Recent evidence supports a role for vascular endothelium growth factor (VEGF) signaling in bladder inflammation. However, it is not clear what bladder cells are targeted by VEGF. Therefore, we determined the nature of cells responding to VEGF in normal and inflamed bladders by tagging such cells in vivo with a targeted fluorescent tracer, scVEGF/Cy, an engineered single-chain VEGF labeled with Cy5.5 dye, which identifies cells with accessible and functionally active VEGF receptors. Inflammation was induced by intravesical instillation of PAR-activating peptides or BCG. In vivo NIRF imaging with intravenously injected scVEGF/Cy revealed accumulation of the tracer in the control mouse bladder and established that inflammation increased the steady-state levels of tracer uptake. Ex vivo colocalization of Cy5.5 dye revealed that in normal and at a higher level in inflamed bladder, accumulation of scVEGF/Cy occurs in both urothelial and ganglial cells, expressing VEGF receptors VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2, as well as VEGF coreceptors neuropilins (NRP) NRP1 and NRP2. PCR results indicate that the messages for VEGF-Rs and NRPs are present in the bladder mucosa and ChIP/QPCR analysis indicated that inflammation induced upregulation of genes encoding VEGFRs and NRPs. Our results strongly suggest new and blossoming VEGF-driven processes in bladder urothelial cells and ganglia in the course of inflammation. We expect that molecular imaging of the VEGF pathway in the urinary tract by receptor-mediated cell tagging in vivo will be useful for clinical diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring, and will help to accelerate the development of bladder-targeting drugs and treatments.


The air traffic has been consistently growing up for many past years and the trend is always
to be continued. Since the air traffic has been deregulated at many places in the world, the
flight number records have raised hugely. Above all the development of "hubs and spokes"
airline networks has been generating high traffic levels or high traffic peaks at many large
airports in the United States or in Europe. At many airports, the runways and the arrival and
departure flight paths have a large impact on the people living and moving around airports,
who become especially irritated by the air traffic.
While bigger airplane capacity is today being offered to the airlines, one common trend is at
increasing the frequencies with smaller aircraft, so that the congestion of air traffic at large
airports is amplified and generates even more noise for the environment. Moreover, this can
conduct to waiting time around the airports for the arriving flights, what means noisy areas.
Thanks to large efforts conducted both by the airplanes manufacturers and engine
companies, the noise emitting from an aircraft has significantly fell down over the past thirty
years, so that a further reduction of the engine noise will not solve the noise problem
significantly. For this reason it is now essential to find, develop and generalize new noise
abatement procedures. These procedures have to minimize the noise impact on the ground
and on the populated areas, while assuring that the safety level and the airports capacity are
not going to decrease.
Several noise abatement procedures have been elaborated and locally tested and applied;
they have allowed an important noise decline or a locally retarded noise annoyance. Yet
some of these abatement procedures can only be applied at particular day periods, i.e. by
night, because they limit the arrival and departure rates. Other procedures also overload the
charge of air controllers, or may be seen as unsafe by pilots.
In order to answer these questions it is essential to elaborate a concept that allow, with a
chosen noise abatement procedure, the control of the required separation time and distance
and regard the airport capacity. In line with this study, the work will deal with the
optimization of the airport capacity by approaches, and more particularly with the
Continuous Descent Approach (CDA) procedure. The construction of a computer concept
will therefore be presented and used to determine the parameters allowing an optimization
research on the airport capacity with a CDA.


Past research shows that users benefit from systems that support them in their writing and exploration tasks. The autosuggestion feature of Web search engines is an example of such a system: It helps users formulate their queries by offering a list of suggestions as they type. Such autosuggestions are typically generated by machine learning (ML) systems trained on a corpus of search logs and document representations. These automated methods can however become prone to issues that might result in the system making problematic suggestions that are biased, racist, sexist or in other ways inappropriate. While current search engines have become increasingly proficient at suppressing many types of problematic suggestions, there are still persistent issues that remain. In this paper, we reflect on past efforts and on why certain issues still linger by covering explored solutions along a prototypical pipeline for identifying, detecting, and mitigating problematic autosuggestions. To showcase their complexity, we discuss several dimensions of problematic suggestions, difficult issues along the pipeline, and why our discussion applies to an increasing number of applications (beyond Web search) that implement similar textual suggestion features. By outlining several persistent social and technical challenges in moderating Web search suggestions, we hope to provide a renewed call for action.


PURPOSE
To examine the value of measurement of the interuncal distance in the diagnosis of mild to moderate Alzheimer disease.

METHODS
We measured interuncal distance from coronal MR scans acquired on a 1.5-T imager. We estimated interuncal distance from a total of 141 subjects: 54 patients diagnosed according to the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association criteria of probable Alzheimer disease, 40 subjects fulfilling the National Institute of Mental Health criteria of age-associated memory impairment, 27 healthy cognitively normal older control subjects, and 20 control subjects younger than 50 years of age. For comparison we normalized interuncal distance for a horizontal line drawn through the inner cranium at the level of the uncus (interuncal distance/intracranial width ratio), for the brain area (interuncal distance/brain area) and for the intracranial area (interuncal distance/intracranial area).

RESULTS
The standard interuncal distance and the interuncal distance/intracranial width differed between the young control subjects and the other groups, but did not differ among the control, age-associated memory impairment, and Alzheimer disease groups. The Alzheimer disease group had significantly greater interuncal distance/intracranial area and interuncal distance/brain area compared with age-matched controls. A considerable overlap was found, however, in the values of patients with Alzheimer disease and control subjects. The cutoff point of 30 mm for interuncal distance yielded 37% sensitivity and 72% specificity to distinguish patients with Alzheimer disease from nondemented elderly subjects. Interuncal distance was not significantly related to the clinical severity of Alzheimer disease as assessed by Clinical Dementia Rating Scale and Mini-Mental Status Examination. Instead, there was a strong correlation between standard and normalized interuncal distance and age in the whole study population and in nondemented subjects.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results showed that in a series of 54 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer disease, interuncal distance was not a reliable diagnostic tool. The study also confirmed the strong age dependence for interuncal distance.


The evidence on the effectiveness of youth training programs in Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) tends to be encouraging regarding the quality of employment of beneficiaries (positive impacts are observed regarding the access to formal employment), although there is significant heterogeneity across countries and by gender of the beneficiaries. It is not clear how easily one can generalize from the results of an impact evaluation in a particular country. We address the underlying heterogeneity in the characteristics of the beneficiaries of youth training programs in LAC by relying on the individual-level data used in the experimental impact evaluations of three of these programs. We show that we can identify, and characterize, the individuals satisfying a common support condition, i.e. those who are similar across programs. We use non-experimental multiple treatment estimators to eliminate differences across programs, which work better for men than for women. For men satisfying common support (i.e. comparable), who have worse initial conditions than non-comparable individuals, the positive treatment effects on formality disappear for some programs. The results highlight the importance of treatment effect heterogeneity, which may have implications for focalization and program design. They also make explicit the limits to the external validity of each of the experiments, and how difficult is the interpretation of the results from meta-analysis studies. By stressing for which types of individuals it is possible to make comparisons across programs, our study points towards a more nuanced comparison of impact evaluation studies of youth training programs.


We consider two metal–organic frameworks as identical if they share the same bond network respecting the atom types. An algorithm is presented that decides whether two metal–organic frameworks are the same. It is based on distinguishing structures by comparing a set of descriptors that is obtained from the bond network. We demonstrate our algorithm by analyzing the CoRe MOF database of DFT optimized structures with DDEC partial atomic charges using the program package ToposPro.


Introduces some new faces of simulation for intelligent manufacturing systems. Not only the productive parameters are treated from a multi-level point of view but the economic indicators were calculated with global optimistic features. The general marketing aspects are considered as critical conditions. To solve several decision making problems of a complex manufacturing organization, the authors extract meaningful variables to observe by data analysis and construct an artificial neural net. The authors try to take some advantages of non-symbolic processing such that parallel treatment and its implementation guide toward a real-time system, learning capabilities also can be applied independently to problems.


Since 2006 the Dama gazelle has been considered a critically endangered species by the IUCN. At present, the captive population is distributed in several zoos around the world. Bioparc (Valencia, Spain) has a captive population of 9 individuals. A two-month-old male dama gazelle (Nanger dama mhorr) living at the Bioparc facilities, developed an annular verrucous hyperpigmented fairly alopecic cutaneous plaque on the left lateral aspect of the thorax. Haematoxylin and eosin study revealed an exophytic papillary epidermal hyperplasia with mild orthokeratotic hyperkeratosis. In the subjacent dermis, a glandular well-differentiated epithelial tissue proliferation was observed. At the periphery, significant immature reserve cells were identified, and in some central areas of the proliferating glands, an amorphous eosinophilic material corresponding to cystic degeneration was observed. Resection margins were clear, and no signs of malignancy were observed. Diagnosis was consistent with sebaceous naevus. After a 12-month follow-up period, no relapse was noticed.


Proteins damaged by free-radical-generating systems in the presence of oxygen yield relatively long-lived protein hydroperoxides. These hydroperoxides have been shown by e.p.r. spectroscopy to be readily degraded to reactive free radicals on reaction with iron(II) complexes. Comparison of the observed spectra with those obtained with free amino acid hydroperoxides had allowed identification of some of the protein-derived radical species (including a number of carbon-centred radicals, alkoxyl radicals and a species believed to be the CO2 radical anion) and the elucidation of novel fragmentation and rearrangement processes involving amino acid side chains. In particular, degradation of hydroperoxide functions on the side chain of glutamic acid is shown to result in decarboxylation at the side-chain carboxy group via the formation of the CO2 radical anion; the generation of an identical radical from hydroperoxide groups on proteins suggests that a similar process occurs with these molecules. In a number of cases these fragmentation and rearrangement reactions give rise to further reactive free radicals (R., O2-./HO2., CO2-.) which may act as chain-carrying species in protein oxidations. These studies suggest that protein hydroperoxides are capable of initiating further radical chain reactions both intra- and inter-molecularly, and provide information on some of the fundamental mechanisms of protein alteration and side-chain fragmentation.


Purpose: Growth accountant profession is still low when compared with the graduation degree in Accounting a larger each of year, this means that the basic problems that arising to the transfer of accounting undergraduate do not wish to become a professional accountant. This study reviewing the legal aspects of the accountant profession the accountant constraining growth in Indonesia, and the difficulty to become a professional accountant for many of the rules that are a barrier to growth accounting profession when compared with other professions as convenience may be able to achieve the profession as an Advocate and Notary, etc Design/metholodology/approach: For that reason legal research can not beregarded as following the methodology of social sciences in general. This study uses a qualitative study of law, and social interpellation and constructivism assume that the fact that the dimension plural, interactive and inter-professional legal experience exchange. Finding: a legal vacuum since 1954 until 1999, as Law No. 34 in 1954 about accounting, and finance minister's decision number 331 / KMK.017 / 1999 on the Implementation of Accountant registration in the State Register in the constitution Originiality/value: Accounting profession itself is not hardly ever discuss legal views. Right now try to study the law in terms of the Constitution. Accounting for this title used by the accounting profession, so that the law could resolve this whole thing


The use of distributed computing systems, including Grids and Compute Utilities, and now Clouds, becomes a consideration for businesses hoping to manage start-up costs and times, as well as reduce the physical and environmental footprint of infrastructures. Instead of purchasing and maintaining hardware and software, organisations and individuals can take advantage of pay-per-use (utility) models that relate directly to their requirements of infrastructures, platforms and software. However, such metered services are not widely adopted yet due to the lack of assurance of Quality of Service (QoS). It is suggested that such systems will only attain greater acceptance by a larger audience of commercial consumers if binding Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are provided that encompass service descriptions, costs of provision and, importantly, assurances on availability, performance, and liability. Prediction, quantification of risk, and consideration of liability in case of underperformance are considered essential for the future provision of Computer (Cloud) Economics - in particular, for the provision of SLAs through resource brokers, and generally to be more comparable to financial markets. The principal focus of this thesis is on building brokerage and related services for supporting growth of Cloud and contributing to future computational economics. A brokerage should provide negotiation mechanisms between consumers and providers, and perhaps manage available computer resources, to realise the goals of both parties. SLAs are key to this, where each SLA details price, risk, performance and QoS parameters, amongst others. This thesis presents a novel approach that supports the creation and management of Service Level Agreements, aimed towards improved uptake of commoditised computational infrastructures, platforms and software services. By analysing issues within current SLAs, it summarises necessary characteristics to be addressed in Cloud SLAs. Inspired by financial portfolio analysis and in particular by credit derivatives, this work demonstrates how the proposed Cloud Collateralised SLA Obligations (CSO), analogous to synthetic collateralised debt obligations (CDO), can be used to mitigate risk of failure or underperformance through diversification of compute resource portfolios. The CSO prices risk integrates into service insurance, and builds in penalties, and in contrast to well-known Cloud price models, relates variable performance to variable price. This performance-price relationship would also be necessary for the appropriate use of other financial models. Through Value-at-Risk (VaR) style analysis, the probability of failure (risk of underperformance) can be related to a confidence level for each SLA offer - the confidence of meeting the SLA. The thesis further identifies how performance tranches support an autonomic aspect in attempting to ensure satisfaction of higher-value SLAs as a trade off against higher-risk, lower-value SLAs. The approach can readily integrate with any SLA framework that supports realtime dynamic characteristics. Outcomes are broadly relevant to Cloud Computing, and more specifically to Infrastructure as a Service Clouds. Keywords: Cloud Computing, Cloud Economics, Cloud brokerage, Cloud Quality of Service (QoS), Service Level Agreements (SLA), Grid Computing, Grid Economics, Financial Risk Management.


An electrical power network consisting of generators and transmission lines is treated as a continuum system. The application of the limit of zero generator spacing, with finite rotor inertia and transmission line impedance per unit length, yields a nonlinear partial differential equation in time and two spatial dimensions for the rotor phase angle. The equation is a nonlinear version of the standard second-order wave equation which exhibits an explicit expression for the finite wave phase velocity. The electromechanical wave propagation characteristics, equilibrium solutions, and linear stability are investigated and some potentially important results are presented. Numerical simulations of the usual discrete generator model, based upon the swing equation, are presented and demonstrate the electromechanical wave propagation as having interesting properties. Numerical solutions of the analogous continuum model are compared to the discrete model and are found to be in excellent agreement. A numerical estimate of the wave phase velocity for the U.S. power grid is consistent with observations of the transient wave phenomena during staged fault events. The continuum model enables an array of alternative analytic and simulation methods to be applied to the study of global power system characteristics, such as stability and transient dynamics.


The modernisation of agriculture has lead to changes in Norwegian farming landscapes that have consequences for butterfly distribution and abundance. Particularly important is the abandonment of traditionally managed grasslands and the consequent increase in potential barriers of scrub and trees in the landscape. In this thesis I use a landscape ecological perspective to explore the effects of abandonment on butterfly dispersal. I demonstrate that landscape elements influence butterfly movement behaviour: tall structures were significant barriers for a range of species and even low features, such as roads, elicited significant behavioural responses which shaped the movement patterns of butterflies. Behavioural differences between species were related to ecological and physiological characteristics. Movement patterns of Scarce Coppers (Lyceana virgaureae) were recorded by mark-release- recapture (MRR) techniques. Of 1711 recorded displacements, over 90 % were under 150 m. Exchange rates between meadows were dependent upon distance and the structure of intervening vegetation. A simple spatial model, parameterised with data from the behavioural experiments, was validated using MRR observations. This confirmed that the behaviour of individuals responding to single landscape elements has consequences at the level of populations and entire landscapes. The life history and movement behaviour of the endangered Apollo (Parnassius apollo), were examined using MRR. The butterfly is well adapted to a mosaic landscape structure; however, inter-meadow movement declined exponentially with increasing distance between meadows. Abandonment of hay meadows on steep slopes, with consequent forest succession, will adversely affect the Apollo by increasing the distances between open habitat. Genetic analyses support the findings of MMR studies and add a wider spatial and temporal perspective. As a conservation management priority, I recommend population mapping to identify key sites in regional networks of populations. Finally, I consider the links between empirical studies, modelling and the practical application of theory, and discuss the implications of landscape change for the butterflies of Norwegian farmland.


Electronics packaging development is greatly dependent on the magnitude of interconnect and on-chip stress that ultimately limits the reliability of electronic components. Thermomechanical strains occur because of the coefficient of thermal expansion mismatch from different conjoined materials being assembled to manufacture a device. To curb the effect of thermal expansion mismatch, studies have been done in integrating compliant structures between dies, solder balls, and substrates. Initial studies have enabled the design and manufacturing of these structures using a photolithography approach which involves an increased number of fabrication steps depending on the complexity of the structures. This current study involves the fabrication of these structures using a different approach, utilizing additive manufacturing that reduces the number of fabrication steps required to obtain compliant geometries, while also providing a platform for unique compliant structures. This paper discusses the method of fabrication and analyzes the properties and effects of these interconnect structures on a die. Structural finite element thermal cycling simulations between −40 to 125°C show about a 115% increase in the solder joint fatigue life. Additionally, fabricated test structures created directly on a PCB were experimentally characterized for compliance using a micro-indenter tester, showing a mechanical compliance range of 265.95 to 656.78 μ/N for selected design parameters to be integrated into a test vehicle.


Children in Grade R and Grade 1 were screened for eyesight and ophthalmological health, weight and height, and examined for lymphadenopathy, skin conditions, pallor and general health. The premise of the screening initiative was that certain key health issues acted as barriers to learning in children, and that these were the issues which were addressed in the implementation of the project. Results show a significant improvement in the percentage of pupils immunized and in pupils' nutritional status, a marked difference in terms of overall skin and hair hygiene, improvements in ophthalmological health (particularly notable in a reduction in cases of conjunctivitis), and some improvement in terms of administration of on-site service (in the form of anti-fungal creams and other medicines). These results, while it is impossible to link them solely to the intervention, correlate strongly with the qualitative data of observed change as a result of the health screening. In the qualitative data, a number of recurrent themes or discussions emerged in response to the questions asked: pre-existing health problems, effects of those health problems on learning, issues around access to health-care, psycho-social problems in the community, effects of the health screening on health and on learning, problems with the process of health screening, and suggestions for improvement. Health screening had a positive effect on the pupils, particularly in the areas of ophthalmological health and hygiene.


Background:

 Malnutrition is more common in patients with end stage renal disease undergoing hemodialysis. The aim of the study was to assess the relation between serum prealbumin with other biochemical markers of malnutrition in patients with end stage renal disease undergoing hemodialysis.
Method: 50 controls and 47 patients with chronic kidney disease on hemodialysis were enrolled in the study. Prealbumin, albumin, urea, creatinine, total cholesterol, prothrombin time and hsCRP was estimated in serum samples.
Result: The data in the present study showed significant decrease in albumin, prealbumin, and increase in urea, creatinine in chronic kidney disease on hemodialysis . Also, we found significant correlation of prealbumin level with other biochemical parameters used for assessment of malnutrition with (p value <0.05), ROC analysis showed at optimum cutoff level of 29.5 mg/dl can predict malnutrition in person subjected to hemodialysis of stage 5 chronic kidney diseases with 72 % sensitivity and 60% specificity.
Conclusion:
The present study concludes that Prealbumin can be used surrogate marker of malnutrition when compared to other biochemical parameters of malnutrition in CKD patient on hemodialysis.


Primary infection with herpes simplex virus (HSV) occurs often in childhood. The most common manifestation is gingivostomatitis, while keratoconjunctivitis and skin disease are uncommon. 1-3 Few reports of culturally confirmed, localized, posttraumatic herpes simplex infection during childhood, apparently unrelated to autoinoculation, exist in the literature. 3-5 We report a traumatic HSV skin infection occurring three days after needle aspiration of a presumed bacterial cervical adenitis. Report of a Case .—An 18-month-old, previously healthy boy developed diffuse swelling of the right side of the neck one day before admission. The past medical history included a unilateral otitis media two months prior to admission. He had no history of herpetic infection nor did any members of his immediate family. Physical examination revealed a listless, febrile (39.2 °C) toddler with a firm, tender mass obscuring the angle of the mandible and extending over the sternocleidomastoid muscle. The overlying skin was hot and erythematous.


The aim of the present paper is to provide a basis for an in-depth discussion of the European Commission's initiative for a 'European Pillar of Social Rights' by briefly examining its context. The content of the Commission's Communication is reviewed and followed by a more detailed analysis of the rights listed in the Annex of the Communication.


Common ownership (also called horizontal shareholding) refers to a stock investor's owner-ship of minority stakes in multiple competing firms. Recent empirical studies have purported to show that institutional investors' common ownership reduces competition among commonly owned competitors. This Article considers the legality of "mere" common ownership—horizontal shareholding that is not accompanied by any sort of illicit agreement (e.g., a hub-and-spoke conspiracy) or the holding of control-conferring shares—under the U.S. antitrust laws. Prominent antitrust scholars and the leading treatise have concluded that mere common ownership that has the incidental effect of lessening market competition may violate both Clayton Act Section 7 and Sherman Act Section 1. This Article demonstrates otherwise. Competition-lessening instances of mere common ownership do not violate Section 7 because they fall within the provision's "solely for investment" exemption, which the scholars calling for condemnation have misinterpreted. Mere common ownership does not run afoul of Section 1 because it lacks the sort of agreement (contract, combination, or conspiracy) required for liability under that provision. From a social welfare standpoint, these legal outcomes are desirable. Condemning mere common ownership under the antitrust laws would likely entail significant marginal costs, while the marginal benefits such condemnation would secure are speculative. Accordingly, courts and enforcers should not, on the current empirical record, stretch the antitrust laws to condemn mere common ownership.


The recovery and the relaxation behaviors of the exchange bias (HE) in a Co/Cu/FeNi/FeMn spin valve has been studied via point contact technique with high field scan rates ranging from 1050 to 13500 Oe/s. The evolution of the exchange bias with the number of field cycles(n) shows a one over the square root of (n) dependence as against ln(n) in a previous study. A recovery of the exchange bias when the field cycling is stopped has been observed and the recovery ratio (R) is found to be a function of the logarithm of the recovery time (log(t)) in agreement with previous studies. The relaxation time of the exchange bias is estimated to be 6.62, 20.85, 43.10, 109.02, and 297.24 s for 13500, 5400, 2700, 1350, and 1050 Oe/s respectively. The one over the square root of (n) dependence of HE and the log (t) dependence of R have been discussed using thermal activation model.


In this paper, we propose a closed form expression of a new and accurate analytical substrate current model for both pre-stressed and post-stressed MOSFET's. It was derived based on the concept of effective electric field, which gives a more reasonable impact ionization rate in the lucky-electron model. This effective electric field, composed by two experimentally determined parameters, can be regarded as a result of nonlocal heating effects within devices. This model shows a significant improvement to the conventional local field model. One salient feature of the present model is that it allows us to characterize the time evolution of the substrate current of stressed MOSFET's for the first time. Experimental verification for a wide variety of MOSFET's with effective channel lengths down to 0.3 /spl mu/m shows that the new model is very accurate and is feasible for any kind of MOS device with different drain structures. The present model can be applied to explore the hot carrier effect in designing submicrometer MOS devices with emphasis on the design optimization of a device drain engineering issue. In addition, the present model is well suited for device reliability analysis and circuit level simulations. >


The occurrence of hypertension in the presence of diabetes mellitus was evaluated in a study of black and white populations in separate hospitals for one fiscal year, Each population was sufficiently large to be significant (blacks, 6,491 and whites, 16,184). Hypertension and diabetes mellitus each occur about twice as frequently in blacks as in whites. The combination of the diseases is almost three times as common in the black as in the white population.


The automotive industry is under a growing volume of regulations regarding environmental impact and component recycling. Nowadays, glass fiber-based composites are commodities in the automotive industry, but show limitations when recycled. Thus, attention is being devoted to alternative reinforcements like natural fibers. Curauá (Curacao, Ananas erectifolius) is reported in the literature as a promising source of natural fiber prone to be used as composite reinforcement. Nonetheless, one important challenge is to obtain properly dispersed materials, especially when the percentages of reinforcements are higher than 30 wt %. In this work, composite materials with curauá fiber contents ranging from 20 wt % to 50 wt % showed a linear positive evolution of its tensile strength and Young's modulus against reinforcement content. This is an indication of good reinforcement dispersion and of favorable stress transfer at the fiber-matrix interphase. A car door handle was used as a test case to assess the suitability of curauá-based composites to replace glass fiber-reinforced composites. The mechanical analysis and a preliminary lifecycle analysis are performed to prove such ability.


A toxicogenomics study was performed in the mouse liver after treatment of a bile-duct–damaging chemical, 4,4′-methylene dianiline (MDA), across multiple doses and sampling times in an acute phase using the AB Expression Array System. Imprinting control region (ICR) mice were given a single oral administration of a low (10 mg/kg b.w.) or high (100 mg/kg b.w.) dose of MDA. Mice were sacrificed six, twenty-four, and seventy-two hours after treatment for serum chemistry, histopathology, and mRNA preparation from liver samples. Treatment with MDA increased liver-toxicity–related enzymes in blood and induced bile-duct cell injury, followed by regeneration. To explore potential biomarker gene profiles, the altered genes were categorized into four expression patterns depending on dose and time. Numerous functionally defined and unclassified genes in each category were up- or down-regulated throughout the period from cellular injury to the recovery phase, verified by RT-PCR. Many genes associated with liver toxicity and diseases belonged to one of these categories. The chemokine-mediated Th1 pathway was implicated in the inflammatory process. The genes associated with oxidative stress, apoptosis, and cell-cycle regulation were also dynamically responsive to MDA treatment. The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway was likely responsible for the reconstitution process of the MDA-injured liver.


In 2005 the Hungarian Exise Tax Act was amended regarding the sale of biofuels. The amendment stipulated that from July 1, 2007 fuels with a 4.4 volume percentage bioethanol content will be sold in Hungary. It equally stipulated that from January 1, 2008 fuels with a 4.4 volume percentage biodiesel content will also be sold. Hungary's stated 2010 biofuel objective is 5.75%, which is calculated in relation to energy content. Blending requirements for this transition are 144 thousand tonnes of bioethanol (or 106 thousand tonnes of ETBE, due to its higher energy content) and 183 thousand tonnes of biodiesel. Hungary's planned biofuel production capacities are approximately 3 million tonnes of bioethanol and 400 thousand tonnes of biodiesel, which seems farfetched both from a raw material and market point of view. Generous long-term estimates predict bioethanol production will utilise 40-50% of Hungary's maize production, (3-4 million tonnes) and 1.2 million tonnes of wheat. And from this would come 1.4-1.7 million tonnes of bioethanol. Hungarian rape and sunflower seed total approximately 850 thousand tonnes, and from this approximately 255 thousand tonnes of biodiesel could be produced. Hungarian domestic demand does not require this much product, and these quantities would entail major exports, especially for bioethanol (1.2-1.5 M tonnes).


Divergent long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) represent a major lncRNA biotype in mouse and human genomes. The biological and molecular functions of the divergent lncRNAs remain largely unknown. Here, we show that lncKdm2b, a divergent lncRNA for Kdm2b gene, is conserved among five mammalian species and highly expressed in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and early embryos. LncKdm2b knockout impairs ESC self‐renewal and causes early embryonic lethality. LncKdm2b can activate Zbtb3 by promoting the assembly and ATPase activity of Snf2‐related CREBBP activator protein (SRCAP) complex in trans. Zbtb3 potentiates the ESC self‐renewal in a Nanog‐dependent manner. Finally, Zbtb3 deficiency impairs the ESC self‐renewal and early embryonic development. Therefore, our findings reveal that lncRNAs may represent an additional layer of the regulation of ESC self‐renewal and early embryogenesis.


Having access to realistic and empirically grounded passenger valuations of public transport trip components facilitate the undertaking of necessary trade-offs during planning of transport networks. Discrete choice estimation of path choice preferences is a practical way to obtain such preferences. This paper proposes a new take on the empirical foundation of path choice estimation based on revealed choices by introducing trip data for full activity-based 'door-to-door' public transport trips collected from a dedicated survey application for smartphones. Choice probabilities were modelled based on an explicitly generated choice set, where the public transport trip parts were generated using a branch-and-bound approach. Results in terms of estimated preferences are comparable to those based on conventional surveying methods and suggest significant premiums for paths involving public transport stops with an elevated level of passenger service as well as differences in preferences across population groups.


Results of investigation of the effect of electron radiation dose (up to 500 kGy), generated in linear high voltage accelerator, on the contact angle and surface free energy of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) film werepresented. Water, glycerin, formamide, diiodomethane, α-bromonaphthalene as well as their two- or three-component systems were used as measurement liquids. Calculations were done according to Owens-Wendt's or van Oss-Chaudhury-Good's methods, using the results of contact angle measurements. Tests of wettability of samples investigated have been also done. It was found that the courses of changes of contact angle, decreasing with an increase in radiation dose, were similar for all measurement liquids used although significant quantitative differences appeared (Fig. 1, Table 4). The largest changes of contact angle values were observed for radiation doses up to 50 kGy. Surface free energy results, obtained by each method or on the basis of the contact angle with liquids from particular measurements systems used in the same method, differed in general in the whole range of doses used (Figs. 2-6, Tables 5-8). For this reason surface free energy can not be treated as absolute measure of thermodynamic state of surface layer of radiation modified PET film. Its values can be compared only in the case when they are determined by the same method and with the same measurement liquids (or standard ones) using.


We evaluated the effect of 47 serum samples obtained from 34 children with juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA) on mitogen-induced proliferation of normal peripheral blood lymphocytes (nPBL). We found that sera from patients with active disease, and particularly those with the systemic form, inhibited significantly PHA-induced proliferation of nPBL at all the PHA concentrations tested. This inhibitory activity was independent of the treatment and was correlated with the value of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Part of the JCA sera inhibitory effect could be reversed by the addition of exogenous interleukin 2 (IL-2), but not of interleukin 1 (IL-1) or interferon-gamma, moreover, JCA sera were able to partially inhibit the IL-2 dependent proliferation of CTLL. When we tested serum fractions obtained by Sephadex G-200 chromatography for their inhibitory activity, we observed that: a) two major peaks of inhibitory activity on PHA-induced proliferation were present: peak 1 with MW less than 600,000 and peak 2 with MW between 70,000 and 35,000; b) the inhibitory activity present in the high MW peak was in part IL-2 related; and c) both peaks contained elevated levels of acute phase proteins (APP) which are known to inhibit mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation. We conclude that sera from patients with active systemic JCA contain inhibitory activity on mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation. We conclude that sera from patients with active systemic JCA contain inhibitory activity on mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation. This activity is due to the presence of multiple inhibitors, one of which appears to be IL-2 related; at least part of the inhibitory activity may be due to elevated serum levels of APP.


Recent ROSAT studies have identified a significant population of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) that are notably faint in soft X-rays relative to their optical fluxes. Are these AGN intrinsically X-ray weak or are they just highly absorbed? Brandt, Laor & Wills have systematically examined the optical and UV spectral properties of a well-defined sample of these soft X-ray weak (SXW) AGN drawn from the Boroson & Green sample of all the Palomar Green AGN 00 with z < 0.5. We present ASCA observations of three of these SXW AGN: PG 1011-040, PG 1535+547 (Mrk 486), and PG 2112+059. In general, our ASCA observations support the intrinsic absorption scenario for explaining soft X-ray weakness; both PG 1535+547 and PG 2112+059 show significant column densities (NH is approximately 10(exp 22) - 10(exp 23)/sq cm) of absorbing gas. Interestingly, PG 1011-040 shows no spectral evidence for X-ray absorption. The weak X-ray emission may result from very strong absorption of a partially covered source, or this AGN may be intrinsically X-ray weak. PG 2112+059 is a Broad Absorption Line (BAL) QSO, and we find it to have the highest X-ray flux known of this class. It shows a typical power-law X-ray continuum above 3 keV; this is the first direct evidence that BAL QSOs indeed have normal X-ray continua underlying their intrinsic absorption. Finally, marked variability between the ROSAT and ASCA observations of PG 1535+547 and PG 2112+059 suggests that the soft X-ray weak designation may be transient, and multi-epoch 0.1-10.0 KeV X-ray observations are required to constrain variability of the absorber and continuum.


Repeated replacement of sulphamidase via cerebrospinal fluid injection is an effective treatment for pathological changes in the brain in mice and dogs with the lysosomal storage disorder, mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIA (MPS IIIA). Investigational trials of this approach are underway in children with this condition, however, infusions require attendance at a specialist medical facility. We sought to comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of sustained‐release (osmotic pump‐delivered) enzyme replacement therapy in murine MPS IIIA as this method, if applied to humans, would require only subcutaneous administration of enzyme once the pump was installed. Six‐week‐old MPS IIIA and unaffected mice were implanted with subcutaneous mini‐osmotic pumps connected to an infusion cannula directed at the right lateral ventricle. Either recombinant human sulphamidase or vehicle were infused over the course of 7 weeks, with pumps replaced part‐way through the experimental period. We observed near‐normalisation of primarily stored substrate (heparan sulphate) in both hemispheres of the MPS IIIA brain and cervical spinal cord, as determined using tandem mass spectrometry. Immunohistochemistry indicated a reduction in secondarily stored GM3 ganglioside and neuroinflammatory markers. A bias towards the infusion side was seen in some, but not all outcomes. The recombinant enzyme appears stable under pump‐like conditions for at least 1 month. Given that infusion pumps are in clinical use in other nervous system disorders, e.g. for treatment of spasticity or brain tumours, this treatment method warrants consideration for testing in large animal models of MPS IIIA and other lysosomal storage disorders that affect the brain.


The study assessed the technical efficiency of Nigerian dairy farms. Information on 73 dairy farms was obtained from the General Household Survey (GHS Panel) for the year 2018-2019 wave, and the method of analysis employed include descriptive statistics and Data Envelopment Analysis Model. The findings show that not all the farms sampled are technically efficient, which means they can still utilize their input resources more effectively. The average level of technical efficiency of sampled farms was 83%; this suggests from the technical point of view that there exist an opportunity for expansion of milk production and revenue using the same level of inputs at present and putting to use effectively available technologies by 17%. Furthermore, results also show that farms that practice grazing systems, those located in the northern part of Nigeria and small farm sizes, have higher T.E. overall.
JEL Classifications: Q12, Q1, R15


Sport organizations are developing family-friendly spectator initiatives to boost engagement and sales to parents and children. While the number of women sport fans continues to grow, research has yet to explore how women, as mothers and fans, experience fandom. Informed by a maternal geography framework, this study explores women's understanding of what does or does not make game-day experiences family-friendly by presenting the accounts of 15 women from North America and Australia who are sport fans and mothers. Interpretive phenomenological analysis is utilized to investigate how mothering as a spatially informed care practice shapes the perspectives of what constitutes a family-friendly sport spectating experience. Findings identify key components of the physical, structural, and social environments of women's experiences of family-friendly sport fandom, as well as exposing that what is presumed to be family-friendly is not the same as mother-friendly.


Crisis governance requires leaders to make vital decisions under time pressure in highly uncertain circumstances. A group of researchers from Australia have been investigating the challenge of understanding decision making in high consequence low probability disasters. This research paper draws on the unparalleled access and multiple interviews conducted over a two year period with the commander that led the Australian Urban Search and Rescue contingent to Fukushima. Our research unpacked the commander's strategic decisions during the 10-day mission to understand how leaders make decisions in these unique situations. We draw on the concept of demarcating expertise by offered by Wolbers, Boersma and Groenewegen, and posit that in mega-disasters such as what occurred in Fukushima, effective strategic decision making does not require the separation of expertise but instead requires decision makers to combine their expertise. We hypothesise that the commander in this research enhanced his expertise by combining his decision-making expertise and his hazard specific expertise. This augmentation of expertise allowed for complex decision making under dynamic and uncertain conditions. We unpack a series of decisions from this deployment to Fukushima that necessitated augmented expertise and explore what this means for the theory of emergency management and its importance in research utilisation. This panel called for papers in this discipline to provide systematic analyses and comparative case studies to identify and theorise patterns across crises and disasters. We argue that some situations are so unique that it is not possible to compare them across multiple cases. This is the distinction between emergencies or incidents, and unprecedented disasters. Incidents will often have operating procedures to guide those involved and if these are absent, emergency responders can often draw on similar previous incidents to plan their course of action. Disasters, and especially unprecedented disasters, are unique in the sense that they involve several cascading elements that collectively have never been experienced before. These unprecedented disasters warrant an in-depth single case study approach to uncover, capture and learn from these unique events. The 2011 Japan earthquake, tsunami and nuclear mega-disaster required those practitioners on the ground to make decisions under extraordinary conditions.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
A report directly comparing platinum coils, Matrix coils, and HydroCoils in a single animal model does not currently exist. We evaluated and compared the performance of these three products in the embolization of experimental aneurysms.

METHODS
Thirty-three elastase-induced saccular aneurysms were created in rabbits. Aneurysms were embolized with Matrix coils (n = 15), HydroCoils (n = 9), or platinum coils (n = 9). The groups were compared with respect to the following parameters: aneurysm size, procedure duration, number and total length of devices deposited, angiographic occlusion score, and volumetric occlusion percentage. Follow-up angiographic and histologic features at 2, 6, and 10 weeks after embolization were analyzed. Groups were compared by using analysis of variance and chi2 tests.

RESULTS
No significant differences were found among groups regarding aneurysm size, total device length, initial angiographic occlusion score, or procedure time. The mean number of devices for Matrix subjects was less than that for platinum coils (P = .02) and HydroCoil (P = .03). Volumetric occlusion for HydroCoil (76%) was significantly greater (P < .0001) than both platinum coils (31%) and Matrix (23%). Angiographic durability was significantly increased in the HydroCoil group compared with Matrix (P = .03). Coil compaction was found more frequently in the Matrix group (five cases, 33%) than the HydroCoil (no cases, 0%), or platinum coil groups (two cases, 22%). The Matrix group showed greater tissue reaction compared with platinum coils (P < .05).

CONCLUSION
In the rabbit model, the use of HydroCoils results in improved long-term occlusion rates compared with Matrix and platinum coils. The Matrix group showed an increase in inflammation and coil compaction compared with HydroCoils and platinum coils.


P‐glycoprotein (Pgp) is an ATP‐depen‐dent efflux pump involved in transport of xenobiotics from cells that, when overexpressed, can mediate multi‐drug resistance in mammalian cells. Pgp may be a candidate target for new anthelmintics, as it plays critical roles in normal cell physiology, in removal of drugs from cells, and potentially in the development of drug resistance. Schistosomes are parasitic flatworms that cause schistosomiasis, which affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Here, we express SMDR2, a Pgp homologue from Schistosoma mansoni (Platyhelminthes), in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and use fluorescence‐based assays to examine the functional and pharmacological properties of this transporter. Membrane vesicles from stably transfected CHO cells expressing recombinant SMDR2 show significant increases in rhodamine transport and ATP hydrolysis compared with those from control cells or cells transfected with empty vector. SMDR2‐mediated transport is inhibited by the Pgp modulators verapamil (IC50=12.1 μM) and nifedipine, and also by praziqu‐antel, the current drug of choice against schisotosomia‐sis (IC50=17.4 μM). Efflux measurements of a fluorescent analog of praziquantel indicate that it is also a substrate for SMDR2. The interaction of praziquantel with SMDR2 may offer new strategies for potentiating the action of praziquantel and possibly overcoming drug resistance.—Kasinathan, R. S., Goronga, T., Messerli, S. M., Webb, T. R., Greenberg, R. M. Modulation of a Schistosoma mansoni multidrug transporter by the antischistosomal drug praziquantel. FASEB J. 24, 128–135 (2010). www.fasebj.org


Induction welding is a fusion bonding process relying on the application of an alternating magnetic field to generate heat at the joining interface. Herein, magnetic hysteresis losses heating elements, called susceptors, which are made of magnetic particles dispersed in a thermoplastic polymer, are investigated. A methodology to identify the parameters influencing the heating rate of the susceptors and to select suitable magnetic particles for their fabrication is proposed. The applied magnetic field amplitude is modeled based on the induction coil geometry and the alternating electrical current introduced to it. Then, properties of the evaluated susceptor particles are obtained through measurements of their magnetic hysteresis. A case study is presented to validate the suitability of the proposed methodology. Particles of iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), and magnetite (Fe3O4) are evaluated as susceptor materials in polypropylene (PP) and polyetheretherketone (PEEK) matrices. Heating rates are predicted using the proposed method, and samples are produced and heated by induction to experimentally verify the results. Good agreement with the predictions is obtained. Ni is the most suitable susceptor material for a PP matrix, while Fe3O4 is preferable for PEEK.


This study aimed to identify distinct behavioral profiles in a population-based sample of 654 4-year-old children and characterize their relationships with brain functional networks using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data. Young children showed 7 behavioral profiles, including a super healthy behavioral profile with the lowest scores across all Child Behavior CheckList (CBCL) subscales (G1) and other 6 behavioral profiles, respectively with pronounced withdrawal (G2), somatic complaints (G3), anxiety and withdrawal (G4), somatic complaints and withdrawal (G5), the mixture of emotion, withdrawal, and aggression (G6), and attention (G7) problems. Compared with children in G1, children with withdrawal shared abnormal functional connectivities among the sensorimotor networks. Children in emotionally relevant problems shared the common pattern among the attentional and frontal networks. Nevertheless, children in sole withdrawal problems showed a unique pattern of connectivity alterations among the sensorimotor, cerebellar, and salience networks. Children with somatic complaints showed abnormal functional connectivities between the attentional and subcortical networks, and between the language and posterior default mode networks. This study provides novel evidence on the existence of behavioral heterogeneity in early childhood and its associations with specific functional networks that are clinically relevant phenotypes for mental illness and are apparent from early childhood.


This thesis discusses the intrinsic worth of a published work, 'Industrial Flow
Measurement' (Appendix A), a handbook written and revised by the author over a
period of 30 years. The author first discusses the need to measure flow and then
moves on to the raison d'etre of the handbook before looking at a brief history of flow
measurement. Although not claiming that any single attribute of the handbook is
unique, the author nonetheless postulates that because it incorporates several
distinctive features, at a number of different levels, these agents combine to make it
one-of-a- kind.

The author moves on to an overview of existing flow metering technologies discussed
within the handbook. Finally, he looks at what he considers is a major gap in the
collected body of knowledge – the field of multiphase and water-cut metering and
provides a justification, not only for its inclusion in the future but for future
investigation.


The Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has led to unprecedented challenges for human life. During this pandemic, Turkish people have used various herbal remedies for both the prevention of Covid-19 and the alleviate of its symptoms. The present study aimed to investigate the herbal remedies used to prevent Covid-19 in Turkey and to determine whether the usage of herbal remedies was associated with sociodemographic properties. A cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire was conducted between November and December 2020. A total of 871 individuals (15 years of age or older) who lived in various provinces of Turkey participated in this study. Analysis was made in SPSS version 26.0 software using the descriptive statistics and appropriate tests of statistical significance for the comparisons. About 54.4% (n = 474) of the participants reported that they have used herbal remedies during the pandemic period. We identified a total of 45 plant species, the most frequently cited were ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe), linden (Tilia spp.), elderberry (Sambucus nigra L.), sage (Salvia spp.), and rosehip (Rosa canina L.), respectively. It has been found that the usage of herbal remedies was associated with several demographic variables. A considerable proportion of the participants reported the use of herbal remedies in order to prevent disease. This paper demonstrated the potential herbal remedies that can be used against Covid-19. Further research should be carried out to evaluate the efficacy of these medicinal plants and should control the flow of misleading information.


The problem of determining whether a document is about a loosely defined topic is at the core of text Information Retrieval (IR). An automatic IR system should be able to determine if a document is likely to convey information on a topic. In most cases, it has to do it solely based on measure- ments of the use of terms in the document (lexical measurements). In this work a novel scheme for measuring and representing lexical information from text documents is proposed. This scheme is inspired by the concept of ideal measurement as is described by Quantum Theory (QT). We apply it to Information Retrieval through formal analogies between text processing and physical measurements. The main contribution of this work is the development of a complete mathematical scheme to describe lexical measurements. These measurements encompass current ways of repre- senting text, but also completely new representation schemes for it. For example, this quantum-like representation includes logical features such as non-Boolean behaviour that has been suggested to be a fundamental issue when extracting information from natural language text. This scheme also provides a formal unification of logical, probabilistic and geometric approaches to the IR problem.
From the concepts and structures in this scheme of lexical measurement, and using the principle of uncertain conditional, an "Aboutness Witness" is defined as a transformation that can detect docu- ments that are relevant to a query. Mathematical properties of the Aboutness Witness are described in detail and related to other concepts from Information Retrieval. A practical application of this concept is also developed for ad hoc retrieval tasks, and is evaluated with standard collections. Even though the introduction of the model instantiated here does not lead to substantial perfor- mance improvements, it is shown how it can be extended and improved, as well as how it can generate a whole range of radically new models and methodologies. This work opens a number of research possibilities both theoretical and experimental, like new representations for documents in Hilbert spaces or other forms, methodologies for term weighting to be used either within the proposed framework or independently, ways to extend existing methodologies, and a new range of operator-based methods for several tasks in IR.


In this paper, we study the influence of a handshake in the human emotional bond to a robot. In particular, we evaluate the human willingness to help a robot whether the robot first introduces itself to the human with or without a handshake. In the tested paradigm the robot and the human have to perform a joint task, but at a certain stage, the robot needs help to navigate through an obstacle. Without requesting explicit help from the human, the robot performs some attempts to navigate through the obstacle, suggesting to the human that it requires help. In a study with 45 participants, we measure the human's perceptions of the social robot Vizzy, comparing the handshake vs non-handshake conditions. In addition, we evaluate the influence of a handshake in the prosocial behaviour of helping it and the willingness to help it in the future. The results show that a handshake increases the perception of Warmth, Animacy, Likeability, and the tendency to help the robot more, by removing the obstacle.


New acrylate-based nonionic reactive surfactants have been successfully designed, synthesized, and polymerized. Their homo- and copolymerization properties were studied, and while a low degree of homopolymerization was achieved, good copolymerization behavior with methyl methacrylate was observed. High solids content acrylic latexes were prepared using these new amphiphilic reactive molecules and were shown to have these reactive surfactants covalently incorporated. Well-defined latex particles with narrow particle size distributions were produced. Both scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques were used to confirm the size and size distribution of the particles formed. AFM measurements conducted on the films formed from these latexes demonstrated their low degree of water sensitivity. This seems to indicate a low level of surfactant migration during the film formation and that the surfmers have been successfully incorporated into the final copolymers produced via heteropha...


Cancer is a leading cause of death in both developed and developing countries. Although advances in cancer research lead to improved anti-neoplastic therapies, they continue to have unfavorable outcomes, including poor response and severe toxicity. Thus, the challenge for the new therapeutic approaches is to increase anti-tumor efficacy by targeting different molecules encompassed in the tumor and its microenvironment, as well as their specific interactions. The histamine H4 receptor (H4R) is the last discovered histamine receptor subtype and it modulates important immune functions in innate and in adaptive immune responses. Several ligands have been developed and some of them are being used in clinical trials for immune disorders with promising results. When searched in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, human H4R gene was found to be expressed in bladder cancer, kidney cancer, breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancers, lung cancer, endometrial cancer, and skin cancer. In the present work, we aimed to briefly summarize current knowledge in H4R's pharmacology and in the clinical use of H4R ligands before focusing on recent data reporting the expression of H4R and its pathophysiological role in cancer, representing a potential molecular target for cancer therapeutics. H4R gene and protein expression in different types of cancers compared with normal tissue as well as its relationship with patient prognosis in terms of survival will be described.


A case report of a patient who had lost her maxillary permanent left central incisor, left cuspid and left first premolar teeth due to a cyst operation, is presented. The maxillary permanent left lateral incisor was in horizontal position high in the vestibule. She was treated with removable and fixed orthodontic appliances. The lateral incisor was uprighted and brought into its normal position in the dental arch. For aesthetics and function missing teeth were replaced with a specially designed prosthesis.


Geographic locations of cellular base stations sometimes can be well fitted with spatial homogeneous Poisson point processes. In this paper, we make a complementary observation. In the presence of the log-normal shadowing of sufficiently high variance, the statistics of the propagation loss of a single user with respect to different network stations are invariant with respect to their geographic positioning, whether regular or not, for a wide class of empirically homogeneous networks. Even in a perfectly hexagonal case they appear as though they were realized in a Poisson network model, i.e., form an inhomogeneous Poisson point process on the positive half-line with a power-law density characterized by the path-loss exponent. At the same time, the conditional distances to the corresponding base stations, given their observed propagation losses, become independent and log-normally distributed, which can be seen as a decoupling between the real and model geometry. The result applies also to the Suzuki (Rayleigh-log-normal) propagation model. We use the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to empirically study the quality of the Poisson approximation and use it to build a linear-regression method for the statistical estimation of the value of the path-loss exponent.


The alteration of land use and land cover caused by human activities on a global scale has had a notable impact on ecosystem services at regional and global levels, which are crucial for the survival and welfare of human beings. Merbil, a small freshwater wetland located in the Brahmaputra basin in Assam, India, is not exempt from this phenomenon. In the present study, we have estimated and shown a spatio-temporal variation of ecosystem service values in response to land use and land cover alteration for the years 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2021, and predicted the same for 2030 and 2040. Supervised classification and the CA-Markov model were used in this study for land-use and land-cover classification and future projection, respectively. The result showed a significant increase in built-up areas, agricultural land, and aquatic plants and a decrease in open water and vegetation during 1990–2040. The study area experienced a substantial rise in ecosystem service values during the observed period (1990–2021) due to the rapid expansion of built-up areas and agricultural and aquatic land. Although the rise of built-up and agricultural land is economically profitable and has increased the study site's overall ecosystem service values, decreasing the area under open water and vegetation cover may have led to an ecological imbalance in the study site. Hence, we suggest that protecting the natural ecosystem should be a priority in future land-use planning. The study will aid in developing natural resource sustainability management plans and provide useful guidelines for preserving the local ecological balance in small wetlands over the short to medium term.


Virilization due to hyperandrogenism in women causes male signs and symptoms such as swelling of the clitoris, deepening of the voice, facial hair and increase in body hair. Virilization is caused by less than 0.5% of all ovarian tumors. Here we report a case of virilizing Leydig cell tumor of the left ovary in a 36 year old woman. Misinterpretation of symptoms, conflicting medical information and advice from previous doctors had confused the patient. We performed a diagnostic evaluation including clinical, hormonal parameters, imaging, anatomical pathology examinations, and psychological assessment. Blood analysis showed a high testosterone level. The presence of an ovarian tumor was confirmed by laparoscopy. Since the patient refused ovariectomy, a biopsy of the left ovary was performed. Pathology showed a Leydig cell tumor without histological signs of malignancy. In spite of extensive explanation and psychological counseling, cultural barriers prevented appropriate treatment. An ovarian Leydig cell tumor should always be considered for a woman in the reproductive age with symptoms of virilization. The diagnosis is suspected on the basis of an ovarian mass on examination and further investigation and should be proven by biopsy.


INTRODUCTION
Primary renal fibrosarcoma is a relatively uncommon tumor in the urinary system of adults, in fact only 6 cases have been reported in the English literature so far worldwide. The etiology of renal fibrosarcoma is incompletely understood. It is still lacking in simple and specific tissue-based biomarkers to assist the diagnosis of renal fibrosarcoma. Among the previously reported cases in the literature, the ETV6-NTRK3 gene fusion could be detected in the congenital (or infantile) fibrosarcoma, and this rearrangement may play a vital role in initiation of congenital fibrosarcoma. However, the ETV6-NTRK3 expression has not been reported in adult-type fibrosarcoma in the literature so far.

CASE PRESENTATION
A 66-year-old male patient admitted to our hospital because of chills, fever, and a right indwelling percutaneous nephrostomy catheter. Compared to normal kidney, the right renal had a thinner cortex and no function. After a week of anti-infective treatment, the patient underwent retroperitoneal laparoscopic right nephrectomy. The postoperative pathological result was fibrosarcoma of the right kidney.

CONCLUSIONS
Aberrant expression of EVT6-NTRK3 may contribute to the development of renal fibrosarcoma.


Ethiopia launched influenza surveillance in November 2008. By October 2010, 176 patients evaluated at 5 sentinel health facilities in Addis Ababa met case definitions for influenza-like illness or severe acute respiratory illness (SARI). Most patients (131 [74%]) were children aged 0-4 years. Twelve patients (7%) were positive for influenza virus. Most patients (109 [93%]) were aged <5 years, of whom only 3 (2.8%) had laboratory-confirmed influenza. Low awareness of influenza by healthcare workers, misperceptions regarding case definitions, and insufficient human resources at sites could have potentially led to many missed cases, resulting in suboptimal surveillance.


Abstract For basin modelling purposes, uplift and erosion analysis is as important as subsidence analysis. Within the North Alpine Foreland Basin of Switzerland (NAFB) three major interregional unconformities separate the sedimentary succession: the late Palaeozoic, the base Tertiary and the base Quaternary unconformity. The amount of missing section depends on the palaeogeographic basin position and on different inversion mechanisms (thermal uplift, intraplate stress, tectonic uplift or isostatic rebound movements). Several techniques exist to determine the magnitude and timing of maximum palaeotemperatures and palaeogradients, facilitating direct estimation of missing section. In our study coalification and fission track data are analysed and compared with recently published models concerning erosion in the NAFB. The results indicate that each inversion episode is accompanied by significant erosion (up to several km). The following range of removed section values were reconstructed: (i) late Palaeozoic unconformity: 1000–1200 m; (ii) base Tertiary unconformity: 800–1800 m; (iii) base Quaternary unconformity: 1500–3000 m in the SW, up to 700 m in the NE and 4100–4400 m in parts close to the Alpine front. The reconstruction techniques provide only rough estimates as each approach is based on certain assumptions and calibration uncertainties. Also, the obtained values are higher than those expected from simple evaluation of the preserved stratigraphic record. Calculated palaeogeothermal gradients are very high (80–90 °C km−1) during the late Palaeozoic, slightly higher than normal during the late Cretaceous (30–50 °C km−1) and lower than normal (15–30 °C km−1) during the Cenozoic.


Sixty-four sets of three-dimensional models of RNA-DNA duplex base triplets were constructed
based on codons by homology modeling method using software InsightII on Indigo workstation, which
should be helpful for the study of RNA-DNA annealing, the basis of nucleic acids interactions and some
peculiar motifs for design antisense oligonucleotides. Our research result reveal that the energies (such as
E, Ec, Eb, Et and Enr) of DNA/asRNA hybrids are lower than those of RNA/asDNA hybrids while the
energies (such as En and End) of DNA/asRNA hybrids are higher than those of RNA/asDNA hybrids for
most binary complex and ternary complex, especially E, Ec, Eb and En in evidence. And the total energy of
GGG/CCC hybrid is the lowest of all the hybrids, the more G/C base pairs, the lower of energy of the
triplet hybrid and (G/C)3<U(G/C)2<A(G/C)2 <U2(G/C)<AU(G/C)<A2(G/C) in turn; the U-including hybrid system stability, the more of number of uracil (U), the lower of energy of the triplet hybrid; the energy of GU-including hybrid is lower than that of CU-including hybrid no matter for binary complex or ternary complex. G/A/U bases often deviate from base pair planes, which can form hydrogen bonds with neighboring base pairs and affects the stabilities of triplets. Moreover, some peculiar oligodeoxynucleotide sequence motifs that could be derived from corresponding triplet hybrids are divided into two groups: four-member motif and five - member motif, where the former comprises eight motifs, namely 5'-TCTT-3',5'-TGCT-3',5'-CCTT-3',5'-CCAT-3', 5'-CATC-3', 5'-ATCT-3', 5'-GCTG-3' and 5'-GTCT-3'; and the later consists of four motifs, viz 5'-TGCTG-3', 5'-GTCTT-3', 5'-CCATC-3' and 5'-CATCT-3', which are positively correlated with antisense activities and play an important role in designing antisense drugs.


A portable, external, preprogrammed insulin infusion system with a mass of 560 grams and a battery lifetime of 4 months is described. The system uses a rotary solenoid-driven peristaltic pump, with low-power CMOS timing circuitry and controls to provide bimodal insulin delivery with a timed high rate. Accurate and reproducible delivery of 2 microliter fluid pulses at programmed intervals from 0.6 seconds to 100 minutes can be achieved permitting the delivery of a wide range of insulin concentrations. This system is the precursor to a totally implantable insulin delivery system.


B20 EOR Methods to Enhance Gas Oil Gravity Drainage - Modeling Aspects M.L. Verlaan (Shell International Exploration & Production) P.M. Boerrigter* (Shell International Exploration & Production) & D. Yang (Shell Canada Energy) SUMMARY Conventional displacement methods such as water flooding do not work effectively in densely fractured reservoirs: due to the high fracture permeability it is not possible to establish significant pressure differentials across oil bearing matrix blocks to drive oil from matrix rock towards producers. In such reservoirs one has to rely on natural mechanisms like capillary imbibition or gravity to recover oil from the matrix reservoir rock. In


Complementary idiotypes or antibodies are considered to have combining site structures which are at least partly directed against each other. Complementary antibodies were induced in A/He mice by immunization with phosphorylcholine (PC)-containing antigens and by immunization with the PC-binding IgA myeloma protein TEPC-15 (T15). Both responses were monitored by enumerating plaque-forming cells (PFC) and assaying serum antibody levels against the corresponding antigens. Mice immunized at least three times with T15 in adjuvants had markedly suppressed responses to subsequent immunization with PC; similarly, mice preimmunized multiple times with PC had suppressed responses to immunizations with T15. In contrast, mice immunized with T15 in the interval between "primary" and "secondary" immunizations with PC had undiminished PFC responses to both antigens but significantly decreased antibody titers to PC. Simultaneous responses were also induced by immunizations with T15 superimposed on weekly immunizations with PC; with this regime, immunization with T15 actually enhanced the PFC response to PC, but serum antibody to PC was significantly lower than for mice immunized with PC only. Levels of serum antibody to PC were probably lower, either because anti-PC antibody was complexed with the complementary antibody directed against T15, or because the antibody directed against T15 prevented synthesis and/or release of anti-PC antibody by cells in vivo. Thus, an established prior autogenous immune response can dramatically suppress a subsequent primary complementary response, but the effects of complementary responses on each other are more complex with different sequences of immunization. Also, the effects of variables such as the amounts and ratios of the classes of antibodies on regulation of complementary responses remain to be defined.


Essays in Intellectual Property Rights Mukund Inder Kumar Chari Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor H. Kevin Steensma Department of Management and Organization This dissertation examines imperfections in how intellectual property rights are granted to inventions, as well as how a new organizational form, the Patent Assertion Entity, influences patenting and inventive activity. Although patents have been extensively studied for the economic activity they stimulate and have been used as measures of inventive activity and knowledge flow, little research exists on how patents are granted by the patent office. First, I look at patent lawyers' incentives and capabilities as they negotiate with the patent office to obtain patents for their clients. I find that patent lawyers obtain broad patents by concealing prior art on behalf of clients for whom they file the most patents. This effect is stronger when they work as associates in the law firm that employs them, or when they have prior experience as examiners at the patent office. I also find that patent lawyers protect their reputation by obtaining a broad patent for their client when they service a large number of clients in the focal patent's technology area. Further, these effects are stronger when they are partners at law firms, or when they have prior experience as patent examiners. Second, I look at how examiners are biased when dealing with lawyers of a different gender and ethnicity than themselves. I unpack how stereotypes and occupational status create a multi-dimensional status ranking between the lawyer and examiner. Consistency between these rankings can motivate examiners to discriminate against or favor certain demographic lawyer groups, and also shape lawyer behavior towards examiners. Specifically, I find that White male examiners favor Asian male lawyers, while Asian male examiners discriminate against White male lawyers while allowing intellectual property claims. Contrary to expectations, I also find that Asian men favor white women by granting them more intellectual property. In my final paper, I study a new organizational form, the Patent Assertion Entity (PAE), that have emerged arguably as a consequence of these imperfections in the patenting process. PAE firms like Intellectual Ventures do not create inventions or products, but buy patents from inventors, bundle them into patent portfolios, and license these bundles to product manufacturers. Scholars have extensively debated their impact; some have argued that they incentivize the creation of incremental patents and inventions, while others contend that they create a market for the sale and purchase of incremental patents. I study their impact empirically on small firms that have fewer commercialization assets and likely to rely more on licensing revenues, vis-à-vis large firms that are more likely to create products. I find that they incentivize the creation of more, relatively incremental patents and inventions by small firms lacking commercialization assets. On the other hand, by providing a one-stop shop for such patents, they allow large firms to focus their efforts in the creation of fewer patents that are more novel.


In this novel procedure for determining ethylene glycol in plasma by liquid chromatography, benzoyl esters of ethylene glycol and of benzyl alcohol (used as the internal standard) are prepared directly in plasma. The benzoyl esters, highly ultraviolet-absorbing chromogens, are ideal compounds for analysis by reversed-phase liquid chromatography with methanol/water as the mobile phase. The benzoyl derivative of ethylene glycol is well separated from the derivative of the internal standard and from plasma constituents. The standard curve is linear to 400 mg of ethylene glycol per liter. As little as 10 mg of ethylene glycol per liter of plasma can be measured. Other commonly ingested alcohols do not interfere.


Using Multisensory Haptic Integration to Improve Monitoring in the Intensive Care Unit, Auditory Perception & Cognition ABSTRACT Introduction: Alarm fatigue and medical alarm mismanagement reduces the quality of patient care and creates stressful work environments for clinicians. Here, the feasibility of a novel "pre-alarm" system that utilizes multisensory integration of auditory and haptic stimuli is examined as a possible solution. Methods: Three vital signs (heart rate, blood pressure, and blood oxygenation) were represented by three musically distinct sounds that were combined into soundscapes and progressed through five pre-alarm zones (very low to very high). Three haptic conditions were tested with the auditory stimulus to determine the best combination of auditory and haptic stimulation. Qualitative data was collected through surveys and the NASA TLX index. Results: Alterations in frequency and timbre were most effective at transmitting information regarding changing vital sign zones with comparatively higher accuracy and quicker reaction time (RT), p <.01. The addition of haptic stimuli to the auditory soundscape caused no significant decline in study participant accuracy or RT. However, two weeks after training, participants performed the tasks significantly faster ( p <.001) and felt the alarm monitoring task was significantly less cognitively demanding ( p <.01), compared to the unisensory condition. Participants also felt more confident in identifying changing vital signs with the addition of haptic stimuli. Discussion: The current study demonstrates that multisensory sig- nals do not diminish the perception of transmitted information and suggest efficient training benefits over unimodal signals. Multisensory training may be beneficial over time compared to unisensory training due to a stronger consolidation effect. The potential integration of haptic input with existing auditory alarm systems and training is supported.


Image or video inpainting is the process/art of retrieving missing portions of an image without introducing undesirable artifacts that are undetectable by an ordinary observer. An image/video can be damaged due to a variety of factors, such as deterioration due to scratches, laser dazzling effects, wear and tear, dust spots, loss of data when transmitted through a channel, etc. Applications of inpainting include image restoration (removing laser dazzling effects, dust spots, date, text, time, etc.), image synthesis (texture synthesis), completing panoramas, image coding, wireless transmission (recovery of the missing blocks), digital culture protection, image de-noising, fingerprint recognition, and film special effects and production. Most inpainting methods can be classified in two key groups: global and local methods. Global methods are used for generating large image regions from samples while local methods are used for filling in small image gaps. Each method has its own advantages and limitations. For example, the global inpainting methods perform well on textured image retrieval, whereas the classical local methods perform poorly. In addition, some of the techniques are computationally intensive; exceeding the capabilities of most currently used mobile devices. In general, the inpainting algorithms are not suitable for the wireless environment. This paper presents a new and efficient scheme that combines the advantages of both local and global methods into a single algorithm. Particularly, it introduces a blind inpainting model to solve the above problems by adaptively selecting support area for the inpainting scheme. The proposed method is applied to various challenging image restoration tasks, including recovering old photos, recovering missing data on real and synthetic images, and recovering the specular reflections in endoscopic images. A number of computer simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of our scheme and also illustrate the main properties and implementation steps of the presented algorithm. Furthermore, the simulation results show that the presented method is among the state-of-the-art and compares favorably against many available methods in the wireless environment. Robustness in the wireless environment with respect to the shape of the manually selected "marked" region is also illustrated. Currently, we are working on the expansion of this work to video and 3-D data.


Successful treatment of an infected total joint arthroplasty can be achieved in approximately 90% of cases. This outcome may be jeopardized by the emergence of antibiotic resistance in bacteria common to these infections. Staphylococci are the most frequently isolated bacteria in total joint infections, and the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in these organisms among all nosocomial and community-acquired infections has been increasing. As many as 46.7% of Staphylococcus aureus strains and 85.7% of coagulase-negative staphylococci strains are methicillin-resistant. Enterococci also are commonly isolated from infected total joint arthroplasties. The prevalence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci among all enterococci strains is estimated at 23%. As the prevalence of these resistant bacteria continues to increase among all infections, it is anticipated that they will be encountered more regularly in total joint infections. Knowledge of the mechanisms of resistance of these bacteria and currently available and newly developed antimicrobials is key to preventing the expansion of antimicrobial resistance and ensuring the future successful treatment of total joint infections.


ABSTRACT The charges and countercharges between Russia and the West, the expanded military budgets and exercises, the denigration in both Russia and the US of past nuclear arms agreements, and Russia's direct involvement in the internal affairs of Western countries parallel some of the most conflictual periods during the Cold War. This paper argues that the deterioration of relations between Russia and the West from the euphoria of the early 1990s to the confrontation of today stems from two interrelated developments. The first is the West's commitment to expand the liberal international order eastwards by incorporating large segments of the former Soviet empire via the exportation of liberal economic and political values along with the enlargement of both NATO and the European Union. The second development that led to the downturn in Russia's relations with the West is the change in Russia's strategic culture in a more assertive and aggressive direction. This change is partly a response to the West's expansion into the post-Soviet space, and partly a response to internal threats to the political system that President Putin and his associates have created.


This paper aims to learn a compact representation of a video for video face recognition task. We make the following contributions: first, we propose a meta attention-based aggregation scheme which adaptively and fine-grained weighs the feature along each feature dimension among all frames to form a compact and discriminative representation. It makes the best to exploit the valuable or discriminative part of each frame to promote the performance of face recognition, without discarding or despising low quality frames as usual methods do. Second, we build a feature aggregation network comprised of a feature embedding module and a feature aggregation module. The embedding module is a convolutional neural network used to extract a feature vector from a face image, while the aggregation module consists of cascaded two meta attention blocks which adaptively aggregate the feature vectors into a single fixed-length representation. The network can deal with arbitrary number of frames, and is insensitive to frame order. Third, we validate the performance of proposed aggregation scheme. Experiments on publicly available datasets, such as YouTube face dataset and IJB-A dataset, show the effectiveness of our method, and it achieves competitive performances on both the verification and identification protocols.


Knowledge, competence, and related intangibles have emerged as the key drivers of competitive advantage in developed nations. This is not just because of the importance of knowledge itself, but because of the rapid expansion of goods and factor markets, leaving intangible assets as the main basis of competitive differentiation in many sectors. There is implicit recognition of this in both management theory and practice with the growing emphasis being placed on the importance of intangible assets, reputation, customer loyalty, and technological know-how. By using physics quantum skills in the era of management managers uses from basic science in the area of managerial issues well and they can look widely for the contemporary issues. This paper aims to review the Intellectual capital notion and learning organizations. Also a new perspective to create LOs by implementing competitive strategies like Quantum strategies comes as well.


Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy coupled with chemometrics was used to distinguish between butter samples and non-butter samples. Further, quantification of the content of margarine in adulterated butter samples was investigated. Fingerprinting region (1400-800 cm–1) was used to develop unsupervised pattern recognition (Principal Component Analysis, PCA), supervised modeling (Soft Independent Modelling by Class Analogy, SIMCA), classification (Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis, PLS-DA) and regression (Partial Least Squares Regression, PLS-R) models. PCA of the fingerprinting region shows a clustering of the two sample types. All samples were classified in their rightful class by SIMCA approach; however, nine adulterated samples (between 1% and 30% w/w of margarine) were classified as belonging both at the butter class and at the non-butter one. In the two-class PLS-DA model's (R2 = 0.73, RMSEP, Root Mean Square Error of Prediction = 0.26% w/w) sensitivity was 71.4% and Positive Predictive Value (PPV) 100%. Its threshold was calculated at 7% w/w of margarine in adulterated butter samples. Finally, PLS-R model (R2 = 0.84, RMSEP = 16.54%) was developed. PLS-DA was a suitable classification tool and PLS-R a proper quantification approach. Results demonstrate that FT-IR spectroscopy combined with PLS-R can be used as a rapid, simple and safe method to identify pure butter samples from adulterated ones and to determine the grade of adulteration of margarine in butter samples. Keywords—Adulterated butter, margarine, PCA, PLS-DA, PLSR, SIMCA.


Checklist of the species of Harvestmen (Opiliones), accepted as Danish and included in www.allearter-databasen.dk. The list is part of a national checklist covering animals, plants, fungi etc. Compilation of the list started in 2009. Read more at www.allearter.dk - a project at DanBIF (Danish Biodiversity Information Facility - www.danbif.dk).


This paper presents a polymer electrodeposition process to prepare micro-size adhesive on electrically conductive substrates, and demonstrates its application for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). UV-curable polyurethane latex was first formulated for cathodic electrodeposition process. Polyurethane was then conformally coated onto the conductive substrates by electrodeposition of polyurethane aqueous latex at 25 V for 1 minute. The coated polyurethane films is adherent, as a result it can be used as adhesive to bond other microstructures. The polyurethane adhesive can be further solidified by UV radiation for 2 minutes. Photolithography was used to pattern the conductive substrates with photoresist layer, which help to localize the polymer electrodeposition at specific surface locations. The deposited adhesive volume is able to be controlled in the magnitude of 10 femtoliters by adjusting the pattern size and the electrodeposition time. The electrodeposited polyurethane adhesive is useful for MEMS bonding.


Incorporating Environmental Sustainable Design (ESD) into the curriculum is regarded as an important element in contemporary architectural education.  However, making this transition has, and still is, somewhat of an uphill battle, achieved largely based on personal commitment and endeavours of individuals.  In the context of East Africa, this begs the question as to why, regardless of a strong ethical basis for this transition, is there still a strong resistance to incorporating EDS into architecture curricula in East Africa?  While the answer may lie in the ubiquitous assumption that is it related to the background and prior education of instructors, the answer itself may be far more complex, and require a deeper understanding and appreciation of the socio-cultural setting within which architectural education takes place.  This, along with a myriad of conflicting and contradicting trajectories have not only had an impact on the nature of architecture, but more significantly on the factors that have determined and defined education in East Africa over the past half century.  Breaking from this status quo approach becomes an uphill task, challenging ingrained ideas and beliefs of architecture and architectural education, requiring us to revisit the purpose of professional education itself.  This paper is part of on-going discourse in the process of integrating ESD into architecture education in East Africa initiated more than a decade ago.  This was recently boosted through a project, Energy Efficiency in Buildings in East Africa (EEBEA), which sought to move discussions of ESD and Energy Efficiency (EE) to the forefront of architecture and architectural education discourse, this project has also served to highlight the inherent challenges brought about by decades of compliance and protectionism that served to entrench the status quo as the epitome of architectural education.  However, with architectural education as the primary conduit for the transmission of architectural culture, breaking through these stereotypes is increasingly a key element in defining the future of architecture and architectural education.


This paper proposes a methodology to estimate the euro-area output gap by taking advantage of two types of data heterogeneity. On the one hand, the method uses information on real GDP, inflation, and the unemployment rate for each member state; on the other hand, it jointly considers this information for all the euro-area countries to extract an area-wide output gap measure. The setup is an unobserved components model that theorizes a common cycle across euro-area economies in addition to country-specific cyclical components. I estimate the model with Bayesian methods using data for the 19 countries of the euro area from 2000:Q1 through 2017:Q2 and perform model comparisons across different specifications of the output trend. The estimation of the model preferred by the data indicates that, because of negative shocks to trend output during global the financial crisis, output remained slightly above potential in that period, but an output gap of about negative 3 percent emerged during the European debt crisis. At the end of the sample period, output is estimated to be about 1 percent above potential.


Frank Whittaker Town Planning Consultants, acting on behalf of Mr G Berry made a planning application (Planning Application 06/001/163CU) to Chorley Borough Council to convert and develop a Grade II listed barn and farmhouse at Holland Fold Farm, Heath Charnock, near Chorley in Lancashire (SD 60299 15687). As part of the planning procedure, the council consulted Lancashire County Archaeological Service, which recommended a building recording programme of English Heritage (2006) Level III standard. This was to include a rapid desk-based assessment, which would provide a historical background and detail any changes in the development of the farmstead. In addition, a site investigation was to be undertaken, comprising written descriptions, as well as an extensive photographic record, and site drawings of the floor plans and sections.
Following these recommendations, Frank Whittaker Town Planning Consultants requested that Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) undertake the building investigation, which was duly completed in June 2006.
The survey and rapid desk-based assessment revealed that the farm was built in the late seventeenth century, and has survived remarkably well for a building of its age and type. Although the barn would appear to have been conceived as a threshing barn, it is debatable whether this process evolved any further than the simple and labour-intensive, manual process. Certainly, there is little evidence of either horse or steam power, so it is probable that threshing was taking place at the farm no later than the mid to late nineteenth century. Following on from this, the barn would appear to have been used as a stables, as evidenced by the tack rooms to the south end of the barn. This, in conjunction with its use as a general storage space, would appear to account for the history of the barn. The cottage itself would appear to have essentially remained the same, with the addition of three extensions on the west elevation.


AIM
To conduct a literature review in order to determine the predictors of nurses' health-related quality of life and to clarify the implications for nursing management and future study in this area.

BACKGROUND
Good health is essential to the performance of health care workers.

EVALUATION
Relevant studies were retrieved from PubMed, Medline, CINAHL, the Japan Medical Abstract Society, and the Technology Information Aggregator, Electronic. The studies selected for this review were published in English or Japanese between 1995 and 2012, investigated nurses' health-related quality of life. The identified predictive factors of each study were categorised according to type.

KEY ISSUES
Based on the criteria, 22 studies were reviewed. The predictive factors of nurses' health-related quality of life were classified into eight categories.

CONCLUSIONS
Age and occupational stress should be considered when examining unknown predictive factors of nurses' health-related quality of life. In addition, it may be useful to adopt a conceptual framework and consider patient and organisational factors in future research.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT
It is necessary to identify nurses' occupational stressors and consider age during job placement in order to support their health.


We consider the semi-supervised learning problem, where a decision rule is to be learned from labeled and unlabeled data. In this framework, we motivate minimum entropy regularization, which enables to incorporate unlabeled data in the standard supervised learning. Our approach includes other approaches to the semi-supervised problem as particular or limiting cases. A series of experiments illustrates that the proposed solution benefits from unlabeled data. The method challenges mixture models when the data are sampled from the distribution class spanned by the generative model. The performances are definitely in favor of minimum entropy regularization when generative models are misspecified, and the weighting of unlabeled data provides robustness to the violation of the "cluster assumption". Finally, we also illustrate that the method can also be far superior to manifold learning in high dimension spaces.