Submitted August 5, 2020. Accepted January 24, 2021. Abstract Background The Indonesian province of Aceh has a high prevalence of stunting. Identifying risk factors for stunting may help prevention efforts. The Growth Diagrams of Indonesian Children are a specific tool to diagnose stunting in Indonesian pediatric populations. Objective To determine the risk factors of stunting in children aged 1-60 months using the Growth Diagrams of Indonesian Children. Methods This observational, analytic study with casecontrol design was conducted in the Lawe Alas District, Southeast Aceh, Indonesia to compare prior risk factors exposure between stunted children (cases) and non-stunted children (controls) from January-April 2018. Subjects were children aged 1-60 months and recruited by consecutive sampling. Results The subjects comprised 97 cases and 97 controls, totaling 194 subjects, internal risk factors of stunting were short birth length (OR 2.87; 95%CI 1.24 to 6.61; P=0.011), inadequate calorie intake (OR 2.37; 95%CI 1.32 to 4.27; P=0.004), non-exclusive breastfeeding (OR 3.64; 95%CI 2.01 to 6.61; P<0.001), chronic diarrhea (OR 6.56; 95%CI 3.33 to 13.01; P<0.001) and upper respiratory tract infections (OR 3.47; 95%CI 1.89 to 6.35; P<0.001). External risk factors of stunting were unimproved sanitation (OR 2.98; 95%CI 1.62 to 5.48; P<0.001), unimproved water sources (OR 2.71; 95%CI 1.50 to 4.88; P=0.001), low family income (OR 2.49; 95%CI 1.38 to 4.49; P=0.002), low paternal educational level (OR 2.98; 95%CI 1.62 to 5.48; P<0.001), low maternal educational level (OR 2.64; 95%CI 1.38 to 5.04; P=0.003), and living in households with >4 family members (OR 1.23; 95%CI 0.69 to 2.17; P=0.469). Regression analysis showed that the dominant risk factor of stunting was chronic diarrhea (OR 5.41; 95%CI 2.20 to 13.29; P<0.001). Conclusion The history of chronic diarrhea and nonexclusive breastfeeding are the main risk factors of childhood stunting. [Paediatr Indones. 2021;61:12-9 ; DOI: 10.14238/pi61.1.2021.12-9 ].


DNA molecules in solution, having negatively charged phosphates and countercations readsorbed on its surface, possess a distinct charge separation motif to interact electrostatically. If their double-helical structure were ideal, duplexes in parallel juxtaposition could choose azimuthal alignment providing attraction, or at least a reduction of repulsion, between them. But duplexes are not perfect staircases and the distortions of their helical structure correlate with their base pair texts. If the patterns of distortions on the opposing molecules are uncorrelated, the mismatch will accumulate as a random walk and attraction vanishes. Based on this idea, a model of recognition of homologous sequences has been proposed [A. A. Kornyshev and S. Leikin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 3666 (2001)]. But DNA has torsional elasticity. How will this help to relax a mismatch between the charge distributions on two nonhomologous DNA's? In the same work, the solution of this problem has been mapped onto a frustrated sine Gordon equation in a nonlocal random field (where the latter represents a pattern of twist angle distortions on the opposing molecules), but the results had been obtained in the limit of torsionally rigid molecules. In the present paper, by solving this equation numerically, we find a strongly nonlinear relaxation mechanism which utilizes static kink-soliton modes triggered by the "random field." In the range of parameters where the solitons do not emerge, we find good agreement with the results of a variational study [A. G. Cherstvy, A. A. Kornyshev, and S. Leikin, J. Phys. Chem. B (to be published)]. We reproduce the first-order transitions in the interaxial separation dependence, but detect also second-order or weak first-order transitions for shorter duplexes. The recognition energy between two nonhomologous DNA sequences is calculated as a function of interaxial separation and the length of juxtaposition. The soliton-caused kinky length dependence is discussed in connection with plots of recombination frequency as a function of the length of homology.


The origins and characteristic parameters of levels occurring deep in the band gap of semiconductors have been summarised. The effect of these levels on capacitance and carrier concentration measurements of metal-semiconductor diodes has been outlined. In particular the technique of Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy, which is based on these effects, has been explained and several developments which extend the scope of the basic technique have been described. A comparison with other techniques for the investigation of deep levels has been made and the experimental implementation of DLTS related. Its application to several classes of deep levels in GaAs materials and devices and the experimental results obtained have been reported and discussed. The effects of light ion damage as typified by proton bombardment have been investigated in detail and the similarities to both electron and heavier dopant ion damage highlighted. The isolation of IMPATT diodes on a single chip by means of bombardment with high doses of protons has been investigated and found not to cause degradation of these devices. Deep levels characteristically found in the very thin n type layers of FET structures grown on semi-insulating substrates have also been examined. The problems caused by outdiffusion of chromium from the substrates and its insensitivity to detection by DLTS have been explained. Problems related to ion implantation of GaAs for FET fabrication and subsequent thermal annealing of the damage after encapsulation in silicon nitride to prevent surface decomposition have been investigated. The newer technique of electron beam annealing which eliminates the need for silicon nitride deposition has also been investigated Finally DLTS has been used to search for possible recombination centres associated with the degradation of light output in GaAlAs double heterostructure stripe geometry lasers. Trapping levels, including the donor related DX centre were observed and identified but were not seen to increase in concentration during accelerated lifetesting of the lasers. Possible reasons for the lack of detection of degradation related recombination centres have been discussed. In conclusion the usefulness of DLTS as an assessment technique has been analysed.


Abstract Background: Oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy is a dose-limiting toxicity that significantly affects patients' quality of life. The aim of this study was to compare its occurrence between a generic versus the original molecule in Indian patients. Materials and Methods: Between August 2012 and July 2013, 163 patients receiving oxaliplatin were prospectively enrolled. A data recording form was used in the clinic to record detailed information. Results: The median age of patients was 55 years (range, 19–79). Chemotherapy regimens used included: capecitabine, oxaliplatin (59), epirubicin, oxaliplatin, and capecitabine (20), docetaxel, oxaliplatin, and capecitabine (11), 5-FU, leucovorin, oxaliplatin (9), and gemcitabine-oxaliplatin (64). The median cumulative dose of oxaliplatin was 780 mg/m2. Eighty patients received the original version and 83 the generic one. Overall, 63 patients (38%) developed neuropathy. There was no significant difference in the incidence of neuropathy between the two forms of oxaliplatin used (P = 0.50). Forty-nine percent of female patients had neuropathy as compared to 30% of male patients (P = 0.014). Older patients had a trend toward a higher incidence of neuropathy: 44% of patients above age fifty developed neuropathy compared to 30% of patients younger than 50 (P = 0.06). Conclusion: This is the first study to specifically show that neuropathy rates do not vary with the use of generic versus original oxaliplatin.


PURPOSE OF THE STUDYOur main objective was to evaluate the mortality and complications of patients following surgical treatment of hip fractures and to identify the associated risk factors for postoperative mortality.MATERIAL AND METHODSWe retrospectively reviewed all patients over the age of 50 who underwent surgical treatment for femoral neck and peritrochanteric fractures at our institution in 2003 and 2013. Mortality was compared between subgroups classified by age, gender, fracture type, method of treatment. Correlation between mortality and postoperative complications, time to surgery, and blood transfusion need were evaluated. Chi-square was used for categorical variables and two-tailed student's t-test for continuous variables. Survival curves were compared by the log-rank test. Mortality rates were adjusted for patient age and compared to the mortality rates of Prague's population in the given years.RESULTSAltogether 425 patients were surgically treated for proximal femoral fracture in 2013, while 229 patients were treated in 2003. The overall 1-year mortality decreased by 10% over the study period (38% in 2003 and 28% in 2013), despite the higher average age in 2013. Survival was better in all subgroups broken down by diagnosis and method of treatment, statistically relevant in the subgroup of femoral neck fractures, notwithstanding the method of treatment and in the subgroup treated with total hip arthroplasty.The strongest prognostic factor for survival was the advanced age. The mortality rate rises significantly over the age of 75. The largest age group was between 85-89 years, with 1-year mortality rate of 32%. The annual mortality of the general population in Prague aged 85-89 years was 13% and has improved only by 1% in the decade.The reoperative rate was 4% and did not affect mortality. There was no significant relationship between mortality and complications or delay of surgery for up to 4 days.DISCUSSIONThe factors that might have contributed to better survival are the introduction of guidelines for hip fracture care to our unit, better prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism, improvement of surgical skills due to the growing volume of these cases, and a higher rate of discharges to aftercare units.CONCLUSIONSMortality has significantly decreased between 2003 and 2013 (p < 0.001). We didn't find a correlation between mortality and delay of surgery up to 4 days. That means that a complicated operation such as hip arthroplasty could be postponed and operated in more comfortable conditions (in superaseptic OR) by orthopedic surgeons.Although we haven't identified any modifiable risk factor, we believe that the reasons for better survival are multifactorial as discussed.


A variety of cell lines have been isolated in vitro from transplantable teratocarcinomas. Some of them correspond to embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells. They are malignant and represent the stem cells from which all differentiated tissues derive in the tumor or in vitro. EC cells share some biochemical and antigenic properties with multipotential embryonic cells. From one of these EC cell lines, variants have been isolated in vivo and in vitro. Some are of EC type but restricted in their pattern of differentiation; others are altered in their tumorigenicity or in their antigenic characteristics. Another class of such variants corresponds to non-EC types. The most interesting ones correspond to tumoral lines of extra-embryonic tissues. All these cell lines constitute a valuable material for the study of mouse development and differentiation.


based on neighborhood pixels information to calculate the number of bits that can be used for substitution and modified Least Significant Bits technique for data embedding. The modified solution is independent of the nature of the data to be hidden and gives correct results along with un-noticeable image degradation. The technique, to find the number of bits that can be used for data hiding, uses the green component of the image as it is less sensitive to human eye and thus it is totally impossible for human eye to predict whether the image is encrypted or not. The application further encrypts the data using a custom designed algorithm before embedding bits into image for further security. The overall process consists of three main modules namely embedding, encryption and extraction.cm.


PATIENT
The patient was a 61-year-old woman with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) who was referred to our hospital for oral applianceOAtreatment. A mandibular advancing OA designed considering stomatognathic functions was fabricated. The OA was a one-piece maxillary splint and provided flat occlusal-plane guiding of the mandible into a therapeutic protrusive position at the mouth closing. OSAS indexes obtained by polysomnography after the OA treatment decreased than the values before treatment. No side effect was observed over the ensuing 3.5 years.

DISCUSSION
It has been reported the OAs for OSAS incur a number of side effects such as disorders of stomatognathic function, teeth displacement, and change of occlusion. In this case, no such sign or symptom was observed. Proper design of OA might contribute to a favorable prognosis in OSAS patients.

CONCLUSION
This report suggests that OA designed considering stomatognathic functions is effective against OSAS and prevents side effects.


This chapter analyzes how institutional pressures have allowed for continuities as well as brought about changes in modern police organizations in Korea. When facing a legitimacy crisis, the Korean law enforcement system has typically responded with organizational restructuring. Strong myth-building patterns compensate for the lack of moral legitimacy of the police, particularly under authoritarian-military regimes that suppress democratization movements in Korea. Even after seemingly radical organizational changes aimed at placing the police under democratic control, highly institutionalized core structures of the police remain in place. Performance reform after the economic crisis, which was proceeded from reformers' shared belief in the market-driven solutions, diagnosed the Korean police as a big, inefficient, and self-serving bureaucracy, a diagnosis that eventually caused gradual deterioration in the taken-for-grantedness of policing activities. The internet and social media made the Korean police even more vulnerable to external challenges and a questioning of its legitimacy.


In Manufacturing Grid (MG) system, there are primarily two kinds of users: resource service consumer and resource service provider. For a resource service request task, the MG system should search the services which are qualified for the requirements of consumer and then choose the optimal one to execute it. In according to the distributed system structure of MG and node routing model influenced by several factors (e.g., time minimization, cost minimization, bandwidth minimization), the searching technology based on web service technology and ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm has been proposed in this paper. The basic evaluation models and formulations are described, and then the algorithms are presented to minimize the expenses. The experimental results also show that the proposed method is useful in solving the searching problems in MG system.


Addition of glycine betaine (1 mM) stimulated aerobic growth of Azospirillum brasilense Sp 7 in the presence of 0.3 M-Naa. The nitrogenase activity of whole cells was particularly sensitive to salt stress, being almost totally inhibited in the presence of the same concentration of salt. Added glycine betaine strongly enhanced nitrogen fixation activity under salt stress. Under such conditions, maximal nitrogenase activity was obtained at a p0 , value (1 kPa) that inhibits nitrogen fixation activity in the absence of salt. We demonstrated the presence of a highaffinity transport system for glycine betaine, with an apparent K, of 1OpM. The osmolarity of the medium regulated the activity of the transport system. The maximal transport rates were 4 and 20 nmol min-l (mg protein)-l in cells grown in low-salt and high-salt medium, respectively. A high intracellular concentration of glycine betahe (480 mM) was observed only at a high osmolarity (0.3 M-Naa). Glycine betahe uptake was significantly reduced in osmotically shocked cells and a glycine betaine binding activity was detected in the crude periplasmic shock fluid. This suggests a transport mechanism involving a periplasmic glycine betaine binding protein. A. brusilense was unable to use the transported glycine betaine as a carbonor nitrogen-source, in lowor high-salt medium. Intracellular glycine betaine was not catabolized.


The liver is a common site for the tumors occurrence. Automatic hepatic lesion segmentation is a crucial step for diagnosis and surgery procedure. When computed tomography (CT) scans is used, liver lesions segmentation is a challenging task. In CT images, hepatic lesions located in a liver are generally identified by intensity difference between lesions and liver. In fact, the intensity of the lesions can be lower or higher than that of the liver. In this work, the segmentation is performed in two stages. In the primary stage, the liver structure will be at first extracted from the image using the morphological reconstruction. The second stage is devoted to detect the hepatic lesions by the watershed transform. However, the segmentation procedure; as it is mentioned previously; is a difficult task. In fact, the main problem of liver lesions detection from CT images is related to low contrast between lesions and liver intensities. To solve this problem, a new method developed for the semi-automatic segmentation of hepatic lesions is developed. It   is based on the anatomical information and mathematical morphology tools that are used in the image processing field. The proposed segmentation algorithm is evaluated by comparing our results with the manual segmentation performed by an expert.


This article reports on the evolution of a school-based project about Remembrance and World War Two. The focus of the project is the use of wartime era high school yearbooks. The use of digital technology by students to record and analyze prime source archival material, high school annuals, in concert with oral history, and local community study techniques, provides classroom students the opportunity to learn about World War Two from a far more realistic and personal perspective than can be achieved using standard textbooks. It also aids in the development of a greater understanding of the human toll, and a more critical understanding of source material concerning World War Two and other conflicts.


The question as to who retains the custody, physical control and care of the child or children of a marriage is often cardinal, vexed and contentious between the parties in any court proceedings for dissolution of marriage, divorce or legal separation .This paper examines the legal principles, perspectives and dimensions relative to court ordered parenting in Nigeria with particular attention to the comparative positions at common law, under statute and within the realm of customary law. It also x-rays the sociological and psychological considerations and factors at play in such proceedings especially as it relates to the part of the parting, contending parties and as they influence the decision of the court in any such given matter. It then maintains the position that the interest of the child is and ought to continue to be the foremost consideration in resolving any such matter.


Wage/earnings inequalities are one source of overall inequality in a country. The former inequalities in turn are closely linked with differential occupational status either defined in a contractual or productive/skill sense. Using the Pakistan Standard Classification of Occupations[PSCO (1994)], this paper estimates Gini coefficients for three types (all types, employee, selfemployed) of individuals/earners by occupational status from the Pakistan Integrated Household Survey (PIHS) 2001-02 and Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey (PSLM) 2004-05. Long-term trends in earnings inequality from 1992-93 to 2004-05 are documented with the benchmark estimates in the Ahmad (2002) study, while the short-term trends are measured from 2001-02 to 2004-05 for self-employed and paid employee. The longas well as the short-term trends indicate rising earnings disparities within each occupational category. Over the longer period, these disparities have risen in the range of 50 to 100 percent. Shifts across occupation and across employment status indicate doubling of the share of Shop and Market Sales and Services Workers and the transition towards becoming self-employed. A few tentative explanations for the observed increasing occupational inequalities at the individual level are: (a) Availability of credit and improved efficiency of capital market may have relaxed capital constraints of former employees and enabled them to transit as selfemployed. Right-sizing and down-sizing in public organisations may also have pushed the previous employees into utilising the 'golden handshake' packages towards self-employment. Assuming that returns on capital (internal or borrowed) are higher and financial contracts are more lucrative than wage contracts, the situation can lead to wider disparities. (b) At the paid employee level, the fall in the share of workers in elementary occupations improved the wage contracts of those still remaining in this occupation, and thereby increased the income/earnings inequality within this category. (c) Premium on skills, education, experience, and talent, in spite of the entry of a large number of individuals in the Service, Shop and Market Sales Workers category, has widened the inequalities within this category.


Notwithstanding the revival of attention recently displayed by the economic discipline about self-sustained processes of economic growth fueled by technological advances, an enormous gap still remains between what we historically know about technical change and its economic exploitation, on the one hand, and the ways we represent them in formal growth models, on the other. Building on some general properties of the empirical patterns of innovation and diffusion that seem to be neglected in a good deal of contemporary growth literature, we present a stylized computer-simulated model in which self-sustained growth appears as the outcome of a coordination process among heterogeneous agents locally interacting in a decentralized economy characterized by: (i) notionally endless opportunities of endogenously introducing innovations; (ii) path-dependency in learning achievements; (iii) dynamic increasing returns grounded upon collectively shared 'learning paradigms'. By means of extensive Montecarlo-like studies, we show that the model is able to generate GNP time-series exhibiting the statistical properties displayed by empirically observable data. Finally, we show simple but quite general settings in which collective economic growth finds its necessary condition in the presence of a number of 'irrationally' entrepreneurial agents.


ABSTRACT Introduction: Angiogenesis, or the generation of new blood vessels from pre-existent ones is a critical process for tumor growth and progression. Hence, the development of angiogenesis inhibitors with therapeutic potential has been a central focus for researchers. Most angiogenesis inhibitors target the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) pathway, however a number of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs) and inhibitors of the mammalian Target-Of-Rapamycin (mTOR) pathway also display antiangiogenic activity. Areas covered: Here we review the effectiveness of a variety of compounds with antiangiogenic properties in preclinical and clinical settings in gastric cancer (GC). Expert opinion: In coming years angiogenesis will remain as a therapeutic target in GC. To date, ramucirumab a monoclonal antibody that targets VEGFR2 is the most successful antiangiogenic tested in clinical studies, and it is now well established as a second-line therapy in GC. The arrival of precision medicine and the success of immune checkpoint inhibitors will increase the number of clinical trials using targeted agents like ramucirumab in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors. A hypothetical working model that combines ramucirumab with immunotherapy is presented. Also, the impact of nanotechnology and a molecular subtype classification of GC are discussed


For the synchronization of fractional-order chaotic systems with uncertain parameters, a controller based on sliding mode theory is presented. Based on the stability theory of fractional-order system, stability of the proposed method is analyzed. The theory is successfully applied to synchronize fractional Newton-Leipnik chaotic systems with uncertain parameters. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed controller.


There are three theoretical models which purport to relate experimentally-measurable or fabrication-controllable device properties to the memristor's operation: 1. Strukov et al's phenomenological model; 2. Georgiou et al's Bernoulli rewrite of that phenomenological model; 3. Gale's memory-conservation model. They differ in their prediction of the effect on memristance of changing the electrode size and factors that affect the hysteresis. Using a batch of TiO$_2$ sol-gel memristors fabricated with different top electrode widths we test and compare these three theories. It was found that, contrary to model 2's prediction, the `dimensionless lumped parameter', $\beta$, did not correlate to any measure of the hysteresis. Contrary to model 1, memristance was found to be dependent on the three spatial dimensions of the TiO$_2$ layer, as was predicted by model 3. Model 3 was found to fit the change in resistance value with electrode size. Simulations using model 3 and experimentally derived values for contact resistance gave hysteresis values that were linearly related to (and only one order of magnitude out) from the experimentally-measured values. Memristor hysteresis was found to be related to the ON state resistance and thus the electrode size (as those two are related). These results offer a verification of the memory-conservation theory of memristance and its association of the vacancy magnetic flux with the missing magnetic flux in memristor theory. This is the first paper to experimentally test various theories pertaining to the operation of memristor devices.


The irresistible, classic bear from Darkest Peru, who was found on Paddington station, causes havoc while out sight-seeing! When Paddington visits the Tower of London he makes sure he has enough marmalade sandwiches to sustain him - a whole suitcase in fact! Unfortunately, it is not only bears who like sandwiches as Paddington is soon to discover...


In this paper, we discuss some challenges regarding the Hadoop framework. One of the main ones is the computing performance of Hadoop MapReduce jobs in terms of CPU, memory, and hard disk I/O. The networking side of a Hadoop cluster is another challenge, especially for large-scale clusters with many switch devices and computing nodes, such as a data center network. The configurations of Hadoop MapReduce parameters can have a significant impact on the computing performance of a Hadoop cluster. All issues relating to Hadoop MapReduce parameter settings are addressed. Some significant parameters of Hadoop MapReduce are tuned using a novel intelligent technique based on both genetic programming and a genetic Algorithm, with the aim of optimizing the performance of a Hadoop MapReduce job. The Hadoop framework has more than 150 configurations of parameters and hence, setting them manually is not difficult, but also time-consuming. Consequently, the above-mentioned algorithms are used to search for the optimum values of parameter settings. The software-defined network (SDN) is also employed to improve the networking performance of a Hadoop cluster, thus accelerating Hadoop jobs. Experiments have been carried out on two typical applications of Hadoop, including a Word Count Application and Tera Sort application, using 14 virtual machines in both a traditional network and an SDN. The results for the traditional network show that our proposed technique improves MapReduce jobs' performance for 20 GB with the Word Count application by 69.63% and 30.31% when compared to the default and Gunther work, respectively. While for the Tera Sort application, the performance of Hadoop MapReduce is improved by 73.39% and 55.93%, compared with the default and Gunther work, respectively. Moreover, the experimental results in an SDN environment showed that the performance of a Hadoop MapReduce job is further improved due to the advantages of the intelligent and centralized management achieved using it. Another experiment has been conducted to evaluate the performance of Hadoop jobs using a large-scale cluster in a data center network, also based on SDN, with the results revealing that this exceeded the performance of a conventional network.


Evidence-based medicine is the practice of integrating clinical expertise, the highest quality research available, and patient values to make the best decisions for patient care.


Accurate modelling of transient wind turbine wakes is an important component in the siting of turbines within wind farms because of wake structures that affect downwind turbine performance and loading. Many current industry tools for modelling these effects are limited to empirically derived predictions. A technique is described for coupling transient wind modelling with an aero-elastic simulation to dynamically model both turbine operation and wake structures. The important feature of this approach is a turbine model in a flow simulation, which actively responds to transient wind events through the inclusion of controller actions such as blade pitching and regulation of generator torque. The coupled nature of the aero-elastic/flow simulation also allows recording of load and control data, which permits the analysis of turbine interaction in multiple turbine systems. An aero-elastic turbine simulation code and a large eddy simulation (LES) solver using an actuator disc model were adapted for this work. Coupling of the codes was implemented with the use of a software framework to transfer data between simulations in a synchronous manner. A computationally efficient simulation was developed with the ability to model turbines exhibiting standard baseline control operating in an offshore environment. Single and multiple wind turbine instances were modelled in a transient flow domain to investigate wake structures and wake interaction effects. Blade loading data were analysed to quantify the increased fluctuating loads on downwind turbines. The results demonstrate the successful implementation of the coupled simulation and quantify the effect of the dynamic-turbine model. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Plumes generated by vertically distributed sources of buoyancy have been observed to have substantially lower entrainment coefficients than their equivalent-geometry constant buoyancy flux plumes. Two differences between distributed and localized sources of buoyancy are the presence of a wall shear stress at the source and that non-ideal source conditions are distributed over the whole height of the enclosure for a vertically distributed source. Herein the impact of non-ideal source and boundary conditions on vertically distributed plumes is analysed. It is shown that, at small heights, the plume volume flow rate is significantly influenced by the wall-source volume flux. At larger heights the wall-source buoyancy is greater than the mean plume buoyancy, creating a non-self-similar horizontal buoyancy distribution within the plume. Recent experiments into the behaviour of a vertically distributed source of buoyancy in a confined region have also shown that the plume partially detrains in the stratified region of the enclosure. This detrainment has not been observed for constant buoyancy flux plumes in a confined region. Although models have been proposed to quantify the detrainment process, it is still unclear why vertically distributed buoyancy sources detrain while constant buoyancy flux plumes do not in the same physical geometry. The impact of source and boundary effects on previously published experiments on vertically distributed plumes are reviewed and the possible implications for plume entrainment and detrainment are discussed.


This study descriptions of the development the chondrocranium in Stenodactylus slevini (Squamata: Gekkonidae), Chondrocranium cartilage is one of the important things for evolution of the vertebrate head. The stage of embryo development was determined by length 21.1 mm, based on the hatched embryo, and cleared and double- stained specimens. it has been used reconstructions by serial sections to formation and description in some regions: the olfactory region, orbital region, floor of the neurocranium and auditory region. the olfactory region in this stage is reduce developed and the fenestra olfactoria is to large, the cupola anterior and parietotectal cartilage and paranasal cartilage connected to each other, sphenethmoid commissure also reduced development, present a features Jacobson's organ, it's chemical sensory organ that transfers pheromones to transmit signals between one species. The planum supraseptale is not yet formed but medial and lateral portion of planum supraseptal present. In addition, the Taenia marginalis, taenia medialis, and pila metoptica that represent the roof of chondrocranium. The auditory capsule is small and reduced developed, they are no connected with each other because the tectum synoticum is absent.


A retrospective series of thirty-six cases of human bites to the face with tissue losses requiring reconstruction during a five-year period, January 1999 to December 2003 is presented. The unmarried female in her third decade dominated both as victim and assailant in incidences related to love affairs and love gone sour. The middle third of the lower lip was the most commonly bitten part with a majority of these presenting early. Copious larvage under broad-spectrum systemic antibiotic cover as well as anti-tetanus regimen allowed delayed primary repair in the first week of injury in a majority of the patients. Our reconstructive armamentarium included V-excisions and closure for lip defects, the superiorly based naso-labial flap for nasal ala defects and the retro-auricular tubed flap for helical rim and ear-lobe defects. Outcome was generally satisfactory though a longer follow-up data is desirable. Experience with hypertrophic scarring and keloid formation in our patient population continues to be a major factor in the choice of reconstructive techniques in our regional practice.


Mincle is a C-type lectin that plays a critical role in the body's innate immune response to bacteria and fungi. Compounds identified as ligands for Mincle include trehalose and glycerol esters of complex long chain fatty acids. Harnessing its ability to activate the immune system, trehalose dimycolate has been used as a vaccine adjuvant and for anti-cancer treatment, highlighting the potential use of Mincle immunomodulators in a medical context. To further understand the receptor-ligand interactions and optimise biological activity, the structure-activity relationship of Mincle ligands was investigated through the synthesis and biological evaluation of a series of modified ligands. The preparation of carbohydrate modified trehalose dibehenates was attempted in order to assess the importance of hydroxylprotein interactions, and despite the syntheses being incomplete, improvements on literature methodologies for the regioselective modification of α,α′-D-trehalose were developed. Simplified analogues of the glycerol based natural products identified as Mincle ligands containing straight chain and iso-branched lipids were prepared to evaluate the significance of the branch and establish whether there is a relationship between lipid length and Mincle activation. The corresponding trehalose diester analogues were also synthesised to gauge the capacity of the protein to tolerate changes in the carbohydrate portion of ligands.


One powerful solution to improve the productivity of protected horticultural facilities is environmental control. Greenhouse equipment using information and communication technology (ICT) has been implemented in environmental control systems. From the 1960s to the 1970s, fundamental research and development of environmental control systems for greenhouses were actively conducted. Environmental control systems employing microprocessors and PCs began to be introduced in Japanese commercial greenhouses in the 1980s. However, by 2012, only 1.41 % of total Japanese greenhouse area employed such systems. To create a smart greenhouse that employed ICT, a ubiquitous environment control system (UECS) was developed for practical use in 2004. In a UECS, each environmental measurement and control device in the greenhouse (ventilation window motor, heating device, etc.) with an embedded microprocessor is called an autonomous decentralized unit (node). The nodes are connected with each other through the Ethernet (IEEE803.2), and they control environments in a coordinated manner. We reviewed the present situation and prospects of UECS.


Chapters follow a consistent structure with key elements highlighted for quick scanning. Each chapter begins with Key Points and includes Special Clinical Points interspersed with the text to focus readers on the most crucial details. The authors alert readers to Special Considerations in the Hospitalized Patient and When a Non-neurologist Should Consider Referring to a Neurologist. Each chapter ends with an Always Remember section emphasizing the most important practical issues and a series of self-study questions.


Channel state information (CSI) is paramount to modern Wi-Fi communication systems, as it allows for proper equalization of frames at the receiver side and enables advanced signal processing techniques such as beamforming and MIMO. Given that the CSI can accurately mirror physical changes in the wireless channel, CSI analysis has become a valuable resource to many wireless sensing applications based on the opportunistic use of Wi-Fi signals. Since CSI can usually not be accessed by users directly, several CSI extraction tools have been published over the last few years for various Wi-Fi chipsets. In this paper, we present the first system ever capable of extracting CSI from 802.11ax consumer devices using the Broadcom 43684 Wi-Fi chipset. This platform can extract up to 160 MHz-wide CSI using 4x4 MIMO, and it is compatible with the latest HE PHY. We make our CSI extraction tool available to the research community to foster further work on this emerging topic.


ABSTRACT Increasing research efforts are focused on explaining the cognitive bases of creativity. However, it remains unclear when and how cognitive factors such as intelligence and executive function uniquely contribute to performance on creative thinking tasks. Although a relationship between fluid intelligence (Gf) and creative cognition has been well-documented, the underlying mechanism of this relation is unknown. Here, we test one possible mechanism of the Gf–creativity association – attention control (AC) – given AC's strong association with Gf and its theoretical relevance to creative cognition. We also examine the role of mind wandering (i.e., task-unrelated thought), a failure of AC that is potentially beneficial to creativity. Using latent variable and bifactor models, we investigated the unique contributions of AC to divergent thinking – above the influence of Gf – evaluating the specific and general contributions of AC, Gf, and mind wandering to divergent thinking. We found that a general executive factor (i.e., of the common variance to AC, mind wandering, and Gf indicators) significantly predicted divergent thinking originality (β =.40, p <.001) above and beyond specific Gf and mind wandering factors. Importantly, in the bifactor model, mind wandering was a nonsignificant, negative predictor of divergent thinking performance, and the residual effects of Gf were no longer significant, indicating that the relationship between Gf and divergent thinking is explained by shared variance with a common executive attention factor. This study provides novel evidence suggesting that the relationship between Gf and divergent thinking may be largely driven by the top-down control of attention.


We use the bailout embeddings of three-dimensional volume-preserving maps to study qualitatively the dynamics of small spherical neutrally buoyant impurities suspended in a time-periodic incompressible fluid flow. The accumulation of impurities in tubular vortical structures, the detachment of particles from fluid trajectories near hyperbolic invariant lines, and the formation of nontrivial three-dimensional structures in the distribution of particles are predicted.


Background & Objective(s): Campylobacteriosis is a zoonotic, food-borne bacterial disease caused by Campylobacter spp. The most common pathogenic species are Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) and C. coli. Multiple reservoirs harbor Campylobacter but chicken are considered the most common. Different chicken parts can harbour Campylobacter, particularly the intestine while chicken breasts usually have minimal counts. Antibiotics are used as feed as well as for therapeutic purposes in animals, and thus antimicrobial resistance of some Campylobacter isolates to common antibiotics is an issue of public health importance. The aim of this study was to detect C. jejuni and C. coli in chicken using conventional methods (culture followed by biochemical tests) and PCR, with identification of antimicrobial resistance of isolates. Methods: In the present study, Campylobacter was isolated from 100 different chicken parts (thigh, neck, intestine and wings) collected from 40 different chickens. Culture on charcoal cefoperazone deoxycholate agar (CCDA) was followed by biochemical confirmation of Campylobacter spp then by matrix-associated laser desorption ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Simultaneously, DNA of Campylobacter was detected from chicken broth by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Both conventional and PCR methods were compared. Campylobacter colony count was determined for different chicken parts, and the antimicrobial resistance of isolates was identified. Results: Out of the 100 examined chicken samples, 79 were presumptively positive on CCDA while only 15 isolates were MALDI-TOF confirmed (18.98%). All samples had Campylobacter counts exceeding 104 cfu/g. Colony counts ≥105 cfu/gm were encountered in 77.7% of PCR positive samples. Multiplex PCR had low sensitivity (60%) for detection of Campylobacter in chicken broth compared to confirmed cultures. Despite this drawback, PCR was advantageous over culture in detecting samples with mixed Campylobacter species. The intestine had the highest frequency (27.5%) of Campylobacter, with 72.7% of its samples yielding ≥105 cfu/g. C. jejuni responded better to erythromycin, ciprofloxacin and chloramphenicol (susceptibility= 100%, 80% and 80% respectively) while C. coli had a poorer susceptibility profile. Tetracycline and nalidixic acid had a poor antibacterial effect on both C. jejuni and C. coli. Conclusion: The distribution of Campylobacter species varied according to chicken part, with the intestine having the highest counts. All chicken samples had Campylobacter counts more than 10 4 cfu/g. PCR had 60% sensitivity compared to culture, but was more superior in detecting mixed cultures. C. jejuni was more sensitive to erythromycin, ciprofloxacin and chloramphenicol antibiotics


Floating point describes a method of representing an approximation of a real number in a way that can support a wide range of values. Many scientific applications require floating point arithmetic because of high accuracy in their calculations. FPGAs are becoming more suitable for supporting high speed floating point arithmetic units. Floating point units are widely used in digital applications such as digital signal processing, digital image processing and multimedia. Many algorithms depend on floating point arithmetic because floating point representation supports wide range. This paper proposes a floating point unit with Arithmetic and Trigonometric operations for floating point numbers based on IEEE 754 standard and to enhance the performance of the system. The arithmetic unit allows various arithmetic operations such as, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division on floating point numbers. It is synthesized and simulated on the Virtex6 FPGA board using Xilinx ISE Design Suite 14.5 and Modelsim SE 6.5b. Keywords– FPGA, Floating point, IEEE754 standard, Virtex-6


The objective of the thesis is to explore how complex data can be treated using unsupervised machine learning techniques, in which additional information is injected to guide the exploratory process. Starting from specific problems, our contributions take into account the different dimensions of the complex data: their nature (image, text), the additional information attached to the data (labels, structure, concept ontologies) and the temporal dimension. A special attention is given to data representation and how additional information can be leveraged to improve this representation.


The rate of the production of thiazole, the first product of the reaction, catalyzed by thiaminase I (EC 184.108.40.206) from Anodonta cygnea muscles is characterized by an initial flash-up explained by a considerable difference in the rates of the enzyme-substrate complex formation and its further transformation. Basing on this phenomenon, a new method for measuring the total thiamine in vitro and in biological material has been developed. Optimal conditions for thiamine measurements in the blood and urine have been selected.


Comparing the remarkable economic growth of Japan and South Korea (hereafter, Korea), many scholars have adopted the modernization theory and/or the stages theory of development. They argue that development is about the modernization of traditional societies. Moreover, it is also widely accepted that developing countries could and should learn from the pioneer countries that have already developed. However, they fail to explain the opposite side of the remarkable economic growth in both countries; namely rapid depopulation and wide collapse of rural communities. This study is an attempt to build an alternative theoretical framework for sustainable development of rural communities in East Asia, focusing on Japan and Korea. The endogenous self-organization that functions as a substantial social unit for rural development is emphasized. To accomplish this purpose, a case from each country is introduced and interpreted in an alternative way. The cases demonstrate that endogenous self-organizations function as a coordinator in policy implementation. While the two countries differ from each other in their method of local government intervention, the comparison of the two cases shows that rural development initiated by a local government cannot be sustainable without enhancing endogenous self-organizations. Ironically, it could be argued that no intervention strengthens the self-organizing capabilities of a rural community.


Abstract The history of research on the "true" stromatoporoids, a presumably monophyletic group of sponges that occurred from the Ordovician through the Devonian, is examined in detail. Stromatoporoid published research is summarized in five categories: quantity of publication; biological affinities; systematics; skeletal microstructure; and paleoecology. Quantity of publication is measured from each of the 75 years. Moderate levels of publication in the late 1920s and 1930s declined in the early 1940s, and were reduced to zero for four years due to the impact of World War II. Levels similar to that of the 1930s returned in the 1950s, after which there was an overall increase until the mid-1980s, when levels began a decrease that persists today. The proportion of research on paleoecology has increased as research on systematics decreased through time. Post-Devonian forms assigned to the stromatoporoids are a polyphyletic grouping of several apparently unrelated taxa, possibly representing both Porifera and Cnidaria. Publications on the post-Devonian "stromatoporoids" amount to less than one-third that on the true stromatoporoids during the same 75 years.


Abstract In the field of professional counseling, there is a very formal and extensive process for student counselors to receive mentorship and develop relationships in which self-awareness and professional skills are monitored and developed.  However, once a counselor receives their license there is little requirement for professional consultation.  This article delineates three types of professionals who are at risk for professional impairment: the open and aware counselor, the open and unaware counselor, and the resistant counselor. Of greatest concern is the resistant counselor who actively avoids professional relationships or if they do engage in professional relationships attempt to only portray competent and positive aspects as opposed to their struggles and difficulties as a professional.  As well, several interventions for professional isolation are discussed including technological solutions, utilization of regional associations, as well as a call to action for policy in the professional counseling discipline.


: The thermal inactivation kinetics of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase during ageing of human diploid cells were studied. It was shown that semi-logarithmic anamorphisms of the thermal inactivation kinetic curves may be presented as a total of two rectilinear sites corresponding to the thermolabile and thermostable fractions of the enzyme. In ageing cells the enzyme stability is decreased as compared to the young ones due to the increase in the amount of the thermolabile fraction. It was also found that despite a certain variability in the process of the cell growth at the 22nd passage the thermal stability of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase is decreased, while the enzyme thermal stability in the cells at the 52nd passage is monotonously increased. Purification of the enzyme from ageing and young human diploid cells results in an increase of the enzyme stability. However, when the enzyme was isolated from young cells, it possessed a higher thermal stability.


A branch-and-bound method is proposed for minimizing a convex-concave function over a convex set. The minimization of a dc-function is a special case, where the subproblems connected with the bounding operation can be solved effectively.


The study of plasma turbulence and transport is a complex problem of critical importance for fusion-relevant plasmas. To this day, the fluid treatment of plasma dynamics is the best approach to realistic physics at the high resolution required for certain experimentally relevant calculations. Core and edge turbulence in a magnetic fusion device have been modeled using state-of-the-art, nonlinear, three-dimensional, initial-value fluid and gyrofluid codes. Parallel implementation of these models on diverse platforms--vector parallel (National Energy Research Supercomputer Center`s CRAY Y-MP C90), massively parallel (Intel Paragon XP/S 35), and serial parallel (clusters of high-performance workstations using the Parallel Virtual Machine protocol)--offers a variety of paths to high resolution and significant improvements in real-time efficiency, each with its own advantages. The largest and most efficient calculations have been performed at the 200 Mword memory limit on the C90 in dedicated mode, where an overlap of 12 to 13 out of a maximum of 16 processors has been achieved with a gyrofluid model of core fluctuations. The richness of the physics captured by these calculations is commensurate with the increased resolution and efficiency and is limited only by the ingenuity brought to the analysis of the massive amounts of data generated.


This article explores how the industry life-cycle theory, proposed by Abernathy and Utterback, can be reinterpreted from the viewpoint of product architecture dynamics. The "long tail" of the automobile industry life cycle, observed during the past several decades, is explained by an evolutionary framework in which a product's architecture is treated as an endogenous variable affected by customers' functional requirements, environmental-technical constraints, and their changes. The present article explains how the existing industry life-cycle model effectively explains the early history of automotive product-process innovations, but that it fails to explain the "long tail" of the life cycle, and that an evolutionary approach of product architectures can be used to explain the architectural sequence and the long-term trend of the increase in nonradical innovations. That is, the industry life-cycle model certainly fits well with the actual pattern of product-process innovations at the early phase of the automobile's development, between the 1880s (invention) through the 1920s (the end of the Model T) and into the 1960s, when product differentiation continued without significant product/process innovations (e.g., the Big Three's annual model change). But the question remains how this model can explain the rest of the industry's history (1970s to 2010s), which is characterized by "rapid incremental innovations," or a "long tail of the life cycle," with its upward trend of technological advancement rather than the end of innovations or the beginning of another industry life cycle (i.e., "dematurity"). The evolutionary framework of product architecture predicts that the macro architecture of a given product category (e.g., passenger cars) will be relatively integral when the functional requirements that customers expect, the constraints imposed by society and the government, and the physical-technical limits inherent in the product are strong, and that it will be relatively modular when they are weaker. The dynamic architectural analysis starts from the Lancaster-type analysis of a set of function-price frontiers for a given product category (e.g., cars). Based on the design theories, it hypothesizes that the shape of function-price frontiers are different between integral models and modular models. It then hypothesizes that price-oriented customers tend to choose relatively modular products, whereas function-oriented customers choose relatively integral products more often than not, other things being equal. Thus, the macro architecture of a given product can be determined depending on whether each architecture's price-function frontier touches the price-function preference curves of its customers. As for the future architecture of the car, its macro architecture, determined by markets and environments, will remain relatively integral and complex as long as it continues to be a fast-moving heavy artifact in the public space, whereas its micro architecture, determined by engineers, will be somewhat mixed, as the engineers try to simplify and modularize the automobile design wherever the market and technology permit. The evolutionary framework of architectures also predicts that the architectural sequence inside the industry life cycle will differ by products (e.g., cars and computers) depending upon the dynamic patterns of technological advancement (e.g., shifts of the price-function frontier) and market-societal constraints (e.g., shifts of the price-function preference curve).


This paper presents the first measurement of plasma density by a K-band microwave polarimetric setup able to measure the magnetoplasma-induced Faraday rotation in a compact size plasma trap. The polarimeter, based on rotating waveguide OMTs (OrthoModeTransducers), has been proven to provide reliable measurements of the plasma density even in the unfavorable conditions λp≈ Lp≈ Lc (being λp, Lp and Lc the probing signal wavelength, the plasma dimension and the plasma chamber length respectively) that complicates the measurements due to multi-patterns caused by reflections of the probing wave on the metallic walls of the plasma chamber. An analysis method has been developed on purpose in order to discriminate the polarization plane rotation due to magnetoplasma Faraday rotation only, excluding the effects of the cavity resonator. The measured density is consistent with the previous plasma density interferometric estimations. The developed method is a powerful tool for probing plasmas in very compact magnetic traps such as Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Sources and for in-plasma β-radionuclides' decay studies.


Objective: To determine the intravascular electrolyte status in dairy cows with respect to age and different courses of parturition to clarify etiological factors influencing peri- or intrapartal imbalances of electrolyte homeostasis. Material and methods: A total of 64 cows at birth were evaluated (primiparous n = 34, pluriparous n = 30). Thirty-three cows showed normal delivery, while 31 cows had a complicated birth. Blood samples were collected intra partum (i. p.) and 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24 h post partum (p. p.) as well as [2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10 days p. p. and levels of total calcium (Catotal), ionized calcium (Caion), inorganic phosphate (Pa), Mg, Na, K, Cl were determined. Results: The results revealed that electrolytes show great fluctuation during and immediately p. p. in relation to age. Already during parturition pluriparous cows had a lower Catotal and Pa concentration compared to primiparous animals. Cows with dystocia exhibited a more intensive and longer lasting decrease of Ca compared to cows with normal birth. In relation to age and severity of birth Pa concentration showed a differing but basically typical course for this electrolyte. Mg, Na, K and Cl concentrations were higher during and immediately after birth compared to p. p. values. Until day 10 p. p. these electrolyte concentrations declined more in older cows with dystocia compared to younger animals. However, the influence of dystocia on concentration of these electrolytes was milder in contrast to Ca and Pa. Conclusions: In summary, primarily older cows are predisposed to imbalances of electrolyte homeostasis intra partum and at the beginning of the lactation. These changes are potentiated in case of complications during parturition. Intravascular Catotal, Caion as well as Pa are most severely affected. Clinical relevance: These results may constitute the basis for a comprehensive metaphylaxis during the peripartal period, especially in cows after dystocia, to positively influence the early convalescence phase.


Ta-Al-N thin films on Si wafer were prepared by RF reactive magnetron sputtering in a N2/Ar ambient. Then the stacked structures of Cu/Ta-Al-N/Si were prepared and annealed at temperatures varied from 400°C to 900°C for 5 minutes in a N2 ambient tube. Four-point probe (FPP) sheet resistance measurement, Atomic force microscope (AFM), Scanning electron microscope(SEM), Alpha-Step IQ Profilers and X-ray Diffraction(XRD) were used to investigate the composition, morphology and the diffusion barrier properties of the thin films. The results show that with the increasing of Al component, the surface of Ta-Al-N thin-films became finer, the sheet resistance became higher, and after annealing at 800°C/300S FA, Cu diffusion through Ta-Al-N barrier didn't not occurred. Results show that Ta-Al-N thin-films could act as diffusion barrier for new generation integrated circuits due to its excellent high temperature properties.


The increasing risks and costs of new product development require firms to collaborate with their supply chain partners in product management. In this paper, a supply chain model is proposed with one risk-neutral supplier and one risk-averse manufacturer. The manufacturer has an opportunity to enhance demand by developing a new product, but both the actual demand for new product and the supplier's wholesale price are uncertain. The supplier has an incentive to share risks of new product development via an advance commitment to wholesale price for its own profit maximization. The effects of the manufacturer's risk sensitivity on the players' optimal strategies are analyzed and the trade-off between innovation incentives and pricing flexibility is investigated from the perspective of the supplier. The results highlight the significant role of risk sensitivity in collaborative new product development, and it is found that the manufacturer's innovation level and retail price are always decreasing in the risk sensitivity, and the supplier prefers commitment to wholesale price only when the risk sensitivity is below a certain threshold.


Background Research has shown that those who have experienced adverse childhood events (ACE) are at increased risk of developing chronic diseases later in life. The relationship between ACE and health service use (HSU) is subject to potential confounding factors including those chronic diseases. Existing evidence is largely based on hospital administrative data, limiting the investigation of other influential predisposing, enabling and need factors. Our aim was to examine the association between ACE and HSU using data from a primary care-based survey. Methods We analysed cross-sectional data from the Mitchelstown study, a population based cohort of people aged 50 to 69 recruited from a large primary care centre (2010/2011). ACE was measured by self-report using the Centre for Disease Control ACE questionnaire. Health service use in the previous 12 months (number of GP consultations and hospital discharges) was extracted from electronic medical records. Negative binomial regression was conducted, adjusting for predisposing (age, sex), enabling (education, social class, having a medical card entitling holder to free GP care) and need factors (multimorbidity: 0, 1 or ≥2 chronic diseases), using Stata 12. Results HSU data were available on 2026 participants (99% of total sample = 2047), 1885 of whom completed the ACE questionnaire. Overall, 23.4% (n = 441, 95% CI: 21–25%) reported a history of ACE. Adjusting for age, sex, education, social class and medical card status, a history of ACE was significantly associated with a higher number of GP consultations (incidence rate ratio, IRR = 1.2, p < 00.001; 95% CI 1.0–1.3). However, the association was not significant when multimorbidity was included in the model (IRR = 1.1, p > 0.05, 95% CI: 1.0–1.2). Significant factors included having a medical card (IRR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.7–2.1), multimorbidity (IRR = 1.9, 95% CI: 1.7–2.2) and third level education (IRR = 0.8. 96% CI = 0.7–0.9). ACE was not significantly associated with number of hospital discharges (IRR = 1.5, p = 0.124, 95% CI: 0.9–2.5). Discussion Adverse childhood experience has been conceptualised as a need factor which may influence health service utilisation. Our results suggest that the impact of ACE on the frequency of GP consultations may be mediated through enabling factors such as free access to services and other need factors such as multimorbidity.


Chris Marshall: Memorial Introduction Donald Edmonds Herbert Jr., or Don to his colleagues and friends, exemplified the "big tent" vision of medical physics, specializing in Applied Statistics and Dynamical Systems theory. He saw, more clearly than most, that "Making models is the difference between doing science and just fooling around [ref Woodworth, 2004]". Don developed an interest in chemistry at school by "reading a book" - a recurring theme in his story. He was awarded a Westinghouse Science scholarship and attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology (later Carnegie Mellon University) where his interest turned to physics and led to a BS in Physics after transfer to Northwestern University. After (voluntary) service in the Navy he earned his MS in Physics from the University of Oklahoma, which led him to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to pursue a PhD. The early death of his wife led him to take a salaried position in the Physics Department of Colorado College in Colorado Springs so as to better care for their young daughter. There, a chance invitation from Dr. Juan del Regato to teach physics to residents at the Penrose Cancer Hospital introduced him to Medical Physics, and he decided to enter the field. He received his PhD from the University of London (UK) under Prof. Joseph Rotblat, where I first met him, and where he taught himself statistics. He returned to Penrose as a clinical medical physicist, also largely self-taught. In 1975 he formalized an evolving interest in statistical analysis as Professor of Radiology and Head of the Division of Physics and Statistics at the College of Medicine of the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL where he remained for the rest of his career. He also served as the first Director of their Bio-Statistics and Epidemiology Core Unit working in part on a sickle-cell disease. After retirement he remained active as Professor Emeritus. Don served for several years as a consultant to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and may be remembered for his critique of the National Academy of Sciences BEIR III report (stating that their methodology "imposes a Delphic quality to the .. risk estimates".) This led to his appointment as a member of the BEIR V committee. Don presented refresher courses at the AAPM, ASTRO and RSNA meetings and was active in the AAPM as a member or chair of several committees. He was the principal author of AAPM Report 43, which is essentially a critique of established clinical studies prior to 1992. He was co-editor of the Proceedings of many symposia on Time, Dose and Fractionation held in Madison, Wisconsin. He received the AAPM lifetime Achievement award in 2004. Don's second wife of 46 years, Ann, predeceased him and he is survived by daughters Hillary and Emily, son John and two grandsons. Don was a true gentleman with a unique and erudite writing style illuminated by pithy quotations. If he had a fault it was, perhaps, that he did not realize how much smarter he was than the rest of us. This presentation draws heavily on a biography and video interview in the History and Heritage section of the AAPM website. The quote is his own. Andrzej Niemierko: Statistical modeling plays an essential role in modern medicine for quantitative evaluation of the effect of treatment. This session will feature an overview of statistical modeling techniques used for analyzing the many types of research data and an exploration of recent advances in new statistical modeling methodologies.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To learn basics of statistical modeling methodology. 2. To discuss statistical models that are frequently used in radiation oncology 3. To discuss advanced modern statistical modeling methods and applications.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce a selection of papers from the 10th Annual European Learning Styles Information Network Conference.Design/methodology/approach – The paper looks at problems, developments in the application of style and potential styles for practice in the area of cognitive and learning styles in education and training practice, with a brief look at the papers within this issue.Findings – The paper finds that each of the papers presented here raises a number of pertinent issues which are significant in the ongoing debate regarding the value of cognitive and learning styles in education and training practice. These are presented in the form of ten key messages.Originality/value – The paper presents a useful insight into the problems, politicisation and potential of learning styles in education and training.


Sixties activist Abbie Hoffman has argued that The Beatles were part of a cultural revolution where the best and popular were, at a particular historical moment, the same, citing the Sgt. Pepper album in particular as a cultural artefact with wide reaching implications (Giuliano and Giuliano, 1995). This is, of course, a contested position, with The Beatles' relationship with the 1960s' counterculture the subject of much debate since, not least in the discussion around Lennon's song Revolution, resulting in written correspondence between Lennon and the London-based underground magazine Black Dwarf, or the debate between Richard Goldstein of The New York Times and Robert Christgau in Esquire on the merits of Sgt. Pepper. In a recent book the author has explored The Beatles' role in changing representations of men and masculinities in the 1960s. The 1960s is, perhaps, the most re-presented decade of recent times, and this article will explore The Beatles' role in reflecting and popularising the values of the counterculture, both at the time and in retrospect. Coser (1965) drew parallels between the new intellectual elite of the 1960s and the court jester of medieval times, a role which allowed for the subversion and ridiculing of the established order of the times, positioned beyond the social hierarchy. Inglis (2000a; 2000b) has developed this concept, presenting The Beatles as men of ideas, constantly associated with changing visual and musical styles and reflecting on intellectualism at work in the new world of popular music. Their role can be characterised as providing a focus, a prism through which to read the social changes of the 1960s, bringing a number of ideas into popular consciousness, magnified through the lens of their position in popular culture at the time. MacDonald (2003:87) saw them as picking up ideas before their competitors: 'above and beyond the ordinary world: ahead of the fame and orchestrating things'. This paper explores this idea in relation to 1960s' counterculture with a particular reference to the impact on men and representations of masculinity in the period. This exploration will take place through a discussion of their 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour, which is, it will be argued, a key countercultural text, much debated but, in retrospect, containing radical and subversive ideas in terms of content and form. Neaverson (1997) sees Magical Mystery Tour as filled with satire and mockery of establishment values, and draws comparisons with surrealist cinema, in particular Dali and Bunuel's Un Chien Andalou. The film also attempts to represent a state of heightened awareness, achieved through the use of psychedelic drugs, and this must also be considered as part of the subversive and counter-hegemonic (Gramsci, 1971) agenda of the film. While Sgt. Pepper is seen by many as the pinnacle of The Beatles' musical achievement, Magical Mystery Tour, generally panned by the critics at the time, represents a key point in The Beatles' transformation from loveable mop-tops to spokesmen for the counterculture (in the public perception), providing a challenge to ideas about men and masculinity within a countercultural context.


8523 Background: Veliparib (V), a PARP inhibitor, may potentiate the antitumor effect of CRT in NSCLC. Methods: Eligibility included newly diagnosed unresectable stage III NSCLC. Patients were randomized to receive concurrent CRT with weekly carboplatin (AUC 2) and paclitaxel (45 mg/m2) with V at 120 mg or placebo (P) twice daily during CRT followed by 2 cycles (every 21 days) of consolidation carboplatin (AUC 6), paclitaxel (200 mg/m2) with V at 80 mg or P (per randomized arm) orally on days 1-7 of each cycle. Progression-free survival (PFS) was the primary endpoint. The accrual goal was 132 patients. Results: The dose-finding study results were previously presented (ASCO 2016;A8537). V 120 mg twice daily was the recommended phase II dose. A total of 31 eligible and evaluable patients were enrolled in the phase II randomized trial: 17 on V and 13 on P (1 patient in the V arm withdrew prior to starting any treatment, thus was not evaluable). The study was closed to accrual early due to the positive results from the PACIFIC trial that changed standard practice. Median follow-up among alive patients was 16 months. During CRT, the following grade (G) 3-4 adverse events (AE) were seen with V vs P: any G3 AE (6 vs 6), any G4 AE (2 vs 3), G3 pneumonitis (0 vs 1), G3 esophagitis (1 vs 1), G3 oral mucositis (1 vs 0), G3 anorexia (1 vs 1), G3 hyponatremia (0 vs 3), G3 anemia (1 vs 0), G3 neutropenia (3 vs 1), G3 thrombocytopenia (1 vs 0), G4 hypoglycemia (0 vs 1). Also, 2 patients per arm had G4 lymphopenia. During consolidation (11 evaluable patients with V; 10 with P), G3 anemia (1 vs 0), G3 anorexia (1 vs 0), G3 weight loss (0 vs 1), G3 dehydration (1 vs 0), G3 dysphagia (2 vs 0), G3 fatigue (1 vs 0), G3 hypomagnesemia (0 vs 1), G3 nausea (1 vs 0), G4 hyperglycemia (0 vs 1), G3-4 neutropenia (3 vs 0), G3 thrombocytopenia (1 vs 0), G3-4 lymphopenia (2 vs 1); a G5 pneumonitis occurred in the P arm. Response rates were 56% (95% CI, 31-78%) and 69% (95% CI, 38-91%) on the V and P arms, respectively. PFS at 1 year was 47% (95% CI, 23% - 68%) with V and 46% (95% CI, 19% - 70%) with P. Overall survival (OS) at 1 year was 89% (95% CI, 61%-97%) with V and 54% (95% CI, 25%-76%) with P. Adding the 6 patients treated at 120 mg in the phase I part, 1-year with V was 91% (95% CI, 69%-98%). Conclusions: V in combination with CRT was tolerable with expected toxicities that relate to the backbone regimen. In the small number of randomized patients there was a suggestion of promising survival with V that may provide rationale for future trials of PARP inhibitors with CRT. Clinical trial information: NCT01386385.


The pathogenesis of pulmonary hypoplasia and congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is unknown. CDH represents a spectrum of lung hypoplasia and consequent pulmonary hypertension (PH) that leads to high morbidity and mortality of patients. We studied neuroendocrine factors and retinoic acid in order to achieve the relation underlying them. At 13.5 days post-conception normal and CDH lungs were cultured in vitro during four days with DMSO, retinoic acid, bombesin, ghrelin, bombesin antagonist and ghrelin antagonist. Morphometric analysis were done after the culture and Western Blot (WB) was performed to quantify the protein levels of retinoic acid receptors (RAR). Immunohistochemestry (IHC) was performed as well on normal, nitrofen and CDH E17.5 lungs. When compared with controls, CDH lungs presented higher expression of RAR in IHC and WB. Moreover in normal lungs after the administration of bombesin and ghrelin the expression of RAR also increases and in case of retinoic acid administration it decreases. Regarding bombesin and ghrelin antagonists administration, RAR expression decreases as it was expected. In terms of morphometry, treated groups showed an increase in branching, perimeter and area. This study, shows for the first time that retinoic acid deficit on CDH lungs is associated with neuroendocrine factors overexpression. Furthermore, neuroendocrine factors such as ghrelin and bombesin sensitise for RAR expression.


Information Technologies (ITs) have revolutionized the tourism industry and altered the competitiveness of organizations and destinations. The rapid development of both tourism supply and demand makes ITs an imperative partner of the industry, especially for the marketing, distribution, promotion and coordination of the industry. In the late 1990s the proliferation of the Internet and the World Wide Web in particular revolutionized communications as it enabled organizations to demonstrate their offerings globally using multimedia interfaces. As a result, most of tourism enterprises and destinations had to readdress their strategic management and marketing and to redesign their practices in order to take advantage of the new tools. In addition, several new organizations emerged to satisfy the emerging demand. This paper examines the paradigm-shift experienced in the industry and illustrates the business reasons for ITs adoption as well as the emerging trends and opportunities. It is contended that organizations which fail to take advantage of the emerging tools will lose market share and perhaps suffer competitive disadvantages.


Abstract:One tends to take for granted that in women's monasteries the only voices raised were those of its masculine directors and preachers. However, while sermons by priests were generally reserved for Sundays and feast days, the abbesses addressed their communities several times a week or even daily. Although the Pauline prohibitions restricted women from speaking on religious topics in public or to mixed groups, within the walls of the convent that was assimilated to the private domain of a household, abbesses exhorted, instructed and rebuked their nuns at chapter meetings or during recreation sessions. Many such talks might have been considered a form of preaching if they had been delivered by abbots in a monastery of men. However, because abbesses of the era generally lacked rhetorical and theological training, they had to content themselves with the informal registers of sacred oratory.


Nobody likes plea bargaining. Scholars worldwide have excoriated the practice, calling it coercive and unjust, among other pejorative adjectives. Despite its unpopularity, plea bargaining constitutes a central component of the American criminal justice system, and the United States has exported the practice to a host of countries worldwide. Indeed, plea bargaining has even appeared at international criminal tribunals, created to prosecute genocide and crimes against humanity: the gravest crimes known to humankind. Although all forms of plea bargaining are unpopular, commentators reserve their harshest criticism for charge bargaining because charge bargaining is said to factually distort the defendant's ultimate conviction. Commentators apply this criticism to charge bargaining whether it is used to obtain guilty pleas for domestic crimes or international crimes. This article shows, however, that the criticisms leveled at domestic charge bargaining have been inappropriately transplanted wholesale to the international context. Through a comprehensive empirical analysis of international criminal indictments and a series of in-depth interviews with international prosecutors, this article shows that international prosecutors routinely charge their defendants with only a subset of their criminal behavior. That is, this article's empirical analysis reveals that international criminal convictions obtained without charge bargaining suffer from the primary flaw afflicting convictions that are obtained as a result of charge bargaining—factual distortion—yet they gain none of the advantages that charge bargaining can provide. This insight necessarily alters our normative assessment of charge bargaining, so this article develops a new normative framework by which to evaluate charge bargaining. Specifically, this article shows that the desirability of charge bargaining in international criminal prosecutions has nothing to do with the contestations surrounding its practice in domestically and almost everything to do with one of the most sharply contested normative controversies in all of international criminal law: the controversy surrounding the appropriate breadth of criminal charging.


Trans politics are gaining visibility and momentum and, increasingly, trans activists are forming projects and organizations focused on promoting political change. Given this context, this article examines how critiques of the nonprofit industrial complex might be incorporated into trans political analysis and how they could inform this moment of trans political institutionalization. Taking tools and lessons from antiracist and feminist scholars and activists and recognizing widespread critique of the co-optation of the lesbian and gay rights movement by neoliberalism, this article highlights alternatives to traditional nonprofit structures. The authors provide an in-depth look at 1 trans organization that employs a collective governance model and encourages the leadership of trans people of color, offering it as a potential model for emerging trans organizations.


Risk and volatility in the form of political issues, natural disasters, terrorism etc., are impending dangers to the normal functioning of today's world. Supply Chains (SCs) are the backbone to societal functions and are heavily affected when such events occur. SC professionals have limited preparedness to deal with disruptions. Shared Situational Awareness (SSA) by means of information sharing, coordination and collaboration among SC partners, can significantly improve the recovery capacity of supply chains from disruptions. To prepare SC professionals for disruptions, a serious game (a tabletop board game) has been developed. The game serves both as an instrument to explore SSA during disruptions and as a training tool for SC practitioners. The paper discusses the design, development and applicability of the serious game based on an SSA framework in multi-stakeholder systems.


Genetic gains in forage yield lag far behind the gains made in grain yield of cereal crops, partly because of the use of ineffi cient selection methods that make little use of additive genetic variance within half-sib or full-sib families. The objectives of this study were (i) to compute expected genetic gains for among-and-withinfamily (AWF) selection methods, (ii) to compare these selection methods to standard family and progeny-test selection methods, and (iii) to defi ne the conditions under which AWF selection methods may be superior to progeny-test selection. Among-and-within-family selection is equal to or better than family selection under all circumstances provided the within-family selection criterion (X or Y) is heritable and has a positive genetic correlation with the desired trait (Y). Among-and-within-family selection is favored over progeny-test selection by (i) high heritability on an individual-plant basis (relative to heritability on a family-mean basis), (ii) withinfamily selection intensity ≥ among-family selection intensity, and (iii) possibly a shorter cycle time (for some species and some breeding programs). These conditions are more frequently achieved for half-sib mating systems due to the greater partitioning of additive genetic variance within families, but AWF selection can also be heavily favored in a full-sib mating system under conditions that are a bit more restrictive.


Visual neural processing is distributed among a multitude of sensory and sensory-motor brain areas exhibiting varying degrees of functional specializations and spatial representational anisotropies. Such diversity raises the question of how perceptual performance is determined, at any one moment in time, during natural active visual behavior. Here, exploiting a known dichotomy between the primary visual cortex and superior colliculus in representing either the upper or lower visual fields, we asked whether peri-saccadic orientation identification performance is dominated by one or the other spatial anisotropy. Humans (48 participants, 29 females) reported the orientation of peri-saccadic upper visual field stimuli significantly better than lower visual field stimuli, unlike their performance during steady-state gaze fixation, and contrary to expected perceptual superiority in the lower visual field in the absence of saccades. Consistent with this, peri-saccadic superior colliculus visual neural responses in two male rhesus macaque monkeys were also significantly stronger in the upper visual field than in the lower visual field. Thus, peri-saccadic orientation identification performance is more in line with oculomotor, rather than visual, map spatial anisotropies. Significance statement Different brain areas respond to visual stimulation, but they differ in the degrees of functional specializations and spatial anisotropies that they exhibit. For example, the superior colliculus both responds to visual stimulation, like the primary visual cortex, and controls oculomotor behavior. Compared to the primary visual cortex, the superior colliculus exhibits an opposite pattern of upper/lower visual field anisotropy, being more sensitive to the upper visual field. Here, we show that human peri-saccadic orientation identification performance is better in the upper compared to the lower visual field. Consistent with this, monkey superior colliculus visual neural responses to peri-saccadic stimuli follow a similar pattern. Our results indicate that peri-saccadic perceptual performance reflects oculomotor, rather than visual, map spatial anisotropies.


The understanding of the physical properties of reservoir fluids such as viscous and interfacial forces is critical in many oil and gas, petrochemical, and other related industries. In oil and gas industry, the production, transportation and processing of hydrocarbon fluids involve dealing with the multiphase system. Viscosity and interfacial tension (IFT) are among the fluid properties that affect fluid behaviour. These properties have significant effects on fluid flow characteristics, and thus their importance in oil and gas production and processing aspects from the reservoir to other surface facilities. Hence accurate determination of these fluid properties plays a vital role in predicting multiphase flow and managing associated problems faced by the industry such as hydrates, scale and corrosion. Surfactants are added along the line, to prevent hydrate formation, by depressing the formation temperature, and transport it as a hydrate slurry when formed to avoid pipe blockages. While significant research has been conducted in reservoir conditions, but Pipeline system, the presence of salt and polymer-surfactants which tend to alter the IFT behaviour has not been well studied.
This study investigates methane/water interfacial tension experimentally in the presence of salt (NaCl) and polymer-surfactants (PEG 8000-SDS) at operating conditions suitable for upstream and midstream industry application. Also, experimental investigation of pH, resistivity, conductivity, viscosity and density of the liquid phase (brine + polymer-surfactant) was conducted to characterises the liquid phase.
The results show that the electrical resistivity and conductivity depend significantly on the ionic concentration of NaCl presents. Resistivity decreases with increasing NaCl concentration from 0.22 Ω-m at 2.9 wt% NaCl to 0.075 Ω-m at 10.7wt% NaCl, which shows the possibility of corroding the pipe in the case of the pipeline system. The electrical conductivity measured shows an increase with increasing the concentration of NaCl from 4.55 to 13.33 S/m at 2.9 wt% and 10.7 wt% NaCl respectively. This increase in conductivity affirmed the strength of ionic concentration in the system, which could cause scaling and corrosion in the system. High electrical conductivity in the system also signifies a potentially harmful accumulation of solids in cooling towers. Conductivity was also investigated as a function of temperature. The results show that in all the concentration of NaCl studied, increasing temperature (298.15, 303.15, 308.15 and 313.15 K) led to a corresponding average increase in 0.74 S/m in the values of conductivity which shows an increase in ionisation. Results obtained also show that NaCl concentration affects the pH of the solution. The pH value was observed to increase from 6.5 to ≈ 7.0 at 8.2 wt% NaCl and 40 wt% PEG 8000 and decreases at 10.7 wt% NaCl at same PEG 8000 concentration to ≈ 6.9. Knowing the electrical resistivity, conductivity and pH of the aqueous solutions, it is critical to accurately determine the viscosity of the solution as it determines the fluid flow and much other application.
The viscosity of PEG 8000 and SDS solution were presented at 298.15 – 313.15 K. The shear stress obtained at 10 – 40 wt% PEG 8000 was found to increased from 0.14 Pa at 28.1 s-1 to 7.6 Pa at 340.5 s-1 indicating Newtonian fluid behaviour. While the apparent viscosity curve obtained, show that the viscosity increased from 3.7 cP at 10 wt% PEG 8000 to 58.1 cP at 40 wt% PEG 8000. However, at each concentration, the viscosity was found to be decreasing with an increase in shear rate.
Results on interfacial tension at two-phase involving methane and water shows that the IFT is a function of pressure, temperature, salinity, and surfactant/polymer. Both increase in pressure and temperature decreases the IFT working at CH4-H2O. Presences of 2.9, 5.6, 8.2 and 10.7 wt% NaCl resulted in an average rise of 1.46, 2.57, 3.51 and 4.24 mN.m-1 respectively, in IFT. This increase in IFT due to presence of NaCl signifies the formation of corrosion in to the pipeline. Further, active presence of PEG 8000 and SDS reduces the IFT, with critical micelle-like behaviour observed at 30 and 40 wt% PEG 8000 and with more significant effect with the addition of 0.5 wt% SDS. Therefore, these percentage could be a good combination in hydrate prevention along the pipeline. Some of the results obtained were evaluated against independent experimental data gathered from open sources to validate the method and IFT data at the methane-water interface as a function of PEG 8000, and PEG 8000 + SDS were here reported for the first time.


The synthesis of enantiomerically pure aluminium, gallium and indium complexes supported by chiral (R,R)-((HH)ONNO(HH)) (1), (R,R)-((MeH)ONNO(HMe)) (2), (R,R)-((tButBu)ONNO(tButBu)) (3), (R,R)-((MeNO2)ONNO(MeNO2)) (4), (R,R)-((HOMe)ONNO(HOMe)) (5) and (R,R)-((ClCl)ONNO(ClCl)) (6) (1,2)-diphenylethylene-salen ligands is described. Several of these complexes have been crystallographically authenticated, which highlights a diversity of coordination patterns. Whereas all Ga complexes form [Ga2(CH2SiMe3)4(ONNO)] bimetallic species (ONNO = 1-3), aluminium [AlR(ONNO)] (R = Me, CH2SiMe3) and indium [In(CH2SiMe3)(ONNO)] derivatives are monometallic for ONNO = 1, 2 and 4-6, and only form the bimetallic complexes [Al2R4(ONNO)] and [In2(CH2SiMe3)4(ONNO)] for the most sterically crowded ligand 3. The [AlMe(ONNO)] complexes react with iPrOH to give [AlOiPr(ONNO)] complexes that are robust towards further iPrOH. The [In(CH2SiMe3)(ONNO)] congeners are inert towards excess alcohol, whereas the Ga compounds decompose easily. All these alkyl complexes, as well as the [AlOiPr(ONNO)] derivatives, catalyse the ring-opening polymerisation (ROP) of racemic lactide (rac-LA). The [AlMe(ONNO)] complexes require additional alcohol to afford controlled reactions, but [AlOiPr(ONNO)] complexes are single-component catalysts for the isoselective ROP of rac-LA, with values of Pm in the range 0.80-0.90. Experimental evidence unexpectedly shows that chain-end control leads to the isoselectivity of these aluminium catalysts; also, the more crowded the coordination sphere, the higher the isoselectivity. The bimetallic Ga complexes do not afford controlled reactions, but the binary [In(ONNO)(CH2SiMe3)/(PhCH2OH)] systems competently mediate non-stereoselective ROP; evidence is given that an activated monomer mechanism is at work. Kinetic studies show that catalytic activity decreases when electronic density and steric congestion at the metal atom increase.


Teaching English to Engineers is part of English for Specific Purposes, a domain which is under the attention of English students especially under the current conditions of finding jobs and establishing partnerships outside Romania. The paper will analyse the existing textbooks together with the teaching strategies they adopt. Teaching English to Engineering students can intersect with domains such as psychology and cultural studies in order to teach them efficiently. Textbooks for students of ESP, ranging from those at the Faculty of Economics to those at the Faculty of Engineers, have shifted away from using specialized vocabulary, drills for grammar and reading comprehension questions and toward communicative methods and the practical use of language. At present, in Romania, grammar is neglected in favour of communicative methods. The current interest in translation studies may indicate a return to this type of method, since only translation specialists can distinguish among specialized terms and determine which are most suitable in a translation. Engineers are currently encouraged to learn English in order to do their own translations in their own field. This paper will analyse the issue of the extent to which it is useful to teach Engineering students to do translations in their field using cognitive psychology applied to language teaching, including issues such as motivation and social psychology. Teaching general English to engineering students can result in lack of interest, but they can be motivated by practical aspects which will help them in their field. This is why this paper needs to take into account an interdisciplinary approach to teaching English to Engineers. Keywords—Cognition, ESP, motivation, psychology.


Widespread access to the Internet has led to the formation of geographically dispersed scientific communities collaborating through the network. The tools supporting such collaboration currently are based primarily on electronic mail through mailing list servers, and access to archives of research reports through ftp, gopher and world wide web. However, electronic communication can support the knowledge processes of scientific communities more directly through overtly represented knowledge structures. This paper describes some experiments in the use of knowledge acquisition (KA) and representation (KR) tools to define and analyze major policy and technical issues in an international research community responsible for one of the test cases in the Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) research program. It is concluded that distributed knowledge support systems in routine use by world-class scientific communities collaborating through the Internet will provide a major impetus to artificial intelligence research.


ABSTRACT A delayed inflammatory response is a prominent feature of infection with Yersinia pestis, the agent of bubonic and pneumonic plague. Using a rat model of bubonic plague, we examined lymph node histopathology, transcriptome, and extracellular cytokine levels to broadly characterize the kinetics and extent of the host response to Y. pestis and how it is influenced by the Yersinia virulence plasmid (pYV). Remarkably, dissemination and multiplication of wild-type Y. pestis during the bubonic stage of disease did not induce any detectable gene expression or cytokine response by host lymph node cells in the developing bubo. Only after systemic spread had led to terminal septicemic plague was a transcriptomic response detected, which included upregulation of several cytokine, chemokine, and other immune response genes. Although an initial intracellular phase of Y. pestis infection has been postulated, a Th1-type cytokine response associated with classical activation of macrophages was not observed during the bubonic stage of disease. However, elevated levels of interleukin-17 (IL-17) were present in infected lymph nodes. In the absence of pYV, sustained recruitment to the lymph node of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN, or neutrophils), the major IL-17 effector cells, correlated with clearance of infection. Thus, the ability to counteract a PMN response in the lymph node appears to be a major in vivo function of the Y. pestis virulence plasmid.


This presentation is for teacher educators and K12 teachers who would like to integrate global education, 21 st Century skills and new media in education, this paper outlines my experiences as a Fulbright Scholar teaching multicultural education, media literacy and educational technology in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan; offers creative strategies for producing media with youth; and showcases their projects and digital stories from Central Asia. The research participants deconstructed and assessed the national and local curriculum and standards; presented their curriculum projects such as video documentaries reflecting not only on their stories but also international issues and perspectives through their online contact to global community and documented their stories in order to articulate the realities of conditions in schools through their research, analysis, and dialog. Through the discovery process, the participants explored, designed, and created the strategies, curricula, and programs for improving student outcomes, also the candidates gained alternative point of view on their subject fields and renewed interest and commitment to socially responsible teaching.


The earliest electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) equipment was surprisingly advanced in its characteristics. Designed by some of the leading clinical scientists of the day in conjunction with creative engineering entrepreneurs, many devices contained features as advanced as are now in contemporary devices. A review of the development of ECT devices is of historical interest and it offers a fresh glimpse into technical issues that occupy recent interest.


: A new class of mutations is described which induce mucoid growth of Escherichia coli K-12. Unlike classical capR and capS mutations, the mucoid phenotype of colonies of the cap forms obtained is determined by mutations in genomes of thermosensitive plasmids pEG1 and RP1-6Repts12, derivates of the RP1 Inc P1 Ap Tc Km factor and accompanied by a complete or partial loss of the thermosensitive character of maintenance. The morphological character induced by plasmids is not associated with changes in the sensitivity of bacteria to UV irradiation and is determined by superproduction of capsular polysaccharide differing in the chemical structure from colanic acid, a common capsular polysaccharide of E. coli K-12.


With an average survival rate of 95%, the endosseous dental implant is one of the most successful and predictable innovations in modern dentistry. The factors contributing to the success, and failure, of dental implants are now well-established [1-6] and include the oral and systemic health of the patient, patient age, implant type, implant surface, implant length, bone type, surgical site (mandible or maxilla), type of surgery (one- or two-stage) and immediate (fresh socket) or delayed implant placement. Other important aspects regarding the success of an implant include the skill, experience and, apparently gender, of the surgeon [7]. Early implant failures, a prevalence of about 5.6%, most often is observed in edentulous upper jaws, notably with implants having a turned surface. There is some controversy as to whether pre- and post-operative antibiotic coverage is needed, but overall antibiotic therapy can be helpful but apparently is only essential when infection is present.