. Also the mirror image of the unaffected side superimposed on the affected side was very helpful in this respect. The latter may offer new possibilities for fabrication of individualized alloplastic onlays to further correct asymmetry in the future.


A simple HPLC method was developed and validated for the quantification of zanamivir in permeability studies using Caco-2 cell culture model. Chromatographic resolution was achieved using 98% (v/v) ultrapure water and 2% (v/v) acetonitrile as mobile phase with flow rate of 0.5 ml/min on a BDS Hypersil Cyano column (length 250 mm; internal diameter 4.6 mm; particle size 5 μm) and UV detection at 230 nm. The method was linear for the quantification of zanamivir at concentration ranging from 0.1-10 μg/ml with coefficient of determination greater than 0.999. The recovery of zanamivir was in the range of 99.76-105.08%. The relative standard deviations of the within-day precision and between-day precision were lower than 10.32 and 14.33%, respectively. The permeability of zanamivir was independent of the transport direction and zanamivir concentrations, indicating a passive transport of zanamivir across Caco-2 cells. With the absence of Ca2+ in transport medium, the permeability values of zanamivir increased 56.21 and 57.20 fold in the directions of apical to basolateral and basolateral to apical, respectively. On the basis of these results, zanamivir was found to be predominantly transported across Caco-2 monolayers via the passive paracellular pathway.


The morphology and substructure of martensite is considered to arise from the lattice invariant shear (LIS) associated with the transformation and this may be slip, twinning or both. Out of the several possible slip shears and twin modes only a few satisfy invariant plane strain criteria of the phenomenological theory of martensite (PTMC). On the basis of crystallographic and energetic criteria, a simple model has been proposed for determining the factors which influence the selection of the preferred LIS mode. In the present work, it is found that for b ® a' martensitic transformation in Zr-2.5 wt%Nb alloy, the preferred slip system is {1101}a'<2113>a' and the preferred twin system is {1101}a'<415 3>a'.


How dietary patterns impact colonic bacterial biosynthesis of vitamins and utilization by humans is poorly understood. Our aim was to investigate whether a reciprocal dietary switch between rural South Africans (traditionally high fibre, low fat) and African Americans (Western diet of low fibre, high fat) affects colonic folate synthesis. Colonic evacuants were obtained from 20 rural South Africans and 20 African Americans consuming their usual diets at baseline. For 2 weeks thereafter, rural South Africans were provided with a Western diet (protein, 27%; fat, 52%; carbohydrate, 20%; and fibre, 8 g/day) and African Americans were provided with a high fibre, low-fat diet (protein, 16%; fat, 17%; carbohydrate, 63%; and fibre, 43 g/day). Colonic evacuants were again collected. No difference between groups at baseline in the folate content of 3-h evacuants was observed. The high-fibre, low-fat diet consumed by African Americans during the intervention produced a 41% increase in mean total folate content compared with baseline values (p = 0.0037). No change was observed in rural South Africans consuming a Western diet. Mean total folate content of colonic evacuants was higher among African Americans at the end of the dietary switch (3107 ± 1811 μg) compared with rural South Africans (2157 ± 1956 μg) (p = 0.0409). In conclusion, consistent with animal studies, switching from a Western diet to one higher in fibre and lower in fat can be expected to result in greater colonic folate content. Future research should confirm that these observations are not transitory and understand the contribution of transit-time to the findings.