Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in men. However, prostate cancer can be effectively treated and cured, if it is diagnosed in its early stages when the tumor is still confined to the prostate. Combined with the digital rectal examination, the PSA test has been widely used to detect prostate cancer. But, the PSA screening method for early detection of prostate cancer is not reliable due to the high prevalence of false positive and false negative results. Epigenetic alterations including hypermethylation of gene promoters are believed to be the early events in neoplastic progression and thus these methylated genes can serve as biomarkers for the detection of cancer from clinical specimens. This review discusses DNA methylation of several gene promoters during prostate carcinogenesis and evaluates the usefulness of monitoring methylated DNA sequences, such as GSTP1, RASSF1A, RARβ2 and galectin-3, for early detection of prostate cancer in tissue biopsies, serum and urine.


This paper reviews the happiness-health relationship from an economics perspective, highlighting the role of adaptation. People's expectations for health standards influence their reported health and associated happiness, a finding that roughly mirrors the Easterlin paradox in income and happiness. Research on unhappiness and obesity shows that norms and stigma vary a great deal across countries and cohorts, mediating the related well-being costs. Better understanding this variance and its effects on incentives for addressing the condition is important to policy design. More generally, the paper discusses how happiness surveys can-and cannot-inform public health policy.


In these stories by Melissa Pritchard, the past brushes up against the present, the voices of both the sane and the obsessed are heard, and the spirits speaking unbidden through the mouths of some spurn others who desire them most.Some of the men and women in "Spirit Seizures" dwell contentedly on the surface of life, even making a science or an art of what they see around them. But many of the characters in these stories see--sometimes calmly, sometimes with agitation--beneath life's surface, beyond sun's light. The title story tells of a psychic women, pregnant with her second child, who welcomes over her farmer husband's objections the visits of an older couple desiring a sEance with the spirit of their dead daughter. Spirits are also summoned in "Rocking on Water, Floating in Glass," when a woman consults the shade of Sarah Bernhardt to help her decide whether to leave her refuge in a dark antique shop and reenter the world of the living.The husband in "Ramon; Souvenirs" recalls his wife's obsession with pueblo culture and her ambitious courtship of the impotent Indian elder who she hopes will initiate her into native spiritual mysteries. But the greatest desire of La BEte, a spectacularly obese model painted by the French impressionists, is to herself become a perfect object, viewed and adored for her form, not her crude essence. Mrs. Grant in "With Wings Cross Water" is painfully isolated from the surface of her family's life by her fears of terminal illness, of what lies beneath her skin. And Mrs. Gump, the reverend's housekeeper, prays and cleans the house furiously, hoping to obliterate all traces of the worldly beauty that distracts her employer and her artist son from the hereafter.Written with humor but often poignant when they reveal the veins of longing that run through men and women, the stories in "Spirit Seizures" follow the elusive currents that link us to the eternal, the fluid boundaries that wash between love and mourning.


In this paper, we present a policy gradient method that avoids exploratory noise injection and performs policy search over the deterministic landscape. By avoiding noise injection all sources of estimation variance can be eliminated in systems with deterministic dynamics (up to the initial state distribution). Since deterministic policy regularization is impossible using traditional non-metric measures such as the KL divergence, we derive a Wasserstein-based quadratic model for our purposes. We state conditions on the system model under which it is possible to establish a monotonic policy improvement guarantee, propose a surrogate function for policy gradient estimation, and show that it is possible to compute exact advantage estimates if both the state transition model and the policy are deterministic. Finally, we describe two novel robotic control environments -- one with non-local rewards in the frequency domain and the other with a long horizon (8000 time-steps) -- for which our policy gradient method (TDPO) significantly outperforms existing methods (PPO, TRPO, DDPG, and TD3). Our implementation with all the experimental settings is available at https://github.com/ehsansaleh/code_tdpo


The structure, function and regulation of pyruvate dehydrogenase and alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complexes from pigeon breast muscle are reviewed. The nature of essential groups involved in the formation of active centers of the first components of the complexes, i.e., pyruvate dehydrogenase and alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase, is described. The catalytic mechanism of the pyruvate dehydrogenase reaction and the peculiarities of cooperative interactions of the active centers of the above enzymes are discussed.


A manager is faced with problems in analyzing cash flows for the year. He has completed a projected balance sheet and projected income statement, and wants to construct a projected statement of cash flows for the current year (case timing is very near the end of the year). The case serves as an introduction to the idea of cash flow analysis, and the relationships among balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows. It provides a good opportunity for students to discuss expected changes to cash flow statements resulting from changes in management policies or changes in earnings.


This study examined the effect of two different forest fires 19 and 23 years ago on the Mediterranean island of Thasos. An object-based classification scheme was developed to map the major land-cover types using multi-temporal Systeme Pour l'Observation de la Terre (SPOT) and European Remote-Sensing (ERS) (C-band VV) images covering the time period from 1993 to 2007. The developed scheme mapped the post-fire land-cover types accurately: 0.84 Kappa coefficient and 90.5% overall accuracy. The use of the ERS backscatter coefficient contributed to decreasing the commission errors related to the mapping of forested areas and to overcoming misclassifications that occurred between forested areas and shrublands located in shadowed areas. Results indicated that the forest regeneration rate is rather slow, especially in areas where the degree of burn severity was high while the largest part of the burned area is, to date, covered by low vegetation and shrubs. Nevertheless, a gradual shift from low vegetation to shrubland was observed. A preliminary investigation on the use of the ERS backscatter coefficient and the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index to monitor forest regeneration revealed that the backscatter coefficient could provide information related to changes in dense regenerating pine forests for the first 18 years after the fire event, whereas the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index was found to be sensitive to the regenerating forest understorey vegetation. However, further investigation is needed to confirm these findings.


To improve the spatial recovery by means of Geographical Information Systems (GIS), a Distributed GIS Application has been designed. This application is focused on making spatial analysis throughout Spatial Analyzer Module (SAM). SAM contains several spatial and mathematical models that have been designed and implemented for detecting landslides and flooding areas. Users can make an analysis to recover the spatial data from different sites using a specification based on Extensible Markup Language (XML). Spatial data are stored in a spatial database into the Enterprise GIS. All spatial processes are executed in the server application to improve the performance of the spatial analysis. The GIS-application has been implemented into ArcMap module of ArcInfo system.


UNLABELLED Prosthetic valve endocarditis is considered to be associated with more severe prognosis than native valve endocarditis due to inappropriate visualization of vegetations in prosthetics valves by transthoracic echocardiography. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to describe our experience in prosthetic valve endocarditis and compare our results with those published in the literature. The valve of transesophageal approach in the detection of vegetations and complications associated with endocarditis was also assessed. RESULTS 30 patients with infective endocarditis of prosthetic valve were studied between 1990 and 1997. The infection was located in prosthetic mitral valve in the 70% of the patients, in the aortic prosthetic valve in 24% and in pulmonary valve in one case. Transoesophageal echocardiography showed only vegetations in 22 patients, vegetations complicated with abscess in six patients and only abscess in 2 patients. In 70% of patients (21) surgical treatment was performed and the 30% (9 patients) received only medical treatment. CONCLUSIONS Prosthetic valve endocarditis carries worse prognosis than native valve endocarditis, with mortality near 23%. Transoesophageal echocardiography is the indicated approach in the diagnosis of prosthetic valve endocarditis.


The Red House neighbourhood in the Ximen shopping district, located on the south side of Taipei, has been the centre of the city's vibrant culture of sexual inclusivity and gay activism since the early 2000s. Next to the shining billboards at Ximen Square, the Red House presents itself as a reminder of the neighbourhood's historical transformation from a marketplace during the Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan (1895–1945) to a major pornography theatre in the 1970s–1990s, while emerging as a new urban centre for youth culture, entertainment and outdoor gay bars in the 2000s. Addressing issues of urban exclusion and inclusion, this paper focuses on an HIV testing booth located in the Red House area. Based on interviews with social workers and drawing analyses from archival research, this paper reflects on the politics of a place of caring. Providing 15-minute HIV testing sessions free for anyone in the gay community, the testing booth is an outpost of the Taiwan AIDS Foundation, a nongovernmental organisation that receives public funds. Despite the fact that HIV tests are now widely available for purchase – even accessible from vending machines – the testing booth's cosy, discretionary and friendly manner renders it a place of caring, where one can be attended by social workers as well as receiving a consultation.


Fluoroscopic imaging that captures X-ray images at video framerates is advantageous for guiding catheter insertions by vascular surgeons and interventional radiologists. Visualizing the dynamical movements non-invasively allows complex surgical procedures to be performed with less trauma to the patient. To improve surgical precision, endovascular procedures can benefit from more accurate fluoroscopy data via calibration. This paper presents a robust self-calibration algorithm suitable for single-plane and dual-plane fluoroscopy. A three-dimensional (3D) target field was imaged by the fluoroscope in a strong geometric network configuration. The unknown 3D positions of targets and the fluoroscope pose were estimated simultaneously by maximizing the likelihood of the Student-t probability distribution function. A smoothed k-nearest-neighbour (kNN) regression is then used to model the deterministic component of the image reprojection error of the robust bundle adjustment. The Maximum Likelihood Estimation step and the kNN regression step are then repeated iteratively until convergence. Four different error modeling schemes were compared while varying the quantity of training images. It was found that using a smoothed kNN regression can automatically model the systematic errors in fluoroscopy with similar accuracy as a human expert using a small training dataset. When all training images were used, the 3D mapping error was reduced from 0.61—0.83 mm to 0.04 mm post-calibration (94.2—95.7% improvement), and the 2D reprojection error was reduced from 1.17—1.31 to 0.20—0.21 pixels (83.2—83.8% improvement). When using biplanar fluoroscopy, the 3D measurement accuracy of the system improved from 0.60 mm to 0.32 mm (47.2% improvement).


Brain-machine interface (BMI) technology aims to provide individuals with movement paralysis a natural and intuitive means for the restoration of function. Electrocorticography (ECoG), in which disc electrodes are placed on either the surface of the dura or the cortex to record field potential activity, has been proposed as a viable neural recording modality for BMI systems, potentially providing stable, long-term recordings of cortical activity with high spatial and temporal resolution. Previous demonstrations of BMI control using ECoG have consisted of short-term periods of control by able-bodied subjects utilizing basic processing and decoding techniques. This dissertation presents work seeking to advance the current state of ECoG BMIs through an assessment of the ability of individuals with movement paralysis to control an ECoG BMI, an investigation into adaptation during BMI skill acquisition, an evaluation of chronic implantation of an ECoG electrode grid, and improved extraction of BMI command signals from ECoG recordings.

Two individuals with upper-limb paralysis were implanted with high-density ECoG electrode grids over sensorimotor cortical areas for up to 30 days, with both subjects found to be capable of voluntarily modulating their cortical activity to control movement of a computer cursor with up to three degrees of freedom. Analysis of control signal angular error and the tuning characteristics of ECoG spectral features during the acquisition of brain control revealed that both decoder calibration and fixed-decoder training could facilitate performance improvements. In addition, to better understand the capability of ECoG to provide robust, long-term recordings, work was conducted assessing the effects of chronic implantation of an ECoG electrode grid in a non-human primate, demonstrating that movement-related modulation could be recorded from electrode nearly two years post-implantation despite the presence of substantial fibrotic encapsulation. Finally, it was found that the extraction of command signals from ECoG recordings could be improved through the use of a decoding method incorporating weight-space priors accounting for the expected correlation structure of electrical field potentials. Combined, this work both demonstrates the feasibility of ECoG-based BMI systems as well as addresses some of key challenges that must be overcome before such systems are translated to the clinical realm.


Rationale: ±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "ecstasy") produces unique and complex subjective effects which distinguish it from other recreationally used drugs. An understanding of the neurochemical mechanisms that underlie these effects is important in order to assess the potential for MDMA abuse and to inform researchers exploring of the drug's therapeutic potential. The present thesis investigated the neurochemical mechanisms underlying the subjective effects of MDMA using drug discrimination procedures in laboratory animals. Despite evidence that training dose can markedly impact the results of drug discrimination studies, the impact of training dose on the discriminative stimulus properties of MDMA has been largely overlooked. The broad aims of these experiments were 1) to test the ability of two different doses of MDMA to support drug discrimination learning, and 2) to determine the role of serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) neurotransmitter systems in producing the discriminative stimulus effects of each MDMA training dose.
 Methods: Groups of rats were trained to discriminate MDMA (1.5 or 3.0 mg/kg) from saline or to discriminate MDMA (1.5 or 3.0 mg/kg) from amphetamine (0.5 mg/kg) and saline, using two- or three-lever, food-reinforced drug discrimination procedures. The first experiments determined the impact of training dose on the acquisition of the MDMA discrimination. Reliability of the discrimination was assessed by measuring the impact of changes in acquisition criteria. Once the discrimination had been acquired, generalisation tests were carried out in two-lever experiments with the SSRIs, fluoxetine and clomipramine, the 5-HT2 agonists, mCPP and DOI, and the 5-HT1 agonists, 8-OH-DPAT and RU-24969, to investigate the role of 5-HT in the discriminative stimulus effects of 1.5 mg/kg vs 3.0 mg/kg MDMA. Next, the role of DA was investigated in further generalisation test sessions with the DA releasing stimulant, AMPH, the non-selective D1/D2 agonist, apomorphine, the D1 agonist, SKF38393, and the D2 agonist, quinpirole. Finally, experiments were carried out in which the ability of the 5-HT2A antagonist, ketanserin, the 5-HT1B/1D antagonist, GR-127935, the 5-HT1A antagonist, WAY100635, the D1 antagonist, SCH23390, and the D2 antagonist, eticlopride, to attenuate the discriminative stimulus effects of 1.5 mg/kg vs 3.0 mg/kg MDMA was assessed.
Results: A higher training dose of MDMA was associated with a more rapid acquisition of drug discrimination in both the two- and three-lever tasks, and significant differences were observed with respect to the ability of each dose of MDMA to maintain consistently accurate discrimination across both tasks. All of the serotonin agonists that were tested generalised to the discriminative stimulus effects of 1.5 mg/kg MDMA in a two-lever discrimination task. In contrast, only agonists for 5-HT1A or 5-HT2A receptors generalised to the discriminative stimulus effects of 3.0 mg/kg MDMA. Non-selective dopamine agonists generalised to the discriminative stimulus effects of 3.0 mg/kg but not 1.5 mg/kg MDMA, whereas selective D1 and D2 agonists failed to generalise to the discriminative stimulus effects of either training dose. None of the DA or 5-HT antagonists tested had a marked impact of the discrimination of 1.5 mg/kg MDMA whereas administration of a D2 antagonist produced a small but significant attenuation on the discriminative stimulus effects of 3.0 mg/kg MDMA.
Conclusions: The results of the present thesis suggest that the discriminative stimulus effects of MDMA may change both quantitatively and qualitatively as a function of dose. The subjective effects produced by lower doses appear to be mediated primarily via serotonergic mechanisms, whereas higher doses may involve the additional recruitment of dopaminergic mechanisms. These findings have implications for our understanding of MDMA in terms of the drug's potential for dependence and abuse.


Including safeguards and security fully in the early stages of the design process for new nuclear facilities has the potential to cost effectively minimize proliferation and security risks. This paper addresses the 2SBD (safeguards-by-design and security-by-design) approach and its incorporation into the design and construction process, and describes a framework that can guide its institutionalization. 2SBD could be a basis for a new international norm and standard process for nuclear facility design. Recent progress is positive and substantial.


The striking landscapes and hospitable climate of Southern California are home to more than 20 million people and vital elements of the nation's economy. Unfortunately, the region is also laced with many active faults that can produce strong earthquakes. Scientists from several institutions are pursuing a new approach to studying earthquake hazards in a high-risk metropolitan area.

The Southern California Integrated GPS Network (SCIGN) is currently an array of about 40 Global Positioning System (GPS) stations distributed throughout the greater Los Angeles metropolitan region. There have been informal discussions about expanding the array to 250 stations, and formal proposals have been submitted to begin this expansion. To achieve high precision, the sites will be carefully monumented, and all the GPS receivers will operate continuously. The goals of the array are to provide an accurate and detailed velocity field from which to identify the deformation from known faults, test current models of the geologic structure, and make better estimates of the seismic potential in the populous parts of southern California.


The aim of this paper was to evaluate the trends of changes in climatic parameters and the effect of climate variability on vegetative growth, yield and quality of grapes in Bucharest (44°47'N; 26°07'E). There were examined the trends of changes in temperature, precipitation and the annual minimum temperature from 1961 to 2013 and from 1998 to 2013 the production and quality of grapes of 'Feteasca regala' variety. Between 1961-2013 the annual temperature was higher than average with 1.0 0 C, in the growing season (April-October) the average temperature was higher with 1.1 0 C and in the summer time with 1.9 0 C. There were established correlations between some climatic parameters and pruning weight, yield, sugar accumulation, titratable acidity etc. The temperature increase was associated with higher must sugar content, especially in the summer (from June to August). Also, more frequency of the minimum harmful temperatures for grapevine (under -20°C) was observed during the last decade. Grape production was correlated with the precipitations from the period March-May, and those of summer negatively influenced sugar accumulation in grape berries. In the last 16 years (1998-2013) there was a significant increase in the values of Winkler Index; maximum yield of grapes was obtained at values of this index comprised between 1600 and 1800; when the value was higher, the yield and must acidity decreased significantly. Maximum grape yields were obtained at values of Huglin Index comprised between 2300 and 2500; at higher values, there were registered significant decreases of the yield and of the must acidity as well as increased accumulation of sugars in berries.


The study aims to identify the users' perceptions regarding customer service performance of Dhaka University Library. Questionnaire based survey was done to collect respondents' demographic information and their responses to items were based on 7-point Likert-type scale. The findings reveal that users are somewhat satisfied with the 'physical setup' only, and dissatisfied with the other dimensions. The study suggests customer service personnel of Dhaka University Library need to give personal attention to users' queries, accepting and redressing user complaints and communicate with the users about library services.


In considering what it means to treat immigration as a "civil rights" matter, I identify two frameworks for analysis. The first, universalistic in nature, emanates from personhood and promises non-citizens the protection of generally applicable laws and an important set of constitutional rights. The second seeks full incorporation for non-citizens into "the people," a composite that evolves over time through social contestation – a process that can entail enforcement of legal norms but that revolves primarily around political argument. This pursuit of full membership for non-citizens implicates a reciprocal relationship between them and the body politic, and the interests of the polity help determine the contours of non-citizens' membership. Each of these frameworks has been shaped by the legal and political legacies of the civil rights movement itself, but the second formulation reveals how the pursuit of immigrant incorporation cannot be fully explained as a modern-day version of the civil rights struggle.


This study investigates how unprofitable cross-buying, defined as the tendency to buy different product categories during price promotion, affects consumer decisions of whether and how much to buy in the short- and long-term periods. We utilize a type II Tobit model of purchase incidence and purchase amount and apply the model to purchase history data of an online shopping mall's customers to capture the dynamic impacts of unprofitable cross-buying. The results reveal that unprofitable cross-buying behavior leads to lower purchase probability and purchase amount in the short-term. On the contrary, in the long-term, unprofitable cross-buying behavior appears to have positive impacts on both behavioral outcomes. Additionally, we also discovered the significant effects of customer characteristics and time variables on the extent to which customers engage in this behavior. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.


The variation with height of the number of insects in the air, and its relation to wind, weather, and other factors, is a topic of longstanding interest among entomologists concerned with migration and dispersal; it is now also receiving attention within the novel discipline of aeroecology. Radar, which provides one of the few practicable means of detecting insects hundreds of metres above the surface, is a proved source of information on insect density profiles. However, the ability of a radar to detect a target is strongly dependent on the target's distance, and with the vertical-beam designs that are currently favoured for insect observation this range-dependence, if uncorrected, will significantly bias the estimated density profile. Detection can also depend on the target's speed, and further biases can arise from systematic variations in echo-analysis success rates. In the procedure proposed here, targets are partitioned by size and densities are obtained independently for each class, with profiles being terminated at the maximum height at which all members of the class are detectable. Radar theory is drawn upon to calculate an 'effective beam-width' for detection of targets of a particular size at a particular height, and densities are 'accumulated' by forming a weighted sum incorporating individual widths and speeds. Accumulations are based on detections, using initial estimates of target size and, when available, speed. The subsample of fully analysed echoes can then be employed to further characterize the targets at different heights and to determine their direction of movement and orientation. Example applications illustrate how even prominent features, such as a pronounced layer echo, can be obscured, and artefacts generated, if one or more of the procedure's components are omitted.


Software-defect detection is an increasingly important research topic in software engineering. To detect defects in a program, static verification and dynamic test generation are two important proposed techniques. However, both of these techniques face their respective issues. Static verification produces false positives, and on the other hand, dynamic test generation is often time consuming. To address the limitations of static verification and dynamic test generation, we present an automated defect-detection tool, called DyTa, that combines both static verification and dynamic test generation. DyTa consists of a static phase and a dynamic phase. The static phase detects potential defects with a static checker; the dynamic phase generates test inputs through dynamic symbolic execution to confirm these potential defects. DyTa reduces the number of false positives compared to static verification and performs more efficiently compared to dynamic test generation.


In recent years, due to the booming development of online social networks, fake news for various commercial and political purposes has been appearing in large numbers and widespread in the online world. With deceptive words, online social network users can get infected by these online fake news easily, which has brought about tremendous effects on the offline society already. An important goal in improving the trustworthiness of information in online social networks is to identify the fake news timely. This paper aims at investigating the principles, methodologies and algorithms for detecting fake news articles, creators and subjects from online social networks and evaluating the corresponding performance. This paper addresses the challenges introduced by the unknown characteristics of fake news and diverse connections among news articles, creators and subjects. Based on a detailed data analysis, this paper introduces a novel automatic fake news credibility inference model, namely FakeDetector. Based on a set of explicit and latent features extracted from the textual information, FakeDetector builds a deep diffusive network model to learn the representations of news articles, creators and subjects simultaneously. Extensive experiments have been done on a real-world fake news dataset to compare FakeDetector with several state-of-the-art models, and the experimental results have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed model.


To identify the genes encoding novel immunodominant antigens of Theileria parva a λgt11 library of piroplasm genomic DNA was immunoscreened with bovine recovery serum and a gene encoding a 150 kDa antigen (p150) was identified. The predicted polypeptide contains an N-terminal secretory signal sequence and a proline-rich region of repeated amino acid motifs. The repeat region is polymorphic between stocks of T. parva in both copy number and sequence, and analysis of the repeat region from 10 stocks of T. parva revealed 5 p150 variants. A monoclonal antibody (mAb) against the T. parva polymorphic immunodominant molecule (PIM) cross-reacted with the recombinant p150. The p150 has sequence homology with a PIM peptide sequence containing the anti-PIM mAb epitope. Immunoelectron microscopy demonstrated that the p150 antigen, like PIM, is located in the microspheres of the sporozoites and is exocytosed following sporozoite invasion of the host lymphocyte. By immunoelectron microscopy p150 was subsequently transiently detectable on the sporozoite surface and in the lymphocyte cytosol. Immunoblotting showed that p150 is also expressed by the schizont stage, but at much lower levels compared to the sporozoite. These results suggest a major role for p150 in the early events of host–sporozoite interaction.


Abstract:
Background: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is the leading cause of renal failure. The diagnostic preferred, urinary albumin is nonspecific and insensitive. There is urgently want for finding a renal-precise biomarker that could be detectable early sufficient and a capability target for therapeutic intervention.
Method: The expression of Myo-Inositol Oxygenase(MIOX)in kidney tissues from DKD and minimum-change nephropathy patients were detected via immunohistochemistry and the connection between MIOX expression and medical parameters of DKD have been analyzed by Pearson correlation evaluation. Then, the extent of MIOX in both of serum and urine had been tested via ELISA, and the correlation of MIOX in serum and urine and scientific parameters have been also analyzed. Results: Immunohistochemistry showed that MIOX was localized to the proximal renal tubule and MIOX expression is significantly up regulated in kidney of patients with DKD ,compared with controls(p<0.01). Moreover, linear regression analysis revealed MIOX expression in the kidney of DKD patients was positively related to tubulointerstitial lesion score, ROS generation, urea nitrogen(BUN), creatinine, blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin and 24-hour urine protein. In addition, ELISA analysis showed that the levels of MIOX in serum and urine of DKD patients were significantly increased .The correlation analysis indicated that the expression of MIOX in both serum and urine were also positively related to creatinine, blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, and 24-hour urine protein. Conclusion: These dates indicate that MIOX is associated with ROS accumulation and kidney injury and plays an important role in the development of DKD. Furthermore, serum or urine MIOX maybe a new diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target.


An investigation of tail-pipe burning was conducted in the NACA Lewis altitude wind tunnel with a full-scale turbojet engine and an 29-inch-diameter tail-pipe burner. Effects of fuel distribution and number and arrangement of stages on performance and operational characteristics of several fuel-cooled flame holders are presented and discussed. Operation with a three-stage flame holder having the large stage upstream was the most efficient. Combustion efficiency was slightly increased at high altitudes by injecting fuel upstream of the flame holder.


The Weighted Pairwise Correlation (WPC) approach is a non-parametric method of linkage analysis that allows analysis of any kind of phenotypes (quantitative, binary, binary with age of onset) and to consider all pairs of relatives in a pedigree. The principle of this method is to test whether two relatives having close phenotypes also resemble at the marker locus more than expected under the null hypothesis of no linkage. So far, this marker resemblance was estimated by the proportion of alleles shared Identical By State (IBS) by the two relatives. Here, we propose a method to incorporate the Identical By Descent (IBD) information into the WPC approach. For any kind of relative pairs, the computation of the proportion of alleles shared IBD is based on the identification of the closest couple of ancestors, denoted as the reference couple. The IBD information is obtained for pairs of relatives having the same reference couple using individual genotypic vectors derived from this couple. This reconstruction of the IBD information is performed rapidly even in large pedigrees. Simulation studies conducted under various genetic models demonstrate that the use of IBD instead of IBS information leads to a large increase of power, especially in the situation of poorly informative markers.


An antifungal metabolite, bacereutin, was isolated from culture filtrate of Bacillus cereus CHU 130. The bacterium was isolated from soils collected in Changhwa County, Taiwan, and was grown in soybean meal-mannitol broth for production of the antibiotic metabolite. The antibiotic metabolite was isolated by adsorption column chromatography of Amberite XAD-2 and was purified by passing through the chromatographic columns packed with Dowex 50W-X8, Sephadex LH 20 and Biogel P-2. The antibiotic metabolite was soluble in water and 87% acetone, and was slightly soluble in methanol, but was not dissolved in n-propanol, n-butanol, acetone, benzene and ethyl acetate. The antibiotic metabolite was a heat-stable and ninhydrin-positive substance. The antibiotic activities of bacereutin were tested by means of the agar-diffusion plate method. The antibiotic metabolite inhibited the growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae CHU 1, Paecilomyces variotii CHU 6, Rhizomucor miehei CHU 40 and Fusarium oxysportum CHU 98. Bacereutin was a ninhydrin-positive antifungal antibiotic.


The forward projection operator is a key component of every iterative reconstruction method in X-ray computed tomography (CT). Besides the choices being made in the definition of the objective function and associated constraints, the forward projection model affects both bias and noise properties of the reconstruction. In this work, we compare three important forward projection models that rely on linear interpolation: the Joseph method, the distance-driven method, and the image representation using B-splines of order n = 1. The comparison focuses on bias and noise in the image as a function of the resolution. X-ray CT data that are simulated in fan-beam geometry with two different magnification factors are used.


Objective: To determine the association between a measurement from sella turcica to posterior nasal spine  (PNS) and skeletal malocclusion with subjects in normal vertical relationship.
Methods: It was analytical, measurement-based, observational design in  which  samples  from  122  patients were collected from department of orthodontics at the dental OPD of Karachi Medical and Dental College and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Karachi. Non-probability consecutive sampling technique was used. Sample selec-    tion was based on inclusion criteria that included, no previous history of orthodontic treatment, age limit start-     ing from 12 years of age till 30 years. The exclusion criteria for study included, any syndromic or cleft lip and  palate subjects, patients with history of trauma and patients with facial asymmetry. All the patients were exam- ined by the author. After thorough history and clinical examination for evaluating the inclusion and exclusion cri- teria patients were recruited for the study. Verbal informed consent was taken from the patients then the lateral cephalogram was recorded, taken in centric relation, was surveyed and classified by observation into the three categories of malocclusion on the basis of skeletal classification of malocclusion. All measurements were re- corded under ample light and comfortable position. All the findings were recorded by the primary author.
Result: One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to see the association of PNS to sella and malocclusion. Mean value is 44.96, 45.21 and 49.00 for the class I, II and III of skeletal malocclusion patients respectively.  P-value is < 0.05 which that there is association between PNS to sella and vertical class malocclusion.
Conclusion: It has been established that there is a positive association between PNS to sellaturcica linear measurement and skeletal malocclusions. It is noted as that mean value of linear measurement from sella to posterior nasal spine (PNS) is 44.96mm, 45.21mm and 49.00mm for the class I, II and III of skeletal malocclusion cases respectively. This can help in diagnosis and treatment planning.


In decerebrate cats with cerebellum intact the frequency response of 102 neurons located within the lateral vestibular nucleus (NVL) to sinusoidal stimulation of vestibular receptors was analyzed. Positional sensitive units, showing a reciprocal pattern of response to lateral tilting characterized by an excitation during ipsilateral and a depression during contralateral tilt, were equally found in the rostroventral (forelimb) and dorsocaudal (hindlimb) divisions of the NVL. No unit was found to be excited during both ipsilateral and contralateral tilts. A comparison between these findings and those reported in cerebellectomized preparations indicates that the reciprocal pattern of response to tilt of neurons, particularly located in the hindlimb region of the NVL, depends upon the anatomical integrity of the cerebellum.


The trend for businesses to outsource information technology (IT) resources remains a relevant topic among IS researchers (Hirschheim and Lacity 2000, Kern & Blois 2002, Yost & Harmon 2002, Dibbern et al. 2004). While much has been written about outsourcing, the literature is relatively sparse when contemplating the issue of how organizations actually make their IT sourcing decisions. These sourcing decisions present the firm with opportunities such as abandonment, expansion, and deferment, that provide management the flexibility to improve their sourcing portfolios in the future. Real options theory has proven useful for valuing investments in IT infrastructure because it assigns value to future potential (Benaroch and Kauffan 1999, Taudes et al. 2000). This real options approach (ROA) is a promising technique for obtaining insights to sourcing decisions under uncertainty. This paper will relate the benefits of using real options analysis to evaluate the 5 stages of the IS outsourcing decision identified by Dibbern et al. (2004).


In this study a one-way coupled fluid-structure interaction (FSI) between ocean waves and a simplified offshore platform deck structure was modeled. The FSI model consists of a Volume of Fluid (VOF) based hydrodynamics model, a structural model and an interface to synchronize data between these two.A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis was used to capture the breaking wave and impact behavior of the fluid on the structure using commercially available software STAR-CCM+. A 3D Finite Element (FE) model of the platform deck developed in ABAQUS was used to determine the deflection of the structure due to hydrodynamic loads. Nonlinear material behavior was used for all structural parts in the FE model. Transient dynamic structural analysis and CFD analysis were coupled by transferring the CFD-predicted pressure distribution to the structural part in each time step using the co-simulation capabilities of STAR-CCM+ and ABAQUS. The one-way FSI model was applied to investigate the possible physical causes of observed wave damage of an offshore platform deck during a hurricane. It was demonstrated that with proper physical conditions/configurations, the FSI model could reproduce a structural deformation comparable to field measurement and provide valuable insight for forensic analysis.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


Formation of plastic material has been generally performed by injection molding, compression molding and so on. These methods are effective for mass production, but need expensive molds. On the other hand, a laser beam makes it possible to deform a material by the thermal stress. Therefore, a flexible precision deformation is possible with YAG laser because of its easy handling and good condensation. This laser forming method without a mold can be applied to a trial production or a large variety of products in small lots. In this study, machining characteristics and deformation mechanism of plastic with YAG laser were made clear by the experimental analysis. Bending angle increases rapidly in cooling process after laser irradiation and takes the largest angle under a certain energy density. Higher feed rate leads to an unstable machining, so proper slow feed rate and low power condition are recommended in order to obtain the better machining result. It is also possible to deform a continual curve surface by giving the feed perpendicular to the scanning direction. Furthermore, in the case of plastics, bending direction can be controlled by selective coating of paint on the top or bottom surface of the specimen with one-side laser irradiation.


Human head models for the forward computation of EEG using FEM require a large set of elements to represent the head geometry accurately. Anatomically, the electrical property of each element is different, even though they may represent the same type of tissue (white matter, grey matter, etc.). Since it is impossible to obtain the electrical properties of the cranial tissues for every element in the head model, most algorithms which claim to deal with inhomogeneity can, in reality, only implement the computation for the homogeneous case. This paper presents a new numerical approach which can more precisely model the head by using a set of pseudo conductivity values for the computation of the inhomogeneous case. This set of values are extrapolated from the limited amount of real conductivity values which are available in the literature. Simulation studies, based on both this proposed approach and the homogeneous approach which utilises mean-valued conductivities, are performed. The studies reveal that the computation results for the potential distribution on the surface of the scalp, obtained using both approaches, are significantly different.


This conceptual study uses a normative research method with a comparative approach between Pakistan and Indonesia.[1]It aims to find concepts that have a direct impact on law school students in improving legal clinical education in Pakistan. Legal justice for law school students is the ability to understand how they act when facing legal problems. Legal justice is needed how to handle legal subjects not based on ethnicity, religion, race and between groups because it will have legal implications for legal benefits and legal certainty. Clinical legal education is one way to advance the world of law in a country, in this case Pakistan where campus support is the main thing. Clinical legal education must also keep up with times and technology so that law school students and the people who use them have a complementary relationship. Clinical legal education must raise current legal issues that are specific because legal problems that occur in society cannot always be resolved in a fast way. In this case, cooperation with various universities in various countries will provide a universal understanding of various legal issues.


The topology optimization and analysis were studied on the area of piston pin boss for a high-speed gasoline engine based on the variable density topology optimization method. Firstly, the model of the variable density topology optimization was founded. Then, the topology optimization and topology deconstruction on the piston pin boss were carried out by using Hyper Works. In this process, the minimum mass of piston was pursued as an objective function and the displacements of specified nodes on the piston skirt were made as constraints. Based on the topology optimization, the piston configuration of curved rod frame was designed. The complex stress of the piston before and after optimization was calculated respectively by ANSYS. The calculation results indicate that the piston mass can be lightened by 30% through optimizing under the same level of maximal stress, with satisfying the strength requirements. Therefore, the aim of piston lightweight is achieved, and there is no stress concentration in the area of the optimizing piston pin boss, which is propitious to the deformation compatibility of the piston pin boss.


Aboriginal community controlled PHC services have led the way in Australia in developing a model of PHC service that is able to address social issues and the underlying determinants of health alongside high quality medical care. This model is characterised by a comprehensive style rather than the selective PHC model that tends to be more common in mainstream services. Central to comprehensive PHC is community control, which is critical to the bottom up approach rather than the top down approach of selective PHC. The expansion of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs) in Australia is a product of the colonial relationship that persists between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australia. It is this relationship that explains why community control has been a feature of Aboriginal PHC services while similar attempts in the dominant society have tended to be incorporated into the mainstream. The mechanisms of control occur through community processes and should not be confused with day to day management processes, although the two are related. The Core Functions of PHC is a framework that reflects the experience of ACCHSs and allows for the development and assessment of comprehensive PHC. This framework is applied to a case study of the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress (Congress) which is the major Aboriginal health service in central Australia. The case study illustrates increasing utilisation of PHC services by Aboriginal people, and the capacity of community controlled organisations to respond to demographic and health pattern changes in their client populations.


This document will cover the software architecture of the current WebPA
system in use at Loughborough University. Within the document, the definition
of the term software architecture is covered, as it has various meanings
dependant on which angle is taken. The architecture description language is
also identified. This will be used in the rest of the document to aid in the
understanding of the different software architectures described.
In order for the reader to understand this document they will need to have
some familiarity with the concept of software architecture. Time has been
taken to explain the concept and the main areas of software architecture that
will be covered within this document. In order to read and understand the
diagrams used to describe the software architecture it is useful for the reader
to understand the main elements of UML. The constructs of UML will not be
examined and are beyond the scope of this document. However, all efforts
have been made to explain the diagrams to the user.


The effect of omega-3 polyunsturated fatty acids on the psychophysiological state of an operator was studied and mechanisms of the drug action were analyzed based on the EEG data. Changes in the psychophysiological and hemodynamic characteristics, EEG, and catecholamine excretion after a 30-day administration of eiconol--a complex of unsaturated fatty acids--in a daily dose of 8 g were studied in a group of 16 middle-aged healthy male operators. It was established that eiconol decreases systolic arterial pressure, reduces adrenalin excretion with urine, imparts the sense of well-being, improves the parameters of activity and the attention stability and concentration, and decreases the level of static tremor. The drug reduces basic anxiety level and motivation to the operator performance, but at the expense of some decrease in the sensomotor coordination. By the pattern of EEG profile changes, including an increase in the theta (5-7 Hz) and beta (15-28 Hz) bands and a decrease in the delta (0.8-2.0 Hz) band, eiconol resembles psychotropic agents of the adrenoblocking and GABA-ergic types, especially benzodiazepine activators.


Modern DTV broadcasting systems, such as DVB and the Chinese DTMB system, usually have multiple code rates for forward error correction to accommodate a variety of channel conditions. In these systems, each code rate corresponds to a special set of code words, which put a limit on rate granularity and thus cannot achieve seamless code rate adaptation. To solve this problem, we propose a known-bits padding scheme to generate multi-code-rate LDPC codes of arbitrary granularity. In our scheme, we take a standardized LDPC code of specific rate as mother code, then pad known-bits according to the targeted code rate and given shortening optimization algorithm. Simulation study shows that our proposed scheme can obtain satisfying performance in terms of code rate flexibility and decoding threshold.


An adaptive traffic control system was developed where the traffic load is continuously measured by loop detectors connected to a microcontroller-based system which also performs all intersection control functions. Intersection controllers of an area are interconnected with a communication network through which traffic load and synchronization information is exchanged. As a result, the duration and relative phases of each traffic light cycle change dynamically. The new architecture is completely distributed and eliminates the need for a central computer to individually control traffic lights. For the basic function of the system only the intersection controllers are required. The connection of the central computer is needed only for system surveillance and for traffic data collection and storage.


Abstract Increased abundance of Noisy Miners (Manorina melanocephala), a large, aggressive honeyeater, is one of the most important mechanisms through which habitat fragmentation and degradation threaten populations of eastern Australian woodland birds. In inland Queensland, however, Noisy Miners dominate avian assemblages throughout extensive forest areas as well as fragmented landscapes, and our understanding of the factors influencing their behaviour and habitat selection in such relatively intact landscapes is limited. I investigated how road edges influenced Noisy Miners by comparing the species' aggressive and foraging behaviour, and location of nests, between road-edge and interior transects in a southern Queensland forest. I also investigated Noisy Miner foraging microhabitat preferences and targets of aggression. Noisy Miner nests were more likely to be located near to road edges, but foraging and aggressive interactions occurred with similar frequency near and far from road edges. Such interactions selectively targeted close competitors and a nest predator. Most foraging activity was in the canopy, and selectively within ironbarks (Eucalyptus spp.), suggesting that higher densities of Noisy Miners in more open areas of the forest are unlikely to be related to facilitation of ground-foraging activity. Despite some evidence of a preference for nesting near road openings, road edges do not appear to influence Noisy Miners as strongly as edges between forest and agricultural land do elsewhere in eastern Australia.


ABSTRACT Research Findings. This study examines the complexities of enacting an explicit content-rich curriculum in a large urban school district. Thirty-six teachers from 12 elementary schools, preK through Grade 1 were recruited to teach the World of Words, an integrated science and literacy supplementary curriculum. Prior to the start of the study, teachers completed two self-reported surveys on their knowledge of science and pedagogical practices; their classroom lessons were subsequently audiotaped after several weeks of instruction. Results indicated that despite explicit guidance in the curriculum to engage in higher-order questioning, teachers' questions and comments remain strikingly low-level (63%). Subsequent case studies of four teachers, contrasting high or low levels of content knowledge and pedagogy showed that the higher content and pedagogy teacher engaged more successfully in enacting the curriculum with integrity. These results suggest the need for greater attention to teachers' content knowledge and applications to practice in professional development. Practice or Policy. Findings provide suggestive evidence for a greater emphasis on the integration of domain-specific content and pedagogy in teacher professional development, if we are to support high-quality implementation of content-rich curriculum.


In this paper, we discuss the development of an autonomous system capable of maintaining surface feature references within sensor view by recommending spacecraft trajectory adjustments based on predefined criteria. The ability to localize with respect to terrain features is a necessary component for increasing the reliability of spacecraft position estimation during small body operations. The proposed algorithm uses the concept of fuzzy logic to maintain satisfaction of a number of feature selection criteria, which, when satisfied, allow consistent updating of feature observations. We provide details of the algorithm in this paper, and present results from integrating the algorithm into a small body descent simulator.


In this letter, linear subclass support vector machines (LSSVMs) are proposed that can efficiently learn a piecewise linear decision function for binary classification problems. This is achieved using a nongaussianity criterion to derive the subclass structure of the data, and a new formulation of the optimization problem that exploits the subclass information. LSSVMs provide low computation cost during training and evaluation, and offer competitive recognition performance in comparison to other popular SVM-based algorithms. Experimental results on various datasets confirm the advantages of LSSVMs.


In light of recent economic downturns in areas such as Asia and Latin America, so-called boilerplate provisions of project loan agreements have come under renewed scrutiny. Mozingo cites several types of boilerplate provisions, using typical loan agreement language, and suggests issue borrowers may want to consider. Examples include provisions that allow lenders to raise borrowing rates when their funding costs increase, disaster clauses allowing lenders to terminate loans under adverse circumstances, definitions of base rates and reference lenders, provisions allowing borrowers to prepay, and events of default only indirectly related to the borrower's creditworthiness.


Due to the technological advancement in cellular networks, massive data traffic appends to the existing digital technologies. These emerging digital technologies face quality of service (QoS) challenges, particularly when it comes to maintaining the tradeoffs between customers and service providers. The cellular service providers are trying to meet the needs of end users by handling four substantially different types of data, i.e., Real Time, Video, Audio, and Text, with each type having its own requirements. To achieves an efficient QoS, different incentive-based algorithms were proposed. However, these schemes do not ensure a fair distribution of profit among the mobile network operator and access points. Furthermore, these schemes do not provide efficient QoS to the end user and cannot ensure a fair distribution of channels in crowning time. We propose an incentive-based scheme using game theory and two-stage Stackelberg approach for integrated data, offloading the decision-making process in a heterogeneous network. A single mobile base station and some integrated access points in a crowded metropolitan area are modeled in our proposed scheme. This station offers an economic incentive based on traffic types, and access points compete with each other to earn incentives for offload traffic. A mathematical game is derived to analyze the real-world scenario through simulation. The experimental method is applied to validate the numerical outcomes by comparing the results with other models.


Contrary to common assumption, major forms of large-scale organized political violence in sub-Saharan Africa have declined in frequency and intensity, and the region is not uniquely prone to the onset of warfare. African civil wars in the 2000s and 2010s are less common compared to the mid-1990s. The character of warfare has also changed. Contemporary wars are generally small-scale, fought on state peripheries and increasingly across multiple states, and involve factionalized insurgents who typically cannot hold significant territory or capture state capitals. Episodes of large-scale mass killing of civilians are also on the decline. That said, other forms of political violence that receive less attention in the academic literature are increasing or persistent. These include electoral violence and violence over access to livelihood resources, such as land and water. Geopolitical shifts since the end of the Cold War are a leading candidate to explain the changing frequency and character of warfare in sub-Saharan Africa. New global priorities, including changes in external state funding opportunities for insurgents, an emphasis on change through elections, investments in conflict mediation strategies, and the rise of China are hypothesized as critical factors shaping the new patterns of warfare.


Although evidence of a biorhythm retained in tooth enamel as Retzius periodicity (RP) was identified in the 19th century its significance for mammalian growth and life history has only recently been discovered. This study builds upon our recent work where we hypothesised the biorhythm may have a role in enamel growth, and that its periodicity may change from deciduous to permanent teeth. Here we test this hypothesis. We compare RP between deciduous second and permanent first molars within the maxillae of four human children. We report the first RP's for deciduous teeth from modern great apes (n=4), and compare these to new data for permanent teeth (n=18) from these species, as well as to previously published values. Results show RP changed within the maxilla of each child, from thinner to thicker enameled molars. RP of 5 days for great ape deciduous teeth lay below the lowermost range of those from permanent teeth from modern orangutan and gorilla, and within the lowermost range of RP's from chimpanzee permanent teeth. When considered alongside our earlier reported correlation between RP and formation time, these observations provide further evidence that RP is associated with enamel growth processes in humans, and can change from deciduous to permanent teeth within an individual. Our data suggest these associations might extend to great apes. We conclude that enamel growth should be considered alongside other physiological systems when developing predictions around RP as a measure of an underlying biorhythm.


The dominant C96Y mutation of one of the two murine insulin genes, Ins2, causes diabetes mellitus in 'Akita' mice. Here we established pancreatic islet beta cell lines from heterozygous mice (Ins2+/Akita). Western blot analysis of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) molecular chaperones indicated that Grp78, Grp94 and Orp150 are significantly increased in Ins2+/Akita cells compared with wild-type (Ins2+/+) cells. Reporter gene assays using the human GRP78 promoter with or without the ER stress response element (ERSE) showed that Ins2+/Akita cells exhibit significantly stronger ERSE-dependent transcriptional activity than Ins2+/+ cells. Transient over-expression of the Ins2 C96Y mutant in wild-type beta cells induces a stronger ERSE-dependent stress response than does wild-type Ins2 over-expression. The ERSE-binding transcription factor ATF6 is strongly activated in Ins2+/Akita cells. The activity of a reporter containing the specific binding sequence of another ERSE-binding transcription factor, XBP1, is also enhanced in Ins2+/Akita cells. Levels of active forms of XBP1 mRNA and protein are both markedly elevated in Ins2+/Akita cells. These results indicate that this cell line is subject to continuous ER stress and that the Ins2 C96Y mutation induces the expression of ER chaperones through the activation of ATF6 and XBP1.


In recent years several scholars and practitioners have proposed that a combination of system dynamics and the resource-based view of the firm (RBV) can help to explain anomalies in firms' competitive performance over time. For example why do some firms, despite initial success, subsequently falter and even fail spectacularly. This article provides a practical example based on the well-known rise and fall of People Express in the highly competitive US airline industry of the mid-1980s. The contribution of RBV and system dynamics to understanding the changing fortunes of the firm is discussed and also critiqued.


A widespread cultural phenomenon – and/or individual disposition – is the idea that one should never try to be more, try to be different, or consider oneself more valuable than other people. In Scandinavia this code of modesty is referred to as the 'Jante mentality', in Anglo-Saxon societies the 'tall poppy syndrome', and in Asian cultures 'the nail that stands out gets hammered down'. The study reported here examines how this modesty code relates to generalized trust. We argue, prima facie, that a positive and a negative relationship are equally plausible. Representative samples of the Norwegian population were asked about their agreement with the Jante mentality and the extent to which they have trust in other people. Two population surveys were conducted; one measuring individual level associations and another measuring aggregate level associations. It was found that the relationship between having a Jante mentality and trust is negative, at both levels of analysis and, furthermore, that the Jante mentality – this modesty code assumed to be instilled in Scandinavians from early childhood – is a powerful predictor of generalized trust.


With the explosive development of mobile Internet and deep learning (DL), intelligent edge computing services based on collaborative learning are widely deployed in various application scenarios. These intelligent services include intelligent applications based on edge computing and DL-based optimization for edge computing (e.g., caching and communicating). However, in a wide variety of domains, DL has been found to be vulnerable to adversarial attacks, especially architecture-independent backdoor attacks. It embeds the attack pattern into the learned model and only performs the attack when it encounters the corresponding trigger. In this article, for the first time we analyze the impact of backdoor attacks on intelligent edge computing services. The simulation results demonstrate that once one or more edge nodes implement backdoor attacks, the embedded attack pattern will rapidly expand to all relevant edge nodes, which poses huge challenges to security-sensitive intelligent edge computing services. Subsequently, we analyze the trade-off between expected performance and ability to defend against backdoor attacks, which sheds new light on designing defense mechanisms for intelligent edge computing services. To address the challenges posed by backdoor attacks, we propose a stability-based defense mechanism. The experimental results demonstrate that the newly proposed defense mechanism can effectively defend against different levels of backdoor attacks without knowing whether there are adversaries, which is conducive to the deployment of the stability-based defense mechanism in real-world scenarios.


The bifurcation from a normally conducting state to a superconducting state in a decreasing magnetic field is studied for a slab geometry. The leading eigenvalue is a double eigenvalue, leading to a rich structure of possible behaviours. A weakly-nonlinear stability analysis is performed, and the possible responses of the material are classified. Finally, the leading-order equations are solved numerically for a wide range of parameter values to determine which of these behaviours will occur in practice.


A media streaming server can be implemented on a virtual machine for the ease of resource management. However, simply running a media streaming server on a virtual machine has two problems, the duplicate data in file caches of virtual machines and the performance degradation caused by the virtualization overhead. In order to resolve these problems, this paper proposes a high-performance media streaming architecture based on KVM. First, we implement a shared cache among virtual machines in order to eliminate the duplicate cached data. Second, the send file operation is offloaded to the hypervisor to reduce the virtualization overhead in I/O operations. Our evaluations with D-DASH datasets show that the performance of a media streaming server in the proposed architecture is increased by up to 30% as compared to that of the conventional media streaming server that simply runs on a virtual machine.


Safe management of radioactive waste is challenging to waste producers and waste management organisations. Deployment of thermal treatment technologies can provide significant improvements: volume reduction, waste passivation, organics destruction, safety demonstration facilitation, etc. The EC-funded THERAMIN project enables an EU-wide strategic review and assessment of the value of thermal treatment technologies applicable to Low and Intermediate Level waste streams (ion exchange media, soft operational waste, sludges, organic waste, and liquids). THERAMIN compiles an EU-wide database of wastes, which could be treated by thermal technologies and documents available thermal technologies. Applicability and benefits of technologies to the identified waste streams will be evaluated through full-scale demonstration tests by project partners. Safety case implications will also be assessed through the study of the disposability of thermally treated waste products. This paper will communicate the strategic aims of the ongoing project and highlight some key findings and results achieved to date.


TAR RNA binding protein (TRBP) belongs to an RNA binding protein family that includes the double‐stranded RNA‐activated protein kinase (PKR), Drosophila Staufen and Xenopus xlrbpa. One member of this family, PKR, is a serine/threonine kinase which has anti‐viral and anti‐proliferative effects. In this study we show that TRBP is a cellular down‐regulator of PKR function. Assaying expression from an infectious HIV‐1 molecular clone, we found that PKR inhibited viral protein synthesis and that over‐expression of TRBP effectively countered this inhibition. In intracellular and in cell‐free assays we show that TRBP directly inhibits PKR autophosphorylation through an RNA binding‐independent pathway. Biologically, TRBP serves a growth‐promoting role; cells that over‐express TRBP exhibit transformed phenotypes. Our results demonstrate the oncogenic potential of TRBP and are consistent with the notion that intracellular PKR function contributes physiologically towards regulating cellular proliferation.


We investigate the geographical and socioeconomic determinants of childhood undernutrition in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia, three neighboring countries in Southern Africa using the 1992 Demographic and Health Surveys. We estimate models of undernutrition jointly for the three countries to explore regional patterns of undernutrition that transcend boundaries, while allowing for country-specific interactions. We use semiparamtetric models to flexibly model the effects of selected socioeconomic covariates and spatial effects. Our spatial analysis is based on a flexible geo-additive model using the district as the geographic unit of analysis, which allows to separate smooth structured spatial effects from random effects. Inference is fully Bayesian and uses recent Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques. While the socioeconomic determinants generally confirm what is known in the literature, we find important non-linear effects of some covariates. Also, we find distinct residual spatial patterns that are not explained by the socioeconomic determinants. In Particular, there appears to be a belt running from Southern Tanzania to Northeastern Zambia which exhibits much worse undernutrition, even after controlling for socioecononomic effects. These effects do transcend borders, but to a varying degree. These findings have important implications for targeting policy as well as the search for left-out variables that might account for these residual spatial patterns.


Sparse Representation based Classification (SRC) has emerged as a new paradigm for solving recognition problems. This paper presents a constraint sampling feature extraction method that improves the SRC recognition rate. The method combines texture and shape features to significantly improve the recognition rate. Tests show that the combined constraint sampling and facial alignment achieves very high recognition accuracy on both the AR face database (99.52%) and the CAS-PEAL face database (99.54%).


Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) have emerged in recent years as a new class of chemical and biological pollutants in our environment. In the search
for suitably sensitive and specific techniques for detection of these compounds at very low concentrations, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LCMS/
MS) has emerged as the new technique of choice. This work describes methods for screening and quantification of various pharmaceutical and illicit drug residues in
solid and liquid environmental and biological matrices. Particular focus was given to efficiency of chosen stationary phase, sample preparation procedures and matrix
effects which seriously affect the accuracy of LC-MS/MS measurements. An analytical method was developed for the analysis of a range of illicit drugs in hair samples. The solid phase extraction procedure was optimised by
comparison of the extraction efficiency of a range of commercially available cartridges. The method was validated and applied to the detection of cocaine traces
in the hair of a recreational drug user. In the area of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) the
advantages of new monolithic stationary phases over traditional particle packed beds is becoming apparent. In this work, the performance of a half-metre monolithic
column was characterised using van Deemter plots. The separation efficiency of the monolith was compared to that of a conventional particulate column with promising
results. Investigations into loading capacity and peak capacity of the half-metre monolith also highlighted the suitability of the long monolith for the screening of
large numbers of pharmaceutical compounds. The half-metre monolithic column was applied to the analysis of
pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in complex environmental and biological samples. The effects of ion suppression on mass spectrometric sensitivity
for detection of pharmaceuticals in extracts of both soil and sludge were quantified for the long monolithic column and a particle packed column. The half-metre monolith demonstrated less ion suppression for the majority of analytes. The monolith was then applied to the etermination of PPCPs in urine samples with minimal sample preparation.


1Oncology Department, Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, Guizhou, 550000, People's Republic of China; 2Department of Abdominal Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, Guizhou, 550000, People's Republic of China Objective: The aim of this study was to develop a nomogram-based model to predict the three-year and five-year overall survival (OS) of patients with stage II/III colon cancer following radical resection. Methods: A total of 1156 patients with stage II/III colon cancer who underwent radical resection at the Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University between December 2012 and December 2018 were enrolled. Lasso regression was used to screen out 12 variables: age, prealbumin, albumin, degree of differentiation, total tumor-nodemetastasis (TNM) stage, T stage, N stage, prognostic nutritional index (PNI), platelet/ lymphocyte count, carcinoembryonic antigen, carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), and postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. The data set was then randomly split into a modeling set and a validation set, and the bootstrap method was used to verify the internal validity of the final model. A nomogram was then used to present the model, and the risk groups were categorized according to the total score in the nomogram. Results: This study established and developed a simple, easy-to-use predictive model that included age, degree of differentiation, N stage, CA19-9, PNI, and postoperative chemotherapy as variables. In the multivariate Cox regression analysis, only postoperative chemotherapy was identified as an independent risk factor for death in patients with colon cancer. The receiver operating characteristic curve showed that the model demonstrated good resolution, with an area under the curve of 0.803. Decision curve analysis indicated that the model had a good positive net gain, and the bootstrap method was used to verify its stability. In the OS rate, the C-index was 0.78. According to the total score of the nomogram, the risk group was layered by drawing the Kaplan–Meier (K–M) curve. In the three-year OS K–M curve, the survival rates of the low-risk group, the medium-risk group, and the high-risk group were 96%, 93%, and 82%, respectively. In the five-year OS K–M curve, the survival rates of the low-risk group, the medium-risk group, and the high-risk group were 94%, 90%, and 73%, respectively. Conclusion: The nomogram-based prediction model developed in this study is stable and has good resolution, reliability, and net gain. It will therefore be useful for clinicians performing risk stratification and postoperative monitoring and in the development of personalized treatment options for patients with stage II/III colon cancer.


The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is a unique member of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter superfamily that forms a Cl(-) channel with complex regulation. CFTR is composed of five domains: two membrane-spanning domains (MSDs), two nucleotide-binding domains (NBDs) and a unique regulatory domain (RD). The MSDs assemble to form a low conductance (6-10 pS) anion-selective pore with deep intracellular and shallow extracellular vestibules separated by a selectivity filter. The NBDs form a head-to-tail dimer with two ATP-binding sites (termed sites 1 and 2) located at the dimer interface. Anion flow through CFTR is gated by the interaction of ATP with sites 1 and 2 powering cycles of NBD dimer association and dissociation and hence, conformational changes in the MSDs that open and close the channel pore. The RD is an unstructured domain with multiple consensus phosphorylation sites, phosphorylation of which stimulates CFTR function by enhancing the interaction of ATP with the NBDs. Tight spatial and temporal control of CFTR activity is achieved by macromolecular signalling complexes in which scaffolding proteins colocalise CFTR and plasma membrane receptors with protein kinases and phosphatases. Moreover, a macromolecular complex composed of CFTR and metabolic enzymes (a CFTR metabolon) permits CFTR activity to be coupled tightly to metabolic pathways within cells so that CFTR inhibition conserves vital energy stores. CFTR is expressed in epithelial tissues throughout the body, lining ducts and tubes. It functions to control the quantity and composition of epithelial secretions by driving either the absorption or secretion of salt and water. Of note, in the respiratory airways CFTR plays an additional important role in host defence. Malfunction of CFTR disrupts transepithelial ion transport leading to a wide spectrum of human disease.


One perceived barrier to the implementation of new technologies in small drinking water systems is obtaining state regulatory agency approval. To investigate barriers as well as acceptance program status, experiences with new technologies, data needs for technology approval, and interest in a shared approach to acceptance of new technologies, a survey was sent to state regulatory agencies. The survey confirmed that new technologies for small systems are rarely considered by agencies. Key barriers encountered by states include an overall lack of staff time and training, insufficient data from vendors (including appropriate pilot test data), and lack of independent verification and certification. It was also found that some "emerging" technologies are more common than previously realized and that most states are interested in sharing data and are willing to collaborate to collect and evaluate performance data for new technologies. The next step is to identify how to share information nationwide.


A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) consisting of tiny sensing devices for monitoring the event of environmental condition such as gas monitoring in coal mines, battlefield surveillance and inventory tracking etc. and allows the network real time environment. As soon as a critical event is detected at a particular node, an alarm message should be broadcast to the entire network. Therefore, broadcasting delay is an important issue for the application of the critical event monitoring. So to minimize the broadcasting delay, the need is to minimize the time wasted for waiting during the broadcasting. The existing scenario is the destination nodes wake up immediately when the source nodes obtain the broadcasting packets. As sensor nodes are mostly battery operated for event monitoring are expected to work for a long time without recharging their batteries, also it is undesirable or impossible to recharge or replace the battery power of all the sensors. Therefore, the new trend towards the energy efficient sleep scheduling design which extends system lifetime without sacrificing system reliability is one important challenge to the design of a large wireless sensor network. Obviously, sleep scheduling could cause transmission delay because sender nodes should wait until receiver nodes are active and ready to receive the message. Therefore the objective of this paper is advancement in protocols of delay-efficient sleep scheduling method needs to be designed to ensure the energy conservation and low broadcasting delay to increasing the lifetime in any node in the WSN. Therefore the proposed algorithm is compared with results of two known existing algorithm: the Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) and Data Routing for In Network Aggregation (DRINA). The result of proposed algorithm provides the best results of energy conservation and minimum broadcasting delay in different nodal configuration and different performance parameters in WSN. This work has been done on the Network Simulator-2 a simulation platform for WSN. Keywords—Energy Efficiency, Broadcasting Delay, Sleep Scheduling, Routing Protocol, Wireless Sensor Network


By 1966, Nirenberg announced that he had deciphered the 64 RNA codons for all 20 amino acids. This chart from 1965 lists the
 correspondence between these codons and amino acids.


The present study performed to understand the toxicity level of heavy metals like Zn +2 , Ni +2 , Cu +2 , Cr +6 , Fe +3 , which are present in the industrial effluents released from fine chemical industries situated at Gove industrial belt, Bhiwandi, Maharashtra. The concentration level of Zn 2+ in the present study was found to be 26.35 ppm which was above the limits of 5.0 ppm set by CPCB in industrial wastewater discharge. Such high Zn 2+ level may result in stomach cramps, nausea and vomiting. The average concentration of Pb 2+ (0.99 ppm) in the present study was above the CPCB limits of 0.10 ppm. Such high level of Pb 2+ might result in a threat to young children and pregnant women resulting in miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth and low birth weight. The average concentration of Ni 2+ (7.24 ppm) was very much above the maximum tolerable CPCB limits of 3.00 ppm, which might result in contact dermatitis among the local peoples. The concentration of Cu 2+ (3.55 ppm) as reported in the present study was marginally above the limits of 3.00 ppm set by CPCB for the safe discharge of industrial effluents. It is feared that short term exposure Cu 2+ may result in gastrointestinal distress, while the long term exposure may result in liver or kidney damage. From the results of the present study, it is feared that high level of toxic heavy metals in industrial wastewater coupled with high level of various physicochemical parameter like pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Chemical of Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Total Hardness, PO 4 2- , and Ca 2+ may possess threat to the human health among the local populations. From the results, it can be concluded that due to rapid industrialization at Gove industrial area, there is a rapid increase in the water pollution and the efforts are required to be taken to control the discharge of the pollutants into the aquatic ecosystems. Keywords: Gove industrial belt, industrialization, industrial effluents, water pollution, physicochemical parameters, heavy metals Cite this Article Singare PU, Jagtap AG. Health Impact due to Pollution from the Fine Chemical Manufacturing Industries Operating at Gove Industrial Belt of Bhiwandi (Maharashtra). Research & Reviews: A Journal of Health Professions . 2018; 8(3): 23–30p.


The mucosal membranes represent the most common portal of entry for human pathogens and are protected by a specialised mucosal immune system which is distinct from the systemic immune system. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi) penetrates the body through the intestinal mucosa and causes both mucosal and systemic illness. Mucosal vaccination against S. Typhi with the licensed live oral typhoid vaccine Ty21a should elicit protective cellular responses both systemically and at the mucosal surface. However, nothing is known about the cell-mediated immune responses that are induced locally in the mucosa of the small intestine. It is also unclear whether Ty21a can elicit cellular mucosal immune responses at other mucosal surfaces, a property that would make it a candidate vaccine vector. This study aimed to answer these questions and to determine whether there is a correlation between the immune response elicited at different mucosal sites or between the intestinal mucosa and blood.

Healthy adults were either vaccinated with Ty21a (n=10) or allocated to the unvaccinated control group (n=7). Blood was collected from both groups on day 0 (pre-vaccination sample) and day 18 (post-vaccination sample) by venesection. Cells were separated by differential centrifugation and analysed by flow cytometry. Mucosal samples (duodenum ± sigmoid colon) were collected by endoscopy and mucosal pinch-biopsy on day 18. Cells were separated by collagenase digestion and mechanical disruption and analysed by flow cytometry. Two functional T cell assays, an intracellular cytokine staining assay (interferon-γ, tumour necrosis factor-α and interleukin-2) and a lymphoproliferation assay, were used to assess antigen-specific cellular immune responses.

The results demonstrated that in blood, there was no statistically significant difference in the mean percentage of antigen-specific CD4+ T cells in the intracellular cytokine staining assay between the control and vaccinated groups at day 0 but there was at day 18. This was due to an unexpected fall in the mean percentage of antigen-specific CD4+ T cells in the control group between day 0 and day 18. In the blood lymphoproliferation assay, there was no statistically significant difference between the control and vaccinated groups at day 0 or day 18. There was, however, a statistically significant increase in the mean percentage of antigen-specific cytokine-producing CD4+ T cells in the vaccinated group compared to the control group in duodenal tissue, but not in the colon at day 18. In the vaccinated group, there was not a strong correlation between duodenum and colon or between duodenum and blood in terms of the percentage of antigen-specific cytokine-producing CD4+ T cells.

This is the first study to report antigen-specific mucosal T cell responses to an oral vaccine, and we were able to demonstrate a significant increase in intracellular cytokine responses to Ty21a antigens in T cells from the mucosal surface. The results from this study support the theory that local immune responses against pathogens such as S. Typhi which gain access to the body through mucosal membranes are important. In addition, they suggest that the cellular immune response measured in peripheral blood may not correlate with that measured at the mucosal surface, emphasising the potential value of obtaining mucosal tissue for direct study. This has implications for the evaluation of future vaccine candidates which often relies on systemic immune responses to assess vaccine immunogenicity. This study will now be extended beyond this interim analysis by recruiting more individuals to confirm the findings.


A novel technique and a nonthermal soldering method to improve the performance of AgHT-8 transparent polymer antennas are proposed in this letter. The proposed technique involves the removal of the coating layer at areas on the coplanar waveguide (CPW) ground and feed line where the connectors of the coaxial feed or legs of the SMA connectors will be attached and applying a coat of silver paint on the exposed areas before cold-soldering the coaxial connections or SMA connector legs. The nonthermal or cold soldering using electrically conductive paste enables direct soldering of the coaxial feed points or connector legs, which cannot otherwise be done with hot or thermal soldering. This type of connection greatly enhances the performance of the AgHT-8 polymer antennas compared to coaxial feed point connections through hot-soldered copper pads glued to the surface of the polymer coating. The proposed technique also gives a stronger connection bond than directly cold-soldering the feed points or connectors to the smooth surface of the AgHT-8 material. Furthermore, the copper pad connection technique also introduces additional losses contributed by the adhesive properties of the glue used. This proposed novel technique and soldering method may be extended to enhance antenna performance made from other similar transparent conductive polymers like ITO.


This introductory paper reviews the current state-of-the-art scientific methods used for modelling, analysing and controlling the dynamics of vehicular traffic. Possible mechanisms underlying traffic jam formation and propagation are presented from a dynamical viewpoint. Stable and unstable motions are described that may give the skeleton of traffic dynamics, and the effects of driver behaviour are emphasized in determining the emergent state in a vehicular system. At appropriate points, references are provided to the papers published in the corresponding Theme Issue.


: In experiments on rats microionophoretic administration of nicergoline mainly showed the dual effect on the background activity of the ventrolateral thalamic nucleus (VL) neurons and their reactions evoked by the superior cerebellum peduncle stimulation: inhibitory under weak (2-10 nA) and excitatory under stronger (20-40 nA) currents. Microionophoresis (25 nA) of nicergoline led to decrease of the postexcitatory inhibitory processes during paired stimulation of the cerebellum fibers. Paired-pulse ratio (number of spikes in the short-latency neuronal responses elicited by the second pulse/number of spikes by the first pulse) increased, which support a presynaptic mode of drug action. Hence excitatory effect of nicergoline may be related to the blockade of the presynaptic alpha2-receptors, while inhibitory effect by the blockade of the postsynaptic alphal-receptors. Present data reveal the essential participation of the alpha-adrenoreceptor system in the modulation of background and evoked neuronal activity of the motor thalamus. The possible role of noradrenergic denervation in the development of movement disorders accompanying Parkinson's disease is discussed.


The reported work is on Ti-48Al-12Nb-1Cr (at %) system synthesized in a high-energy planetary ball mill with optimized milling parameters. The synthesized powders are characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) in order to understand the structural and phase transformation. The results obtained from the above said studies show the particles refinement, formation of non-equilibrium structures, etc. High-energy ball milling results super saturation of Al and Nb in titanium matrix at 15 hrs of milling, nanocrystalline nature at 20 hrs and amorphous phase formation at 50 hrs of milling. Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) and XRD scans of MA powder thermally treated at 750°C for 1 hr show the formation of TiAl and TiAl3 intermetallic compounds.


Discrete event simulations need a priority queue to schedule events according to their timestamp. Up to 40% of the time may be spent on the management of the pending event set. Thus the choice of a efficient data structure is vital to the performance of discrete event simulations. A conventional Calendar Queue (CQ) and Dynamic Calendar Queue (DCQ) are two data structures that promises O(1) time complexity regardless of the size of the pending event set. CQ however performs poorly over skewed event distributions or changes in the event distribution. DCQ improves on the CQ by adding a mechanism to detect the two scenarios above and redistribute events when necessary. Both of these data structures determine their operating parameter (bucket width) by sampling of events. Sampling sometimes fails to provide a good estimate for an optimum bucket width to use. This paper proposes a novel approach to determine the optimum operating parameter of a calendar queue based on its performance statistics and guarantees O(1) performance. Henceforth, we named our calendar queue adopting this mechanism, Statistically eNhanced with Optimum Operating Parameter Calendar Queue (SNOOPy CQ). Our experiment results showed that SNOOPy CQ offers a consistent O(1) performance and, in certain scenarios, executes up to 100 times faster than DCQ and CQ.


Summary The Loughshinny Black Shales, P2, represented the highest known Carboniferous horizon in County Dublin until 1939. A survey since then of the upland stretching west-north-westwards from Loughshinny has shown that Arnsbergian beds, E2, cover about eight square miles. It is considered that the zones present are those of Cravenoceratoides nitidum and Eumorphoceras bisulcatum s.s. They consist of a lower Balrickard Sandstone series, about 100 feer, and an upper Walshestown Shale series, about 320 feet. The former are dark-grey, micaceous, calcareous sandstone interspread with black limestones and shales and yield Eu. bisulcatum. The shale series consists mainly of black shale, often with goniatites and marine lamellibranchs. There are two limestone bands and several mudstone, siltstone and clay-ironstone beds. Near the top Ct. stellarum occurs, indicating the uppermost subzome of the Ct. nitidum zone E2b. No indication of an E1 fauna was found. The Upper Bollandrian, P2, which on the coast is represented by black shales, consists inland of black argillaceous limestone with a little shale containing Paragonialites subcircularis and abundant Posidonia membranacea. No trace of Pd. becheri or P1 gonitites was seen inland. Probascidella found at one localit probably indicates the base of P1. Below the black P2 beds are at least 600 feet of grey limestones, some of them cherty, considered to represent the Cyathaxonia Beds, and the Kate, Carlyan and Holmpatrick limestones of the coast section C2-D1. The area is on the south margin of the Ballbriggan Lower Palaeozoic massif and seems to include basin and back-reef facies. Absence of E1 and overlap of E2 upon the Lower Palaeozoic represent the Sudetian movements. The mid-Avonian disturbances (Nassauian phase) are indicated inland by basement fragmental beds, as on the coast by the well-known Rush and Lane conglomerates. One north-east and south-west fault was observed and three others with a similar trend are inferred. There are two main anticlines in the Carboniferous rocks with north-east and south-west axes pitching north-eastwards, one of which is evidently continuous with that at Oldtown to the south-west and possibly also with the east-and-west anticline pitching east in the Lower Palaeozoic seen in the islands at Skerries. Its curved course would thus be parallel to that of the Swords-Portrane anticline to the south.


We report on the imaging analysis of ∼200 ks sub-arcsecond resolution Chandra Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS-S) observations of the nearby Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4151. Bright, structured soft X-ray emission is observed to extend from 30 pc to 1.3 kpc in the southwest from the nucleus, much farther than seen in earlier X-ray studies. The terminus of the northeastern X-ray emission is spatially coincident with a CO gas lane, where the outflow likely encounters dense gas in the host galactic disk. X-ray emission is also detected outside the boundaries of the ionization cone, which indicates that the gas there is not completely shielded from the nuclear continuum, as would be the case for a molecular torus collimating the bicone. In the central r < 200 pc region, the subpixel processing of the ACIS data recovers the morphological details on scales of <30 pc (<0.″5) first discovered in Chandra High Resolution Camera images. The X-ray emission is more absorbed toward the boundaries of the ionization cone, as well as perpendicular to the bicone along the direction of a putative torus in NGC 4151. The innermost region where X-ray emission shows the highest hardness ratio is spatially coincident with the near-infrared-resolved H2 emission and dusty spirals we find in an Hubble Space Telescope V − H color image. The agreement between the observed H2 line flux and the value predicted from X-ray-irradiated molecular cloud models supports photo-excitation by X-rays from the active nucleus as the origin of the H2 line, although contribution from UV fluorescence or collisional excitation cannot be ruled out with current data. The discrepancy between the mass of cold molecular gas inferred from recent CO and near-infrared H2 observations may be explained by the anomalous CO abundance in this X-ray-dominated region. The total H2 mass derived from the X-ray observation agrees with the recent measurement by Storchi-Bergmann et al.


In this paper, we investigate how people with mobility impairments assess and evaluate accessibility in the built environment and the role of current and emerging location-based technologies therein. We conducted a three-part formative study with 20 mobility impaired participants: a semi-structured interview (Part 1), a participatory design activity (Part 2), and a design probe activity (Part 3). Part 2 and 3 actively engaged our participants in exploring and designing the future of what we call assistive location-based technologies (ALTs) location-based technologies that specifically incorporate accessibility features to support navigating, searching, and exploring the physical world. Our Part 1 findings highlight how existing mapping tools provide accessibility benefits even though often not explicitly designed for such uses. Findings in Part 2 and 3 help identify and uncover useful features of future ALTs. In particular, we synthesize 10 key features and 6 key data qualities. We conclude with ALT design recommendations.