The long-term ingestion of tea catechins has been reported to reduce body fat. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the long-term ingestion of tea catechins on postprandial energy expenditure and dietary fat oxidation. Twelve healthy men aged 27-48 years participated in the study. The subjects consumed 350 ml of a test beverage/day that contained either a high dose of catechin (592.9 mg) or a low dose of catechin (77.7 mg) for a period of 12 weeks. Respiratory analyses were conducted before and at 4, 8, and 12 weeks during the test period, in which oxygen consumption and the excretion of 13CO2 were monitored over 8 hr after a single ingestion of a test meal containing 13C labeled triglyceride. The excretion of 13CO2 in the high dose catechin group (the HC group) was significantly increased at 4 and 12 weeks of the test period compared to that for the low dose catechin group (the LC group) (p < 0.05), and this elevation persisted at 8.9% at week 0 to 12.9% at week 12. Dietary induced thermogenesis (DIT), defined as an increased energy expenditure from the fasting baseline for 8 hr after the single ingestion of a test meal, was significantly higher in the HC group at 8 and 12 weeks compared to that in the LC group (p < 0.05) with elevation to 90.3 kcal at week 12 from 51.4 kcal at week 0. In conclusion, enhanced dietary fat oxidation and an increased DIT may play an important role in the mechanism of the anti-obesity effect of tea catechins.


A 12 MHz crystal oscillator/divider fabricated in silicon on sapphire (SOS) is presented. The chip incorporates a significant analog component, as an automatic gain control (AGC) loop is used to minimize the influence of changing transistor parameters due to radiation. The design tackles the problems associated with realizing analog circuitry in a floating substrate technology and the use of circuit techniques to achieve radiation hardness. A simple system-level modeling method is used to predict the oscillator start-up and AGC loop stability. The measured stability is around 0.1 p.p.m./V; circuits are still functional at more than 50 Mrad (Si) and show frequency deviations of typically 8 p.p.m. from nominal. >


Background: Clinical outcome in patients undergoing mechanical thrombectomy (MT) due to intracranial large vessel occlusion (LVO) in the anterior circulation is influenced by several factors. The impact of a concomitant extracranial carotid artery stenosis (CCAS) contralateral to the intracranial lesion remains unclear. Methods: Retrospective analysis of 392 consecutive patients treated with MT due to intracranial LVO in the anterior circulation in two comprehensive stroke centers between 2014 and 2017. Clinical (including demographics and NIHSS), imaging (including angiographic evaluation of CCAS via NASCET criteria), and procedural data were evaluated. Primary endpoint was an unfavorable clinical outcome defined as modified Rankin Scale 3–6 at 90 days. Results: In 27/392 patients (7%) pre-interventional imaging exhibited a CCAS (>50%) contralateral to the intracranial lesion compared to 365 patients without relevant stenosis. Median baseline NIHSS, procedural timings, and reperfusion success did not differ between groups. Median volume of the final infarct core was larger in CCAS patients (176 cm3, IQR 32-213 vs. 11 cm3, 1-65; p < 0.001). At 90 days, unfavorable outcome was documented in 25/27 CCAS patients (93%) vs. 211/326 (65%; p = 0.003) with a mortality of 63 vs. 19% (p = 0.001), respectively. Presence of CCAS was associated with an unfavorable outcome at 90 days independent of age and baseline NIHSS in multivariate logistic regression (OR 2.2, CI 1.1-4.7; p < 0.05). Conclusion: For patients undergoing MT due to intracranial vessel occlusion in the anterior circulation, the presence of a contralateral CCAS >50% is a predictor of unfavorable clinical outcome at 90 days.


Issue addressed: The extent to which amateur rural sporting clubs are settings in which harmful and hazardous levels of alcohol are consumed by players, supporters and officials. Methods: A survey of respondents in 13 rural sporting clubs across four amateur Australian rules football leagues in the Gippsland region, east of Melbourne. Results: Surveys were returned by 278 respondents (approximately one quarter of those surveyed). Findings indicate that over a third of respondents typically consume seven or more alcoholic drinks each time they attend their local sporting club, indicating harmful alcohol consumption according to National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) guidelines. A further 17% drink at levels deemed hazardous according to NHMRC guidelines. Young male players emerged as the heavy drinkers, with 56% of this group typically consuming seven or more alcoholic drinks at their club. High levels of concern regarding drink driving and under-age drinking were recorded; however, few respondents reported that relevant harm minimisation strategies (such as bar staff training, designated driver programs and hosting of alcohol-free functions) were in place in their local club to promote responsible service and consumption of alcohol. Conclusions: Sporting clubs are important social and recreational settings, particularly in rural communities. The present findings indicate, however, that they can also be settings in which harmful levels of alcohol are consumed. So what?: The findings reported here suggest that rural sporting clubs should be targeted as health promotion settings so that policies and practices which promote the responsible service and consumption of alcohol can be developed, implemented and evaluated. (author abstract)


Steroid hormones regulate a wide range of processes in our body, and their
 effects are mediated by steroid receptors. In addition to their physiological
 role, these receptors mediate the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals
 (EDCs) and are widely used targets for dugs involved in the treatment of
 numerous diseases, ranging from cancer to inflammatory disorders. Over the last
 fifteen years, the zebrafish has increasingly been used as an animal model in
 steroid receptor research. Orthologues of all human steroid receptor genes
 appear to be present in zebrafish. All zebrafish steroid receptors have been
 characterized in detail, and their expression patterns have been analyzed.
 Functional studies have been performed using morpholino knockdown of receptor
 expression and zebrafish lines carrying mutations in one of their steroid
 receptor genes. To investigate the activity of the receptors in
 vivo, specific zebrafish reporter lines have been developed, and
 transcriptomic studies have been carried out to identify biomarkers for steroid
 receptor action. In this review, an overview of research on steroid receptors in
 zebrafish is presented, and it is concluded that further exploitation of the
 possibilities of the zebrafish model system will contribute significantly to the
 advancement of steroid receptor research in the next decade.


The purpose of this research was to investigate the food energy and nutrient intake, and adequacy of meals served at Head Start centers versus meals consumed at home among Head Start Children. A cross-sectional descriptive survey research design was utilized. A convenience sample of 195 Head Start child and caregiver pairs was recruited from two Head Start sites within the District of Columbia (DC). Weight and height were measured and used to calculate BMI. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) BMI for age and gender growth charts were used to evaluate BMI levels. Dietary intakes were collected using the 24-hour food recall method, and Head Start center menus were analyzed using Nutritionist Pro Software (Axxya Systems, Redmond, WA). Data analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19 (IBM SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). Results of the study showed no significant difference in total calorie intakes between the overweight/obese children and normal weight children who consumed meals both at home and at Head Start centers. However, in both overweight/obese and normal weight children who consumed meals totally at home, lower nutrient intakes were noted when compared to recommended levels. It was concluded that Head Start children who consumed meals both at school and home on the day of the recall, had higher intakes of food energy and were more likely to meet recommended nutrient intakes than Head Start children who did not consume any portion of their meals at school.


The new statutory derivative claim in the Companies Act 2006 ("CA 2006") was meant to herald a more modem, flexible and accessible criteria for determining whether a shareholder could pursue an action. It was aimed at tackling the problematic rules which emerged from Foss v Harbottle (1843). This paper examines the twostage procedure in the CA 2006 Part 11 by focusing on specific elements within it, i.e., prima facie case, ratification etc. The complexities of pursuing a statutory derivative claim will be highlighted by critically discussing how these elements have been interpreted in recent case law such as Franbar Holdings Ltd v Patel (2008) and Stainer v Lee (2010). It will be argued that the uncertainty that presently plagues the two-stage procedure and the interpretation of the elements within it is likely to lead to the demise of the statutory derivative claim in England and Wales for the foreseeable future.


The modulation of isotropic turbulence by particles has been investigated using direct numerical simulation (DNS). The particular focus of the present work is on the class of dilute flows in which particle volume fractions and inter-particle collisions are negligible. Gravitational settling is also neglected and particle motion is assumed to be governed by drag with particle relaxation times ranging from the Kolmogorov scale to the Eulerian time scale of the turbulence and particle mass loadings up to 1. The velocity field was made statistically stationary by forcing the low wavenumbers of the flow. The calculations were performed using 963 collocation points and the Taylor-scale Reynolds number for the stationary flow was 62. The effect of particles on the turbulence was included in the Navier–Stokes equations using the point-force approximation in which 963 particles were used in the calculations. DNS results show that particles increasingly dissipate fluid kinetic energy with increased loading, with the reduction in kinetic energy being relatively independent of the particle relaxation time. Viscous dissipation in the fluid decreases with increased loading and is larger for particles with smaller relaxation times. Fluid energy spectra show that there is a non-uniform distortion of the turbulence with a relative increase in small-scale energy. The non-uniform distortion significantly affects the transport of the dissipation rate, with the production and destruction of dissipation exhibiting completely different behaviours. The spectrum of the fluid–particle energy exchange rate shows that the fluid drags particles at low wavenumbers while the converse is true at high wavenumbers for small particles. A spectral analysis shows that the increase of the high-wavenumber portion of the fluid energy spectrum can be attributed to transfer of the fluid–particle covariance by the fluid turbulence. This in turn explains the relative increase of small-scale energy caused by small particles observed in the present simulations as well as those of Squires & Eaton (1990) and Elghobashi & Truesdell (1993).


In this paper we claim that capital is as important in the production of ideas as in the production of final goods. Hence, we introduce capital in the production of knowledge and discuss the associated problems arising from the public good nature of knowledge. We show that although population growth can affect economic growth, it is not necessary for growth to arise. We derive both the social planner and the decentralized economy growth rates and show the optimal subsidy that decentralizes it. We also show numerically that the effects of population growth on the market growth rate, the optimal growth rate and the optimal subsidy are small. Besides, we find that physical capital is more important for the production of knowledge than for the production of goods.


Adiponectin (Adpn) has been shown to be a possible therapeutic for Type II diabetes, however the production of a therapeutic version of Adpn has proved to be challenging. Biological studies have highlighted the importance of the glycosylated lysine residues for the formation of bioactive high molecular weight oligomers of Adpn. Through the use of 'click' glycopeptide mimetics, we investigated the role of glycosylated lysine and serine residues for the formation of triple helical structures of the collagenous domain of Adpn, in the context of a collagen model peptide scaffold. The physical properties of the unglycosylated lysine and serine peptides are compared with their glycosylated analogues. Our results highlight the crucial role of lysine residues for formation of the triple helical structure of Adpn, possibly due to the extension of both intra- and interstrand hydrogen bonding networks. Strikingly, we observed a significant decrease in thermal stability upon incorporation of triazole-linked analogues of glycosylated lysine residues into the adiponectin collageneous domain, indicating possible uses of 'click' glycomimetics for bioengineering applications.


Twenty-five percent of diabetes-related vision loss stems from complications of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Panretinal photocoagulation has been the preferred treatment of high-risk PDR for decades and more recently intravitreal injections of drugs that inhibit the actions of vascular endothelial growth factor have become popular. But despite these treatments PDR may progress uncontrollably to advanced pathologies such as traction retinal detachments (TRDs), combined traction/rhegmatogenous retinal detachments (TRD/RRDs), vitreous hemorrhages, rubeosis iridis, and traction maculopathies, which produce mild-to-severe loss of vision. TDR have long been the most common indication for PDR-related vitreoretinal surgery. Vitrectomy surgery is indicated for recent (<6 months duration) TRD involving the macula, progressive TRD that threatens the macula, and recent data suggest that chronic macula-involving TRDs (>6 months duration) may also benefit. Combined TRD/RRD represents a particularly challenging surgical condition but advances in surgical instrumentation, dissection techniques, and post-operative tamponade have produced excellent success rates. The recent development of small-gauge vitrectomy systems has persuaded most surgeons to switch platforms since these appear to produce shorter surgical times and quicker post-operative recoveries. Pre-operative injections of bevacizumab are frequently administered for persistent neovascularization to facilitate surgical dissection of pre-retinal fibrosis and reduce the incidence of post-operative hemorrhages. Recent trends toward earlier surgical intervention and expanded indications are likely to continue as surgical instrumentation and techniques are further developed.


A system-level approach for indoor surveillance of objects using wireless sensor networks and Pan/Tilt camera is presented in this paper. The objects to be tracked carry a listener cricket mote and beacon motes are mounted on the ceiling. The Time Difference of Arrival (TDoA) approach and multilateration are used to estimate the distance and position of the object, respectively. The small error in the position estimation result was further reduced by implementing a Kalman filter. The position of the object obtained from the cricket motes are used to calculate the pan and tilt angles of the camera, also mounted on the ceiling. Since the camera used does not have the zoom capability, a laser pointer is used to constantly point a dot on the moving object. The pointer followed the object with negligible error.


The World experiences a significant growth in population coupled with fast urbanization processes particularly in the Southern hemisphere, which puts an enormous pressure on cities, giving rise to numerous social, infrastructural, ecological, and urban problems. In this context, the formal sector is often unable to provide adequate housing for this growing population who resorts to self-help processes that lead to informal settlements. This paper focuses on the development of an analytical shape grammar for Santa Marta, the iconic settlement used as a critical case study, whose rules describe the generation of the self-constructed urban fabric. The methodology includes an analysis of the built shape and the physical urban relations. The resulting model is a shape grammar that recreates the urban fabric of Santa Marta. Future work includes the evaluation of the settlement's urban space and the corresponding transformation of the analytic grammar to generate a synthetic grammar for planning new housing settlements.


R. S. O. Tomlin has recently provided an excellent publication of an amulet found in the City of London in 1989. It is a long, narrow strip cut from a sheet of pewter, with 30 lines of Greek text, and the bearer was a certain Demetri(o)s. By a curious coincidence, two of the Greek inscriptions of Britain also involve a Demetrios, though a different one. They are inscribed on two bronze plates found in York about 1840. One reads , the other , and the bearer is presumably identical with a grammaticus from Tarsus of the same name, described as having come from Britain to Delphi in one of Plutarch's dialogues. This note mainly treats the second of two hexameter oracles incorporated in the text of the London amulet, but I begin by discussing the text as a whole.


In April, 2011, the Q fever bacterium Coxiella burnetii was identified at a Washington farm where an abortion storm took place among goats. Soon after, Q fever cases were reported among visitors to the farm from Washington and Montana. A cross-sectional investigation was conducted among humans and goats associated with the index farm or with 16 other farms that purchased goats from the index farm or housed goats at the index farm for breeding purposes. Questionnaire data were analyzed, along with human and goat specimens collected for evidence of C. burnetii infection. Twenty-one persons (19%) of the 109-person cohort from Washington and Montana met the outbreak case definition of an epidemiologic link to the index farm and a C. burnetii Phase II immunoglobulin G (IgG) titer ‡ 1:128 by immunofluorescence assay. Seventy-one percent of cases (15 of 21) were symptomatic, compared with approximately 50% during previous Q fever outbreaks. National Q fever surveillance reports increase in frequency with age, but 29% (6 of 21) of cases during this outbreak occurred in children aged < 14 years. Goat-specific Q fever risk factors included direct contact with a newborn (prevalence ratio [PR] 10.7; confidence interval [CI] 1.5, 77.4), exposure to a newborn that died (PR 5.5; CI 1.7, 18.2), exposure to a weak newborn (PR 4.4; CI 1.7, 11.6), living on a property with goats (PR 4.2; CI 1.3, 13.9), and direct contact with birth/afterbirth products (PR 2.8; CI 1.1, 6.9). Evidence of C. burnetii infection was detected in all 17 goat herds sampled (13 Washington, 3 Montana, 1 Oregon) by PCR and/or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Following this investigation, Washington and Montana implemented a herd management plan to encourage best-management practices among livestock owners, reduce the potential for future outbreaks, and promote continued communication between state public health and agricultural authorities.


Rare disease patients too often face common problems, including the lack of access to correct diagnosis, lack of quality information on the disease, lack of scientific knowledge of the disease, inequities and difficulties in access to treatment and care. These things could be changed by implementing a comprehensive approach to rare diseases, increasing international cooperation in scientific research, by gaining and sharing scientific knowledge about and by developing tools for extracting and sharing knowledge. A significant aspect to analyze is the organization of knowledge in the biomedical field for the proper management and recovery of health information. For these purposes, the sources needed have been acquired from the Office of Rare Diseases Research, the National Organization of Rare Disorders and Orphanet, organizations that provide information to patients and physicians and facilitate the exchange of information among different actors involved in this field. The present paper shows the representation of rare diseases terms in biomedical terminologies such as MeSH, ICD-10, SNOMED CT and OMIM, leveraging the fact that these terminologies are integrated in the UMLS. At the first level, it was analyzed the overlap among sources and at a second level, the presence of rare diseases terms in target sources included in UMLS, working at the term and concept level. We found that MeSH has the best representation of rare diseases terms.


Objective The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created multiple uncertainties regarding rheumatic diseases or their treatment, with regard to the susceptibility to or severity of the viral disease. We aimed to address these questions as they relate to spondyloarthritis (SpA). Methods We created a longitudinal survey from April 10, 2020, to April 26, 2021. There were 4723 subjects with SpA and 450 household contacts who participated worldwide. Of these, 3064 respondents were from the US and 70.4% of them provided longitudinal data. To control for the duration of potential risk of COVID-19, the rate of contracting the disease was normalized for person-months of exposure. Results In an analysis of US subjects who provided longitudinal data, the incident rate ratio for the 159 (out of 2157) subjects who tested positive for COVID-19 was 1.16 compared to the US population as adjusted for age and sex (range 0.997–1.361, P = 0.06). A paired evaluation using patients and household members did not show a statistically significant effect to indicate a predisposition for developing COVID-19 as a result of SpA or its treatment. Our data failed to show that any class of medication commonly used to treat SpA significantly affected the risk of developing COVID-19 or increasing the severity of COVID-19. Conclusion These data do not exclude a small increased risk of developing COVID-19 as a result of SpA, but the risk, if it exists, is low and not consistently demonstrated. The data should provide reassurance to patients and to rheumatologists about the risk that COVID-19 poses to patients with SpA.


The paper presents a research for developing of an attractive and efficient method for screening activities concerning visual function rehabilitation, including the hand – eye coordination, for preschool children. It focuses on a software interface developing aimed to help the examiner: quantifying rapid and proper to what extent each evaluated child is falling or not in one of the disabilities situations and quantify the handicap rehabilitation degree, due to some specific training activities (correction of amblyopia, squint, myopia, dyschromatopsia, coordination hand – eye etc.). Another aspect refers to the evaluation and stimulation and training of the concentration of attention. All of these actually can be accomplished due to specific tests, via a previously created device. The main role of the software is to provide in a very short time all necessary information for making a decision concerning the measures to be taken. The application allows data saving into EXCEL files, with the possibility to compare it subsequently. In this way it will be possible to evaluate in time the tests results, so that the visual function, the memory the hand – eye coordination evolution. Proof of this is that in the autumn of 2017, many school and preschool children have consistently shown their interest in such tests on the existing device. This is due to the fact that such of activities are considered by children as a game which stimulates them in personality development, in self-affirmation. In the present the evaluation and rehabilitation method proposed in the research is in testing stage.


Abstarct Alcohol has been a well-known cardiotoxin for a long time now. Alcohol use (a leading cause of preventable death) causes >95,000 death/year or 261 deaths/day in the US with an average of 29 life-year lost, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Alcohol dependency is seen in at least 25% of hospitalized patients. EKG changes associated with alcoholic-dilated cardiomyopathy are many and often non-specific. It is easy not to evaluate otherwise young and asymptomatic alcoholics coming with alcohol withdrawal symptoms for cardiomyopathy. This report documents ECG findings of cerebral T waves, in a young, otherwise healthy alcoholic patient coming in for the treatment of alcohol withdrawal seizures, who later got diagnosed with alcoholic-dilated cardiomyopathy. It is of paramount importance to pay close attention to EKG changes in young alcoholic patients as delay in diagnosis of alcoholic-dilated cardiomyopathy is lethal and can often cause irreversible myocyte damage.


INTRODUCTION
Pleural empyema is a severe complication of various diseases. The essential is the inserting a drain into the pleural cavity and evacuation of the pus. Sometimes the pus is very thick and its evacuation and re-expansion of the lung is very difficult.

METHODS
We report a group of 10 patients with intrapleural administration of Pulmozyme (dornase alpha) in dosages of either 2.5 mg once or on two separate occasions. All of the patients had a chest tube inserted into the pleural cavity. Measurement of viscosity was done before and after the instillation of the dornase alpha.

RESULTS
In six patients dornase alfa was introduced into the pleural cavity once. Three of them received this on the 4th whilst the rest were treated with the agent on the 6th day. Four patients received the dornase alpha twice because of the small amount of drainage fluid after the previous instillation. Five patients were discharged from hospital with complete re-expansion of their lungs. Two patients were qualified for a surgical operation since the lung was trapped and did not re-expand. Three patients had to be discharged with a drain as a result of incomplete re-expansion of the lung. In all the patients the density of the pus after administering the dornase alpha decreased and the amount of the pus drainage increased.

CONCLUSIONS
Dornase alpha may be used in some patients with pleural empyema with good results.


papers examines the issues in recognizing the Devanagari characters in the wild like sign boards, advertisements, logos, shop names, notices, address posts etc. While some works deal with the issues in recognizing the machine printed and the handwritten Devanagari characters, it is not clear if such techniques can be directly applied to the Devanagari characters captured in the wild. Moreover in the recent times a lot of research has been conducted in the field of object categorization and localization. It would be interesting to investigate if the state%of%the%art tools for object categorization can also be applied to the recognition of the Devanagari characters. The idea is to view the isolated characters as objects so as to detect them in the wild. The ability to recognize the Devanagari characters in the wild will be very useful in the Internet services like Google street view and its associated applications. So, a detailed study of the Devanagari character recognition using the state%of %the%art character recognition and object recognition tools has been carried out to compute the best performance. This serve as a baseline for the comparison for the future works. There is no benchmark database to conduct studies on the Devanagari character recognition in the wild. So a database of 40 Devanagari character categories has been created from 200 pictures of the images in the wild.


INTRODUCTION: The use of injectable scaffolds has raised great interest as they minimise the need for invasive surgery and its associated complications, costs and discomfort to the patient. Furthermore, they can fill cavities of any size or shape as well as being able to deliver a localised therapeutic agent [1]. The aim of this study was to develop an injectable scaffold using PLGA microparticles which may be able to (i) carry cells and/or drugs to a site of injury (ii) be delivered via a narrow bore needle, and (iii) form a scaffold in situ with sufficient mechanical properties. The investigated system exploits a novel in situ solidification mechanism (liquid sintering) whereby the injectable microparticle-based precursors solidify into 3D constructs in response to thermal changes [2]. Thus, we demonstrate that PLGA microparticles incorporated with Triton X100 are thermally responsive at body temperature (37°C) and may be exploited in regenerative medical applications.


Poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) is a piezoelectric material owing to desirable properties to serve as an efficient sensing component to mechanical stimulation. Being a polymorph of several structural phases (α, β, γ, δ, and ε), the electro-active β-phase is of importance to achieve high sensing capability. The inducing the β-phase can be performed via different routes including the incorporation of variety of nanomaterials and/or poling in external electric fields. The enhancements in the piezo-activity can be also done through a simple uniaxial stretching. In this study, the PVDF sheets differing in the molecular weights were stretched at the elevated temperature to various elongations. The correlation between their molecular and processing parameters was investigated using the FTIR and XRD analyzes. After the stretching, the enhanced piezoelectric β-phase content was found due to aligned structure of the electro-active crystallites. The electro-mechanical capability was analyzed via investigation of d33 coefficient by Berlincourt method. The obtained data may be used in the optimization of the PVDF processing parameters in order to tailor the PVDF materials of high sensing capability serving as the sensing component exploiting the mechanical energy to electrical signal.


In this paper I introduced the term VLIW. VLIW was motivated by a compiler technique, and, for many readers, this paper was their introduction to "region scheduling" as well. I had put forward the first region scheduling algorithm, called trace scheduling, a few years before. Since region scheduling is a compiler technique, it is of interest to fewer people, but it enables superscalars and VLIWs with lots of instruction-level parallelism (ILP). Because I could see the power of region scheduling, I first began to think about VLIWs. I was fortunate in that this allowed me to coin the term instruction-level parallelism, and to work out a lot of the original details and terminology of ILP, before many others believed it was important.


The objective was to evaluate the parameters of kinetics of ruminal fermentation of cocoa husks (CH) treated with alkali and thermal agents, using the semi-automated in vitro gas production technique. Cocoa husks samples were subjected to alkali and thermal methods (effect of time of exposure) treatment, as follows: control; alkaline treatment with calcium hydroxide ((Ca(OH)2) and calcium oxide (CaO), both doses of 15.0; 30.0 and 45.0 g kg-1 of CH; heat treatment in an autoclave at a pressure of 1.23 kg cm-2 (15 psi) and a temperature of 123°C for 30, 60 and 90 minutes. For statistical analysis, orthogonal contrasts and regression. The degradation rate and the final volume of gases of non-fiber carbohydrates decreased with the addition of Ca(OH)2 and CaO, however, for fibrous carbohydrates effects were positive. For each percentage of Ca(OH)2 and CaO included, it is estimated an increase of 5.74 and 2.9% in the final volume of the fiber, respectively. When the heat treatment, a decrease in all parameters was estimated. For each minute of exposure to heat, there was a decrease of 0.4% in total final volume of gases. The alkali treatment can be an efficient alternative for improving the digestibility of fibrous fractions of CH.


During the course of an eight year monitoring effort, the
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources documented a
significant decline in milfoil biomass and distribution in Fish
Lake, Wisconsin. Average milfoil biomass declined by 40-
50% from 374-524 g dw m
-2
during 1991-93 to 265 g dw m
-2
during both 1994 and 1995. Milfoil recovered fully in 1996-
98 to 446- 564 g dw m
-2
. The size of the milfoil bed, as discerned
from aerial photographs, shrank from a maximum
coverage of 40 ha in 1991 to less than 20 ha during 1995.
During the "crash" of 1994-95, milfoil plants exhibited typical
signs of weevil-induced damage, including darkened, brittle,
hollowed-out growing tips, and the arching and collapse
of stems associated with loss of buoyancy. Monitoring of weevils
and stem damage during 1995-98 showed highest densities
and heaviest damage occurred near shore and subsequently
fanned out into deeper water from core infestation
sites each spring. The extent of milfoil stem damage was positively
correlated with weevil densities (monthly sampling).
However, weevil densities and stem damage were lower during
1995 (when milfoil biomass was in decline) than during
1996-98 (when milfoil biomass was fully recovered).


The cytotoxic effect of bleomycin toward mouse mammary carcinoma FM3A cells in culture was markedly potentiated by exposure of the cells to ethanol either before or after treatment with bleomycin. Ethanol-inducedcell sensitization to bleomycin cytotoxicity produced a decrease in cell survival which became dependent on dose and time of drug treatment. The sensitizing effect of ethanol after drug treatment was maximum when ethanol exposure immediately followed drug treatment, and it rapidly decreased as the time interval between the two treat ments was increased. Ethanol did not sensitize cells to the cytotoxic effects of c/s-diamminedichloroplatinum(ll) and macromomycin. These results are discussed in terms of the ability of ethanol to inhibit cell recovery from potentially lethal damage after bleomycin treatment.


Rose v. Council for Better Education (1989) is often considered a transition point in education finance litigation, heralding an era of increasing concern for measurable adequacy of education across a broad spectrum of student needs. Prior research suggests that post-Rose lawsuits had less effect on the distribution of school spending than older litigation. This article suggests that this focus on the raw resource distribution masks the important effect of contemporary lawsuits in redistributing money to districts with greater student needs. My findings suggest that a successful lawsuit does raise revenues to a variety of districts but provides more money to those districts with higher plausible indications of student needs.


Data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and outputs of the CLM4.5 model were used to estimate recharge and depletion rates for large aquifers, investigate the connectivity of an aquifer's subbasins, and identify barriers and preferred pathways for groundwater flow within an aquifer system. The Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System and its subbasins (Dakhla, Northern Sudan Platform, and Kufra) in northeast Africa were used for demonstration purposes, and findings were tested and verified against geological, geophysical, remote sensing, geochronologic, and geochemical data. There are four major findings. (1) The average annual precipitation data over recharge areas in the southern Kufra section and the Northern Sudan Platform subbasin were estimated at 54.8 km 3 , and 32.8 km 3 , respectively, and knowing the annual extraction rates over these two areas (∼0.40 ± 0.20 km 3 ), recharge rates were estimated at 0.78 ± 0.49 km 3 /yr and 1.44 ± 0.42 km 3 /yr, respectively. (2) GRACE-derived groundwater depletion rates over the Dakhla subbasin and the Northern Kufra section were estimated at 4.44 ± 0.42 km 3 /yr and 0.48 ± 0.32 km 3 /yr, respectively. (3) The observed depletion in the southern parts of the Dakhla subbasin is apparently caused by the presence of the east-west−trending Uweinat-Aswan basement uplift, which impedes the south-to-north groundwater flow and hence reduces replenishment from recharge areas in the south. (4) A major northeast-southwest−trending shear zone (Pelusium shear system) is apparently providing a preferred groundwater flow pathway from the Kufra to the Dakhla subbasin. Our integrated approach provides a replicable and cost-effective model for better understanding of the hydrogeologic setting of large aquifers worldwide and for optimum management of these groundwater resources.


From a personal viewpoint, the author explains diverse "tricks" and skills which can be used when facing various emergency situation. In this case, the author deals with means of applying blood vessel access.


We investigate the utility of audiovisual dialog systems combined with speech and video analytics for real-time remote monitoring of depression at scale in uncontrolled environment settings. We collected audiovisual conversational data from participants who interacted with a cloud-based multimodal dialog system, and automatically extracted a large set of speech and vision metrics based on the rich existing literature of laboratory studies. We report on the efficacy of various audio and video metrics in differentiating people with mild, moderate and severe depression, and discuss the implications of these results for the deployment of such technologies in real-world neurological diagnosis and monitoring applications.


The mechanism of the degradation process of nickel based superalloy CM247LC under creep loading was analyzed by considering the microscopic chemical composition of the material such as phase boundary of γ and γ' phases. In this study, a Directionally Solidified (DS) nickel-based superalloys CM247LC was used as test specimens. The creep test was performed at 900oC under an uni-axial stress of 216 MPa. Each specimen was creep ruptured and interrupted at different hours and then analyzed. The change of chemical composition around the interface analyzed precisely by used Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES). It was found that the local enrichment or lack of cobalt and chromium was found at the interface. This tendency was not found in the stress free area. Since chromium is the well-known element that dominates the degradation of this material, such an enrichment or lack of cobalt and chromium may play an important role for forming a crack propagation path near the interface. This local segregation should be analyzed further to make clear degradation mechanism of this material.


The bioactive synthetic hydrogel materials were prepared with polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) and 2-hydroxyethyl mathacrylate (HEMA) by UV photo-polymerization. The aim of this study was to prepare a scaffold material by combining HEMA into a composite polymeric PEGDA-based hydrogel, which were used as bioactive artificial cartilage. The structure and properties of the synthetic hydrogels were investigated in details using FTIR techniques. The swelling data indicated that the equilibrium water content depended on the precursor feed ratio. It was found that adding the HEMA into the PEGDA-based hydrogels was very helpful to improve the swelling properties.


Context: Scientific studies are often presented primarily to a group of colleagues at annual scientific meetings. All year rounds are turned into products in congresses. Aims: The aim of the study is to evaluate the extent of the hand surgery in plastic surgery and plastic surgeons' papers related with hand surgery in national congresses; the past eight plastic surgery congresses were classified and presented. Settings and Design: The abstract books of Turkish National Congresses of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgery between 2011 and 2018 have been evaluated retrospectively. Subjects and Methods: Distribution of hand surgery according to the topics was evaluated according to the European White Book rules and standards. Distribution of oral and posters and distribution by years were shown. Results: The ratio of hand surgery reports to all reports was 17.3%. Hand and upper extremity surgery topics were presented at 19.7% in the 38th congress, which is the most hand surgery-included congress. The most frequently presented subjects were tumors, flaps, trauma, congenital anomalies, and replantation. Conclusions: Although there are arguments that plastic surgeons have disregarded hand surgery, there is no similar situation for Turkish plastic surgeons in the national platform. It has been found that the most common topics such as tumor excision and repair of the tissue defect were the most presented issues rather than arthroscopy, paralytic hand, and arthritis, which are specific to the hand surgery. Increasing the number of plastic surgery specialists who have been trained with hand surgery as a subspecialty will bring up the subjects that have not been presented in the hand surgery so far, in the future congresses.


This Action Guide is a tool for local jurisdictions working to foster mixed-income transit-oriented development (TOD) around planned transit stations. The term "mixed-income TOD" (MITOD) is shorthand to describe a set of goals that includes the provision of a mix of housing choices, affordable to a range of incomes, for people at different stages of life within a specific transit station area. The goal of this guide is to help practitioners identify the most appropriate and effective planning tools for achieving MITOD in their transit station area, and ultimately to facilitate the development of mixed-income communities across the U.S..


Herein, a novel method was developed to synthesize a CoNi binary metal/Co–Ni oxide@carbon (M/MO@C-600) composite by sintering CoNi nanoparticles with Congo Red (CR) at 600 °C and under a N2 atmosphere; this composite was then utilized to prepare electrode materials. Herein, C and O originated from the CR molecule. The M/MO@C-600 composite with a flaky structure delivered a capacitance of 1134.9 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 and a cycling stability with 66% retention even at the high current density of 10 A g−1 after 2000 cycles. Furthermore, a simple asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) was developed with the M/MO@C-600 composite as the positive electrode material and commercial activated carbon as the negative electrode material. A high specific capacitance of 111.2 F g−1 (at 0.5 A g−1) and excellent energy density of 44.6 W h kg−1 (at 0.425 kW kg−1) were obtained for the ASC device, and 100% capacitance was retained even after 10 000 cycles at 6 A g−1. This method for the preparation of electrode materials may facilitate to simultaneously relieve the environmental and energy pressure.


Abstract The objective of this paper was to analyse the effects of catchment area forestation on the temperature of river waters. Two rivers, Czerna Wielka and Szprotawa, were covered in this research project and both are located in south-west Poland, running through the largest compact forest complex in the country, Bory Dolnośląskie. Both of the rivers are located within the same climatic region, and are similar in terms of their hydrology. Land use in the catchment area however is very diverse with 71.6% forest cover in the case of the Czerna Wielka River and direct contact of the forest with the river occurs over 68.3% of its length. For the Szprotawa River, the indices amount to only 39.3% and 21.6%, respectively. Data on the daily water temperatures for both of the rivers were obtained from the Hydrological Yearbooks of Surface Waters for the period 1969–1983. The mean annual water temperature in the analysed period in the case of the Czerna Wielka River amounted to 8.0°C, and in the case of the Szprotawa River it equalled 9.2°C. During the cooler half of the year (November-April), the mean water temperature for the entire examined period amounted to 3.8°C for Czerna Wielka, and 3.6°C for Szprotawa. Higher variability was recorded for the warmer seasons (May-October), where mean temperatures amounted to 12.1°C and 14.7°C, respectively. The obtained results concur with other similar research conducted around the world, and in the context of climate change are of practical value. The important role of forests in the moderation of thermal conditions is evidently unquestionable. Therefore, minimising the impact of unfavourable climatic changes on river ecosystems and their surroundings requires striving for appropriate forest management in the near-bank (buffer) zone along banks of both larger rivers and their tributaries


In induction machines the tooth frequency losses due to permeance variation constitute a signif'icant, portion of the total loss. In order to predict and estimate these losses it, is essential to obtain a clear understanding of the no-load distribution of the air gap magnetic field and the magnitude of flux pulsation in both stator and rotor teeth. The existing theories and methods by which the air gap permeance variation in a doubly slotted structure is calculated are either empirical or restricted. The main objective of this thesis is to obtain a detailed analysis of the no-load air gap magnetic field distribution and the effect of air gap geometry on the magnitude and waveform of the tooth flux pulsation. In this thesis a detaiiled theoretical and experimental analysis of flux distribution not only leads to a better understanding of the distribution of no-load losses but also provides theoretical analysis for calculating the losses with greater accuracy


Background: Osteocalcin (OC) and matrix Gla protein (MGP) are evolutionarily related proteins present in bone matrix. Results: Sturgeon OC exhibits structural and expression/accumulation features similar to MGP. Conclusion: Data support the hypothesis that OC originated from MGP, and sturgeon protein represents an ancestral form of OC. Significance: This work provides new insights into the evolution of bone Gla proteins and vertebrate bone tissue. Osteocalcin (OC) and matrix Gla protein (MGP) are considered evolutionarily related because they share key structural features, although they have been described to exert different functions. In this work, we report the identification and characterization of both OC and MGP from the Adriatic sturgeon, a ray-finned fish characterized by a slow evolution and the retention of many ancestral features. Sturgeon MGP shows a primary structure, post-translation modifications, and patterns of mRNA/protein distribution and accumulation typical of known MGPs, and it contains seven possible Gla residues that would make the sturgeon protein the most γ-carboxylated among known MGPs. In contrast, sturgeon OC was found to present a hybrid structure. Indeed, although exhibiting protein domains typical of known OCs, it also contains structural features usually found in MGPs (e.g. a putative phosphorylated propeptide). Moreover, patterns of OC gene expression and protein accumulation overlap with those reported for MGP; OC was detected in bone cells and mineralized structures but also in soft and cartilaginous tissues. We propose that, in a context of a reduced rate of evolution, sturgeon OC has retained structural features of the ancestral protein that emerged millions of years ago from the duplication of an ancient MGP gene and may exhibit intermediate functional features.


Cambodia is one of the developing countries in ASEAN. The country is rich in natural resources and has enjoyed steady economic growth during 2004-2014 by applying Rectangular Strategy Phase I (2004), Phase II (2008), and Phase III (2013) with Good Governance (GG) as a core of the strategy. Addressing the National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS) for Poverty Reduction (PR) in Cambodia has begun since 2002. The poverty rate in Cambodia steadily decreased from 35% in 2004 to 19% in 2012. The research appraised a study on Good Governance and Poverty Reduction in Cambodia by overviews of its Governance and Poverty Situations as the key concepts for discussion to find out the factors impeding GG, causes and characteristics of poverty, and governance reforms. The findings indicate that GG really has a positive influence on PR in Cambodia, still some challenges should be considered to enhance the governance and PR strategy in Cambodia. Actually, the NPRS in 2002 is proved to be unsystematic and ineffective. However, the main reason of the poverty retaining in Cambodia is seen in poor governance in terms of widespread corruption, limited transparency, limited accountability of public policy making, limited control, and limited participation to public. Here GG is considered and demanded to make a significant change in the condition of the poor and near-poor.Obviously, the result of the investigation showed that Cambodia is now on the new ways of governance and PR strategy after a big change shown in the result of the general election in 2013. The research study includes the Cambodia's governance and PR strategy challenges with some recommendations according to the findings. Keywords : Good Governance, Poverty Reduction, Human Resource Development, Democracy, E-Governance SMARTER, Cambodia


Cross-ecosystem subsidies are studied with a focus on resource exchange at local ecosystem boundaries. This perspective ignores regional dynamics that can emerge via constraints imposed by the landscape, potentially leading to spatially-dependent effects of subsidies and spatial feedbacks. Using miniaturized landscape analogues of river dendritic and terrestrial lattice spatial networks, we manipulated and studied resource exchange between the two whole networks. We found that community composition in dendritic networks depended on the resource pulse from the lattice network, with the strength of this effect declining in larger downstream patches. In turn, this spatially-dependent effect imposed constraints on the lattice network with populations in that network reaching higher densities when connected to more central patches in the dendritic network. Consequently, localized cross-ecosystem fluxes, and their respective effects on recipient ecosystems, must be studied in a perspective taking into account the explicit spatial configuration of the landscape. Statement of authorship EH, IG, EAF and FA designed the research; EH conducted the lab experiment with support from IG, EAF and FA, processed the experimental data with methodological developments from IG, and carried out the analysis of experimental data; all authors participated in results interpretation; EH wrote the first draft of the manuscript; All authors significantly contributed to further manuscript revisions.


Reed-Solomon (RS) codes are widely used as forward correction codes (FEC) in digital communication and storage systems. Correcting random errors of RS codes have been extensively studied in both academia and industry. However, for burst-error correction, the research is still quite limited due to its ultra high computation complexity. In this brief, starting from a recent theoretical work, a low-complexity reformulated inversionless burst-error correcting (RiBC) algorithm is developed for practical applications. Then, based on the proposed algorithm, a unified VLSI architecture that is capable of correcting burst errors, as well as random errors and erasures, is firstly presented for multi-mode decoding requirements. This new architecture is denoted as unified hybrid decoding (UHD) architecture. It will be shown that, being the first RS decoder owning enhanced burst-error correcting capability, it can achieve significantly improved error correcting capability than traditional hard-decision decoding (HDD) design.


this recommendation algorithm based on User-Item Rating Matrix is inefficient in the case of cold-start. The Application of Multi-Attribute Rating Matrix (MARM) can solve the problem effectively. The user and item information are analyzed to create their attribute-tables. The user's ratings are mapped to the relevant item attributes and the user's attributes respectively to generate a User Attribute-Item Attribute Rating Matrix (UAIARM). After UAIARM is simplified, MARM will be created. When a new item/user enters into this system, the attributes of new item/user and MARM are matched to find the N users/item with the highest match degrees as the target of the new items or the recommended items. Experiment results validate the cold-start recommendation algorithm based on MARM is efficient.


The artichoke industry in Spain is based principally on asexually propagated cultivars ('Blanca de Tudela' or 'Violeta de Provenza'). The use of seed propagated cultivars prevents stand deficiency and soil-borne diseases in addition to allowing for the possibility of obtaining summer crops. A considerable number of new seed propagated cultivars have been developed over recent years. The trials were conducted during three seasons. Between 1999-2000, the cultivars tested were 'A-106', 'Lorca', '101', 'A-108' and 'Nun 6374'. Between 2000-2001, we tested the cultivars 'A-106', 'A-107', 'A-108', 'A-104', 'Nun 9409', 'Nun 6374' and 'Nun 9444'. In the 2001-2002 season the cultivars tested were 'Blanca de Tudela', 'A-106', 'A-108', 'PSI 25000', 'Nun 9409', 'Nun 6364', 'Nun 9435', 'Nun 9444' and 'Nun 3006'. In the three seasons the planting was done at the end of June or the beginning of July at a density of 7500 plants ha-1. During the first two seasons the cultivar trial was combined with the study of the effect of gibberellic acid (GA) treatments (3 fortnightly sprays at 30 ppm from 7 weeks after planting). In the last season all plants were treated with GA. The results indicate that to crop in a similar cycle as it is done with the asexually propagated 'Blanca de Tudela', during autumn-winter, an early cultivar like A-106 or 'Lorca' (similar to 'Imperial Star') should be planted and sprayed with GA. As the yields during the spring are low with this system, this crop should be complemented with the same cultivar without GA treatments or with a hybrid, like 'Nun 9444' or 'Nun 9409', which are more productive than the early cultivars.


Abstract In this paper, an improved quantification technique for STEM/EDX measurements of 1D dopant profiles based on the Cliff-Lorimer equation is presented. The technique uses an iterative absorption correction procedure based on density models correlating the local mass density and composition of the specimen. Moreover, a calibration and error estimation procedure based on linear regression and error propagation is proposed in order to estimate the total measurement error in the dopant density. The proposed approach is applied to the measurement of the As profile in a nanodevice test structure. For the calibration, two crystalline Si specimens implanted with different As doses have been used, and the calibration of the Cliff-Lorimer coefficients has been carried out using Rutherford Back Scattering measurements. The As profile measurement has been carried out on an FinFET test structure, showing that quantitative results can be obtained in the nanometer scale and for dopant atomic densities lower than 1%. Using the proposed approach, the measurement error and detection limit for our experimental setup are calculated and the possibility to improve this limit by increasing the observation time is discussed.


1ES 1959+650 is a bright TeV high-frequency peaked BL Lac object exhibiting interesting fea-
tures like broad high energy peak in the spectral energy distribution (SED) and "orphan" TeV
flares, that are difficult to interpret using a conventional one-zone synchrotron self-Compton
(SSC) scenario. We report the results from MAGIC observations in 2016 along with the multi-
wavelength data from Fermi-LAT and Swift instruments. An exceptionally high very-high-energy
(VHE) flux reaching ∼ 3 times the Crab Nebula flux was measured by MAGIC on 13th, 14th
June and 1st July 2016. It is the highest flux level observed since 2002. During these flares, the
second SED peak lies in the VHE domain, and the spectrum extends up to several TeV energies.
The LAT and X-ray spectra are also hard with index < 2.On 13th June, the source showed fast
variabilities in the VHE flux with timescales less than an hour. A simple one-zone SSC model can
satisfactorily describe the data during the high VHE states requiring a Doppler factor δ ≤ 30–60.
Alternatively, the SED can be explained by synchrotron radiation of relativistic protons with a
reasonable jet power L jet ∼ 10 46 erg · s −1 under the requirement of high magnetic fields B ∼ 100
G and maximum proton energy ∼ few EeV. The theoretical models imply that detecting neutrino
emission from the source during a similar flare with the extreme VHE flaring period of 2016 is
difficult.


The empirical evidence on the determinants of growth across countries has found that growth is lower when natural resources are abundant, corruption widespread and educational attainment low. An extensive literature has examined the way in which these three variables can impact growth, but has tended to address them separately. In this paper we argue that corruption and education are interrelated and that both crucially depend on a country's endowment of natural resources. The key element is the fact that resources affect the relative returns to investing in human and in political capital, and, through these investments, output levels and growth. In this context, inequality plays a key role both as a determinant of the possible equilibria of the economy and as an outcome of the growth process.


Certain syndromes are notable for their uniqueness, certain others for their bizarre character, and still others, although rare, for the relationship which they bear to other more common disorders. All of these are true of early infantile autism. The fact that this particular symptom complex may be related to schizophrenia, and therefore may improve an avenue for understanding about such children, has been recognized for some time. Equally important, the behavorial and emotional processes seen in such children suggest a possible avenue of knowledge concerning the normal development of children as portrayed in an abnormal situation. Outstanding among American authors in the handling of such children is Bruno Bettelheim. His work has paved the way for the intensive understanding of the therapy of very disturbed children for decades. This book combines much previous work into a rather entrancing presentation of three seriously disturbed, autistic children with a presentation of the


Study of temporal variation of bird assemblages may be particularly important in highly dynamic ecosystems as fluvial wetlands to identify the factors that influence and contribute to the maintaining of regional diversity. We study temporal variation in regional bird species composition and richness and the factors that drive it in the fluvial system of the Paraná River in Argentina. We sampled birds on a regional scale by performing surveys during 2 years (2011-2013; 16 total surveys) at 60 sites located along the fluvial system. We recorded a total of 162 species and 12,738 individuals, with a mean of 72.7 ± 1.9 species and 796.1 ± 41 individuals per survey. Temporal beta diversity accounted for 57% of regional species richness. Bird composition varied seasonally because of the turnover (and not nestedness) of species between autumn-winter and spring-summer periods; migrant species contributed to but did not account for all these differences. Difference in bird composition between years was caused primarily by turnover of species within autumn-winter periods; that turnover was related to changes in water levels. Temporal variation in availability of habitats across the regional extent of the fluvial system accounted for the highest proportion of temporal beta diversity. Species richness did not vary seasonally nor was it related to fluctuations in water level or habitats. Our results showed that climatic seasonality and environmental dynamics of the fluvial system, as a function of water-level fluctuations and of variations in habitat availability, jointly influence regional composition of birds through temporal turnover of species. These variations in regional composition were not related to variations in regional species richness. These results show the importance of the natural dynamic of the fluvial system to conserve the processes that maintain the regional assemblage of birds.


The large-margin principle has been widely applied to learn classifiers with good generalization power. While tremendous efforts have been devoted to develop machine learning techniques that maximize margin quantity, little attention has been paid to ensure the margin quality. In this paper, we proposed a new framework that aims to achieve superior generalizability by considering not only margin quantity but also margin quality. An instantiation of the framework was derived by deploying a max-min entropy principle to maximize margin-quality in addition to using a traditional means for maximizing margin-quantity. We developed an iterative learning algorithm to solve this instantiation. We compared the algorithm with a couple of widely-used machine learning techniques (e.g., Support Vector Machines, decision tree, naive Bayes classifier, k-nearest neighbors, etc.) and several other large margin learners (e.g., RELIEF, Simba, G-flip, LOGO, etc.) on a number of UCI machine learning datasets and gene expression datasets. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of our new framework and algorithm.


The round ligament, or female gubernaculum, is believed to terminate in the labium majorum. In the 30-week old male foetus, however, the gubernaculum ends outside the external ring, later migrating into the scrotum under androgenic control. We studied the round ligament anatomy in the female to define its position and to see whether it reaches the labium. Post-mortem examination of 10 females (0-11 years), dying of non-genital disorders defined the anatomy of the round ligament by dissection and photography. The round ligament ended just outside the external ring in all females, with neither attachment, nor extension, to the caudal labium. A short processus vaginalis (canal of Nuck) was found in 1 patient. This study showed that the round ligament fails to reach the caudal labium, which is the homologue of the hemiscrotum. The migration of the male gubernaculum into the scrotum to enable descent of the testis does not occur in females. The description of the round ligament in standard textbooks of anatomy should be amended.


In this thesis, I investigate issues in the development of continuous media (CM) applications. CM applications process, transport, or store CM data such as digital audio and video.
Introduction of video into applications will require support for sophisticated video effects such as image processing, composition and digital filtering. Traditional image processing and composition algorithms operate on uncompressed images, while video is typically stored and delivered in a compressed form. High computational cost, along with the complexity of video decompression, makes traditional algorithms too slow for interactive use on video data.
This thesis describes and evaluates a new family of algorithms for computing video effects that run one to two orders of magnitude faster than their traditional counterparts. The performance increase is achieved by performing the operations directly on the compressed data. Using these algorithms, I show that simple special effects can be computed in real time on current generation workstations.
In addition to developing algorithms for special effects, I describe and evaluate a toolkit for constructing distributed CM applications, called CMT, and a best effort network protocol for delivering CM data, called cyclic-UDP.
CMT is an extension to the Tcl/Tk graphical user interface toolkit. It simplifies the creation and coordination of the multiple processes in a distributed CM playback system that supports delivery and synchronized playback of multiple CM streams from one or more file servers. Besides making playback applications easier to construct, the toolkit also provides a foundation on which new delivery, display, and synchronization protocols can be built and tested.
CMT uses a best-effort network protocol called cyclic-UDP for delivering CM data to applications. Cyclic-UDP differs from other CM transport protocols in two ways. First, it works well in local, metropolitan, and wide area network environments, adapting itself dynamically to each new scenario. Second, it uses properties of the data being transported to reduce to effect of network congestion, both chronic and acute, to lowered fidelity at the display. For example, network congestion will cause the frame rate of a video stream to drop or decrease the effective sampling rate of an audio stream. In other protocols, congestion causes bursty frame loss where the video streams "stops" until congestion abates. Cyclic-UDP achieves improved quality by supporting frame priority which gives high priority frames a better chance of delivery than low priority frames. When used in combination with protocols specifically tuned to a particular media format, called media-specific protocols, cyclic-UDP can amortize the degradation in output quality caused by burst packet losses over a long period. In this thesis, I describe and experimentally evaluate three media-specific protocols, one for MPEG video, one for motion-JPEG video, and one for uncompressed audio.
Finally, using CMT and cyclic-UDP, I show that it is possible to play good quality video using existing network and operating system technology by building a working playback application, called the CM Player.


UNLABELLED
In response to public concern, this study assessed the fatty acid (FA) composition of blended spreads, margarines and shortenings in the Estonian retail market in 2011. Special attention was paid to the trans fatty acids (TFA) composition. The changes in these characteristics of selected dietary fats in the market over recent years are also presented. Twenty-six edible fat brands, available in the Estonian retail market in 2011, were purchased and FA compositions were analyzed by chromatography. Saturated fatty acids (SFA) were the dominant group of FAs for all blended spreads (49.6 to 65.8%), and for the majority of shortenings (from 21.1 to 54.6%). Cis monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) were the dominant group of FAs for the majority of margarines, ranging from 25.3% to 50.5%. The total TFA for blended spreads varied from 1.18% to 9.08%, for margarines from 0.04% to 34.96% and for shortenings from 0.14% to 39.50%. Octadecenoic (C18:1) isomers were the main TFA found. Compared to 2008/2009, the industrially produced TFA (IP-TFA) content in several of the dietary fat brands was much reduced in 2011. This voluntary reformulation was probably a response to consumer demand associated with a public health campaign directed against IP-TFA in Estonian foods, and were mainly achieved by replacing TFA with SFA C12:0-C16:0.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Present paper is directed toward public health related institutions and food industries producing foods with potentially high contents of trans fatty acids (TFA). According to the public concern TFA content in domestic blended spreads has declined significantly over the past 3 y in Estonia. The reduction in the TFA content was achieved by replacing TFA with saturated fatty acids (SFA) (C12:0-C16:0). To shift food composition toward healthier product formulations, mandatory labeling of the sum of IP-TFA and SFA (C12:0-C16:0) was recommended.


Many middle school teachers face unique challenges as they try to make both academic language and content accessible to English language learners (ELL) in the physical education classroom. Physical education is required of all middle school students and teaches about the importance of health and how to stay physically active for life. It also offers a unique and supportive environment for ELL students to improve their English fluency, build friendships and boost their self-esteem. The purpose of this paper is to describe several strategies for improving ELL students' understanding of content and expectations in the physical education classroom. These strategies hope to help teachers meet the unique needs of middle school ELLs through the use of culturally relevant pedagogies.


Three separate laboratory assays for von Willebrand Factor (VWF), a standard "antigen" (antisera-ELISA-based) assay (VWF:Ag), a standard ristocetin-dependent-platelet-agglutination procedure (VWF:RCof), and an ELISA-based collagen-VWF binding assay (VWF:CBA), have been evaluated for their ability to detect alterations in VWF levels following differential processing of blood for testing, and specifically in (1) serum compared to plasma and (2) filtered plasma compared to nonfiltered plasma. Although all assays tended to detect some change, sensitivity of detection varied between assays, with the VWF:CBA most consistently able to detect large decreases in VWF levels in serum and filtered plasma. The authors propose that the increased sensitivity of the VWF:CBA assay to VWF depleted in these circumstances is that this assay selectively detects higher molecular weight forms (ie, those known to be more functionally relevant), and that assay results reflect the preferential incorporation of these forms in in the platelet-fibrin-gel during the clotting process, and onto the filter matrix during filtration. To confirm this, multimer analysis was performed and showed a reduction in high molecular weight forms of VWF in these cases. Finally, direct evidence that the VWF:CBA assay preferentially detects high molecular weight forms of VWF was obtained following fractionation of normal plasma VWF (separation according to molecular weight using size exclusion matrix; confirmed by specific multimer analysis) and assessment of eluted VWF. Using a standard VWF:Ag assay, detection of eluted VWF was unrelated to molecular size. In contrast, the VWF:CBA showed selective detection, and was able to preferentially discriminate high and intermediate forms of VWF from low molecular weight forms. The findings are of particular relevance to diagnostic pathology laboratories because filtered plasma or serum can be inappropriately (and unknowingly) provided for the clinically queried diagnosis of von Willebrand's disease (VWD). As outlined in this report, these samples can yield VWF results that closely mimic those of a Type 2A or Type 2B VWD individual, and thus, VWD may be incorrectly diagnosed.


Background Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant condition which leads to progressive neurodegeneration and presents with a combination of motor, cognitive, affective and metabolic problems. Diagnosis of manifest HD currently relies solely on the motor features but in recent years increasing evidence has shown that the cognitive abnormalities begin before the motor features. In the brain, the HD pathology is known to affect the dopaminergic system with an early decrease in dopamine receptor 2 expression in the striatum but also other regions including the hippocampus. Interestingly, one of the most commonly used treatments for many of the features of HD block these same dopamine receptors. Aims This study therefore aims to investigate the effect of an acute dose of a commonly used dopamine receptor blocker, sulpiride, on the cognition of HD gene carriers compared to healthy controls. Methods 15 early manifest HD patients and 15 healthy controls received one dose of 200 mg of sulpiride and placebo in identical capsules in a randomised fashion. 90 min following the administration of the drug or placebo, participants were tested on a number of cognitive tasks from the computerised Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) as well as a novel hippocampal-dependent test and a risk taking task. This study has a within-subjects double-blind placebo-controlled cross-over design to minimise confounding drug effects and to allow for increased statistical power. Outcome Previous data from a pilot study in our clinic found that a similar study in a small group of manifest HD patients showed an improvement in their cognitive performance in two hippocampal tasks after taking the sulpiride. This study is therefore aiming to extend this work to investigate the effect of this drug on cognition in patient at an earlier stage of the disease process and compare it to matched controls. The study is ongoing at the moment, but hope to have preliminary results by the end of August, ready to be presented at the conference.


This paper discusses how a state can reconstruct its function to provide safety to its constituent population after having become a destination country of international population movements (IPM). First, the paper considers why it is the responsibility of a state to provide safety to its constituent population. Second, using an International Political Economy perspective, it is claimed that a change in economic circumstances will lead to a change in the political domain. Third, when they accept new norms, actors in world politics could change their ways of action. Fourth, if a norm alternative to nationalism is formulated, the state could alter its action to provide safety to foreign nationals. Fifth, a state's understanding of 'the constituent population of a society' can be modified in accordance with a changing knowledge of the characteristics of a state's boundaries. It is concluded that a state's responsibility to provide safety to its constituent population should remain unchanged, but an understanding of the form of such a population has to be updated. A state of destination country of IPM should characterize the foreign nationals within its territory as a 'transterritorial public', and provide safety to them just as it would to its nationals.


Through our audio-visual project, S T R A T I C, we explore a particular technique the sampling rate, which refers to the visual appearance of line patterns. The connection of the audio and the visual is at the core and the project explores it through the visual-music technique. The S T R A T I C is using hardware, which captures frequencies of the produced sounds and directly generates light. Then the light and a camera compose the responsive colorful line patterns, which appear through the sampling rate phenomenon. The artist duo is playing synthesizers and by visually responding to the produced light patterns they perform live audio-visual performances. So the music is played in responding to the real-time visual appearances. The audio-visual performance is played in a real-time and creates evocative, noisy and sometimes relaxing atmosphere. We propose to experience such audio-visual performance at the ACE 2015 Creative Showcase. AUTHOR


The narrow NHCP protein fractions, possessing a proper phosphoprotein kinase activity, were isolated from kidney of intact rats, hepatoma tissue and liver cells of rats treated with hepatocarcinogen in the process of phosphocellulose gradient chromatography by elution of 0.4-0.5 M NaCl. The gel filtration on Sephadex G-75 and SDS-PAAG electrophoretic data demonstrate that all the NHCP protein fractions mentioned above include a general molecular component with the mass of 23 kD, and display identical antigenic properties. Thus, in accordance with the data obtained, the role of the hetero-organic NHCP protein antigen of kidney origin associated with hepatoma may be played by the general molecular component of NHCP protein fractions possessing properties of a specific chromosomal phosphoprotein kinase.


Individuals may file damages actions against public officials who violate their constitutional rights. The Supreme Court, however, has held that officials are entitled to qualified immunity from such actions if no reasonable official would have believed their conduct violated clearly established constitutional rights. This doctrine is largely driven by the goal of minimizing the social costs of constitutional tort litigation. This Article challenges the conventional understanding of qualified immunity, arguing that the Court has created an analytical paradox by promoting early pretrial resolution of qualified immunity claims on summary judgment, while simultaneously articulating the relevant legal directive as a reasonableness standard, which requires an inevitably fact-intensive inquiry. The Article argues that the confluence of this fact-based immunity standard and conventional summary judgment doctrine has burdened the federal courts and civil rights litigants in their comprehension and application of the doctrine in civil rights litigation. By disaggregating the distinct doctrinal components of qualified immunity and summary judgment, the Article illustrates how these two gatekeeping mechanisms create a confusing and self-contradictory doctrinal structure that makes pretrial resolution of immunity claims unlikely. Moreover, even where qualified immunity's factual nature does not entirely preclude summary resolution of constitutional tort claims, it substantially increases litigation costs, thus conflicting with the doctrine's central objective. The modest step of acknowledging qualified immunity's factual nature will lead to a clearer understanding of the doctrine and may promote a reconsideration of its benefits and burdens.


Background The interleukin-28B (IL28B) gene polymorphism is a strong baseline predictor of sustained virological response (SVR) in hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment. The length of thymine—adenine dinucleotide repeats, or (TA)n, in the regulatory region of IL28B can affect interferon transcription. In order to determine predictive values in HCV infection, we explored the correlation among factors including (TA)n genotypes, clinical features, interferon-λ-3 (IFNL3) and interferon-λ-4 (IFNL4) polymorphisms, and HCV treatment outcome. Methods Sera from 492 patients with chronic HCV infection, 101 individuals with spontaneous HCV clearance and 123 healthy blood donors (control group) were analyzed. Genotyping of the (TA)n was performed by direct sequencing. The rs12979860 (IFNL3) was identified using nested PCR and sequencing, while ss469415590 (IFNL4) was identified by real-time PCR. Results The distribution of (TA)n was similar between individuals with spontaneous HCV clearance and chronic HCV infection, but differed significantly from healthy controls. Individuals with both (TA)n alleles ≥12 had significantly higher SVR rate compared to individuals with at least one (TA)n <12 allele. This strong correlation was seen for patients infected with HCV-1, HCV-3, and HCV-6. The (TA)n genotypes were not associated with HCV viral load, ALT levels and liver stiffness, but were correlated with platelet counts (p<0.001). In contrast, rs12979860 (CC) and ss469415590 (TT/TT) genotypes were associated with higher SVR rated only in patients with HCV-1. Conclusions The (TA)n genotypes were not associated with spontaneous clearance of HCV infection but associated with treatment response in patients infected with HCV-1, HCV-3 and HCV-6. In contrast, IFNL3 and IFNL4 polymorphisms were predictive of treatment outcome only for patients infected with HCV-1.


The development of new polymer composite by incorporated chicken eggshell (Es) with thermosetting unsaturated polyester (PEs) was developed. Es is known to be one of waste material which being dumped into landfill. In Malaysia, 28k tonne per year of Es being dumped to the landfill and causes serious ground and underground water pollution. Es composed mainly of 94% of the most stable natural calcium carbonate (CaCOs) in the form of calcite crystal. Calcite crystal was found to have higher density and crystallinity which expected to yield excellent mechanical performance when it used in the fabrication of chicken eggshell filled unsaturated polyester composite (EsPEs). On the other hand, calcite posse's high thermal degradation temperature in which it can sustain its original molecular structure at very high temperature. In this particular project, Es particulate were subdivided into three difference particulate sizes (more than 200 µm, in between 100-200 µm and less than 100 µm) and each of the particulate size would further divided into 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 % of filler loading to be incorporated into PEs resin. The composite was fabricated using cold press machine in room temperature. The project flow involves material collection, washing and drying, material processing, sample fabrication and testing/analysis. The mechanical test such as tensile, flexural and drop weight impact test was conducted to EsPEs composites. Thermal test was also conducted to determine the k-value or thermal conductivity of the sample and further analyzed to determine samples' thermal performance. As for the physical test, density measurement and water absorption test were also conducted. The mechanical properties of EsPEs composite were determined by tensile, flexural and impact test. By increasing amount of Es filler loading, the tensile and flexural modulus of EsPEs increase due to nature of Es particulate which provide rigidity and stiffness to the composite. The smaller size of particulate used in fabrication of EsPEs composite yielded higher tensile and flexural modulus compared to larger Es particulate size due to evenly distribution of small Es particulate in the composite. As for the thermal performance, higher filler loading and smaller Es particulate size used in EsPEs fabrication lead to the decreasing k-value of the composite (good as thermal insulator). The density of EsPEs samples increase proportionally with increasing amount of Es filler and smaller Es particulate would resulted in higher density value of EsPEs composite. The ability of EsPEs composite to absorb water increased as the amount of Es loading increased. Larger particulate filler of Es would assist water absorption rate by providing countless micropores for water to easily penetrate the composite.µ


The discovery of protein chain regions responsible for protein aggregation is an important result of studying of the molecular mechanisms of prion diseases and different proteinopathies associated with the formation of pathological aggregations through the prion mechanism. The ability to control aggregation of proteins could be an important tool in the arsenal of the drug development. Here we demonstrate, on an example of RNA-binding proteins of the FET family from six animal species (human, gorilla, pig, mouse, chicken, zebra fish), the possible role of repeats within the disordered regions. For these proteins, different repeats are revealed in the prion-like (N-terminal disordered) domains, and in the C-terminal disordered regions, predicted using bioinformatics methods. Moreover, we have found that in more complex organisms the number of repeats is increased. It can be hypothesized that the presence of a large number of repeats in the disordered regions in the proteins of the FET-family could both modulate and accelerate the formation of a dynamic cross-beta structure, and pathological aggregates.


Research on the cohesion of poetical text in Tunjuk Ajar Melayu by Tenas Effendy which viewed from the aspect of language. The role of cohesion is necessary in a text to support the linkage between the stanza with the stanza and the array with the array in a poem. With the cohesion will make it easier to read understand the author's intent. Cohesion can also affect the level of appreciation and understanding of the reader or the listener. Therefore, this study aims to know the cohesion between the lines in one line and antarbait in the text of the teachings of the teachings of Tenas Effendy Malay. The theory used Tarigan (1993), Effendy (2013), Tarigan (2009) and other supporting theories. Writing research this is descriptive-analitik with qualitative descriptive method. The data of this research are sourced Tunjuk Ajar Melayu by Tenas Effendy in 2013. Based on the research findings, there are several cohesion tools used in the text of lecture of Tenas Effendy's Malay teaching, among others, pronouncement, substitution, conjunction and lexical cohesion. There are several ways of lexical used are repetition, synonym and antonym and so on.


An estimate of the incidence of diverticular disease of the colon was based on all the barium enema examinations in Edinburgh over four years (12 335 cases); using the census data for 1971, incidence rates for the city by age, sex, and electoral ward were calculated. The overall annual incidence rate was 1-55/1000, the rate rising sharply with increasing age. The incidence of diverticular disease varies from ward to ward (range 0-92-2-04/1000), adjacent wards have similar incidence rates and the six wards with the lowest rates are clustered together in the South East of the city. Ward incidence rates have a significant negative association with the percentage of owner occupiers living in that area.


Should lightly protected industries be given tariff compensation? Reasonable people can and do differ on this issue; neither the case supporting tariff compensation nor that opposing it is fully conclusive. Nevertheless, it is the purpose of this paper to argue that, on balance, the stronger argument is on the negative side. It is argued that economists in particular should focus their limited influence on recommending tariff reductions rather than tariff compensation, but that even if this fails they should be most reluctant to recommend tariff compensation. The potential benefits from tariff compensation are small relative to the gains from tariff reduction but the informational problems of tariff compensation are such as to make even these small potential benefits unlikely in practice.


Chopping observations with a tip-tilt secondary mirror have conventionally been used in ground-based mid-infrared observations. However, it is not practical for next generation large telescopes to have a large tip-tilt mirror that moves at a frequency larger than a few hertz. We propose an alternative observing method, a "slow-scanning" observation. Images are continuously captured as movie data, while the field of view is slowly moved. The signal from an astronomical object is extracted from the movie data by a low-rank and sparse matrix decomposition. The performance of the "slow-scanning" observation was tested in an experimental observation with Subaru/COMICS. The quality of a resultant image in the "slow-scanning" observation was as good as in a conventional chopping observation with COMICS, at least for a bright point-source object. The observational efficiency in the "slow-scanning" observation was better than that in the chopping observation. The results suggest that the "slow-scanning" observation can be a competitive method for the Subaru telescope and be of potential interest to other ground-based facilities to avoid chopping.


This paper uses karate as a case study for discussing the trends of transculturalism that characterize 20 th century Japan in Iwabuchi's (2002) discussion. Martial arts, such as karate, are not the isolated, atemporal pieces of cultural tradition that they are routinely presented to be: the history of karate  shows it to be a shining example of malleable hybridization. After introducing Iwabuchi's arguments for a focus on hybridity in social analysis, I will show how the form taken by karate today has been determined in large part by the political forces at work between the cultural players involved. I begin by describing the assimilation of the originally Okinawan art of karate into mainland Japanese culture, within the context of the colonial relationship between Okinawa and Japan. This stands in contrast to the Japanese adoption of baseball, which, against the backdrop of Japan's relations to the West, can be seen to have been realized in a dramatically different way. Finally, I argue that an examination of karate's later appropriation to Korea demonstrates the significant cultural impact martial arts may have on both national identity and international standing.


Previous estimates of the utility of polygenic risk score analysis for the prediction of Alzheimer disease have given area under the curve (AUC) estimates of <80%. However, these have been based on the genetic analysis of clinical case–control series. Here, we apply the same analytic approaches to a pathological case–control series and show a predictive AUC of 84%. We suggest that this analysis has clinical utility and that there is limited room for further improvement using genetic data. Ann Neurol 2017;82:311–314.


A rich array of social and cultural theories constitutes a solid foundation that affords unique insights into teaching and learning science and learning to teach science. The approach moves beyond studies in which emotion, cognition, and context are often regarded as independent. Collaborative studies advance theory and resolve practical problems, such as enhancing learning by managing excess emotions and successfully regulating negative emotions. Multilevel studies address a range of timely issues, including emotional energy, discrete emotions, emotion regulation, and a host of issues that arose, such as managing negative emotions like frustration and anxiety, dealing with disruptive students, and regulating negative emotions such as frustration, embarrassment, disgust, shame, and anger. A significant outcome is that teachers can play an important role in supporting students to successfully regulate negative emotions and support learning.

The book contains a wealth of cutting edge methodologies and methods that will be useful to researchers and the issues addressed are central to teaching and learning in a global context. A unifying methodology is the use of classroom events as the unit for analysis in research that connects to the interests of teacher educators, teachers, and researchers who can adapt what we have done and learned, and apply it in their local contexts. Event-oriented inquiry highlights the transformative potential of research and provides catchy narratives and contextually rich events that have salience to the everyday practices of teachers, teacher educators, and researchers. Methods used in the research include emotion diaries in which students keep a log of their emotions, clickers to measure in-the-moment emotional climate, and uses of cogenerative dialogue, which caters to diverse voices of students and teachers.


The US held the largest share in the Japanese sorghum market for 20 years. However, in recent years Australia's share of the same market has been constantly growing to claim the top position despite the fact that the US sorghum price is cheaper in that country. The ratio of US vs Australian sorghum prices in Japan during the last 20 years does not show too much variability, which seems to imply that the US sorghum has not lost price competitiveness in the Japanese market. Factors other than the price may be affecting the market share of the US sorghum in Japan. Therefore, our research objective is to confirm, using historical data and sound methodology, that grain quality differential might be the variable explaining the loss of US market share that country. This analysis will be helpful in terms of allowing the US sorghum producers to regain market share on the important Japanese market.


Parametric and non parametric statistical analysis was utilised as appropriate and a p value < 0.05 determined statistical significance. Data is presented as n (%) and median (quartiles). Results: Sixty-nine women were included. Nineteen (27.5%) had abnormal UtA-PI. The rate of discharge with anti-hypertensive medications (42% vs. 30%; 1.7 [CI 0.5-5]) and need of multiple anti-hypertensive (21% vs. 12%; 1.9 [CI 0.4-8]) was not different between groups. There were two cases of pulmonary edema in the group with abnormal UtA-PI vs. none in the normal UtA-PI (p=0.15). There were no seizures and the hospital stay after delivery was similar between groups (2 (2,3) vs. 2 (2,3)). Conclusions: Larger studies are necessary to confirm an association of abnormal UtA-PI with adverse postpartum outcomes in pregnancies complicated by HTNP.


Fibrosis, as a common final pathway in many renal diseases, contributes significantly to the decline of organ function and to progression to end-stage renal disease. To establish therapeutic interventions that target fibrosis, animal models are essential. The most widely used model of renal fibrosis is the unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) model. Typically, the control for this model is a sham-operated animal. Sham surgery causes pain and distress to these control animals, and here we aim to show that there is no difference in the main read-outs of this model between sham-operated animals and non-operated C57BL/6J mice. In five experiments, quantification of Picro Sirius Red stained collagen in the renal cortex did not show any difference between 15 sham and 25 non-operated individuals. A comparison of the regulation of genes involved with fibrosis did not show any difference between sham and non-operated groups at 21 days post surgery either. We conclude that there are no significant differences between non-operated controls and sham animals with respect to collagen deposition and fibrosis pathways in the UUO mouse model.


This paper aims to analyze an office building energy performance at Rio de Janeiro. Electrical power consumption profile of a building, resulting from a simulation using building energy-use simulation software, is obtained during a typical year and is shown on an hourly basis and pursuant to final uses. Thus, power consumption figures are obtained through the following final uses: lighting, office equipments, air conditioning and others. Analysis of this profile is accomplished by comparing existing technologies in the building, architectonical design solutions and building materials used, with the resulting power consumption figures evidenced during simulation. The consumption portion relative to air conditioning facilities is emphasized in this paper, since it's highly representative and offers a high potential of adequacy, from a viewpoint of equipment efficiency, and as a result of local thermal load factors. After simulations, comparing the present building model with incremental situations in thermal resistance, both on facades and top-level floor, it was noticed that energy performance of building undergoes a large influence from facade protection. Glass covered areas, even featuring glass with satisfactory thermal resistance, is quite encompassing and produces a large impact on building global power consumption figures. Based on this conclusion, an option was made to evaluate, in detail, impacts caused by different solutions to facade protection. Situations with varied hatching, change of glasses as well as glazed area were simulated and analyzed. Lastly, this paper evidences the need to evaluate, still in a project phase, of the impacts on power consumption figures, resulting from a building materials choice and architectonical design solutions, which can be applied in the building.


Two methods are better than one, at least when it comes to improving resolution in microscopy. Stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy uses a doughnut-shaped laser beam to precisely control the location of fluorophore activation on a labeled sample. STED typically has resolution that is 10-fold better than diffraction-limited microscopy. In expansion microscopy, a fixed sample is embedded in a hydrogel, which swells and stretches the sample to four times its original size, leading to a physically generated improvement in resolution. Now, Alf Honigmann of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology & Genetics, Helge Ewers of Free University of Berlin, and coworkers report that ExSTED—the combination of the two methods—has 30-fold better resolution than diffraction-limited microscopy (ACS Nano 2018, DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.8b00776). The researchers used the hybrid method to image the microtubule network of cells in three dimensions. Because expanding the sample spreads out the fluorescent labels...


Estrogen and progestin participate in the regulation of adipose tissue metabolism, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARgamma) and retinoic acid receptor-alpha (RXRalpha) are absolutely required for adipose tissue development. The present study is to investigate the changes in parametrial fat mass and expression of PPARgamma and RXRalpha during estrous cycle in mice. Parametrial white adipose tissues (WAT), inter-scapula brown adipose tissues, and uteri from female mice were weighed. Blood samples were collected for the measurement of 17 beta-estradiol and progesterone levels. An RNase protection assay and Western blot analysis were used to compare the expression of PPARgamma and RXRalpha in adipose tissue. The mass of parametrial WAT in diestrus was significantly higher compared with estrus. However, there is no significant difference on the mass of brown adipose tissues during estrous cycle. The expression of PPARgamma in WAT in diestrus was significantly higher than that in estrus. The expression of RXRalpha during estrous cycle was unchanged in both white and brown adipose tissues. In conclusion, the variation in parametrial WAT mass during the mouse estrous cycle correlates with changes in the expression of PPARgamma in WAT.


The purpose of this study is to explore a chorus learning support environment based on the tutoring knowledge of the chorus leader. In general chorus practice, a chorus leader tends to instruct his chorus members based not on score information, but on a chorus leader's sense of value and/or his musical philosophy. We try to extract the tutoring knowledge necessary to evaluate/review a singing voice from the chorus leader. The extracted knowledge is expressed in a computational form and implemented in a learning support system. In this paper, a chorus learning support system is proposed. At first, the tutoring knowledge of a chorus leader is described. Next, the architecture and functions of the proposed system are shown. Finally, we evaluate the adequacy of the extracted knowledge and the effectiveness of chorus learning with our system.