Microfibrillar composites (MFCs) based on polypropylene and poly (ethylene terephthalate) were prepared by a three step process namely blending (extrusion), fibrilization (drawing) and isotropization, using different draw ratios (viz. 2, 5, 8 and 10). The drawn (stretched) blend was injection moulded at a temperature between the melting points of the two polymers, leading to isotropization. During this step PET microfibrils got randomly distributed in an isotropic PP matrix to complete the formation of microfibrillar in situ composites. The dynamic mechanical properties such as storage modulus (E′), loss modulus (E″) and mechanical loss factor (tan δ) of PP, neat blend and in situ composites were investigated. The E′ values were found to increase up to a stretch ratio of 8. The glass transition temperature (Tg) of PP in the MFC was found to shift to higher values with an increase in stretch ratio. The presence of microfibrils showed a positive effect on the modulus at temperatures above Tg of PP, especially for the samples drawn at stretch ratio 5 and 8. The tan δ and E″ modulus spectra indicated a strong influence of the microfibrils on the magnitude of α and β relaxations of PP. The effect of test frequency on storage modulus, loss modulus and tan δ was studied.


This paper presents a new method to find best features for signature verification. The new method uses a new coding method, a new crossover method, and a new GA method with a local improvement mechanism proposed by the authors. The new coding method is effective to absorb the intra-personal variability among true signatures. The new crossover method determines the number of partial curves chosen for the signature verification. The new GA approach is very efficient in improving the local portions of chromosomes. Experiments are done to show the effectiveness of the new method.


Vitex negundo has reputation in the traditional medicine in diarrhea and gut spasm. This study was carried out to provide possible pharmacological basis to its medicinal use in hyperactive gut disorders. In castor oil-induced diarrheal model, the crude extract of V. negundo , caused a dose-dependent protection (53-71%), similar to loperamide. In isolated rabbit jejunum preparation, V. negundo caused inhibition of spontaneous and high K + -induced contractions, with EC 50 values of 0.36 (0.22-0.61) and 1.30 mg/mL (0.27-5.89; n=4-5), respectively, suggestive of spasmolytic activity, mediated possibly through calcium channel blockade (CCB). The CCB activity was further confirmed when pre-treatment of the tissue with V. negundo (0.03-0.3 mg/mL) caused a rightward shift in the Ca ++ concentration-response curves (CRCs), similar to diltiazem or loperamide.  These data indicate that the antidiarrheal and spasmolytic effects of the crude extract of V. negundo are mediated through the presence of CCB-like constituent(s). DOI:  http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjp.v8i3.15296 Bangladesh Journal of Pharmacology Vol.8(3) 2013 317-322


This volume brings together a selection of the papers and round tables delivered at the 39th AEDEAN Conference, held at the University of Deusto in November 2015. The essays in On the Move: Glancing Backwards to Build a Future in English Studies often begin with typically-academic gestures such as retrieving a classic text and finding new ways of studying its genre or characterization; or remarking how certain ungrammatical constructions have gone frequently unnoticed —even in well-known texts— for various reasons; or entangling oneself in contentions about the adequacy of dissecting a literary text or linguistic problem by using innovative analytical tools. In all cases, though, there is the intention of putting forth certain views and notions that will help future scholars to deal in a better light with the dilemmas regularly encountered in literary, linguistic and cultural studies. The book opens with three essays by professors Bartholomae, Pullum and Rio, who demonstrate not only their mastery in their respective subjects but also their ability to tailor their contents to multifarious audiences. The next two sections represent the main body of the e-book, with nearly forty contributions on both literature and cultural studies (Part II) and language and linguistics (Part III). These short academic pieces are a representative showcase of the research being done lately in the different areas of expertise. The last section of the volume gathers together the results of four research projects dealing with such engaging topics as postcolonial crime fiction or forgotten texts by Anglo writers about the Spanish Civil War. It is hard to think of any potential reader schooled in English Studies who will not find something suitable to their interests and tastes in this volume.


Learning representations of neural network weights given a model zoo is an emerging and challenging area with many potential applications from model inspection, to neural architecture search or knowledge distillation. Recently, an autoencoder trained on a model zoo was able to learn a hyper-representation, which captures intrinsic and extrinsic properties of the models in the zoo. In this work, we extend hyper-representations for generative use to sample new model weights. We propose layer-wise loss normalization which we demonstrate is key to generate high-performing models and several sampling methods based on the topology of hyper-representations. The models generated using our methods are diverse, performant and capable to outperform strong baselines as evaluated on several downstream tasks: initialization, ensemble sampling and transfer learning. Our results indicate the potential of knowledge aggregation from model zoos to new models via hyper-representations thereby paving the avenue for novel research directions.


Summary Surgical treatment for cancer of the oral cavity can result in dramatic aesthetic and functional sequelae partially avoidable by reconstructive techniques. many studies concerning quality of life have been carried out in order to retrospectively assess out comes after such major oncological procedures. aim of this study was to evaluate, in a prospective fashion, the quality of life as a primary endpoint in patients treated for cancers involving the oral cavity and requiring reconstruction. The study design consisted of a prospective evaluation of pre- and post-operative quality of life at 3, 6, and 12 months to assess variations during follow-up using two different questionnaires: the university of Washington Quality of Life and the Head and Neck Perform ance Status Scale. Between may 1999 and October 2004, 92 patients with oral cancer requiring reconstruction were treated. all were included in the study, but only 35 (38%) concluded the evaluation protocol at one year after surgery without evidence of disease. The mean pre- and post-operative (3, 6, and 12 months) scores of the questionnaires and the scores of specific Univer sity of Washington Quality of Life categories (disfigurement, chewing, swallowing, comprehension of speech) were evaluated. The impact on residual quality of life of different factors such as gender, extension of tongue and mandibular defects, type of reconstruction, and radiotherapy was statistically quantified with a Wilcoxon non-parametric test and logistic regression for multivariate analysis. Comparison of mean pre- and post-operative scores between the university of Washington Quality of Life and Head and Neck Performance Status Scale, showed a similar trend during the study period with a significant decrease at 3 months after surgery and subsequent gradual improvement at 6 and 12 months. The majority of patients (77%) preserved normal or near normal functions at 12 months after surgery. The chewing domain worsened considerably (p < 0.05), with poorer outcome in patients undergoing segmental mandibulectomy (p < 0.05). By multivariate analysis, mandibular resection maintained its statistical significance in the chewing domain (p = 0.038). Moreover, the type of reconstruction was an independent factor (p = 0.038) that influenced the University of Washington Quality of Life total score, with better functional results after free flap reconstruction. Despite the dismal prognosis of patients affected by advanced oral cavity cancer, reconstructive techniques play a crucial role in maintenance of satisfactory quality of life.


Effective environmental protection cannot be imagined without direct management of such protection by state authorities through legal prohibitions and orders, permits, approvals and exemptions, mandatory notifications, control, and repression measures of the state administration, etc. Yet, in modern environmental systems, instruments of indirect influence on the addressees of norms are gaining increasing importance, with the aim of influencing their desirable behaviour through citizens' awareness. Such instruments are used by law primarily in the field of prevention, with the aim of preventing environmental damage. When using indirect means, the state appeals to the addressees to act appropriately to protect the environment, but without forcibly sanctioning behaviour, if that appeals are not accepted. This paper analyses the nature of indirect instruments, such as public information, economic incentives of the classical and modern types, as well as environmental agreements, with an indication of their role and importance in modern environmental systems.


Background: Technetium-99m phytate ( 99m Tc-ph) is a readily available radiopharmaceutical and has been suggested as a suitable agent for sentinel lymph node (SLN) detection. In this study, the diagnostic accuracy and false-negative rate of radionuclide SLN mapping using 99m Tc-ph were investigated. Methods: Forty three women (mean age 52.3 years, range 31-74 years), who all had been diagnosed with breast cancer were enrolled in the study. All patients had no palpable axillary lymph nodes and had not undergone exploratory tumor resection or any drug treatment, previously. 99m Tc-ph was injected peri-tumorally at four sites. Following SLN scintigraphic imaging, the patients were operated. Intraoperatively SLN were detected by a scintillation probe and a blue dye technique. Modified radical mastectomies with radical axillary dissection were performed with excision of the lymph nodes, to evaluate the accuracy of the SLN technique. Results: Intraoperative scinti-mapping identified SLN in 40 of the 43 patients (detection rate: 93%). Scintigraphically, none of the patients had internal mammary drainage or contralateral axillary involvement. The blue dye detection rate in 23 patients under study was 87% and all lymph nodes detected by the blue dye technique were also detected as "hot" spots in the lymphoscintigraphy. Using pathology as the gold standard, the sensitivity and negative predictive value of scintigraphic lymphatic mapping in detection of SLN by 99m Tc-ph were 90% and 90.9%, respectively. The same values for blue dye lymphatic mapping were 84.6% and 77.7%, respectively. Conclusion: 99m Tc-ph used for SLN mapping is readily available, has low cost and gives better results than the blue dye technique. Long-term follow-up is required to assess accurately the incidence of failure in patients with negative SLN and the overall diagnostic accuracy and efficacy of the SLN mapping using 99m Tc-ph as the radioactive tracer.


The basic aim of this study is to reveal the effect of a Constructivist Science Teaching Program developed by researchers for efficient and lasting acquisition of scientific processing skills by 6 year olds attending preschool education institutions. The study in which an experimental pre-test post-test model with control group was used the experimental group is composed of a total of 80 children, attending preschool education in 2009-2010 education year, 40 being in the experimental group, 40 being in the control group. The mean age of children is X=71,12 (±0.87) and monthly incomes of their families are less than $1000. Data was collected with a interview form called "Preschool Scientific Processing Skills Scale" which was also developed by researchers. In the in-group comparison of pre-test and post-test score means of experimental and control groups dependent t-test was used and to find out differences between groups independent t-test was used. According to the result of the study, there found significant difference between the Preschool Scientific Processing Skills Scale scores of the children in the experimental group who received Constructivist Science Teaching Program and those of the children who received traditional teaching program at 0.05 level. The scores of the experimental group were found to be higher than the scores of the children in the control group. This result indicates that Constructivist Science Teaching Program administrated to children attending preschool education groups is effective in the acquisition of scientific processing skills.


This research assessed the antioxidant activities and effects of some selected phenolic acids (ferulic, Caffeic, p-coumaric and chlorogenic acid) on enzymes of the purinergic signalling in isolated rat brain which include ATPdase, ecto- 51nucleotidase, phosphodiesterase and Na+/ K+ ATPase. Standard stock solutions (13mM) of the selected phenolics (Caffeic acid, ferulic acid, chlorogenic acid, p-coumaric acid) were prepared and several dilutions (0.05mM-10mM) were subsequently prepared; the ability of the phenolic acids to inhibit Fe2+ induced malondialdehyde (MDA) production in rat's brain homogenates were assessed. Furthermore, the antioxidant activities of the phenolic acids as typified by the radicals (DPPH* and ABTS*) scavenging abilities were investigated. The results revealed that ferulic acid had the highest Na+/K+ -ATPase (IC50 =3.48 /ml) stimulatory activityas well as the highest ecto-5'-nucleotidase (IC50 =6.222 μg/ml) inhibitory activity while chlorogenic acid had the highest phosphodiesterase-51 (IC50 =21.03μg/ml) inhibitory activity and P-coumaric acid  had the highest inhibition of ATPDase (IC50 =17.56 μg/ml)  activity. Also, chlorogenic acid had the highest ABTS* and DPPH* scavenging abilities and also the strongest inhibition of Fe2+ induced MDA production in rat brain. However, this study revealed that the phenolic acids altered critical enzymes of the purinergic signaling and therefore suggests their possible neuromodulatory effect.


ABSTRACT Herein, an approach for simulating phase diagrams of binary mixtures is presented, where a bulk liquid and its corresponding vapour phase are simulated by means of molecular dynamics using explicit polarisation. Time-averaged density profiles for the pure compounds and mixtures at different mole fractions provide information about the spatial distribution in the bulk liquid and the amount of evaporated species in the adjacent vapour phase. The activities in the liquid phase are calculated from the mean vapour phase densities at a given composition, providing a good qualitative agreement compared to experimental data and the precision of the method follows a previously developed Poisson model of evaporation. With the Redlich–Kister approach for the activities in a binary mixture, the directly obtained activities are fitted providing corrected activity coefficients of the two species. This method is applied to ethanol water mixtures at different mole fractions. The obtained structural data are in good agreement with experimental data and time-averaged density profiles provide a detailed insight into the composition of the liquid–vapour interface. An azeotropic point is obtained for an excess concentration of ethanol at 87% as percentage by mass compared to the experimental value of 95%.


We develop a general term structure framework taking stochastic discontinuities explicitly into account. Stochastic discontinuities are a key feature in interest rate markets, as for example the jumps of the term structures in correspondence to monetary policy meetings of the ECB show. We provide a general analysis of multiple curve markets under minimal assumptions in an extended HJM framework and provide a fundamental theorem of asset pricing based on NAFLVR. The approach with stochastic discontinuities permits to embed market models directly, unifying seemingly different modeling philosophies. We also develop a tractable class of models, based on affine semimartingales, going beyond the requirement of stochastic continuity.


An analysis of 252 patients with benign tumore and cysts of the mediastinum indicated that high per cent (35%) of diagnostic errors is conditioned by the absence of clinical signs typical for this pathology, as well as rather similar roentgenological symptomatics in its different forms. Following resection of large neoplasms, when it proved unfeasible to close the pleural defect (the removed tumor bed) by suturing its margins, the aughors performed alloplasty with lyophilized pericardium or dura mater. Pleural alloplasty was employed in 18 (8.7%) patients. In all 206 operated patients no significant postoperative complications were observed. There were no lethal issues. Ii is felt that plastic repair of pleural defects should be considered absolutely essential while removing benign mediastinal neoplasms.


A saturated PA architecture for achieving best-in-class EDGE performance whilst maintaining dual-mode compatibility with GSM is presented. This technique has been developed to utilise the specific advantages the E-Mode J-PHEMT process provides for these applications. This represents a credible solution to the demand of a highly efficient integrated dual-mode (EDGE/GSM) PA control architecture.


In this study we describe community parameters such as densities, biomasses, species composition, feeding modes and normalized biomass size-spectra (NBSS) of macrobenthic invertebrate communities from three stations located in the Baker Fjord obtained on four seasonal campaigns in 2008 and 2009. The macrobenthic communities were dominated by small-bodied polychaetes (Paraonidae, Capitellidae and Cirratulidae) characterized by continuous year-round breeding, short life-spans, and fast turnover rates, which in turn regulated the standing stock in the communities. Principal component analysis and multiple-regression analysis demonstrate the distribution of macrobenthic communities in the study area to be mainly controlled by few local environmental conditions. Macrofaunal densities, diversity and feeding modes were significantly correlated with the total organic carbon (TOC; R2 = 0.74; P < 0.001) and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a; R2 = 0.55; P < 0.05) content in the sediments. This study also suggests that feeding modes and NBSS can be used to detect and follow possible changes caused by natural perturbations such as glacial lake outburst floods or anthropogenic stressors associated with ecological impacts generated by the construction and operation of hydroelectric power stations in the Baker River.


Many attempts are made to write books that are both erudite and exciting. Most fail, but from the first paragraph, Blood Evidence is an exception. Creating a book that reads more like a murder mystery than a scientific text, Henry Lee, an eminent American forensic pathologist, has teamed up with lawyer Frank Tirnady to describe case after case of nail-biting whodunits while demonstrating how such cases were transformed through DNA technology. The real beauty of this text is that, while telling tales of crime, conviction, and sometimes even exoneration, Lee and Tirnady simultaneously take us on a journey that illuminates scientific discovery — from what genes are to how PCR was developed to the method used to clone Dolly. Texts describing the science behind DNA technology can be dry, but Blood Evidence educates the reader about this science in such a subtle way that the reader hardly notices.

From the start, the book notes that of the 10,000 or so DNA tests requested in the US each year for forensic purposes, between 25 and 30% end up excluding the prime suspect. In other cases, a positive result is usually followed by a guilty plea. This underlines how valuable DNA fingerprinting testing has become to forensics — it can simultaneously protect the innocent and help in convicting the guilty.

The cases described by Lee and Tirnady are far ranging. Two chapters are devoted to the search for what they call the "world's most wanted man" — Auschwitz camp doctor Josef Mengele. The reader is educated on the origins of eugenic policy, the links that have existed between genetic research and human atrocity, and the development of the Nuremberg Code. Another two chapters are devoted to the recent case of Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson. The reader is privy to a detailed description of the evidence that was presented by the prosecution in an attempt to demonstrate that Simpson was guilty beyond reasonable doubt of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. The reader learns of the stringency required of police in order for DNA evidence to hold up in court. The authors also provide some insight into this ultimate "not guilty" verdict but do not, unfortunately but understandably, discuss in detail the fact that historical racism by the Los Angeles police would lead a jury to give at least some credibility to any trial claim that evidence was planted.

Other stories used to showcase the wide variety of uses for DNA technology include those of tracing the lineage of the ancient woolly mammoth with a 40,000-year-old sample and the conviction of Kenneth R. Nelson in Wyoming of illegal antelope hunting. Tales of the marital indiscretions of President Bill Clinton are explored. There are even descriptions of the ways in which bear DNA helps rangers to catch "habituated" bears who have lost their fear of humans and may become dangerous to people in camping grounds.

In addition to these rather colorful stories, Blood Evidence also flags some of the more controversial uses of DNA technology, such as cloning, genetic engineering, and stem cell use. Although the discussions surrounding these topics are far from detailed, Lee and Tirnady do draw attention to the ethical issues involved and explain the science behind the controversies.

The science in Blood Evidence is treated in such a way that even experienced geneticists will find the material illuminating reading. For example, although many readers will know of the power of the gene amplification technique known as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), only very few may know about the racy way Kary Mullis pieced the process together along a mountainous highway in California. The book also describes the progress of PCR from an idea to a laboratory process, and how difficult it was for Mullis and his colleagues to gain acceptance of its specificity and robustness in the context of police forensics. Those less familiar with the science of genetics are not left behind, while those more au fait with genetics are not bored.

The book looks to the future, discussing the coming world of "real-time DNA fingerprinting," where a DNA chip at the scene of a crime will be able to provide data to investigators within a matter of minutes through the use of a hand-held device. It is a pity that the proposal that everyone should be DNA fingerprinted (in the same way that every baby in the United States has its "real" fingerprints taken at birth) is not discussed. Nor are the fairly tough US laws making it difficult to use evidence in criminal trials if the evidence has been collected improperly. These are relevant issues for the future since, as the authors note, DNA evidence is now almost always accepted as conclusive in criminal cases.

Blood Evidence is not a text that readers can use as a reference, for the topics are interwoven throughout the chapters and not clearly designated. This style makes for a wonderful novel, and that is exactly how we wish to recommend this text. Read it from cover to cover as a great story. Let the science and its implications just sink in around the terrific tales that are told.


The opening of magmatic hydraulic fractures is an integral part of magma ascent, the triggering of volcano seismicity, and defusing the explosivity of ongoing eruptions via outgassing magmatic volatiles. If filled with pyroclastic particles, these fractures can be recorded as tuffisites. Tuffisites are therefore thought to play a key role in both initiating eruptions and controlling their dynamics, and yet their genesis remains poorly understood. Here we characterise the processes, pressures and timescales involved in tuffisite evolution within the country rock through analysis of the sedimentary facies and structures of a large sub-horizontal tuffisite vein, 0.9 m thick and minimum 40 m in length, at the dissected Húsafell volcano, western Iceland. The vein occurs where a propagating rhyolitic sheet intrusion stalled at a depth of ∼500 m beneath a relatively strong layer of welded ignimbrite. Laminations, cross-stratification, channels, and internal injections indicate erosion and deposition in multiple fluid pulses, controlled by fluctuations in local fluid pressure and changes in fluid-particle concentration. The field evidence suggests that this tuffisite was emplaced by as many as twenty pulses, depositing sedimentary units with varying characteristics. Assuming that each sedimentary unit (∼0.1 m thick and minimum 40 m in length) is emplaced by a single fluid pulse, we estimate fluid overpressures of ∼1.9–3.3 MPa would be required to emplace each unit. The Húsafell tuffisite records the repeated injection of an ash-laden fluid within an extensive subhorizontal fracture, and may therefore represent the fossil record of a low-frequency seismic swarm associated with fracture propagation and reactivation. The particles within the tuffisite cool and compact through time, causing the rheology of the tuffisite fill to evolve and influencing the nature of the structures being formed as new material is injected during subsequent fluid pulses. As this new material is emplaced, the deformation style of the surrounding tuffisite is strongly dependent on its evolving rheology, which will also control the evolution of pressure and the system permeability. Interpreting tuffisites as the fossil record of fluid-driven hydrofracture opening and evolution can place new constraints on the cycles of pressurisation and outgassing that accompany the opening of magmatic pathways, key to improving interpretations of volcanic unrest and hazard forecasting.


Abstract This article reports a study, carried out at a private school in Tunja, with ten first grade students. The aim was to explore and analyze the characteristics of first graders language awareness. In order to achieve this objective, a case study was developed. Thus, a description was made of the way students experience the process of learning English and identifying the features of their language awareness process. Observations and interviews were used for data collection. The main findings suggest first graders features of language awareness are: mother tongue as well as foreign language, peer correction and motivation to contribute to language awareness.  Key words: young learners, language awareness, English language learning process,


We used expression profiling to define the pathophysiological cascades involved in the progression of two muscular dystrophies with known primary biochemical defects, dystrophin deficiency (Duchenne muscular dystrophy) and α-sarcoglycan deficiency (a dystrophin-associated protein). We employed a novel protocol for expression profiling in human tissues using mixed samples of multiple patients and iterative comparisons of duplicate datasets. We found evidence for both incomplete differentiation of patient muscle, and for dedifferentiation of myofibers to alternative lineages with advancing age. One developmentally regulated gene characterized in detail, α-cardiac actin, showed abnormal persistent expression after birth in 60% of Duchenne dystrophy myofibers. The majority of myofibers (∼80%) remained strongly positive for this protein throughout the course of the disease. Other developmentally regulated genes that showed widespread overexpression in these muscular dystrophies included embryonic myosin heavy chain, versican, acetylcholine receptor α-1, secreted protein, acidic and rich in cysteine/osteonectin, and thrombospondin 4. We hypothesize that the abnormal Ca2+ influx in dystrophin- and α-sarcoglycan–deficient myofibers leads to altered developmental programming of developing and regenerating myofibers. The finding of upregulation of HLA-DR and factor XIIIa led to the novel identification of activated dendritic cell infiltration in dystrophic muscle; these cells mediate immune responses and likely induce microenvironmental changes in muscle. We also document a general metabolic crisis in dystrophic muscle, with large scale downregulation of nuclear-encoded mitochondrial gene expression. Finally, our expression profiling results show that primary genetic defects can be identified by a reduction in the corresponding RNA.


Georgia has excess hospital sector capacity inherited from the old Soviet era. Recent economic problems and decreased public health care expenditures down to 1 USD per capita forced the Georgian Government to embark on ambitious health sector reform since 1995. Reforming the hospital sector was an intrinsic part of the process. This paper describes major directions of the reform thought by the MoH of Georgia to rationalize the hospital sector. It reviews the reform directions in the environmental context, and attempts to provide some quantitative and qualitative indicators to characterize the reform process and its impact. The discussion addresses the issues of granting autonomy to hospitals, exposure of hospitals to the market, social functions of the hospitals, and improved accountability of hospital facilities. The implications of the reform on HRD are analyzed. The final section of the paper summarizes the lessons learned from the Georgian experience.


The results of this study suggest that self‐reported leadership styles of female accountants differ somewhat from the leadership styles reported by male accountants. Females are more likely than males to indicate that they use an interactive style of management called transformational leadership. This leadership style was found to be correlated with several management skills associated with success. Female accountants reported somewhat higher perceived effectiveness on two of these management skills: coaching and developing and communicating. The findings also suggest that female accountants receive more developmental opportunities than do their male colleagues.


This paper proposes two blind carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation schemes for differentially modulated orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The proposed schemes estimate the fractional part of the CFO with only two consecutive OFDM blocks, and they exploit two implicit properties associated with differentially modulated OFDM (DOFDM) systems, i.e., the channel keeps constant over two consecutive OFDM blocks, and the DOFDM systems employ an M-ary phase-shift keying constellation. One of the schemes is based on the finite alphabet (FA) constraint and the other one is based on the constant modulus (CM) constraint. They provide a trade-off between the performance and computational complexity. The constrained Cramer-Rao lower bound is also derived. Several numerical examples are presented to validate the efficacy of the proposed schemes.


Passito wine, made with dehydrated grapes, is widespread in Italy. The quality of the grapes to be withered is strongly influenced by qualitative factors and the anatomy and morphology of the berry, which in turn, are affected by vineyard management and microclimate. In Trebbiano toscano and Rossetto vines grown in the Latium region, the epicuticular wax of berries from bunches developed in intracanopy and extracanopy positions was analyzed from preveraison to preharvest during the 2007 and 2008 growing seasons. At harvest, the characteristics of cuticle and epidermis of each sample were examined using light and electron microscopy. The berries were then dehydrated at 20°C to 45% moisture to evaluate differences in water loss rate and the mechanical characteristics of the skin. The amount of epicuticular wax decreased during berry development. SEM observations of the berry skin at harvest showed differences in the structure of the epicuticular wax layers, with a wider berry surface covered with plate-like wax in extracanopy berries. The number of cell layers and the thickness of the berry skin were significantly different between cultivars and canopy positions, but these factors did not affect cuticle thickness. Shaded berries of both varieties dehydrated more slowly, particularly in vigorous Trebbiano toscano vines, in which intracanopy berries reached 40% weight loss later than the extracanopy berries. During dehydration, the berry skin color (hue angle) decreased and berries of both varieties increased skin resistance to puncturing; this was not affected by the position of the berry in the canopy.


I explore the behavior of asset prices and the exchange rate in a two-country world. When the large country has bad news, the relative price of the small country's output declines. As a result, the small country's bonds are risky, and uncovered interest parity fails, with positive excess returns available to investors who borrow at the large country's interest rate and lend at the small country's interest rate. I use a diagrammatic approach to derive these and other results in a calibration-free way.


real procedure t(y); value y; real y; comment This is an auxiliary procedure which evaluates the inverse function t = t(y) of y = tin t (t~l) to an accuracy of about 1%. For the interval 0 ~ y ~ 10 a fifth degree approximating polynomial was obtained by truncating a series expansion in Chebyshev polynomials. For y > 10 the approximation t(y) =" (y/ln(y/a))(l+(lna-lnln(y/c~))/(l+ln(y/a)))-1 where in a = .775t is used; begin real p, z; ify =< 10then begin p := .000057941 X y-.00176148; p := y X p + .0208645; p :=yX p-.129013; p :=yX p+.85777; t :=yXp+l.0125 end else begin z := In (y)-.775; p := (.775-ln (z))/(l+z); p := 1/(l+p); t := y X p/z cud end t ; This procedure evaluates to d significant digits the Bessel functions da+=(x) for fixed a, x and for nn = 0, 1, •-• , nnmax. The results are stored in the array d. It is assumed that 0 =< a < 1, x > 0, and nmax => O. If any of these variables is not in the range specified, control is transferred to a nonlocM label called alarm. The procedure makes use of the real procedure t. In addition, it calls for a nonlocal real procedure gamma which evaluates r(z) for 1 _< z-< 2. (See [2].) The method of computation is a variant of the backward recurrence Mgorithm of J. C. P. Miller. (See [1].) The purported accuracy is obtained by a judicious selection of the initial value v of the recursion index, together with at least one repetition of the recursion with v replaced by v + 5. Near a zero of one of the Bessel functions generated, the accuracy of that particular Bessel function may deteriorate to less than d significant digits. The algorithm is most efficient when x is small or moderately large; In an earlier version of this procedure the author used a = 1. The value In a = .775 was found empirically by H. C. Thacher, Jr. to' yield somewhat better approximations. sum := (x/2)Ta/gamma (l+a); dl := 2.3026 X d + 1.3863; ifnmax > 0 then r := nmax X t(.5Xdl/nmax) else r := 0; s := 1.3591 X x X t(.73576Xdl/x); nu := 1 + entier (if r~s then s else r); L0: m := 0; L := 1; limit := entier (nu/2); LI: m:=m+l; L := L …


Though nonlinear stochastic dynamical system can be approximated by feedforward neural networks, the dimension of the input space of the network may be too large, making it to be of little practical importance. The Nonlinear Autoregressive Moving Average model with exogenous input (NARMAX) is shown to be able to represent nonlinear stochastic dynamical system under certain conditions. As the dimension of the input space is finite, it can be readily applied in practical application. It is well known that the training of recurrent networks using gradient method has a slow convergence rate. In this paper, a fast training algorithm based on the Newton-Raphson method for recurrent neurofuzzy network with NARMAX structure is presented. The convergence and the uniqueness of the proposed training algorithm are established. A simulation example involving a nonlinear dynamical system corrupted with the correlated noise and a sinusoidal disturbance is used to illustrate the performance of the proposed training algorithm.


Online Game is a game that entertain which is by connected by a network, so that it can be played between one player and another player in different places. As a matter of fact, Online Game can have a negative impact, that is an addiction. Students who are addicted to play online game have been influenced by several factors, the factor of facility, individual factors, family factors, social factors, and the online game itself. An analysis that can be used to look at the factors that influence addiction online game in private senior high school students in the city of Padang is a logistic regression analysis. This type of research is experimental research and the population in this study are private senior high school students in Padang City who play online game on a smartphone. The sample in this research are about to 96 respondents and the sampling technique used was technique non probability sampling with the sampling method accidental sampling and using a questionnaire. Based on the research results, we obtained the factors that influence it and factors that significantly influence addiction online game in students private SMA is a facility, family, and types game online.


An aromatic phosphorus and nitrogen ring In chemistry, the term "aromatic" denotes the energy stabilization associated with electrons being shared among atoms in a ring. Benzene is the best-known aromatic compound, although numerous related hydrocarbons also manifest the property. Velian and Cummins now report a rare instance of an inorganic aromatic compound: a negatively charged pentagonal ring composed of three nitrogen and two phosphorus atoms. Science, this issue p. 1001 An inorganic ring-shaped compound manifests electronic stabilization properties analogous to benzene's. Aromaticity is predominantly associated with carbon-rich compounds but can also occur in all-inorganic ones. We report the synthesis of the diphosphatriazolate anion, a rare example of a planar aromatic inorganic species. Treatment of azide (N3−) in tetrahydrofuran solution with P2A2 (A = C14H10), a source of P2, produced P2N3−, which we isolated as its [Na-kryptofix-221]+ salt in 22% yield and characterized by single-crystal x-ray diffraction. Salts [Na-kryptofix-221] [P2N3] and [Na-kryptofix-221] [P215NN2] were analyzed by infrared and Raman spectroscopy, 15N and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. The formation of the P2N3− anion was investigated using density functional theory, and its aromatic character was confirmed by NICS (nucleus-independent chemical shift) and QTAIM (quantum theory of atoms in molecules) methods.


BACKGROUND
The efficacy of carotid endarterectomy (CE) has been shown in randomized clinical trials (RCTs), but doubts remain about whether the results can be replicated in routine clinical practice, especially in asymptomatic patients for whom the absolute risk reduction shown in the trials is small. In particular, a low rate of short-term adverse events is required for the long-term benefits of CE to accrue over time.

OBJECTIVE
To determine whether the incidence of short-term adverse events after CE met the standards established by the major RCTs and those recommended by major clinical practice guidelines. Design, Setting, and Patients We used clinically detailed data derived from a comprehensive medical record review to measure the short-term adverse outcomes of CE, focusing on in-hospital death and stroke, in 3283 cases in western Canada in 2000 and 2001, and compared the results with those from the RCTs.

RESULTS
For symptomatic patients, the in-hospital ischemic stroke or death rate was 3.9%; for asymptomatic patients, the rate was 2.6%. Extrapolating our in-hospital results to the 30-day post-CE results of the RCTs gave stroke or death rates of 4.9% for cases involving symptomatic patients and 4.1% for cases involving asymptomatic patients. These results are comparable to or better than those of the major RCTs for symptomatic patients but slightly worse for asymptomatic patients. About 45% of hospitals had adverse event rates higher than those recommended by authoritative clinical practice guidelines.

CONCLUSIONS
This large population-based study shows that the RCT results for CE can be achieved in the real world. However, the finding that some hospitals exceeded the maximum suggested rates of adverse events highlights the need for continuous outcome monitoring and associated quality improvement efforts to ensure that all providers and institutions involved achieve desired outcomes.


AbstractTransoral robotic surgery (TORS) has been used as a novel procedure for squamous cell carcinoma of the laryngopharyngeal cancers with encouraging outcomes. The safety, feasibility, and efficacy regarding this approach have previously been demonstrated. There are several studies proposing the benefit of combining TORS with carbon dioxide (CO2) laser in resecting upper aerodigestive tract tumors. We report a series of patients with hypopharyngeal carcinoma treated with primary TORS with or without the flexible carbon dioxide (CO2) laser. All TORS resections were completed without any intraoperative complication. None required conversion to an open procedure. Clinical outcomes in this preliminary analysis indicate that magnified view, 3D visualization with the wristed instruments and tremor reduction technology of robotic experience, allow en bloc resection of early stage hypopharyngeal cancers. TORS with CO2 laser is a promising, minimally invasive surgical alternative for the treatment of hypopharyngeal tumors with comparable oncologic outcomes.


OBJECTIVE
To develop a general method for using the alerting function of an electronic health record (EHR) system to warn prescribers when a drug order may be in conflict with the restrictions of a patient's research protocol.

METHODS
We examined a sample of clinical research protocols at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to identify the frequency with which drugs were excluded by protocols. We analyzed two protocols and modeled the exclusions they contained. We then developed a data model to represent the exclusions, expanded the terminology in the NIH's Biomedical Translational Research Information System (BTRIS) to include relevant drug concepts, and wrote a medical logic module (MLM) for the EHR to match terms for ordered drugs with the drug concepts in the protocol.

RESULTS
We found that 50% of protocols in our sample included drug exclusions. Our model represented exclusion concepts and also concepts related to exemptions from the exclusions. The MLM was deployed in a test environment where it successfully detected orders for excluded drugs and delivered messages to users explaining the exclusion, providing information about the clinical setting and timing where the exclusion applies. BTRIS reports using the same terminology information were able to identify instances where protocol exceptions occurred.

CONCLUSIONS
Drug exclusions are frequent components of research protocols; nonadherenece to these exclusions could result in harm to subjects, erroneous study results or inefficiencies due to disqualification of research subjects. Our approach uses an MLM and a simple knowledge base, together with a controlled terminology, to provide a solution to the detection and prevention of possible protocol violations. Further work is needed to model additional aspects of the exclusions, such as timing and co-occurring conditions, to improve MLM accuracy.


Australia's water resource systems are suffering from excessive diversion of surface flows with adverse effects on the riverine environments now becoming clearly
evident. The capacity of water managers to achieve current reform aims whilst minimising impacts on rural communities will be improved with the aid of new technologies and decision-making processes. Seasonal climate forecasting (SCF) based on the relationship between the El Nino-Southern Oscillation phenomenon (ENSO) and streamflow is a technology that may play a part to improving the
management of river-flow regimes providing benefits to both extractive and nonextractive (environmental) users of water.

This research uses a case study to test the use of SCF information in managing access to one component of irrigation water supply in the Border Rivers catchment in the northern part of the Murray-Darling Basin in eastern Australia. The aims were twofold including developing an appropriate methodology and modelling framework that
is transferable across a range of locations and evaluating the efficacy of seasonal climate forecasting information. A modelling approach tested water access rules by
simulating both economic and environmental outcomes. These outcomes were analysed using a trade-off analysis based on the production possibility frontier (PPF) in conjunction with the Pareto principle whereby the SCF information would be considered efficacious if its use improved environmental outcomes without economic costs or visa versa.

Although seasonal climate forecasting has progressed significantly in recent years, there appears to be of little use of seasonal climate forecast information in catchment water management decision-making. Forecast accuracy, or the perceived lack of forecast accuracy, is cited as a key impediment to the uptake of forecast information in decision-making, despite the efforts of researchers to statistically validate forecast systems.

The research findings indicate that the use of SCF information was sufficiently accurate to improve economic outcomes without negatively impacting on environmental outcomes. In addition, an improvement in forecasting accuracy would further improve economic outcomes without major impacts on environmental outcomes. The increase in economic outcomes from using seasonal forecasting
information are small relative to the total regional gross margin produced by the case study area in the absence of the SCF based water access rules for irrigation. This
suggests that the study findings may not be of sufficient scale to convince decisionmakers to adopt the information to assist in managing water access.


The Tino Island's lighthouse. Transformation of a defensive building to a reference for navigationThe special and unique position of the Tino Island in the Gulf of La Spezia, with its complex orography, has strengthen his attitude of sighting, protecting and controlling the sea over centuries. Nothing can escape the view enjoyed from the top of the island, which on the clearest days catches a stretch of sea that goes from Livorno to Genoa. This was certainly noticed by the Republic of Genoa's engineers around 1600, who probably built the current base of the lighthouse that still exists today. This tower was part of the program to strengthen the defense of the Ligurian's eastern coast. The structure, of which there are no detailed studies, has a remarkable typological similarity with the ruins of the only surviving coeval tower, Torre Scola, not far from Palmaria Island. It's not certain that the tower on Tino Island had an offensive character, because its extremely high position relative to the water level would be too difficult to shoot an enemy on the sea, but it is still possible to see defensive features that could be used if the structure had been besieged. What's certain is that his vocation of control over the sea was never lost, even if Napoleon wanted to transfer this facility to the nearby Palmaria Island. We owe its renovation to the Savoy government, in particular to King Carlo Alberto, who first wanted to build a lighthouse in 1839, adding a small tower to the Genoese structure. Then in 1884, the second lighthouse was built, higher than the first, which can still be seen today and that is still used for the light signals. These structures were added over time to house the lighthouse's staff. Today the island is closed to the public, as it is the property of the Italian Navy, and perhaps, thanks to this, it has kept intact the features of its architecture surrounded by nature, as it certainly was in the century of its construction.


Muscle‐derived stem cells (MDSCs) isolated from mouse skeletal muscle by a modified preplate technique exhibit long‐term proliferation, high self‐renewal, and multipotent differentiation capabilities in vitro. MDSCs retrovirally transduced to express bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) can differentiate into osteocytes and chondrocytes and enhance bone and articular cartilage repair in vivo, a feature that is not observed with nontransduced MDSCs. These results emphasize that MDSCs require prolonged exposure to BMPs to undergo osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation. A sustained BMP protein delivery approach provides a viable and potentially more clinically translatable alternative to genetic manipulation of the cells. A unique growth factor delivery platform comprised of native heparin and a synthetic polycation, poly(ethylene argininylaspartate diglyceride) (PEAD), was used to bind, protect, and sustain the release of bone morphogenetic protein‐2 (BMP2) in a temporally and spatially controlled manner. Prolonged exposure to BMP2 released by the PEAD:heparin delivery system promoted the differentiation of MDSCs to an osteogenic lineage in vitro and induced the formation of viable bone at an ectopic site in vivo. This new strategy represents an alternative approach for bone repair mediated by MDSCs while bypassing the need for gene therapy.


Abstract Protected areas are regarded as the most important tool in the conservation toolbox. They cover > 12% of the Earth's terrestrial area, with over half of this designated since 1970, and are thus a unique example of governments and other stakeholders consciously changing management of land and water at a significant scale. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has a global programme to complete ecologically-representative protected area networks, and this is driving the creation of large numbers of new protected areas. But there is also growing criticism of protected areas because of the social costs of protection and doubts about their effectiveness. We acknowledge this criticism but believe that it is over-stated and applied to a protected area model that has already been replaced by newer thinking. As protected areas are becoming more complex in concept and more complicated in management, we review the six most important changes affecting them over the last 2 decades: (1) a new protected area definition with more emphasis on nature conservation; (2) a plurality of management and governance models; (3) acknowledgement of wider protected area benefits beyond nature conservation; (4) greater social safeguards for protected areas; (5) evidence that protected areas are effective conservation tools; and (6) a new emphasis on larger protected areas, transboundary protected areas, connectivity conservation and landscape approaches. We conclude by considering fresh challenges as a result of policy changes and the global criminal wildlife trade, and consider the potential of the forthcoming 2014 IUCN World Parks Congress.


The study deals with an investigation into the processes and projects related to the development of media education and media literacy education in the countries of the European Union. The study assesses media education activities in individual EU Member States in terms of various initiatives and projects and their primary focus. The aim of the study is to identify areas of media education and literacy to which European countries devote most attention. The authors aim to summarise and compare projects that have significantly contributed to media education development through their activities towards media education of citizens and improving media literacy in the EU. The text also focuses on extracurricular, non-formal education concentrated around activities and projects outside of the formal education system; those are mainly implemented by companies and non-profit organisations in order to involve selected groups of the population. In the text, the authors analyse secondary data and results of published researches and theoretical studies on the given topic. The introduction provides a brief description of formal, non-formal and informal education in terms of their goals and differences. The authors then characterise the areas of media education by categorising individual types of literacy (including media literacy, literacy involving critical analysis of media content, digital and information literacy, film literacy, news and reading literacy, Internet literacy and online safety, digital game literacy and media communication literacy). Existing initiatives in the EU countries are provided as examples in the identified areas and literacies. The given information is used to create a summary of the current media education activities and the dominant focal points of non-formal education initiatives in individual EU countries. The study thus offers an overview of the types of literacies and organisations actively contributing to the formation of a media literate EU population.


Directors of public and private companies face increased scrutiny and potential attacks on several fronts. Those include 1) government enforcers and plaintiffs taking directors' personal assets; 2) governance reforms enacted at the state and federal level; 3) court rulings which strip directors of the attorney-client privilege; 4) attacks against the safe harbor of the business judgment rule; and 5) insurers trying to rescind directors' insurance policies. Directors can take steps to protect themselves while still meeting the higher standards. These include hiring independent counsel for non-management directors, restructuring the D&O insurance program, and taking particular actions if the company winds up in bankruptcy.


The licensing of electronic journals is affecting interlibrary loan and document delivery services. This article reports on a survey done in 2003 at 13 large research libraries on how licensing affects both the lending and borrowing operations at those libraries. A brief history on copyright legislation and guidelines as they relate to ILL are provided as background on how licenses can undermine the copyright support libraries have needed to provide the services users require. ILL data is presented to illustrate that the volume of use per title is not what publishers may imagine. The shift to leasing electronic titles and therefore the requirements that underlie licensing are still relatively new; the article recommends that libraries take every opportunity to converse and negotiate with publishers as access evolves.


The paper explores aspects of EFL classroom discourse in the Romanian context and pleads for the use and cultivation of natural communication practices and relevant language behavior in the classroom. Viewing classroom discourse not only in pedagogical terms but also as a social event, the paper provides a dual perspective on the varied EFL classroom discourse strategies. Some characteristic classroom discourse features, such as its micro-functions, language switching and typical turn-taking are examined and compared to the characteristics of natural encounters. It is argued that the language teachers who ascribe to interpersonal goals in classroom discourse can enhance their students' long term acquisition of interpersonal language skills. Based on the analysis of the data, the lack of interpersonal language in the classroom is identified as a problematic aspect of Romanian EFL classroom disocurse. A few strategies are suggested that could be implemented to help students, directly or indirectly, to get more exposure to the interpersonal language they need to use receptively and productively outside the classroom: the cultivation of natural language behavior, self-analysis of teacher discourse and a diversification of classroom interaction formats. English Speech Communication Code Switching (Language) Teacher Improvement


Passionate sports fans often experience positive events such as team victories and accomplishments. But how do fans respond when these events happen? In two studies, we tested if harmonious and obsessive varieties of passion predicted the extent to which passionate fans engage in savouring by attempting to maintain, enhance, or prolong their positive emotions following positive events, and engage in dampening by attempting to decrease their positive feelings. In Study 1, undergraduate sports fans (n = 321) reported levels of harmonious and obsessive passion for their favourite team, the extent to which they generally savour positive events while supporting their team, and how they responded to a recent team victory by savouring and dampening. In Study 2, soccer fans (n = 394) recruited from a crowdsourcing website (Prolific Academic) participated in an experimental study that tested if the relationships between passion types, savouring, and dampening depended on whether a positive event was the result of an in-progress (semi-final victory) or completed (final victory) achievement. In both studies, harmonious passion predicted greater savouring, whereas obsessive passion predicted less savouring and greater dampening. Goal status moderated the relationships between both passion types and dampening: high levels of either harmonious or obsessive passion predicted less dampening in the completed compared to the in-progress condition. These results reveal that passion types matter for predicting who tries to make themselves feel better, or worse, following positive events, and have implications for our understanding of the pathways that link passion types with outcomes in sports fans.Acknowledgments: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada


We examined the cross-sectional association between mushroom intake and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) using data from 663 participants aged 60 and above from the Diet and Healthy Aging (DaHA) study in Singapore. Compared with participants who consumed mushrooms less than once per week, participants who consumed mushrooms >2 portions per week had reduced odds of having MCI (odds ratio = 0.43, 95% CI 0.23-0.78, p = 0.006) and this association was independent of age, gender, education, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, physical activities, and social activities. Our cross-sectional data support the potential role of mushrooms and their bioactive compounds in delaying neurodegeneration.


Mice treated with methylhydrazine derivatives for 3 to 4 weeks before the transplantation showed markedly prolonged survival times for allogeneic skin grafts differing at the H-2 histocompatibility locus. Presumably permanent tolerance was induced in about 20 to 30 percent of the mice when the drug treatment was combined with a single injection of additional donor antigen. The tolerance persists without further drug treatment and is specific for donor tissue.


There are many topical therapies that have been used in the treatment of mild to moderate acne vulgaris, yet there is no optimal therapy is defined. The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy and safety of topical 1.5% ciprofloxacin solution in the treatment of mild type of acne vulgaris in comparison with topical 1.5% clindamycin solution.Sixty eight patients with mild acne vulgaris were included in this single-blind comparative therapeutics clinical trial which was conducted in the Department of DermatologyBaghdad Teaching Hospital from February 2016 -March 2017. The patients were divided into two groups and applied the following solutions twice daily on the face for eight weeks: Group A used 1.5% ciprofloxacin solution, while Group B used 1.5% clindamycin solution in the same manner as Group A. Full clinical assessment was carried out. Scoring system was done every two weeks till the end of the therapy to record the clinical improvement of the lesions and any topical or systemic side effects. Follow up was done for another four weeks after cessation of therapy to record any clinical relapse. Sixty one patients with mild acne vulgaris completed the course of treatment, their ages ranged from 17-25 (19.3 ± 1.9) years, thirty patients in Group A with mean ages 18.8 ± 1.8 years and thirty one in Group B their mean ages 19.8 ± 2.1 years. Both topical ciprofloxacin and topical clindamycin solutions cleared the lesions in mild acne within 8 weeks of therapy and when compared the results of the two groups with each other there was no statistical differences between the groups, but topical ciprofloxacin solution was more effective in the clearance of papules, while topical clindamycin was more effective on pustules. In conclusion; topical 1.5% ciprofloxacin solution was as effective as topical 1.5% clindamycin solution in the treatment of mild acne vulgaris, with negligible side effects.


In April of 2013, Bank of Japan introduced Qualitative and Quantitative Easing (QQE). And the unexpected announcement of additional QQE in October of 2014 surprised many market participants. Just after both announcements stock prices of Japanese market rose rapidly. BOJ had introduced non-traditional monetary policies not only QQE, but Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) and Quantitative Easing (QE) for about 15 years. Not only Japan but U.S. Federal Reserve, Bank of England of U.K. (BOE) and Sveriges Riksbank of Sweden have also introduced QE. Especially, Federal Reserve Board of U.S. had executed the non-traditional monetary policies of QE1, QE2 and QE3 since November of 2008 till October of 2014 by the chairmen, Bernanke and Yellen. It continues another non-traditional monetary policy, ZIRP under the slowly recovering economy. Meanwhile ECB announced their introduction of QE on January 22 of 2015 and began buying government bonds on March 9, when Europe's fragile recovery is lagging the rest of the world and a drop in prices is threatening to make things worse. However none of them had not brought adequate result by the non-traditional monetary policies yet. In this thesis we analyze the relationship between Japanese long-term interest rates and its non-traditional monetary policies under persistent and serious deflation. We investigate the extent to which change rates of monetary base and amounts of loan outstanding of banks and other proxy variables affect both the nominal and real interest rates of 10 year JGBs. We used a fundamental bond rate model based on Sargent (1969) and test the cointegrating relationship among the variables. Then we estimate the model with cointegrating relationship by Dynamic OLS and Error Correction model by GMM.


Potassium reduces blood pressure in populations at high risk of developing hypertension, which suggests that potassium depletion may increase vascular resistance. This study was designed to examine the effect of potassium depletion on the L-arginine-nitric oxide pathway in arterial tissues. New Zealand White rabbits were fed either a control diet, containing a normal amount of potassium, or a low-potassium diet for 1-3 wk. As expected, the low-potassium diet resulted in reduced serum and urinary potassium levels. Carotid arteries were excised, and their contractile and relaxant responses were determined in vitro. Carotid arterial ring contractile response to norepinephrine was enhanced, and relaxation in response to the endothelium-dependent vasodilators acetylcholine and calcium ionophore A-23187 was attenuated, in rabbits fed low-potassium diet (all P < 0.01 compared with responses in rabbits fed control diet). The vasomotor responses were similarly altered in rabbits fed low-potassium diet for 1 or 3 wk. Both the enhanced contraction and attenuated relaxation were abolished by treatment of arterial rings with superoxide dismutase but not by treatment with L-arginine or indomethacin. Carotid artery rings from rabbits fed the low-potassium diet showed approximately 100% greater superoxide anion formation than those from rabbits fed control diet (P < 0.01), whereas plasma and urinary nitrite levels were similar in both groups of rabbits. These observations indicate that low-potassium diet enhances the sensitivity of the carotid artery to vasoconstrictor stimuli and reduces the sensitivity to endothelium-dependent stimuli. Attenuation of endothelium-dependent relaxation appears to be secondary to increased free radical generation, which may degrade nitric oxide. Altered vasoreactivity may underlie the genesis of hypertension in populations consuming diets low in potassium.


Extrusion experiments have been carried out on Bi2O3-coated Al18B4O33 whisker reinforced aluminum matrix composite. The effects of the extrusion temperature on the microstructures, the formability and the mechanical properties of ABOw reinforced aluminum (ABOw/Al) composites with and without Bi2O3 coating were investigated. The results show that the steady-state extrusion load and the probability of whisker fracture of the extruded two composites decrease with the extrusion temperature increasing. The mechanical properties of the composites attain highest values at extrusion temperature of 673K.


Background Multidisciplinary collaboration has generally been shown to have positive effects on healthcare but can be difficult to facilitate. This study assessed the effects of a multidisciplinary fibroid clinic on practice patterns and clinician perceptions to better understand drivers of interspecialty collaboration. Materials and methods Annual rates of hysterectomies, myomectomies, and uterine fibroid embolizations (UFEs) performed in an urban healthcare system were collected from 2012–2019. Rates of each procedure were compared over time before and after launching a multidisciplinary fibroid clinic at the academic medical center. Referral rates were also compared. The gynecologists and interventional radiologists (IRs) involved in the clinic were interviewed 2 years prior to and after the clinic launch about their approaches to fibroids and perceptions of others who treat this condition. A phenomenological approach was used to identify and compare themes within the interviews by two researchers with excellent inter-rater agreement (κ = 0.80). Results and discussion Annual rates of fibroid procedures increased over time (p<0.01) but the relative number of UFEs decreased (p = 0.01). UFE referrals by the clinic gynecologists significantly increased as did the number of combined fibroid procedures (p<0.01). However, the rates of one fibroid procedure relative to others were not different between the clinic and rest of the healthcare system (p = 0.55). Specialty-specific perceptions of fibroid treatments and inter-specialty dynamics did not change. Despite this, clinicians unanimously perceived the clinic and post-clinic practice patterns as positive and distinct from their previous work and relationships between gynecology and IR elsewhere. Limitations of this study included its single clinic design and potential confounder of differences in advertising pre- versus post-clinic. Conclusion Creating the right practice environment may be more important for fostering inter-specialty collaboration and work satisfaction than shared mental models or procedural volumes in certain practice settings.


Breast cancer is the type of cancer that kills more women in the world and the conventional cancer treatment has high costs and many side effects. The bioactive compounds from diet alone or in combination with others substances may be a potential source for the prevention and treatment of breast cancer. The aim was to investigate the effect of curcumin, piperine and resveratrol alone and associated in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells culture. Curcumin, piperine and resveratrol showed cytotoxicity for MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells with IC50 values of 24.50 μM, 94.50 μM and 131.00 μM, and 23.30 μM, 276.00 μM and 306.00 μM, respectively. The combination of curcumin+piperine, curcumin+resveratrol, piperine+resveratrol showed synergy in MCF-7 cells, and piperine+resveratrol in MDA-MB-231 cells. We conclude that the combination of bioactive compounds presents in diet as curcumin, piperine and resveratrol is better than used in isolated forms, and these results may be useful in future clinical trials with breast cancer.


Due to the global economic crisis of 2008, small and medium-sized enterprises were forced to increase their international (export) activities. As Hungary is one of the most integrated countries in global production networks, we use its example to explore what factors promote or hinder the Hungarian SMEs' internationalisation process focusing on the effects of network internationalisation. Our questionnaire survey provided a sample of 148 exporting SMEs. Our first hypothesis is that there are differences between network-participants and non-supplier firms in terms of export promoting and hindering factors. The results show such differences, but these are not statistically significant. Our second hypothesis is that stronger and looser network participant SMEs differ, which we illustrate by two case studies, pointing to the importance of management strategy.


We looked for structural differences between normal patients and those with slipped capital femoral epiphysis to explain shear failure of the growth plate in terms of mechanics. Hip radiographs of 50 normal adolescents were examined, and it was found that lines drawn along the axis of the femoral neck and perpendicular to the growth plate intersected at an average angle of 23 degrees (neck shaft-plate shaft angle). Radiographs of 50 patients with slipped capital femoral epiphysis were examined, and the femoral neck shaft-plate shaft angle was found to be between 10 degrees and 20 degrees in patients with unilateral slips and less than 10 degrees in patients with bilateral slips. These abnormalities in the femoral neck shaft-plate shaft angle suggest there are mechanical differences between normal hips and those that develop a slip of the capital femoral epiphysis that may predispose to shear failure of the growth plate.


Cleveland-Cliffs Thermak 17 is a ferritic stainless steel that is stabilized with both titanium and niobium. When given a high-temperature, final solution anneal, the alloy exhibits dramatic creep resistance. The dual stabilization prevents carbide sensitization exposure and makes the alloy thermally non-hardenable. Cleveland-Cliffs Thermak 17 is designed for demanding, hot-end automotive exhaust applications where intermediate or high chromium grades may not be sufficient or where down gauging for lightweighting is desired. This datasheet provides information on composition, physical properties, hardness, and tensile properties as well as creep. It also includes information on corrosion resistance as well as forming and joining. Filing Code: SS-1345. Producer or source: Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.


: The motility of the rat ureter has been studied in vitro. Sixteen per cent of isolated rat ureters present spontaneous motility which depends on the electrolytic composition of the nutritious solution employed. It seems that the cholinergic component in organs from animals previously reserpinized acts as stimulator since 56.6% of ureters with spontaneous motility was observed in vitro. The action or nicotine proves the existence of stimulating nicotinic receptors in the ureter wall. Acetylcholine acts as excitator as increases peristaltic frequency. Atropine, likewise, proves the existence of stimulating muscarinic receptors. Urine dilutions of 1:100 have also proves their ability for producing peristaltic motility in vitro.


In this paper, a primary frequency control strategy based on fuzzy logic, designed for variable-speed wind generators, is proposed and tested on a 2.2 kW test bench. The fuzzy logic supervisor ensures a regular primary reserve for a large range of wind speeds without any wind speed measurement. This supervisor controls simultaneously the generator torque and the pitch angle to keep the primary reserve; it determines in real time the generator power reference value. The fuzzy logic supervisor is compared to a simpler strategy, based only on the control of the generator torque. This classical strategy ensures a regular power reserve only when the wind generator operates at full load, and the generator power reference needs to be determined previously or by the network manager. A procedure for implementing a fuzzy logic supervisor in real time is proposed. The experiments indicate the regularity of the power reserve and the ability to contribute to frequency control.


Effectively mapping Internet content to mobile wireless devices requires not only new technologies and standards, but also innovative solutions that minimize cost and maximize efficiency to the benefit of both content providers and consumers. The wireless Internet must deliver information to handheld device users regardless of where they are and how they are connected, and in a suitable format - a challenge complicated by the dizzying array of devices, wireless standards and applications. Transcoding and the Relational Markup Language are promising middleware solutions to the problem of bringing Internet content to the extremely diverse and dynamic mobile wireless device universe.


Abstract Tetragonal polymeric C60 has been studied by Raman spectroscopy and other methods. Attempts have been made to transform samples from the tetragonal to the orthorhom-bic phase and vice versa. The results suggest that the transformation is direct with no intermediate stage with free molecules. Tetragonal C60 has also been intercalated by potassium metal.


Patient satisfaction is an important outcome measure of quality of cancer care and 1 of the 4 core study outcomes of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)‐sponsored Patient Navigation Research Program to reduce race/ethnicity‐based disparities in cancer care. There is no existing patient satisfaction measure that spans the spectrum of cancer‐related care. The objective of this study was to develop a Patient Satisfaction With Cancer Care measure that is relevant to patients receiving diagnostic/therapeutic cancer‐related care.


Information retrieval and integration systems typically must handle incomplete and inconsistent data. Current approaches attempt to reconcile discrepant information by leveraging data quality, user preferences, or source provenance information. Such approaches may overlook the fact that information is interpreted relative to its context. Therefore, discrepancies may be explained and thereby resolved if contexts are taking into account. In this paper, we describe an information integrator that is capable of explaining its results. We focus on using knowledge of an assumption context learned through decision tree-based classification to inform the explanations. We further discuss some benefits and difficulties of applying assumption context in information retrieval. Finally, we indicate how to use Inference Web to explain discrepancies resulting from information retrieval and integration applications.


Flue gas recirculation (FGR), which is adopted to control the reheat steam temperature of double-reheat boilers, significantly affects the temperature, heat flux and NOx distributions. The effects of FGR on combustion characteristics and heat flux distributions were investigated by numerical simulation on 660 MW towertype double-reheat boiler. The results show that, the FGR could reduce the temperature in the furnace under boiler maximum continuous rating (BMCR), 70% turbine heat acceptance (THA) and 50% THA loads. With the injection of recirculation flue gas (RFG), the heat flux in the combustion zone decreases, more heat is transmitted to the upper part of the furnace. The peak value of wall heat flux appears near the center line of furnace wall. The NOx emission increases with the decline of boiler load and the FGR technology could effectively reduce the NOx emission.


Optimal power allocation in a multi-hop cognitive radio network is investigated. Information transmitted from the source passes through several wireless relay nodes before reaching the destination. At each hop, the received signal is decoded, re-encoded and retransmitted to the following node. Transmissions at every hop are overheard by nearby nodes and therefore cause interference. We study optimal power allocation strategies that maximize the end-to-end throughput of the network under the constraint of strictly limited interference to external users. We show that for networks that can be modeled as a line topology the optimal solution is achieved when the capacities of every intermediate link are equal and the interference power constraint is satisfied with equality. High- and low-SNR approximations that simplify the problem of finding the optimal power allocation are presented as well. The numerical results show good performance compared to schemes with equal power allocation.


Abstract. The recently reported finding that plant matter and living plants produce significant amounts of the important greenhouse gas methane under aerobic conditions has led to an intense scientific and public controversy. Whereas some studies question the up-scaling method that was used to estimate the global source strength, others have suggested that experimental artifacts could have caused the reported signals, and two studies, one based on isotope labeling, have recently reported the absence of CH4 emissions from plants. Here we show – using several independent experimental analysis techniques – that dry and detached fresh plant matter, as well as several structural plant components, emit significant amounts of methane upon irradiation with UV light and/or heating. Emissions from UV irradiation are almost instantaneous, indicating a direct photochemical process. Long-time irradiation experiments demonstrate that the size of the CH4 producing reservoir is large, exceeding potential interferences from degassing or desorption processes by several orders of magnitude. A dry leaf of a pure 13C plant produces 13CH4 at a similar rate as dry leaves of non-labeled plants produce non-labeled methane.


Effects of refined carbohydrates on satiety and mood remain controversial. After a brief review of findings, some conceptual distinctions underlying mood and satiety
are discussed; the physiological processes, cognitive processes and behaviours involved all need to be considered. From recent research on emotion and mood, a
two-stage model is described of the psychological processes that mediate betweencarbohydrate ingestion, mood rating and food intake. This involves rapid non-conscious appraisal and slower cognitive appraisal. It is concluded that the effects of carbohydrates on subjective state and eating behaviour are fragile and liable to alter as a function of the prior state of an individual and the setting of ingestion.


The composition of neutron stars is an issue that has been studied for decades. Yet we do not know exactly what these very compact objects are made of. At this stage of the technological development the best we can do is to constrain the range of equations of state via the mass-radius diagram. From the theoretical point of view the things are not easier. The theory of matter at high density and temperature is not well established.
Keeping this in mind we applied the Information Theory as a novel way to restrict the range of possible equations of state for neutron stars.
From our results, we conclude that if order costs energy, then nature should favour exotic strange quark stars over the hadronic neutron stars and that there is a trend for the types of compact stars of classified under the nomenclature "neutrons stars" to be at a state of minimum complexity.


Introduction: Incidence of skin manifestations in diabetes mellitus (DM) varies from 11.3 to 70.6% and may manifest once the primary disease has already developed, but may also occur coincidently with its onset or may even precede DM in some of the cases. Our study is an attempt to analyze the pattern of various types of skin manifestations seen in DM. Aims and objectives: To study and analyze the various skin manifestations in patients of DM. Materials and methods: Two hundred patients of DM were enrolled. A detailed history was taken, investigations like preprandial and postprandial capillary plasma glucose and HbA1c were done. Diabetes was considered controlled when preprandial capillary plasma glucose 3.9–7.2 mmol/L (70–130 mg/dL), postprandial capillary plasma glucose < 180 mg/dL, and HbA1c < 7.0%. Results: Infections were the commonest skin manifestation present in a total of 81% of patients (56% fungal, 19% bacterial, and 6% viral) followed by conditions associated with DM present in 67% of patients (skin tag 33% was the commonest). Miscellaneous skin conditions were present in 62% of patients (discoloration of nails was the commonest 11%). Conclusion: Various skin manifestations may appear early and remain undetected till DM is diagnosed. The majority of patients do not take regular treatment and follow dietary restrictions in early diabetes leading to a persistent hyperglycemic state which predisposes to infections and other skin manifestations. The presence of easily visible skin manifestations can heighten the suspicion for early diagnosis of DM and thus, may very well be taken as a clinical marker of DM.


Sulphur dioxide (SO2) is a pnmary gaseous pollutant which has toxic effects on the growth, yield and quality of both agricultural and natural plant species. Although plant responses to SO2 exposure have been extensively studied, much less is understood concerning the influences of other environmental stresses on the expression of effects of gaseous air pollutants. Evaluation of such interactions should be of an economic importance in agriculture and horticulture since plants growing in the field usually encounter air pollution and other stresses simultaneously. Soil water stress and salinity are the common environmental stresses and they have some physiological similarities. This thesis aims to investigate to what extent water stress and salinity modify or amplify the detrimental effects of SO2 on foliar injury, plant growth and yield, and some physiological and biochemical changes in potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Russet Burbank) and soybean (Glycine max L. cv. Buchanan) crops under field conditions.

SO2 exposure induced growth reductions in well-watered potato plants but usually not in the water-stressed plants, indicating a protective function of soil moisture stress in the response of plants to SO2. This could be caused by a reduced SO2 uptake m water-stressed plants, as well-watered plants had much higher leaf sulphur concentrations than did the water-stressed plants at the same SO2 fumigation levels. SO2 also increased leaf sulphur concentrations in soybean, but simultaneous exposure to SO2 and salinity significantly decreased leaf sulphur concentrations when compared with exposure to SO2 alone. As a consequence, SO2-induced foliar injury was more severe in the well-watered or nonsaline plants than in the water-stressed or saline plants.

Exposure conditions can also be important in determining the response of a plant to stress interactions. Contrasts of sequential and simultaneous exposures to SO2 and salinity were made in this project so as to examine stress compensatory mechanisms and predisposition characteristics. It was found that low salinity pretreatment (27 mM NaCl) ameliorated the detrimental effects of SO2 on soybean growth probably by inducing stomatal closure. However, high salinity (48 mM NaCl) treated plants, which also showed high stomatal resistance, were severely injured by subsequent SO2 exposure especially at high SO2 concentrations (300 nl 1-1). It was likely that high salinity pretreatment decreased or even destroyed plant homeostasis due to direct injury of high ion concentrations. By comparison, plants pretreated with SO2 became vulnerable to salt injury and those pretreated with high SO2 were killed after 12 days of high salt stress. This was probably because SO2 altered the patterns of assimilate allocation favouring shoot growth at the expense of root growth and induced other metabolic changes. As a consequence, the resistance of polluted plants to salinity stress was reduced.

SO2 pollutant increased the shoot to root ratios by either reducing root growth or stimulating shoot growth, whereas soil moisture stress had the opposite effect. Exposure to 300 nl 1-1 SO2 under well-watered conditions induced an increase in the shoot to root (including tuber) ratios of potato plants early in the growing season. In contrast, water stress decreased the ratios in the control and 110 nl 1-1 SO2 treatments, but not at 300 nl I-1 SO2 indicating that high SO2 had disrupted this acclimatory response to soil moisture stress. SO2-induced increase in the shoot to root ratios was also observed in the soybean experiments. However, it appeared that soil salinity did not significantly affect the ratios.

High SO2 decreased the number and weight of root nodules, and suppressed nodule nitrogenase activity. Consequently, both shoot and root nitrogen concentrations were reduced. In combination with low salinity, however, the adverse effects of high SO2 on nodule number, specific nodule activity and plant nitrogen concentrations were ameliorated. Biomass was usually not very sensitive to the interactive effects of SO2 and salinity, probably because it is slower to respond to the stresses following physiological and biochemical processes. In the field, stress interactions may become even more complicated due to interactions with other environmental stresses.

In conclusion, moderate soil salinity and moisture stress can modify crop sensitivity to SO2 exposure mainly through stomatal mechanisms. Such interactions, together with the knowledge of interactions of gaseous au pollutants and other environmental stresses (e.g. light, humidity and temperature), are important when we attempt to establish dose or concentration-response relationships for the development of predictive models for the effects of air pollutants on crops or native plants. Environmental factors may readjust the dose thresholds of au pollutants, above which detrimental effect are likely and below which insignificant effects or growth stimulations occur. Therefore, air quality standards designed to protect vegetation may need to· consider variations in regional environmental conditions.


Active faults and paleoseismology Convener:*Takashi AZUMA(National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology), Nobuhiko Sugito(Faculty of Humanity and Environment, Hosei University), Satoshi Tonai(Department of Applied Science, Faculty of Scienece, Kochi University), Toshikazu Yoshioka(Active Fault and Earthquake Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology), Chair:Taku Komatsubara(Institute of Geology and Geoinformation, Advanced Industrial Science and Technology), Nobuhiko Sugito(Faculty of Humanity and Environment, Hosei University) Tue. Apr 29, 2014 9:00 AM 10:48 AM 502 (5F) Geologic and historic information on seismic cycles and on the magnitude and source faults of past earthquakes is essential information to understand future large earthquakes. The study of past faulting and seismicity is an important issue for an interdisciplinary community of seismologists, geologists, geomorphologists, archaeologists, and historians.


This paper was written in order of the reforming of the tax system's framework. Analysing phenomena such as tax evasion, tax avoidance, the use of legal loopholes to reduce tax liability in Albania was very challenged. In this paper is analysed also some other jurisdictions, which have served as a reference model for the reform of Albanian legislation, such as the Italian one and the legislation of the European Union. Recently, we were witnesses of a significant increase, in the quantitative and qualitative level, of tax evasion and tax avoidance. Often, the "battle" between the taxpayer and the contributor in bad faith is based on the probative power (burden of proof) of the elements of the transaction which must be verified by the tax administration. Even more often, this fight takes place over the basis of the correct interpretation of legal norms. Evasion is leaving more and more room for refined avoidance. Avoidance is no longer just the prerogative of big companies, corporations or powerful business groups, but it is turned into an ordinary management instrument for small and medium enterprises, even in special cases, even for natural persons. The paper analyses problems such as: basic and key aspects of tax evasion, by distinguishing with other concepts of tax law, such as tax planning and tax evasion, which are the forms of identifying tax evasion/avoidance, the meaning of the doctrine of abuse right. At the end of the paper, you can find a presentation on all findings and conclusions reached during the analysis of the above problems, and some recommendations for the improvement of the activity of the Tax Administration.


In the Arab region, several assessments are available to evaluate student skills in mathematical computations. However, none of them uses formative evaluation to guide universal screening of struggling learners or students with learning disability (LD). The current study aimed to develop mathematical computation curriculum-based measurement (MC-CBM) for Arab speaking fourth grade students, examine its psychometric properties, test its adequacy for use in an Arab context, namely Oman, determine an adequate time for its administration, and develop performance benchmarks. MC-CBM were administered to 528 fourth grade students. Results indicated that the developed measures were adequate for use in the Arab context. Received operation characteristic (ROC) curve indicated good specificity and sensitivity estimates for the MC-CBM. Performance benchmarks were obtained using the 25th and 75th percentiles. Implications are discussed from a contextual perspective.


Background: Optimal growth and development of babies can be done through stimulation of the touch by containing massage. Babies who are massaged sleep more and compile waking up fresher. In Klaten District, parents ask for masseur services because their children are fussy and have trouble sleeping. No less than 30 babies every day who come in one massage place, even on holidays more than 60 babies who come. If you can do the massage yourself, you will be able to save money and get closer to the relationship between mother and baby, including other developments and developments, and help the baby's development. Purpose this study is analyze the effect of infant massage conducted by the mother on the growth and development of infants in Klaten Regency, it can be seen the growth and development of infant sleep. Methods: The research method is quasi-experimental with control. The study was conducted for 6 months, the intervention for 1 month consisted of training in infant massage in the group of mothers who had babies and conditioning other groups as a control group (not suitable for training). The group treated massage their babies every week for 1 month, while the other group (control) did not do massage. Data collected includes body, body length, the ability of motion received by the baby and the quality of sleep performed before and after massage in the control groups, as well as in the control groups at the time performed for 1 month. The research location is in Klaten Regency with a sample of the area in the working area of Trucuk and Central Klaten Puskesmas. Data analysis was carried out for 1 month to test hypotheses using the paired "t" test to measure body weight, body length and sleep quality before and then get a good massage in the treated group with good control, through the unpaired "t" test to measure the babies given massage compared to babies who are not massaged. Results: Tests of growth and development of babies and sleep between before and after the baby was massage by the results obtained with p <0.05 and in infants who were massaged by babies who were massaged obtained with p <0.05. Conclusion: Infant massage is provided by the mother for baby's growth and development and sleep in Klaten Regency.


The techniques of macro- and micro-tissue clearance were used to study reactive hyperemia. Clearance of radioactive iodide from gross injection sites in muscles of rabbits and clearance of micro-injected diffusible dye from the exposed, directly observed spinotrapezius of rats gave evidence for an exact quantitative repayment of effective blood flow debt. In both types of preparation a subnormal clearance followed a thermally induced hyperemia as an apparent compensation. The exact quantitative repayment and compensation support the hypothesis that local effective blood flow is in a steady-state relation to the local concentration in tissue fluid of some agent with vasodilating properties. It is suggested that an extension of this method to studies of vasodilatation induced by drugs or other chemicals might offer an approach to identification of the normal vasodilator, and to physiological proof of its exact nature.


The purpose of the present investigation was to determine the effects of dietary selenium deficiency or excess on 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA)-induced mammary neoplasia in rats and to delineate whether selenium-mediated modification of mammary carcinogenesis was associated with changes in carcinogen:DNA adduct formation and activities of liver microsomal enzymes that are involved in xenobiotic metabolism. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups from weaning and were maintained on one of three synthetic diets designated as follows: selenium deficient (less than 0.02 ppm); selenium adequate (0.2 ppm); or selenium excess (2.5 ppm). For the DMBA binding and DNA adduct studies, rats were given a dose of [3H]DMBA p.o. after 1 month on their respective diets. Results from the liver and the mammary gland indicated that neither selenium deficiency nor excess had any significant effect on the binding levels, which were calculated on the basis of total radioactivity isolated with the purified DNA. Furthermore, it was found that dietary selenium intake did not seem to affect quantitatively or qualitatively the formation of DMBA:DNA adducts in the liver. Similarly, in a parallel group of rats that did not receive DMBA, the activities of aniline hydroxylase, aminopyrine N-demethylase, and cytochrome c reductase were not significantly altered by dietary selenium levels. Concurrent with the above experiments, the effect of dietary selenium intake on carcinogenesis was also monitored. Results of this experiment indicated that selenium deficiency enhanced mammary carcinogenesis only when this nutritional condition was maintained in the postinitiation phase. Likewise, an excess of selenium intake inhibited neoplastic development only when this regimen was continued after DMBA administration. In either case, deficient or excess selenium at the time of carcinogenic insult failed to produce a significant effect on subsequent tumor yield, if selenium intake was returned to normal during the proliferative phase of tumor growth. Based on the results of these studies, it is suggested that selenium-mediated modification of mammary tumorigenesis is not exerted via alterations in carcinogenic initiation (i.e., metabolism or DNA adduct formation).


With the rapid growth of visual content, deep learning to hash is gaining popularity in the image retrieval community recently. Although it greatly facilitates search efficiency, privacy is also at risks when images on the web are retrieved at a large scale and exploited as a rich mine of personal information. An adversary can extract private images by querying similar images from the targeted category for any usable model. Existing methods based on image processing preserve privacy at a sacrifice of perceptual quality. In this paper, we propose a new mechanism based on adversarial examples to "stash'' private images in the deep hash space while maintaining perceptual similarity. We first find that a simple approach of hamming distance maximization is not robust against brute-force adversaries. Then we develop a new loss function by maximizing the hamming distance to not only the original category, but also the centers from all the classes, partitioned into clusters of various sizes. The extensive experiment shows that the proposed defense can harden the attacker's efforts by 2-7 orders of magnitude, without significant increase of computational overhead and perceptual degradation. We also demonstrate 30-60% transferability in hash space with a black-box setting. The code is available at: https://github.com/sugarruy/hashstash


We describe here the first known case in Korea of pulmonary involvement with peripheral T cell lymphoma and the patient presented with severe hypoxic respiratory failure. A 57-yr-old man was admitted to our hospital with rapid progression of dyspnea and bilateral diffuse infiltration on a chest radiograph. He received mechanical ventilation and low dose corticosteroid treatment under the suspicion of critical illness-related corticosteroid insufficiency. Transbronchial lung biopsy revealed large atypical lymphoid cells with positivity for CD3+. We diagnosed this patient as having a peripheral T cell lymphoma and we treated him with high dose corticosteroid. His clinical and radiologic findings rapidly improved and then he received a full dose of chemotherapy for the peripheral T cell lymphoma.