The therapy of anovulatory infertility is not meant to obtain a pregnancy at any cost, but to restore an ovulation as physiological as possible. This involves the use of drugs and therapeutical protocols to obtain monofollicular cycles. Monofollicularity reduces the two main risks of induction of ovulation: ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and multiple pregnancy. The aim of this study is a review of the Literature on ovulation induction and a comparison with the data of our Sterility Service. The importance of the question will be examined together with the most used ovulation induction drugs: clomiphene citrate, gonadotrophins and pulsatile GnRH. The parameters considered are: the number of follicles, single or multiple pregnancies and ovarian hyperstimulation. After a review about ovarian stimulation, the results of our Sterility Service are presented: 364 cycles of ovulation induction with clomiphene citrate, low-dose gonadotrophins or pulsatile GnRH were monitored; monofollicularity was obtained in 58,48% of ovulatory cycles. Differences between drugs will be described in the text. The therapy of anovulatory infertility aims to restore a physiological ovulation and to obtain a single pregnancy, not a pregnancy at any cost.


The hindcast of shifts in the geographical ranges of species as estimated by ecological niche modelling (ENM) has been coupled with phylogeographical patterns, allowing the inference of past processes that drove population differentiation and genetic variability. However, more recently, some studies have suggested that maps of environmental suitability estimated by ENM may be correlated to species' abundance, raising the possibility of using environmental suitability to infer processes related to population demographic dynamics and genetic variability. In both cases, one of the main problems is that there is a wide variation in ENM development methods and climatic models. In this study, we analyse the relationship between heterozygosity (He) and environmental suitability from multiple ENMs for 25 population estimates for Dipteryx alata, a widely distributed, endemic tree species of the Cerrado region of central Brazil. We propose a new approach for generating a statistical distribution of correlations under randomly generated ENM. The confidence intervals from these distributions indicate how model selection with different properties affects the ability to detect a correlation of interest (e.g. the correlation between He and suitability). Additionally, our approach allows us to explore which particular ensemble of ENMs produces the better result for finding an association between environmental suitability and He. Caution is necessary when choosing a method or a climatic data set for modelling geographical distributions, but the new approach proposed here provides a conservative way to evaluate the ability of ensembles to detect patterns of interest.


In his edition and translation of the monastic rules of Shenoute (Canons of Our Fathers: Monastic Rules of Shenoute, 2014), Bentley Layton included chapters summarizing evidence for the organization of the communities that comprised the White Monastery Federation. The federation included a central men's monastery (White Monastery), a smaller men's community to the north (Red Monastery), and a women's community near Atripe. In this book, Layton also published a translation of the Naples fragment, which narrates the founding of the Red Monastery by Pshoi, who was guided by rules formulated by Pcol for the use of the White Monastery. Biblical language and themes in the Naples fragment, including vocabulary from Sirach and imagery from Exodus, shape a master narrative of the monastery as the "encampment of God." Greek loanwords such as parembole and cynapope, and Old Testament passages in which they are used, appear in some of the works of Shenoute and in the Naples fragment. The White Monastery Federation as a camp that must be kept pure, comparable to the camp of the Israelites on the way to the Promised Land, thus contrasts with the Pachomian Federation, in which koinonia (fellowship or communion) expresses group identity.


The development of macroprudential policy tools has been one of the most significant changes in banking regulation in recent years. In this multi-study initiative of the International Banking Research Network (IBRN), researchers from 15 central banks and 2 international organizations use micro-banking data in conjunction with a novel dataset of prudential instruments to study international spillovers of prudential policy changes for bank lending growth. The collective analysis has three main findings. First, prudential instrument effects sometimes spill over across borders through bank lending. Second, international spillovers vary across prudential instruments and are heterogeneous across banks. Bank-specific factors like balance sheet conditions and business models drive the amplitude and direction of spillovers to lending growth rates. Third, international spillovers of prudential policy on loan growth rates have not been large on average. However, our results tend to underestimate the full effect by focusing on adjustment along the intensive margin and by analyzing a period in which relatively few countries implemented country-specific macroprudential policies.


Terminal differentiation of keratinocytes of avian apteric epidermis occurs with the accumulation of little keratin and much lipids so that a soft and elastic corneous layer is produced. The distribution of keratins and some proteins associated with cornification has been studied in crocodilian scales, in ratite and zebrafinch apteric epidermis by means of light and ultrastructural immunocytochemistry. Soft (alpha)keratinization in apteric epidermis of birds resembled the process occurring in hinge regions of crocodilian scales where the stratum corneum was thin and beta(hard)-keratin disappeared. Acidic and basic alpha-keratins were seen in living pre-corneous layers. Instead, keratins typical for cornification, loricrine, transglutaminase, and sometimes filaggrin-like immunoreactivities, were present in the transitional and lowermost corneous layer of crocodilian hinge and apteric avian epidermis. Trichohyalin, involucrin, and iso-peptide bond immunoreactivities were absent. Loricrine-like and transglutaminase labelling were generally absent in the corneous layer, but were weakly present among keratin bundles and lipids in the transitional layer of apteric epidermis. Transglutaminase immunolabelling was present in condensing nuclear chromatin of transitional corneocytes of apteric epidermis, suggesting that these cells undergo terminal differentiation or even apoptosis. Sulfydryl groups in keratins, or specific sulfur-rich proteins of loricrin-type, were scarce in apteric epidermis. This suggests that the cornified cell envelope of avian keratinocytes is more simplified than that of mammalian keratinocytes. In the latter, numerous proteins concentrate along the corneous cell envelope to enhance mechanical and chemical resistance of the stratum corneum. This mechanism probably is more simplified in apteric epidermis of birds, and the mechanical protection of the epidermis is taken over by the plumage, while apteric epidermis has mainly a role as barrier against water loss. It is speculated that avian interfollicular and apteric epidermis has evolved from interscale hinge regions of proto-avian archosaurian ancestors.


Predictions of heavy quark parameters are an integral component of precision tests of the Standard Model of particle physics. Experimental measurements of electroweak processes involving heavy hadrons provide stringent tests of Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix unitarity and serve as a probe of new physics. Hadronic matrix elements parameterise the strong dynamics of these interactions and these matrix elements must be calculated nonperturbatively. Lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD) provides the framework for nonperturbative calculations of QCD processes. Current lattices are too coarse to directly simulate b quarks. Therefore an effective theory, nonrelativistic QCD (NRQCD), is used to discretise the heavy quarks. High precision simulations are required so systematic uncertainties are removed by improving the NRQCD action. Precise simulations also require improved sea quark actions, such as the highly-improved staggered quark (HISQ) action. The renormalisation parameters of these actions cannot be feasibly determined by hand and thus automated procedures have been developed. In this dissertation I apply automated lattice pertubartion theory to a number of heavy quark calculations. I first review the fundamentals of lattice QCD and the construction of lattice NRQCD. I then motivate and discuss lattice perturbation theory in detail, focussing on the tools and techniques that I use in this dissertation. I calculate the two-loop tadpole improvement factors for improved gluons with improved light quarks. I then compute the renormalisation parameters of NRQCD. I use a mix of analytic and numerical methods to extract the one-loop radiative corrections to the higher order kinetic operators in the NRQCD action. I then employ a fully automated procedure to calculate the heavy quark energy shift at two-loops. I use this result to extract a new prediction of the mass of the b quark from lattice NRQCD simulations by the HPQCD collaboration. I also review the calculation of the radiative corrections to the chromo-magnetic operator in the NRQCD action. This computation is the first outcome of our implementation of background field gauge for automated lattice perturbation theory. Finally, I calculate the heavy-light currents for highly-improved NRQCD heavy quarks with massless HISQ light quarks and discuss the application of these results to nonperturbative studies by the HPQCD collaboration.


The idea of design and building the Educational Multifunctional Electronic
Robotic Kit (E.M.E.R.K) as teaching aids is to enhanced the process of teaching and
learning easily and practically for each subtopic in the introduction to robotic topic of
Electrical and Electronic Engineering Studies Form 5 subject in Technical Secondary
School. The produce of this kit can be seen as the initiative to enhance activities based on
hands on method of teaching and learning. The purpose of this project is to build a
teaching aid called the Educational Multifunctional Electronic Robotic Kit (E.M.E.R.K)
that can help and motivate students toward learning the introduction to robotic topic
during the lesson in class. Secondly, it is to evaluate the design of the robotic kit and
furthermore to test the functionality of this educational robotic kit. Moreover, with the
complete and explicit content of lab sheets on how the robot and the programming of
PLC works, it can help teachers deliver the process of teaching and learning in the
systematic way. In the process of designing kit, researcher selected the ADDIE Model as
the elements towards developing product design that contain analysis phase, design
phase, development phase, implementation phase and evaluation phase. The effectiveness
of using E.M.E.R.K is tested toward teacher that teach PLC topic in Technical Secondary
School with the teacher test using it along with answering questionnaire. The results and
feedback are positive and teacher loves using it and it actually help them in the process of
teaching and learning. As a conclusion, E.M.E.R.K that involve PLC and robotics
successfully developed and built as a teaching kit to help the process of teaching and
learning for teachers and students for the topic introduction to robotic in the Electrical
and Electronic Engineering Studies subject.


Pathological claw formations occur subsequent to irregular or prolonged claw trimming periods and as a result of improper flooring. Clinical experience and material testing finds horn of minor quality to be associated with the malformations. Finite element models (FEM) of a flat claw (FC), a contracted claw (CC), and a laminitic claw (LC) were designed from native claw specimens to combine material properties and altered claw geometry for stress analysis. The FEM were created by digitizing the typically deformed exungulated claw capsule by means of computed tomography or digital photography. The derived geometry data were meshed with finite elements and the material properties were attributed. Loading was performed via vertical load vectors according to the suspensory and support apparatus of the bovine digit. All FEM were loaded on soft floors. Loading of the FEM of the FC with 756 N exhibited maximum stress values of 3.32 MPa in the dorsal wall, that of the CC exhibited comparably lower stress of 1.33 MPa in the distal abaxial wall, and the model of the LC showed maximum stress of 4.51 MPa in the region of the dorsal border, all at the same loading. The solar surfaces and the corresponding imprints showed stress concentrations in the palmar aspect of the bulb in the FC, a highly stressed bearing margin of the abaxial wall in the CC, and a diffusely stressed sole and bulb in the LC in contrast to the sound claw models. The FEM of the selected pathological claw forms (FC, CC, LC) calculated high stress zones exactly at locations in the claw wall and sole where clinical experts expect the typical claw lesions for these pathologies. These results were obtained simply by exchanging the outer form of the claw capsules; the method of loading and type of flooring for these pathological models were equivalent to those of the sound FEM. It is highly possible that the stress zones derived from these calculations represent corium compression in reality, and these data support the pathophysiological theory that claw lesions may arise as a consequence thereof.


The question "what is a good tax?" has been addressed many times in the past. While much optimal taxation research focuses on economic effects of taxation, the purpose of this study is to add a new dimension by investigating the relationship between tax system variables and certain aspects of social welfare other than traditional economic variables. To that end, relationships between four dimensions of a country's tax and transfer system – (i) progressivity, (ii) overall tax burden, (iii) income tax reliance (i.e., the proportion of total tax revenues from income taxes), and (iv) residual tax burden (i.e., overall tax burden net of income taxes) – and three dependent variables – (i) income inequality, (ii) poverty, and (iii) collective happiness – are examined. These correlations are tested using data from North America, Europe, and Australia. Previous studies have shown that, on average, Americans feel less negatively about inequality and poverty than Europeans. If these beliefs affect the design of the respective tax and transfer systems, differences in effects of tax system variables on income inequality, poverty, and collective happiness are probable. Specifically, tax system progressivity and overall tax burden are expected to impact income inequality, poverty, and collective happiness less in the United States than in Europe. Consequently, this study also examines the differences in the impact of tax system variables on income inequality, poverty, and collective happiness across tax and transfer systems in the United States and in Europe. The results show that progressivity and overall tax burden appear to be negatively correlated with income inequality and with poverty. Furthermore, the redistributive and poverty-reducing effect of transfer progressivity – defined as the reduction of income inequality due to transfers – appears to be much more important than the effect of tax progressivity – defined as the redistribution of income due to taxes –, suggesting that, for tax policy decisions, it is essential to take the entire tax and transfer system, i.e., government revenues and expenditures, into consideration. Moreover, this study provides evidence that some tax system variables (i.e., overall tax incidence and income tax reliance) are positively associated with collective happiness indicating that a high tax burden does not necessarily impact human well-being in a negative way. Contrary to expectations, only few differences in effects between United States tax system variables and European tax system variables were found. This is surprising since the United States and European tax and transfer systems differ significantly from each other in every dimension addressed in this study.


This paper discusses the notion of "Islamic Protestantism" as a vehicle to create a face of democratic and pluralistic Islam. Drawing from the works of some prominent Muslim reformists and Western scholars, it addresses in some parts the works of Indonesian scholars. The choice of democracy and pluralism as a main focus in this paper is based on the fact that these two issues, representing the basic ideological doctrines in the ever-increasing globalized world, are not only fundamental doctrines of modern Western political philosophy but also now primary concerns of modern Islamic political thought. Inspired by the Christian Reformation, this piece tries to promote an idea of "Islamic Protestantism" by applying deconstruction and socio-historical approach as methods to understand Islamic discourses, texts, and history.


Event-triggered and self-triggered control, in which the time of update to the controls is based on either current or outdated sampled data, have recently been employed to reduce the computational load or resource consumption for distributed real-time control systems. In this work, we propose a self-triggered scheme for nonlinear controlled stochastic differential equations with additive noise terms. A self-triggering update condition is derived that guarantees stability in the p-th moment of the state distribution. We show that the length of the times between controller updates as computed from the proposed scheme is strictly positive and provide examples.


Acrodynia, a rare disorder, is a form of chronic mercury poisoning. We report two siblings who developed the classic clinical picture of acrodynia. A 41⁄2 year old boy was admitted with dysuria, general weakness, and loss of appetite. He had hypertension (140/95 mm Hg) and tachycardia (141 beats/min). He was irritable and depressed, and had a diffuse itching papular rash with palmar erythema and superficial desquamation (fig 1). Initial evaluation revealed a normal complete blood count and a normal blood chemistry. Urine analysis and complement levels were normal. Vanillymandelic acid in a 24 hour urine collection was 22.2 μmol/day. Duplex scan of the renal arteries, abdominal ultrasound, and computerised tomography (CT) of the chest and abdomen, were all normal. Heart echocardiography showed mild hypertrophy of the myocardium. TSH was 5.53 mU/l, and free thyroxine 24.45 pmol/l. A brain CT scan revealed a point calcification at the right caudate nucleus and several bilateral areas of low density in the white matter. EEG was normal. A successive complete blood count revealed haemoconcentration (haemoglobin 165 g/l and haematocrit 48.1%). After eight days, the patient's 6 year old brother was admitted with general weakness, pain in his lower extremities, and a diffuse itching papular rash with palmar erythema and superficial desquamation. He was hypertensive (126/87 mm Hg) and tachycardic (140 beats/min). Due to the fact that both siblings presented, at the same time, with more or less the same complaints and physical findings, it was suspected that their condition may have been the result of an environmental exposure. It was discovered that three months previously, the children had played with a broken sphygmomanometer for a few weeks. Urine mercury level for patient 1 was 158 μg/g creatinine and for patient 2, 113 μg/g creatinine. Urine mercury level for patient 1, after a dose of captopril (chelating agent), was 214 μg/g creatinine. Chelation was initiated with dimercaptosuccinic acid for a 19 day course. Two weeks later, symptoms had almost resolved and the rash disappeared. A month later, blood pressure and heart rate had returned to normal. Torres and colleagues published a review of eight cases of acrodynia. In all these cases, and in ours, the physicians first thought of phaeochromocytoma. Mercury inactivates an enzyme that participates in the breakdown of catecholamines, and therefore their concentrations increase, stimulating a phaeochromocytoma like syndrome. Torres and colleagues also reported that in two of the patients reviewed, haemoconcentration was observed, most probably due to intravascular and extracellular volume depletion. This was also found in our patients. The brain CT findings of low density in the white matter, in patient 1, were not specific. Neurological examination was normal apart from mental changes that are common in acrodynia. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that abnormalities in brain CT have been described in acrodynia. In summary, acrodynia, although rare, should be considered in every child presenting with hypertension, tachycardia, mental changes, and cutaneous manifestations. This case emphasises the fact that good history taking is an essential element in even the most puzzling clinical pictures.


Methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a dangerous microorganism, and creates serious medical problems. It causes many types of infections in humans and often acquires multi‐drug resistance. In this study, silibinin was evaluated against 20 clinical isolates of MRSA, either alone or in combination with ampicillin or oxacillin, using a checkerboard assay. The silibinin exhibited good activity against isolates of MRSA, and MRSA ATCC33952 and MSSA ATCC25923, with minimum inhibitory concentrations/minimum bactericidal concentrations (MICs/MBCs) ranging between 2–8/4–16 μg/mL, for ampicillin 2–1024/2–2048 μg/mL, and for oxacillin 0.25–32/0.5–64 μg/mL. The range of MIC50 and MIC90 were 0.5–4 μg/mL and 2–8 μg/mL, respectively. The MICs/MBCs for the combination of silibinin plus oxacillin or ampicillin were reduced by ≥4‐fold against the MRSA isolates tested, demonstrating a synergistic effect, as defined by a fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI) of ≤0.5. Furthermore, a time‐kill study evaluating the growth of the tested bacteria showed that growth was completely attenuated after 2–5 h of treatment with the 1/2 MIC of silibinin, regardless of whether it was administered alone or with oxacillin (1/2 MIC) or ampicillin (1/2 MIC). In conclusion, silibinin exerted synergistic effects when administered with oxacillin or ampicillin and the antibacterial activity and resistant regulation of silibinin against clinical isolates of MRSA might be useful in controlling MRSA infections.


The growth and survival of two strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated during food-borne gastroenteritis outbreaks in Japan and surface inoculated on cooked shrimp, shrimp with sauce, or cooked crab were tested at various refrigeration temperatures during a 48-h holding period. On cooked shrimp and crab, the vibrios grew well at 18.3 C, but their numbers declined gradually at 10 C and below. At 12.8 C, vibrios remained static for the most part. Thus, it appeared that 12.8 C was the borderline temperature for growth of the organism on cooked seafood. When cocktail sauce was added to surface-inoculated shrimp at a ratio of 2:1, the vibrio die-off rate was accelerated. In the shrimp and sauce few cells remained after 48 h, but in the sauce alone die-off was complete at 6 h.


A structured polymer solar cell architecture featuring a large interface between donor and acceptor with connecting paths to the respective electrodes is explored. To this end, poly‐(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT) nanorods oriented perpendicularly to indium tin oxide (ITO) glass are fabricated using an anodic aluminum oxide template. It is found that the P3HT chains in bulk films or nanorods are oriented differently; perpendicular or parallel to the ITO substrate, respectively. Such chain alignment of the P3HT nanorods enhanced the electrical conductivity up to tenfold compared with planar P3HT films. Furthermore, the donor/acceptor contact area could be maximised using P3HT nanorods as donor and C60 as acceptor. In a photovoltaic device employing this structure, remarkable photoluminescence quenching (88%) and a seven‐fold efficiency increase (relative to a device with a planar bilayer) are achieved.


Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are becoming increasingly popular with the advent of the Internet of things (IoT). Various real-world applications of WSNs such as in smart grids, smart farming and smart health would require a potential deployment of thousands or maybe hundreds of thousands of sensor nodes/actuators. To ensure proper working order and network efficiency of such a network of sensor nodes, an effective WSN management system has to be integrated. However, the inherent challenges of WSNs such as sensor/actuator heterogeneity, application dependency and resource constraints have led to challenges in implementing effective traditional WSN management. This difficulty in management increases as the WSN becomes larger. Software Defined Networking (SDN) provides a promising solution in flexible management WSNs by allowing the separation of the control logic from the sensor nodes/actuators. The advantage with this SDN-based management in WSNs is that it enables centralized control of the entire WSN making it simpler to deploy network-wide management protocols and applications on demand. This paper highlights some of the recent work on traditional WSN management in brief and reviews SDN-based management techniques for WSNs in greater detail while drawing attention to the advantages that SDN brings to traditional WSN management. This paper also investigates open research challenges in coming up with mechanisms for flexible and easier SDN-based WSN configuration and management.


This guide covers the development of skills foresights, scenarios and skills forecasts, and aims to support setting up skills forecasting systems at national level by means of quantitative and/or qualitative approaches. The guide is built on a number of experiences and case studies in both developed and developing countries. It proposes a set of instruments devised to help guide new initiatives in this area.
The guide is intended specifically for countries that are starting to develop systems of skill needs anticipation. It provides information for sponsors and implementers of skill needs anticipation initiatives, such as policy-makers, education and training providers, public employment services, social partners and research and specialist organisations.


Infrared multiple photon (IRMP) photochemical activation of gas-phase ions trapped in an ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) spectrometer has been used to study the mechanism of a gas-phase negative ion unimolecular decomposition. Upon irradiation with a CO/sub 2/ laser (both high-power pulsed and low-power continuous wave (CW)), tert-butoxide anion, trapped in a pulsed ICR spectrometer, decomposes to yield acetone enolate anion and methane. The mechanism of this formal 1,2-elimination reaction was probed by measuring competitive hydrogen isotope effects (both primary and secondary) in the IR laser photolysis of 2-methyl-2-propoxide-1,1,1-d/sub 3/ (1) and 2-methyl-2-propoxide-1,1,1,3,3,3-d/sub 6/ (2) anions. Unusually large secondary isotope effects (pulsed laser, 1.9 for 1 and 1.7 for 2; cw laser, 8 for (1) and small primary isotope effects (pulsed laser, 1.6 for 1 and 2; cw laser, 2.0 for (1) were observed. These isotope effects, particularly the large difference in energy dependence of the primary and secondary effects, are consistent only with a stepwise mechanism involving initial bond cleavage to an intermediate ion-molecular complex followed by a hydrogen transfer within the intermediate complex. The observed secondary isotope effect have been modelled by using statistical reaction rate (RRKM) theory. The implications of this study for several previously reported unimolecular ionmore » decompositions are also discussed.« less


Experts have called for more funding for research into care at the end of life and have urged close scrutiny of the "increasing" number of deaths in care homes.

John Ellershaw, director of the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute, Liverpool, said that more research was needed as part of the effort to resolve the "unacceptable variation" across the country in the quality of end of life care.

For every £100 (€130; $150) spent on cancer research, just 24 pence was spent on research into end of life, around 0.3%, he said. "With this level of funding we will not move forward fast enough, if at all. I would like to see this increased to 10%. It might sound a lot, but with our aging population it is vital."

Ellershaw, who is also a professor of palliative medicine at Liverpool University, was speaking at a …


In this paper, we present the design of an observer of reduced-order used, in cascade, with optimal control to improve the small-signal stability of a multi-machine power system. The limitation of the measurement of all state variables of the system requires the design of reduced-order observer to reconstruct the unavailable part of the state variable vector. The non linear system is first linearized, and then a state space model is constructed. The optimal control is calculated with an interesting method which is briefly presented. The main construction of the observer is illustrated and the observer gain is calculated with the minimization of a quadratic index.


In the era of quality assurance (QA), close scrutiny of assessment practices has been intensified worldwide across the board. However, in the Australian context, trends in QA efforts have not reached the field of modern/foreign languages. This has largely resulted in leaving the establishment of language proficiency benchmarking up to individual institutions and programs of study. This paper discusses the findings of a cross-institutional collaborative research project focused on the comparative analysis and review of assessment practices in the Spanish language majors at the University of Queensland (UQ) and Griffith University (GU), both members of the Brisbane Universities Languages Alliance (BULA). The project had a two-pronged focus; on the one hand, establishing comparable student academic achievement standards, specifically for oral assessment in intermediate level courses; and, on the other hand, providing tools and resources to train teachers (continuing and sessional staff) in consensus moderation (CM) practices through an online platform. The results presented here offer practical pedagogical suggestions to support planning and review of oral assessment, thus contributing to QA management in languages other than English.


Much of the literature on mechanism design and implementation uses the revelation principle to restrict attention to direct mechanisms. This is without loss of generality in a well defined sense. It is, however, restrictive if one is concerned with the set of equilibria, if one is concerned about the size of messages that will be sent, or if one is concerned about privacy. We showed in McLean and Postlewaite (2014) that when agents are informationally small, there exist small modifications to VCG mechanisms in interdependent value problems that restore incentive compatibility. We show here how one can construct a two-stage mechanism that similarly restores incentive compatibility while improving upon the direct one stage mechanism in terms of privacy and the size of messages that must be sent. The first stage essentially elicits that part of the agents' private information that induces interdependence and reveals it to all agents, transforming the interdependent value problem into a private value problem. The second stage is a VCG mechanism for the now private value problem. Agents typically need to transmit substantially less information in the two stage mechanism than would be necessary for a single stage mechanism. Lastly, the first stage that elicits the part of the agents' private information that induces interdependence can be used to transform certain other interdependent value problems into private value problems.


The aim of this paper is the study of the historical development of temporary work. Temporary workers agencies (TWA) appear first at the beginning of the last century in the United States and in the United Kingdom. From the years 1940 on, their fast development carried by large companies of temporary work would be based first of all on the secretarial work needs. Introduced in France during the 1950's, its institutionalization (economic, social, and political recognition as a useful activity ...


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To determine whether a relationship exists between quality of life (QOL) and the sociodemographic characteristics of gender, age, marital status, educational level, occupation, and level of income in patients with cancer in Turkey.

DESIGN
Exploratory study using a convenience sample.

SETTING
Five hospitals in the capital city of Turkey.

SAMPLE
620 patients with cancer (44 inpatients and 576 outpatients).

METHODS
The study was carried out using face-to-face interviews. A questionnaire was used as a tool for collecting data on the sociodemographic characteristics of patients, and the Rolls-Royce Quality-of-Life Scale was employed to measure QOL.

MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES
Gender, age, marital status, educational level, occupation, level of income, and QOL.

FINDINGS
Men, older adults, widowed spouses, patients with lower levels of education, housewives, and those with lower income had lower QOL scores.

CONCLUSIONS
Considering the results and giving the groups referred to in the study priority in the planning of patient care would be useful.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
In the field of nursing in Turkey, a limited number of studies have examined the relationship between the sociodemographic characteristics of patients with cancer and QOL. The results will help nurses assess patient needs and engage in nursing interventions that are appropriate to the needs.


The main objective of this research is to develop an integrated method to study emergent behavior and consequences of evolution and adaptation in engineered complex adaptive systems (ECASs). A multi-layer conceptual framework and modeling approach including behavioral and structural aspects is provided to describe the structure of a class of engineered complex systems and predict their future adaptive patterns. The approach allows the examination of complexity in the structure and the behavior of components as a result of their connections and in relation to their environment. This research describes and uses the major differences of natural complex adaptive systems (CASs) with artificial/engineered CASs to build a framework and platform for ECAS. While this framework focuses on the critical factors of an engineered system, it also enables one to synthetically employ engineering and mathematical models to analyze and measure complexity in such systems. In this way concepts of complex systems science are adapted to management science and system of systems engineering. In particular an integrated consumer-based optimization and agent-based modeling (ABM) platform is presented that enables managers to predict and partially control patterns of behaviors in ECASs. Demonstrated on the U.S. electricity markets, ABM is integrated with normative and subjective decision behavior recommended by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The approach integrates social networks, social science, complexity theory, and diffusion theory. Furthermore, it has unique and significant contribution in exploring and representing concrete managerial insights for ECASs and offering new optimized actions and modeling paradigms in agent-based simulation.


The aims of this study are the quantitative characterisation of the coat colour in the black variety of the Old Kladruber Horse breed, the estimation of the coat colour genetic parameters, and the determination of the factors that influence coat colour intensity. A total of 252 horses aged 1–24 years were included in the study. The colour parameters were taken using a Konica Minolta spectrophotometer CM-2500d at four different body parts during the summer and winter seasons, resulting in 1748 phenotypic records. The possible effects of sex, season, housing system, age and body part on the spectrophotometric parameters were analysed. The results confirmed that the intensity of the black coat colour can be influenced by a number of factors (sex, season, housing system, and age). The mares showed more red and yellow colour compared to the stallions. In the winter season, the horses had a lighter colour with a lower proportion of reddish-brown hairs. Horses kept outdoors, especially in the summer months, had a lighter colour with a higher proportion of red and yellow. Although the age was statistically significant, no specific trend was observed. The differences in colour found between body parts (neck, shoulder, belly, and croup) are in line with current knowledge – reddish fading in the blacks primarily occurs in the belly region. The estimated heritability values suggest possible multifactorial inheritance, especially with regards to the reddish tinge in hairs (h2 = 0.20 to 0.29 according to body part).


Fisher, Landry, and Naumer's 2006 information grounds study and subsequent scholars on the role of social settings in information behavior research have developed lists and descriptions of social settings from where different categories of people meet and exchange information. In their 2007 paper Fisher, Landry, and Naumer grouped these categorical factors into three broader headings related to people, place and information. This paper goes beyond understanding the ranges of information grounds and there categorical groupings to gain a better understanding of how the design, decoration and furnishings contribute to how coffee shops are perceived as the best places for information sharing. Taking four hours of field observation of cafe goers located at an Undergraduate Library, the researcher established that movable and lightweight furniture allows flexibility in the internal arrangement, permitting unobstructed movement and a clear visual of the activities from within and outside, increasing close proximity gives a sense of feeling, connectedness among peers and offer opportunity for multiple activities to occur simultaneously for small and big groups. Color selections should be used to align emotions and behaviors with the purpose of the coffee goers; and telecommunication technologies are a source of leisure and allow users to stay connected and continuously engaged with their work, family and interests hence the need to full integrate them into cafe spaces.


Author(s): Sternini, Simone | Advisor(s): Lanza di Scalea, Francesco | Abstract: Inspection of structures is a critical task that needs to be performed in order to guarantee the safety of structural components during their service life. Different Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) techniques can be used to inspect aerospace, civil, and biological systems to ensure their structural integrity and to identify the presence of damages and defects, which could impair the correct functioning of the overall structure.The focus of this dissertation is the inspection of structures through the passive extraction of the acoustic transfer function of the medium under consideration, and the 2D and 3D characterization of defects by means of ultrasonic imaging. The first part of the dissertation addresses the issue of defect detection in railroad tracks by extracting the acoustic transfer function of rails through a normalized cross-correlation operator, which exploits the random acoustic vibrations generated by the train wheels. A technique to remove uncorrelated noise from the recorded signals is also introduced to make the transfer function reconstruction more robust. A statistical outlier analysis is used to detect any variation in the transfer function of the rail as the train moves along the track, in order to identify locations where discontinuities (joints, welds, defects) might be present. A prototype with multiple pairs of capacitive sensors was developed to perform the inspection in a non-contact, passive-only, high-speed manner. Results from fields tests performed at the Transportation Technology Center (TTC) in Pueblo, CO, will demonstrate the feasibility of the system for the reliable inspection of railroad tracks at speeds up to 80mph.The second part of the dissertation is focused on the characterization of defects using ultrasonic imaging to create 2D and 3D images of the inspected medium. Imaging in bulk solids and plates is performed using sensor arrays and an improved beamforming algorithm that uses information about the structure of the propagating acoustic wave modes to improve the defect characterization process. Furthermore, the experimental application to railroad tracks and the implementation on a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) shows the potential for the accurate real-time imaging of rail flaws.


This paper assumes that there may be some defective items in the various lots of an ordered shipment and chooses a sub-lot inspection policy. Another assumption that this paper makes is that a shipment is sent by a distant supplier and, therefore, the replacement of the defective items is not economical if an additional order is given to the same supplier. This paper incorporates misclassification errors, which are of two types: type 1 and type 2. In order to deal with the received defective items in the shipment, two cases are discussed in this study. The first case is to send them back to the repair shop to be reworked, whereas in the second case, those defective items are sold and replaced with perfect items by buying at a higher cost from a local supplier. For each case, a mathematical model is developed, and an example is solved. The results show a close connection between the optimal order size and sample size, which can be adjusted to maximise the total profit. The results also indicate that the local purchase of replacements for defective items tends to produce greater total profit than reworking them. [Received: 26 June 2018; Accepted: 17 May 2019]


It is innovative to combine abrasive jet machining and conventional grinding together in this thesis. And it realizes a new sort of grinding wheel restricted with abrasive jet processing. The three-dimensional mathematical model of hydrodynamic pressure of wedge-like grinding zone between grinding wheel and workpiece on abrasive jet finishing with wheel as restraint was established, and the finite elements simulation analysis for the hydrodynamic pressure was implemented. This paper investigated the liquid hydrodynamic pressure, the regularities of distributing of velocity, influencing factors and the affection for processing technique.


Mass gatherings have been defined as events where more than 1,000 people are present for a defined period of time. Such an event presents specific challenges with respect to medical care. First aid is provisioned on-site at most events in order to prevent undue strain on the local emergency services. In order to allocate enough resources to deal with the expected injuries, it is important to be able to accurately predict patient volumes. This study used machine learning techniques to identify which variables are the most important in predicting patient volumes at mass gatherings. Data from 201 mass gatherings across Australia was analysed, finding that event type is the most predictive variable, followed by the state or territory, heat index, humidity, whether it is bounded, and the time of day. Variables with little bearing on the outcome included the presence of alcohol, whether the event was indoors or outdoors, and whether it had one point of focus. The best predictive models produced acceptable predictions of the patient presentations 80% of the time, and this could be further improved using optimization techniques.


Within the framework of a relativistic transport model (ART) for heavy-ion collisions at AGS energies, we study the transverse flow of pions with respect to that of nucleons using two complementary approaches. It is found that in central collisions pions develop a weak flow as a result of the flow of baryon resonances from which they are produced. On the other hand, they have a weak antiflow in peripheral collisions due to the shadowing of spectators. Furthermore, it is shown that both pion flow and antiflow are dominated by those with large transverse momenta.


The 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) paved the road to Black empowerment. How did southern whites respond? Leveraging newly digitized data on county-level voter registration rates by race between 1956 and 1980, and exploiting pre-determined variation in exposure to the federal intervention, we document that the VRA increases both Black and white political participation. Consistent with the VRA triggering countermobilization, the surge in white registrations is concentrated where Black political empowerment is more tangible and salient due to the election of African Americans in county commissions. Additional analysis suggests that the VRA has long-lasting negative effects on whites' racial attitudes.


This Essay explores the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in FERC .v. EPSA for state regulation of customer energy resource initiatives, such as net metering policies for rooftop solar and energy storage programs. Unlike many past judicial decision that fixate on a jurisdictional "bright line," EPSA does not define a turf for state policymaking as beyond FERC's reach but instead recognizes how state policies operate adjacent to FERC's regulation of practices affecting wholesale rates. As the first Supreme Court case to explicitly recognize cooperative federalism programs in the regulation of modern energy markets under the FPA, ESPA is also a victory for state policy flexibility. At the same time, its endorsement of expansive FERC authority to address discriminatory practices will only help to ensure that state clean energy policies complement - and do not work at odds with - competitive, efficient and reliable energy markets.


Natural gas was largely unknown as a fuel in Europe until its discovery in England in 1659. From 1720 on, though, it became the fuel of choice for illuminating streets and houses. The development of the first practical compression refrigeration machine in Munich in 1873 by Carl von Linde paved the way for the large-scale Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) production plants that are in operation today. LNG begins its commercial life in 1914 with a patent on LNG handling/shipping. It took until 1964, however, before a serious trade in LNG developed. After the first oil crisis in 1973, trade in natural gas and LNG really took off. Now, with the growing availability of natural gas, the environmental advantages of LNG as a fuel are also being recognized. This lecture will focus on the key challenges and opportunities for LNG technology in a future green LNG fuel supply chain.


Metazoan cells can generate unequal sized sibling cells during cell division. This form of asymmetric cell division depends on spindle geometry and Myosin distribution but the underlying mechanics are unclear. Here, we use atomic force microscopy and live cell imaging to elucidate the biophysical forces involved in the establishment of physical asymmetry in Drosophila neural stem cells. We show that the force driving initial apical membrane expansion is provided by hydrostatic pressure, peaking shortly after anaphase onset, and enabled by a relieve of actomyosin contractile tension on the apical cell cortex. The subsequent increase in contractile forces at the cleavage furrow, combined with the relocalization of basally located Myosin results in basal membrane extension and sustained apical expansion. We propose that spatiotemporally controlled actomyosin contractile tension and hydrostatic pressure enables stereotypic biased membrane expansion to generate sibling cell size asymmetry.


Washington, D.C.—Not too long ago, an insurer or HMO that requested information on a patient's race or ethnicity could be accused of racial profiling or cream-skimming. Today health plans are highlighting their programs for collecting such data to improve quality of care for racial and ethnic groups. Last month, AHIP (America's Health Insurance Plans) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a survey indicating that most (51%) MCOs collect data on member race and ethnicity in order to target certain demographic groups for special preventive health- and disease-management programs.


: The form(s) in which malondialdehyde (MDA), a mutagenic product of the oxidative decomposition of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), occurs in foods was investigated. Several foods of animal origin (ground beef, smoked fish, chicken, sausages) were digested in vitro using pepsin and porcine intestinal fluid and the occurrence of MDA derivatives in the digesta was investigated by thin-layer, column and high-performance liquid chromatography. The predominant form of MDA was shown to be identical to synthetic N-epsilon-propenal lysine. This compound is apparently formed by a reaction between free MDA generated as a product of the oxidative rancidity of PUFA in foods and the free epsilon-amino groups of proteins, from which it is released in the course of digestion. It has been shown to be excreted in rat and human urine partially in the unchanged form and partially as the N-alpha-acetyl derivative. The results of this study serve to mitigate concern over the possible carcinogenicity of MDA in the diet, since less than 10% of the MDA in several foods containing highly unsaturated fatty acids was found in the free form.


Background Expansive open door laminoplasty with the use of titanium miniplate is becoming popular. Usually, the plate is applied at each level to prevent re-closure of the opened lamina. However, it is also used at alternating levels (i.e., C3, C5 and C7) in clinical settings in order to reduce the cost. Whether they have any difference in clinical efficacy? There is a lack of comparative data between the two kinds of plate fixation in the literature. Materials and Methods 83 patients who underwent cervical laminoplasty with alternating levels plate fixation (51 patients in Group A) or all levels plate fixation (32 patients in Group B) between January 2008 and October 2012 were evaluated in our institute retrospectively. Clinical and radiologic outcomes were assessed. Results No statistical difference was found in the mean operation time, blood loss, incidence of significant axial symptoms and C5 palsy, preoperative anteroposterior diameter (APD) and preoperative Japanese Orthopedic Association score between the two groups. However, Group B showed a higher rate of neurologic recovery after surgery. Postoperative increased APD and open angle in Group B were significantly larger than Group A. The mean cost for Group B (12801 ± 460.6 USD) was higher than Group A (8906 ± 566.7 USD). Conclusions Despite the higher cost of all level fixation, it is more effective in maintaining the expansion of the spinal canal and can obtain better clinical improvement compared to alternating levels fixation.


This study examined the impact of two types of psychological contract breach (organizational policies and social atmosphere breach) on resistance to change and engagement in the anticipatory phase of change and assessed whether supervisory informational justice mitigated the negative effects of breach. Employees from three departments of a Dutch financial institution (n = 141) who were in the first phase of a change initiative participated in the study. Results showed that social atmosphere breach was positively related to affective resistance to change and negatively related to engagement, while organizational policies breach was positively related to cognitive resistance to change. These findings point to the importance of distinguishing between different types of psychological contract breach. In addition, it was found that supervisory informational justice mitigated the adverse effect of social atmosphere breach on cognitive resistance to change, pointing to the important role of managers in the first phase of change.


In the 1980s, the Reagan administration sought to combat the rampant growth in the production, circulation, and consumption of illicit drugs globally with aggressive militaristic action. Despite its vehement intervention into and parallel to globalized capitalism, the drug trade was deemed socially and economically deviant. The Reagan administration imbued a rhetorical domain which seemingly justified the use of extremely oppressive cultural, social, and militaristic tactics against already marginalized populations. The collective memory of the War on Drugs in the Americas is forever influenced by this marking and portrayal of difference. Media representations take on many forms and are direct products of the cultures from which they come. Representations, therefore, carry intrinsic hegemonic biases and are intensely pervaded by ideological objectives and preexisting power structures which catalyze the global system of capitalism. Within the ever-growing canon of narco themed "literature," contemporary television adaptations seek to retell the story of the Medellín cartel and organized crime in South America and warrant critical intervention and comparison given that they vary dramatically. Despite the fact that all of the aforementioned representations attempt to proctor an objective retelling of drug trade history in both their cinematographic and narrative elements, the inconsistencies instead reveal a failure to account for the underlying tensions of globalized capitalism and the continued perpetuation of inequality.


Objectives 1. Clinical Data: Patient, male, 48 years old, chest pain 5 h, aggravation 4 h, was admitted to hospital on 9 February 2012. Methods 2. Discussion: Single coronary artery malformation is rare, and it is origin from single opening to supply with entire heart blood. Results This patient appeared chest pain and chest tightness aggravation in short time, companion with hypotension, alternation accelerated ventricular arrhythmia with sinus bradycardia, ST segment re-elevation, the necrotising Q wave deeper in intraoperative reperfusion therapy. Reperfusion therapy made ischemic-injured-myocardium worse, aggravated myocardial cells injury, even necrosis. In preoperative and postoperative period, daily ECG showed that QRS waves had obvious variation. In preoperative day showed QR waves (R>Q), intraoperative period showed QS waves and R wave disappeared. The third postoperative day showed Qr waves, the fourth day showed QR waves (RQ). It explained that reperfusion injury induced part myocardial stunning, and the stunned myocardium recuperated activity within a few days. Conclusions Experiences: First, if conventional method of doing CAG failed to find the coronary openings, abnormal coronary openings should be considered. Second, single coronary artery malformations is rare, down opening and acute occlusion of RCA increase the difficulty of CAG and PCI. Third, when do emergency PCI, we should pay special attention to ischaemia-reperfusion injury. R Reperfusion is a double-edged sword, it can provide timely help for part ischemic myocardium, also can make part ischaemic-injured-myocardium worse, aggravated myocardial cells injury, even necrosis. Myocardial stunning may be the main performance of aggravated injury, and stunned myocardium recuperated activity within a few days. In postoperative days, daily ECG may be found QRS waves dynamic variation.


Convolutional neural networks (convnets) have achieved impressive results on recent computer vision benchmarks. While they benefit from multiple layers that encode nonlinear decision boundaries and a degree of translation invariance, training convnets is a lengthy procedure fraught with local optima. Alternatively, a kernel method that incorporates the compositionality and symmetry of convnets could learn similar nonlinear concepts yet with easier training and architecture selection. We propose compositional kernel machines (CKMs), which effectively create an exponential number of virtual training instances by composing transformed sub-regions of the original ones. Despite this, CKM discriminant functions can be computed efficiently using ideas from sum-product networks. The ability to compose virtual instances in this way gives CKMs invariance to translations and other symmetries, and combats the curse of dimensionality. Just as support vector machines (SVMs) provided a compelling alternative to multilayer perceptrons when they were introduced, CKMs could become an attractive approach for object recognition and other vision problems. In this paper we define CKMs, explore their properties, and present promising results on NORB datasets. Experiments show that CKMs can outperform SVMs and be competitive with convnets in a number of dimensions, by learning symmetries and compositional concepts from fewer samples without data augmentation.


Compelling experimental and epidemiological evidence involves oxygen radicals in carcinogenesis, acting reactive oxygen species both as endogenous genotoxins during cell initiation and as messenger molecules in mitogenesis and in tumor promotion. Moreover, oxidants stimulate neoangiogenesis, which is a prerequisite for tumor growth. However, while several natural as well as synthetic antioxidant compounds appear to be chemopreventive in mutagenicity assays, antioxidant-based treatments for the prevention or cure of cancer have led to non-conclusive if not disappointing results. This is likely due to the fact that oxygen radicals have also a major role in the natural defences against the propagation of cancer cells, i.e. tumor cell apoptosis and immune surveillance, and mediate the beneficial cytotoxic effect of both the chemo-and radio-therapy. In recent years, the mitochondrial antioxidant enzyme, Manganous Superoxide Dismutase (MnSOD), has received a growing attention as a negative modulator of cellular apoptosis and as a survival factor for cancer cells. In fact, while overexpression of this enzyme in cancer cells decreases proliferation and tumor incidence in transgenic models, it is clear that even small amounts of this enzyme are crucial for cell resistance to inflammatory stimuli and anticancer drugs, and prevent oncogene-induced apoptosis triggered by the tumor suppressor protein p53. A previously unexpected oncogenic potential of MnSOD is also suggested by the elevated levels of this enzyme in several classes of human neoplasms, in a fashion which often correlates with the degree of their malignancy. This review focuses on the debated issue of the pro- and/or anti-tumoral effect of MnSOD, with special emphasis on recent observations suggesting that pharmacological inhibition of MnSOD may represent an effective strategy to selectively kill cancer cells and to circumvent their resistance to the commonly used anticancer treatments.


: Enzyme immunoassay has been used in 102 patients with acute leukemia (AL) and 340 donors to identify serological markers of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV): HB-sAg, anti-HBs, anti-HBc, anti-HBc IgM, HBeAg, anti-HBe. At the moment of AL diagnosis in 50 patients with acute myeloid leukemia and in 28 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at least one HBV marker was found in 68% and 71%, respectively, HBsAg in 12% of patients with AML and 25% of those with ALL. In remission maintenance, HBsAg was registered in 83% of patients with AML and 44% of those with ALL. Anti-HCV in diagnosis of acute leukemia were detected in 1.28% of patients, 12 months after in 40% with ALL and 67% with AML. In examination of the donors at least one HBV marker was found in 36%, HBsAg in 2.1%, anti-HCV in 1.86% of the examinees. It is inferred that acute leukemia patients are often infected with HBV and in long-term follow-up demonstrate reactivation of viral infection, though infection with mutant B viruses is also possible. HCV is a main cause of posttransfusion hepatitis in this group of patients.


Italian-type salamis contaminated with Aspergillus flavus were more likely to develop aflatoxins during aging than were smoked Hungarian-type salamis under the same conditions. Temperatures below 15 C and humidities of less than 75% were found to prevent aflatoxin development during the aging of salami. The aging of salami for 8 weeks and the presence of curing ingredients, especially pepper and sodium nitrite, tended to reduce the amounts of aflatoxins found. Aflatoxins were produced by A. flavus and A. parasiticus on 6- to 9-month-old country cured hams during aging when the temperature approached 30 C.


The market for cost-effective additive manufactured (AM) complex components has evolved rapidly within the recent years urging the practitioners to devise robust non-destructive evaluation strategies to ensure the quality and integrity of such components. Among other AM techniques, Wire + Arc Additive manufacturing (WAAM) has particularly proven to offer high deposition rates allowing to manufacture large-scale near net shape components within shorter lead-times. However, it is difficult to fully control the occurrence of manufacturing defects such as gas pores, lack of fusion, and keyholes, especially when the gas tungsten arc welding provides the process heat. Phased Array Ultrasonics Testing (PAUT) has been one of the preferred long-standing non-destructive evaluation methods used to inspect such weld defects and has a clear potential to be applied in WAAM inspection. Performing interlayer inspection of WAAM reduces the scrappage and re-work time. For an effective WAAM inspection, it is essential to establish a good contact between the PAUT array and the complex surface of the WAAM. Thereby, an PAUT roller probe with a flexible tire that can tolerate high temperatures (< 350˚C) was designed and developed. The tire accommodates the geometric mismatch between the curved surface of the WAAM and the stand-off delay line within the roller probe – shown in Figure 1(a). Also, it is equally important to correct the PAUT focal laws such that the UT beam is well-focused as the roller probe scans over a WAAM component with a varying surface profile. This enhances and maintains the detection sensitivity along the sample. For this purpose, a Surface Adaptive Ultrasound (SAUL) algorithm was embedded in a robotically delivered inspection system. The system is planned and executed in LabVIEW to interface a KUKA KRC4 robot controller, PEAK LTPA PAUT controller and a Micro-Epsilon laser profiler (see Figures 1(b) and (c)). Required contact and orientation between PAUT roller probe and the WAAM component is maintained through real time force-torque control. During the scan, the surface profile is acquired at a predefined frequency using the laser profiler, and then processed on the fly within the SAUL algorithm to update the PAUT controller focal laws helping to keep in a consistent depth of focus regardless of the changes of the WAAM surface. The system was initially tested on an aluminium reference bock which was specifically designed with a varying surface curvature and flat bottom holes of 1 mm in diameter. The performance is also assessed using a titanium WAAM wall with flat bottom holes. Holes were successfully detected in both studies.


Introduction Vaginitis is a common problem in women's health globally. Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) are also highly prevalent and often have symptoms similar to vaginitis. Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) is a causative agent of vaginitis that is exclusively sexually transmitted and thus falls into both of these diagnostic categories. To better understand co-infection rates for STI and vaginitis, we used the BD MAX- CT/GC/TV (MCGT) assay for detection of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) and TV on samples previously tested with BD MAX- Vaginal Panel (MVP). Methods Women who reported vaginitis symptoms were enrolled in a study that evaluated the performance of MVP. A subset of the vaginal swabs collected and frozen was tested using MCGT. The presence of CT, GC or TV was assessed in women with Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) only, Candida spp. only (Ca), BV+Ca, or negative for vaginitis as determined by the MVP. This last category included women with all negative results as well as women with TV only, since for this analysis TV was classified as an STI. Results Self-collected samples gave reportable results for 528 women to date. 210 (39.8%), 62 (11.7%), 95 (18.0%) and 161 (30.5%) were diagnosed with BV, Ca, BV+Ca or no vaginitis, respectively. TV, CT and GC were present in samples from 62 (11.7%), 32 (6.1%) and 8 (1.5%), respectively. STI positivity rates among those with BV, Ca, BV+Ca and vaginitis negative women were 23.3, 9.7, 25.3% and 8.7%. Of the 62 TV results obtained with MCGT, 61 were detected with MVP, with an overall agreement of 99.8% (527/528). Conclusion STI rates were high among women seeking care for vaginitis and co-infection was common. While treatment for vaginitis may include appropriate management for TV, CT and GC management requires appropriate diagnostics in order to prescribe the appropriate treatment. Testing of the same vaginal specimen on the BD MAX instrument for both vaginitis and STI diagnostics is an efficient solution which maximises the number of results available to effectively guide patient management.


" This study deals mainly in estimating rural/urban mortality differentials in countries where death registration by place of residence is nonexistent or inadequate. The methodology was applied to Philippine death registration data of 1975 and the result was compared to those estimates obtained by applying Brass, Sullivan and Trussell techniques on the 1978 World Fertility Survey data of children ever born and children still living. Basically, the methodology allocates death registration data to rural and urban areas by applying to each geographic unit several indices of urbanization. This is possible when death registration in developing nations is tabulated by geographic units, such as province, region, state, island, etc. The underlying assumption is that some geographic units are more urbanized than others. The process involves identification of these units and combining them into urban areas. This likewise implies that the remaining areas can be combined as rural." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND ITA)


this paper explores the life-experience of six student activists who turned themselves into peasants in their search for social justice and egalitarian society in South Korea. The praxis of the activists crossing class line in the social movement reveals their transformative learning process as well as the development of their own pedagogy of the oppressed. Adult education has been defined variously depending on peoples' philosophy but many people agree that it goes beyond schooling (Cunningham, 1989; Foley, 1995; Mayo, 1999; Shied, 1995). It does not confine itself within institutional settings and the term 'education' has been used in a much broader way in the field of adult education (Cunningham, 1989; Foley, 1995; Mayo, 1999; Shied, 1995). In this sense, adult education literature discovered huge educational potential in social movements in which adults collectively engage in various educational activities as a way of achieving their goals for social change as well as creating their own knowledge (Cunningham, 2000; Dykstra & Law, 1994; Finger, 1989; Holford, 1995; Welton, 1993). Social movements become a place where personal development or personal transformation is taking place in conjunction with the pursuit of societal change. In social movements, personal development comes within the context of given society through actions of participants. There is no artificial separation between personal development and social change. It is a place of praxis. Yet, in spite of such great potential, the current adult education discourse fails to pay attention to the learning process of the participants and the knowledge created by the participants in social movements. The purpose of this study was to explore the learning process of the active participants in a social movement. For the purpose, the life experience of six student activists-turned-peasant activists who dared to cross class line in their search for more egalitarian society have been examined and analyzed. Key questions in this study were: How have the activists' visions for social change transformed since their initial settlement in their communities? How have they developed their personal skills required in their works as peasants? How do they develop their pedagogy to work with communities? How do they learn how to organize people in their communities? Korean Context During 1980s, Korea was struggling under military dictatorships which never hesitate to kill those who rose against the regimes' power. At the same time, Koreans were organizing to bring democracy to the country even in face of the harsh oppression, and the student movement was the powerful engine of the democratic movement. Student activists, radicalized by socialism, sought to overthrow the regimes to build a more democratic and egalitarian society. Drawing on socialism and the revolutionary experience of other countries, the student activists


Dynamic TDD (D-TDD) has gained attention as a means to deliver high density two-way traffic. However, the outage performance of D-TDD system is severely limited by the strong interference from co-channel cells in a downlink cycle, while the reference cell is in its uplink duty cycle. To suppress the co-channel interference during uplink reception, we consider two kinds of time slot allocation strategies, combined with sector antennas: MaxMin (SIR) and Max (SIR). MaxMin (SIR) is an optimum time slot allocation strategy, in the sense that it maximizes the minimum signal to interference ratio expectation value over extra uplink time slot region. It is used as a performance benchmark in our analysis. Meanwhile, Max (SIR) is a simple and efficient algorithm to improve outage performance. It is established that the performance difference between the two algorithms is not noticeable, especially when the dynamic range of traffic pattern between the uplink and downlink is small. Also, outage performance comparison between Max (SIR) algorithm and adaptive array antennas is provided. The proposed system shows promise and offers a compromise between system complexity and the desired availability.


As social media has increased the reach and speed of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), so it has intensified customers' exposure to negative eWOM. Consequently, companies increasingly suffer from massive outbursts of negative eWOM, known as online firestorms. Because of their dynamics, it is nearly impossible to stop online firestorms if their emergence is not detected promptly. However, well-founded approaches that provide automated, real-time detection are missing. We design an Online Firestorm Detector that includes an algorithm inspired by epidemiological surveillance systems. Real-world data from a firestorm suffered by Coca-Cola is used to prove the utility and validity of the proposed approach. We show that online firestorms can be reliably detected shortly after the first piece of related negative eWOM has been generated, and that the number of false alarms is low. A comparison with competing artifacts shows that the Online Firestorm Detector is superior to approaches that could be alternatively used.


In this thesis, different aspects concerning how to make synthetic talking faces more expressive have been studied. How can we collect data for the studies, how is the lip articulation affected by expressive speech, can the recorded data be used interchangeably in different face models, can we use eye movements in the agent for communicative purposes? The work of this thesis includes studies of these questions and also an experiment using a talking head as a complement to a targeted audio device, in order to increase the intelligibility of the speech. The data collection described in the first paper resulted in two multimodal speech corpora. In the following analysis of the recorded data it could be stated that expressive modes strongly affect the speech articulation, although further studies are needed in order to acquire more quantitative results and to cover more phonemes and expressions as well as to be able to generalise the results to more than one individual. When switching the files containing facial animation parameters (FAPs) between different face models (as well as research sites), some problematic issues were encountered despite the fact that both face models were created according to the MPEG-4 standard. The evaluation test of the implemented emotional expressions showed that best recognition results were obtained when the face model and FAP-file originated from the same site. The perception experiment where a synthetic talking head was combined with a targeted audio, parametric loudspeaker showed that the virtual face augmented the intelligibility of speech, especially when the sound beam was directed slightly to the side of the listener i. e. at lower sound intesities. In the experiment with eye gaze in a virtual talking head, the possibility of achieving mutual gaze with the observer was assessed. The results indicated that it is possible, but also pointed at some design features in the face model that need to be altered in order to achieve a better control of the perceived gaze direction.


Homeostatic plasticity is a stabilizing mechanism that allows neural systems to maintain their activity around a functional operating point. This is an extremely useful mechanism for neuromorphic computing systems, as it can be used to compensate for chronic shifts, for example due to changes in the network structure. However, it is important that this plasticity mechanism operates on time scales that are much longer than conventional synaptic plasticity ones, in order to not interfere with the learning process. In this paper we present a novel ultra-low leakage cell and an automatic gain control scheme that can adapt the gain of analog log-domain synapse circuits over extremely long time scales. To validate the proposed scheme, we implemented the ultra-low leakage cell in a standard 180 nm Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) process, and integrated it in an array of dynamic synapses connected to an adaptive integrate and fire neuron. We describe the circuit and demonstrate how it can be configured to scale the gain of all synapses afferent to the silicon neuron in a way to keep the neuron's average firing rate constant around a set operating point. The circuit occupies a silicon area of 84 μm× 22 μm and consumes approximately 10.8 nW with a 1.8 V supply voltage. It exhibits time constants of up to 25 kilo-seconds, thanks to a controllable leakage current that can be scaled down to 1.2 atto-Amps (7.5 electrons/s).


This paper describes a software infrastructure made up of tools and libraries designed to assist developers in implementing computational dynamics applications running on heterogeneous and distributed computing environments. Together, these tools and libraries compose a so called Heterogeneous Computing Template (HCT). The heterogeneous and distributed computing hardware infrastructure is assumed herein to be made up of a combination of CPUs and Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). The computational dynamics applications targeted to execute on such a hardware topology include many-body dynamics, smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) fluid simulation, and fluid-solid interaction analysis. The underlying theme of the solution approach embraced by HCT is that of partitioning the domain of interest into a number of subdomains that are each managed by a separate core/accelerator (CPU/GPU) pair. Five components at the core of HCT enable the envisioned distributed computing approach to large-scale dynamical system simulation: (a) the ability to partition the problem according to the one-to-one mapping; i.e., spatial subdivision, discussed above (pre-processing); (b) a protocol for passing data between any two co-processors; (c) algorithms for element proximity computation; and (d) the ability to carry out post-processing in a distributed fashion. In this contribution the components (a) and (b) of the HCT are demonstrated via the example of the Discrete Element Method (DEM) for rigid body dynamics with friction and contact. The collision detection task required in frictional-contact dynamics (task (c) above), is shown to benefit on the GPU of a two order of magnitude gain in efficiency when compared to traditional sequential implementations. Note: Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Army. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Army, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.


Burdensone transfers to acute hospital are common and potentially unnecessary amongst nursing home residents with advanced dementia approaching last days of life Aim To identify and appraise influencing factors associated with acute care utilisation amongst nursing home residents with advanced dementia in final three months of life with view to inform adaptation of an existing conceptual model. To evaluate effectiveness of identified interventions influencing acute care utilisation amongst this cohort. Methods Six electronic databases(MEDLINE, EMBASE,CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Cochrane Library) were searched from inception through March 2015 for studies pertaining to the above research question supplemented by hand-searching selected journals, reference and citation tracking, contact with experts and grey literature search. Following a systematic process, key studies were identified, data extracted and results collated. Strength of evidence was determined according to quality, quality of studies and consistency of findings for individual factors and assigned as low, moderate and high to inform a conceptual model. Results were thereafter harmonised using the process of narrative synthesis. Results No intervention studies meeting criteria for inclusion in the review were identified. Eight studies were identified reporting four demographic, three clinical and five environmental factors across three countries and 5 02 323 individuals. High strength evidence was assigned for effect of four factors upon risk of acute care utilisation in final months of life; two increased risk (black ethnicity, co-morbidity {previous stroke}); two reduced risk (insurance status, presence of advance decision). The remaining were assigned moderate (two factors) and low (seven factors) strengths of evidence respectively impacting upon all domains of the model. Conclusion A myriad of inter-related factors influence acute care utilisation in nursing home residents with advanced dementia approaching end of life. Further interrogation of views of health-care proxies, professionals and other stakeholders may elucidate additional influences upon decision making process, enhancing understanding. Findings may assist in informing clinical, organisational and policy initiatives to attenuate unnecessary and burdensome transitions in this population.


Background: Colorectal neoplasm and coronary artery disease share several risk factors. Chronic inflammation has been considered to be associated with the pathogenesis of both conditions. Aims: To determine the association between coronary artery calcification and occurrence of colorectal adenoma. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 3,184 subjects who underwent colonoscopy and coronary artery calcium CT on the same day, or within a 3-month interval, during routine check-ups conducted between January 2006 and June 2009 at the Center for Health Promotion of the Samsung Medical Center. Results: Colorectal adenomas were detected in 1,083 of the 3,184 subjects (34.0%), including 545 (39.9%) individuals with and 538 (29.6%) without coronary calcification (p 50 years (OR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.28–1.86), waist circumference of 90–99 cm (OR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.10–1.84), and current smoking status (OR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.07–1.56), were all independent risk factors for development of colorectal adenoma. Conclusions: Coronary artery calcium, a marker of coronary artery atherosclerosis, is significantly associated with colorectal adenoma. Further study is needed to establish a common mechanism in development of coronary artery disease and colorectal adenoma. And it may be worthwhile to evaluate the possible role of coronary atherosclerosis as an indicator of future development of colorectal carcinoma. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2011;4(10 Suppl):A98.


Background: Although surgical resection is still the only curative maneuver in the treatment of colon cancer, yet efforts have proved that systemic chemotherapy in the adjuvant setting improves the curative rate for those patients with localized colon cancer. The combination of 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) and leucovorin (LV) was the reference treatment. However the advantage of infusional 5-Fu/LV with oxaliplatin (FolFox-4) as adjuvant treatment for high risk colon cancer patients may change the paradigm soon. In this study we presented our treatment results for patients with colon cancer treated with FolFox4 regimen as adjuvant treatment at Kasr Al Aini Hospital. Patients and Methods: We enrolled 55 patients who had undergone curative resection for sage II and III colon cancer to receive FolFox-4 regimen for six months. The primary end point was disease –free survival Results: Fifty five patients were included in this study. At the time of analysis (median follow up 18 months) 9 patients (16%) had disease relapse or metastasis. At 2.5 years DFS rates and OAS rates were 75% and 80%, respectively. The treatment was generally well tolerated with most common grade 1 treatment-related adverse event being peripheral neuropathy and hematological toxicity. Conclusion: It is now acceptable to consider combination chemotherapy with FolFox -4 as adjuvant treatment for high risk colon cancer patients after curative surgery at Kasr El Ainy center of Radiation Oncology and nuclear medicine.


We reported two cases of multiple paranasal mucoceles, in which MRI was useful to choose the appropriate surgical approach. The first case was a 53-year-old woman, with right visual disturbance due to spheno-ethmoid mucoceles. CT showed a large mucocele in the right spheno-ethmoid sinus, which was closely associated with the right optic nerve. However, MRI could detect a small mucocele lateral to the large one and showed that the small one, but not the large one, involved the optic nerve. The surgical treatment with an endonasal endoscopic approach and navigation-assisted endoscopic drainage of both mucoceles was performed, resulting in complete recovery of visual acuity.The second case was a 52-year-old woman with three paranasal mucoceles. CT showed two mucoceles in the right maxillary sinus. However, MRI showed that the lateral lesion was separated from the medial wall of the nasal cavity by two other medial lesions in the maxillary sinus. Surgical treatment was performed by an external approach and drainage of the three mucoceles was successful.


In order to achieve the nation's space lift goals, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) is planning to improve its orbital transfer vehicle capabilities, which demands improvements in the Cryogenic engines. For inter planetary missionslike Mars, Scientists are planning for the reusable rocket engines which would be capable of landing on the surface of mars and can extract methane from its atmosphere. Since, to travel such a long distance there must be an abundant fuel supply to the rocket engines and hence presence of methane on the mars atmosphere in the large quantity can be utilized effectively. Hence there is a requirement of designing and analysis of LOX turbo-pump forL(CH4-O2) cryogenic engine.In current research of rocket propulsion, weight plays an essentialrole on efficiency and economy of the program. Since fuel-oxidizer system contributes a major share of the total weight, hence it is desirable to design an efficient fuel delivery system as well as proper choice of fuel andoxidizer. In the current work the approach is to design and analyses all components of liquid oxygen turbo-pump such as inducer, impeller, volute and diffuser. To obtain a compact size of turbo-pump it is necessary to run it at higher speed of 15000 rpm or more. For such higher speed it is not possible to run the pump with electrical motor or generator. This leads the turbine as an only alternative for the prime mover. Therefore, pump-fed system is commonly known as turbo-pump system as it consists of pumpand turbine. Pump gives the necessary pressure rise to the fuel and oxidizer while turbine acts as a prime mover. Generally, in pressure-fed system, increasing the storage pressure of propellant will demand for thicker tank and hence higher structural mass, which is undesirable for high performance. Hence, Cryogenic pump-fed systems are preferred over other kinds of pump because of their compact size for any particular head rise and significant throttling range. Since, pump-fed system has been effectively designed for various propellants, but the research is completely new for methane and oxygen as working fluid and oxidising agent. This works provides the detailed hydrodynamic design of pump, aero-thermodynamic design of inducer and impeller. LOX turbo-pump system consists of pump impeller with cavitating inducer upstream. A high speed impeller generally requires a high inlet pressure to overcome the NPSH requirement to avoid cavitation. Increasing the storage pressure of propellant will demand for thicker tank and hence higher structural mass, which is undesirable for high performance. The impeller is followed by the volute and diffuser assembly which is proposed to give a directional flow to the fluid and convert velocity head into pressure head. The current approach deals with the CFD analysis of turbo-pump assembly using Ansys CFX-pre to analyse the part loading capacity, efficiency, throttling range, pressure distribution, velocity distribution and performance evaluation of individual components and for complete assembly.


The provision of examples as implementation guidance is pervasive in accounting standards. Prior research has established that preparers engage in "example-based reasoning," a tendency to favor the accounting treatment in an example, even when the example does not exactly match the transaction at hand. In this paper, we investigate whether fact-weighting guidance counteracts this tendency. Such guidance, now found in some accounting standards, indicates whether particular transaction facts are more important than others in determining the appropriate accounting treatment. Using an experiment, we find that fact-weighting guidance does reduce preparers' tendency to favor the accounting treatment in an example. However, results also suggest that some degree of example-based reasoning persists even with fact-weighting guidance, and that preparers are not fully aware of how fact-weighting guidance affects their judgments. Our findings have practical implications. They suggest to standard setters a potential remedy — namely, fact-weighting guidance — for the misuse of accounting examples. They also provide insights to accounting preparers regarding how fact-weighting guidance influences their judgments in ways they may not anticipate.


Neuroblastoma cells accumulate ascorbic acid and iron. It was hypothesized that these features could be exploited for sensitizing neuroblastoma cells for therapy in combination with reactive oxygen intermediates. In the present study the effects of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) and H2O2 on metabolic parameters critical for cell survival were investigated in cells with low and high ferritin content in the presence and absence of ascorbate. Human neuroblastoma SK-N-SH cells were pretreated with 100 microM FeSO4 and 10 microM desferrioxamine, respectively, for 24 h yielding cells with different ferritin contents. The effects of 6-OHDA and H2O2 (25 microM-250 microM) in the absence and presence of 1 mM ascorbic acid on DNA strand break formation, activation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, and finally decrease in NAD+ and ATP concentration were investigated. All these parameters were influenced by 6-OHDA and H2O2 in a concentration-dependent manner in a similar way. The effects were most pronounced in ferritin-rich cells and in the presence of ascorbic acid. Using isolated CCC PM2 DNA, 6-OHDA and ascorbic acid caused strand breaks that were prevented in the presence of mannitol or desferrithiocine. H2O2-mediated strand breaks were observed only in the presence of ascorbic acid. Based on these data and data published by others a model explaining the deleterious effects of ascorbic acid on neuroblastoma cells is presented. It is suggested that continuous application of a high dosage of ascorbic acid might be a useful approach in neuroblastoma therapy.


Although Alba Patera is the largest volcano in aerial extent in the solar system (~6.8 km high and >1000 km in radius), the geologic processes responsible for shaping its exceedingly low-angle flanks remain poorly constrained. These flanks are covered in lava flows, valleys and both radial and annular grabens. Previous attempts, limited by the resolution of the satellite images, assume that the annular grabens formed during the terminal stage of volcanic development whereas surface water flow occurred in the early stage of volcanic construction. In this study, we analyze high-resolution CTX satellite images in conjunction with digital topographic data from MOLA. Our work reveals complex cross cutting relationships between faults, drainage network development and lava flows on the northwestern flank of Alba Patera. We observe a minimum of three generations of lava flows, three generations of drainage channels and three generations of faults. Mutual and successive cross-cutting relationships between drainage channels and faults indicate that the tectonic processes responsible for creating grabens on the volcano flank operated continuously and were coeval with drainage formation. The lava flows are observed to be the oldest geomorphic features and the third generation of faults as the youngest geomorphic features in our mapped region. Crater counting indicates that the surface within the mapped region is Amazonian in age. An analysis of the crater densities reveals a decline in crater densities from the south to the north section of the mapped region. This could be attributed to resurfacing in the north due to sediments deposited by northward flowing drainage channels. Crater counting age estimates for the south section yield a result of ~ 1.74 Ga, +/- 0.12 Ga and ~ 1.35 Ga, +/- 0.26 Ga for the north section. Hence, the younger age estimates of the northern surface could help further constrain the age of the drainage channels and faults on the northwest flank of Alba Patera.


Radiation injury attributable to radiotherapy is a topic that has attracted ample attention in the literature, especially in a vast number of publications in plastic surgery. However, the literature is clearly devoid of compilations regarding the effects of ionized radiation accidents. A case of a radiation accident is presented. It is nearly impossible to anticipate the extent of effects of external irradiation of the skin and subcutaneous tissues. The initially healed area should be expected to show late recurrent necrosis. Patients exposed to ionized external irradiation are no longer radioactive and can be treated as ordinary patients. However, these patients should be followed closely for years, keeping in mind the onset of late radiation effects like skin necrosis in various parts of the body, skin and other organ cancers, leukemia, infertility, hypothyroidism, and cataracts. Language: en


In this paper we argue that online social media platforms operate with a decidedly different logic than traditional mass media. This has led to different ways of producing content, distributing information and the way recipients use media. The changes in the media and communication landscape are embedded in a larger societal transformation context of fragmentation, individualization and reflexivity, a late modern context that sustains the modus operandi of social media platforms. By discussing the differences between traditional mass media and social media platforms, we carve out the central elements of a new network media logic - that is, the inherent rules of the game on social media platforms - and this logic's consequences for political communication and political actors.


Foreign capital inflows (FCI) play an important role in the economic development of the recipient country as they fund investments and promote growth. However, the size and composition of such inflows are determined on the basis of country specific requirements. The study investigates the impact of capital inflows on the economy of Kenya at a time when the government implemented economic reform measures to stabilize the economy and restore sustainable growth. More specifically, the study examines the impact of foreign capital flows remittances such as overseas workers remittance, official development aid, and external debt, on selected macro-economic variables using monthly time series data and a single-equation empirical approach. The study findings reveal that some forms of FCI are not influenced by the macro economic variables in the country but by other factors such as political stability and policy variables.


ABSTRACT Macroautophagy/autophagy is increasingly recognized as an important regulator of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (MI-R) injury. However, whether and how diabetes may alter autophagy in response to MI-R remains unknown. Deficiency of ADIPOQ, a cardioprotective molecule, markedly increases MI-R injury. However, the role of diabetic hypoadiponectinemia in cardiac autophagy alteration after MI-R is unclear. Utilizing normal control (NC), high-fat-diet-induced diabetes, and Adipoq knockout (adipoq−/−) mice, we demonstrated that autophagosome formation was modestly inhibited and autophagosome clearance was markedly impaired in the diabetic heart subjected to MI-R. adipoq−/− largely reproduced the phenotypic alterations observed in the ischemic-reperfused diabetic heart. Treatment of diabetic and adipoq−/− mice with AdipoRon, a novel ADIPOR (adiponectin receptor) agonist, stimulated autophagosome formation, markedly increased autophagosome clearance, reduced infarct size, and improved cardiac function (P < 0.01 vs vehicle). Mechanistically, AdipoRon caused significant phosphorylation of AMPK-BECN1 (Ser93/Thr119)-class III PtdIns3K (Ser164) and enhanced lysosome protein LAMP2 expression both in vivo and in isolated adult cardiomyocytes. Pharmacological AMPK inhibition or genetic Prkaa2 mutation abolished AdipoRon-induced BECN1 (Ser93/Thr119)-PtdIns3K (Ser164) phosphorylation and AdipoRon-stimulated autophagosome formation. However, AdipoRon-induced LAMP2 expression, AdipoRon-stimulated autophagosome clearance, and AdipoRon-suppressed superoxide generation were not affected by AMPK inhibition. Treatment with MnTMPyP (a superoxide scavenger) increased LAMP2 expression and stimulated autophagosome clearance in simulated ischemic-reperfused cardiomyocytes. However, no additive effect between AdipoRon and MnTMPyP was observed. Collectively, these results demonstrate that hypoadiponectinemia impairs autophagic flux, contributing to enhanced MI-R injury in the diabetic state. ADIPOR activation restores AMPK-mediated autophagosome formation and antioxidant-mediated autophagosome clearance, representing a novel intervention effective against MI-R injury in diabetic conditions.


This review summarizes the clinical evidence and practical details for the use of plasmapheresis and other apheresis modalities for each indication in nephrology. Updated information on the molecular biology and immunology of each renal disease is discussed in relation to the rationale for apheresis therapy and its place amid other available treatments. Autoantibody‐mediated diseases, such as anti‐GBM (anti‐glomerular basement membrane) glomerulonephritis (GN), ANCA (antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody)‐related GN and the antibody‐mediated type of TTP (thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura), and alloantibody‐mediated diseases such as kidney transplant sensitization and humoral rejection, can be treated by various plasmapheresis methods. These include standard plasmapheresis with a replacement volume, or plasmapheresis with online plasma purification using adsorption columns or secondary filtration. However, it should be noted that the pathogenic molecules implicated in FSGS (focal segmental glomerulosclerosis), myeloma cast nephropathy, and perhaps other diseases are too small to be removed by most online purification methods. A great majority of controlled trials and series on which evidence‐based treatment recommendations are made were performed using centrifugal plasmapheresis; it is presumed that membrane‐separation plasmapheresis is equally efficacious. For some rarer diseases, such as MPGN (membranoproliferative GN) type 2 with factor H abnormalities or C3Nef (C3 nephritic factor) autoantibodies, there are only a few case reports, but enough scientific understanding to warrant a trial of plasmapheresis in severe cases. Photopheresis, which is effective for cell‐mediated rejection in heart and lung transplantation, has not yet found a place in the routine treatment of kidney transplant rejection.