The wildland-urban interface (WUI)—the area where wildland vegetation and urban buildings intermix—is at a greater risk of fire occurrence because of extensive human activity in that area. Although satellite remote sensing has become a major tool for assessing fire damage in wildlands, it is unsuitable for WUI fire monitoring due to the low spatial resolution of the images from satellites that provide frequent information which is relevant for timely fire monitoring in WUI. Here, we take advantage of frequent (i.e., ca. daily), high-spatial-resolution (3 m) imagery acquired from a constellation of nano-satellites operated by Planet Labs ("Planet") to assess fire damage to urban trees in the WUI of a Mediterranean city in Israel (Haifa). The fire occurred at the end of 2016, consuming ca. 17,000 of the trees (152 trees ha−1) within the near-by wildland and urban parts of the city. Three vegetation indices (GNDVI, NDVI and GCC) from Planet satellite images were used to derive a burn severity map for the WUI area after applying a subpixel discrimination method to distinguish between woody and herbaceous vegetation. The produced burn severity map was successfully validated with information acquired from an extensive field survey in the WUI burnt area (overall accuracy and kappa: 87% and 0.75%, respectively). Planet's vegetation indices were calibrated using in-field tree measurements to obtain high spatial resolution maps of burned trees and consumed woody biomass in the WUI. These were used in conjunction with an ecosystem services valuation model (i-Tree) to estimate spatially-distributed and total economic loss due to damage to urban trees caused by the fire. Results show that nearly half of the urban trees were moderately and severely burned (26% and 22%, respectively). The total damage to the urban forest was estimated at ca. 41 ± 10 M USD. We conclude that using the method developed in this study with high-spatial-resolution Planet images has a great potential for WUI fire economic assessment.


We describe TopoLayout, a novel framework to draw undirected graphs based on the topological features they contain. Topological features are detected recursively, and their subgraphs are collapsed into single nodes, forming a graph hierarchy. The final layout is drawn using an appropriate algorithm for each topological feature. A more general goal is to partition the graph into features for which there exist good layout algorithms, so in addition to strictly topo-logical features such as trees, connected components, biconnected components, and clusters, we have a detector function to determine when High-Dimensional Embedder is an appropriate choice for subgraph layout. Our framework is the first multi-level approach to provide a phase for reducing the number of node-edge and edge-edge crossings and a phase to eliminate all node-node overlaps. The runtime and layout visual quality of TopoLayout depend on the number and types of topological features present in the graph. We show experimental results comparing speed and visual quality for TopoLayout against four other multi-level algorithms on ten datasets with a range of connectivities and sizes, including real-world graphs of web sites, social networks, and Internet routers. TopoLayout is frequently faster or has results of higher visual quality , and sometimes, it has both. For example, the router dataset of about 140,000 nodes which contains many large tree subgraphs is drawn an order of magnitude faster with improved visual quality.


OBJECTIVE
Data pertaining to the quantitative structural features and organization of normal articular cartilage are of great importance in understanding its biomechanical properties and in attempting to establish this tissue's counterpart by engineering in vitro. A comprehensive set of such baseline data is, however, not available for humans. It was the purpose of the present study to furnish the necessary information.

DESIGN
The articular cartilage layer covering the medial femoral condyle of deceased persons aged between 23 and 49 years was chosen for the morphometric analysis of cell parameters using confocal microscopy in conjunction with unbiased stereological methods. The height of the hyaline articular cartilage layer, as well as that of the calcified cartilage layer and the subchondral bone plate, were also measured.

RESULTS
The mean height of the hyaline articular cartilage layer was found to be 2.4mm, the volume density of chondrocytes therein being 1.65%, the number of cells per mm(3) of tissue 9626 and the mean cell diameter 13 microm. Other estimators (including matrix mass per cell and cell profile density) were also determined.

CONCLUSIONS
A comparison of these normal human quantitative data with those published for experimental animals commonly used in orthopaedic research reveals substantial differences, consideration of which in tissue engineering strategies destined for human application are of paramount importance for successful repair.


The purpose of this case study was to determine the effectiveness of sport for development (SDP) evaluation within one program in Gansbaai, South Africa through critical, independent participant inclusive program evaluation. Qualitative research was conducted on the Football Foundation of South Africa (FFSA), where semi-structured interview data were collected from administrators and participants, as were data from direct participant observations and organizational documents. Data analysis followed, according to Kvale and Brinkman's (2008) methodology. FFSA goals were found, as were themes of social impact (i.e., regarding coachplayer relationships, trust, and coaching impact on social integration). A further theme related to evaluation components and procedures. Further themes included life skill development, competition within programming, participants' home life and social integration. Findings contribute to the SDP literature relating to program evaluation research and to FFSA administrators by providing an understanding of SDP program shortcomings, limitations, and suggested improvements. . EVALUATION IN SPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT iii


Clinical studies may be carried out using non-invasively collected near infrared spectra of patient skin. Two problems encountered are: (1) data reduction to go from thousands of wavelengths to some clinically relevant estimator and (2) getting statistical significance from noisy data with sometimes very skewed distributions. The problem of data reduction can usually be solved by principal component analysis to get a few meaningful components. In the space spanned by these components, a direction of discrimination may have to be found, typically discrimination between treated and control. A visual difference in a score plot is often not enough; statistical significance has to be demonstrated. Once a univariate estimator is found, non-parametric testing can show significant differences, even if the data are noisy and have an unknown and skewed distribution. The NOPRAPOD method com bines the actions of finding a direction in a reduced data space and performing the non-parametric significance testing by producing a disk of significance. Two examples are included. Example one is from a study of diabetes-related neuropathy where it is shown that significant differences show up in the NIR spectra. Example two is from a study of post-operative radiation treatment of breast cancer patients, where it is shown that radiation effects (erythema) and the effect of lotion can be determined with an indication of significance from the NIR spectra.


We investigated the use of a system with an ingestible sensor (Proteus Digital Health Feedback system) co-encapsulated with antiretrovirals (ARVs) to measure real-time adherence. To assess the safety and impact, if any, co-encapsulation might have on ARV concentrations, we evaluated the pharmacokinetics of ARVs co-encapsulated with an ingestible sensor for eight commonly used fixed-dose combination ARVs: emtricitabine (FTC)/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF); FTC/tenofovir alafenamide (TAF); efavirenz (EFV)/FTC/TDF; abacavir (ABC)/lamivudine (3TC); dolutegravir (DTG)/ABC/3TC; rilpivirine (RPV)/TAF/FTC; elvitegravir (EVG)/cobicistat (COBI)/FTC/TAF; and bictegravir (BIC)/FTC/TAF. The steady-state apparent peak plasma concentration (Cmax) and area under the curve (AUC) were determined from plasma concentrations measured at pre-dose, 1, 2, 4 and 6 hours post dose, and compared with literature values. A total of 49 unique patients on stable regimens for at least 12 weeks with undetectable viral loads were recruited. Cmax and AUC values were not statistically significant different from literature values for all of the formulations except the Cmax of FTC/TDF, Cmax of BIC, and the Cmax of RPV. In a subsequent evaluation of FTC/TDF and BIC/FTC/TAF using a crossover design, the geometric mean ratio (GMR) between the co-encapsulated and the un-encapsulated formulations for FTC/TDF were: FTC, 84.6% (90% CI 66.6%-107.4%) for AUC and 77.5% (60.1%-99.9%) for Cmax. For tenofovir (TFV) the GMR was 96.2% (90% CI 89.2%-103.8%) for AUC and 87.3% (64.2%-118.7%) for Cmax. The GMR for BIC (from the BIC/FTC/TAF formulation) was 98.0% (90% CI 84.5%-113.5%) for AUC and 89.9% (84.5%-95.7%) for Cmax. The observed deviation in FTC/TDF (Truvada) may be due to participant characteristics, fasted/fed conditions, and/or random variation and may warrant further investigations with a larger sample size. These findings provide assurance for use of co-encapsulated ARVs for future HIV treatment-adherence research.


Author(s): Torabzadeh, Mohammad | Advisor(s): Tromberg, Bruce J | Abstract: Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging (SFDI) is a non-contact wide-field spectroscopy technique that employs sinusoidal patterns of spatially modulated light as the excitation source. By obtaining the effective modulation transfer function of the diffusively reflected light from a turbid medium, it considers the contribution of reduced scattering and absorption coefficient to this function allowing for decoupling of the optical properties. The extracted optical properties at several wavelengths can provide quantitative information on concentration of tissue chromophores such as hemoglobin, fat, and water. It also delivers information on the arrangement of tissue structural components, mainly cells and extracellular matrix proteins. The technique has been utilized to investigate many phenomena in brain, kidney, and skin tissues.Enhancing spatial, temporal, and spectral information content in SFDI can give insight to tissue constituents, their dynamics, and distribution. In this work, we developed and validated three variations of SFDI instruments with design considerations to match specific applications:1. High Speed SFDI instrument that detects rat cortex dynamic optical and physiological properties at 17 frames per second following cardiac arrest and resuscitation.2. Hyperspectral SFDI instrument which measures tissue optical properties at 1000 spectral bins over a broad range, 580-950 nm, and can spatially resolve concentrations of oxy- deoxy- and met- hemoglobin as well as water and fat fractions. It utilizes principles of spatial scanning of the spectrally dispersed output of a supercontinuum laser.3. Single pixel SFDI instrument which takes advantage of high bandwidth available for spectral encoding using a single-element detector and sparse sampling based on compressed sensing to characterize tissue optical properties over a wide field of view, 35 mm × 35 mm.


The overall objective of Pervermac II project is to promote a sustainable use of pesticides in the agricultural production and ensure food security in the Macaronesian region (Azores, Madeira, Canaries and Cape Verde). The aim is to ensure farmer's safety and health with special regards to those who apply pesticides in field through the quantification of residues level in the vegetable and fruits locally produced and imported and, at the same time, decreasing environ-mental contamination which could represent a risk for consumer health. The level of residues in agricultural products collected during the last four years (2017 to 2020) were been analysed in order to safeguard food safety for the Azorean population. There were also made food surveys to obtain the real proportion of vegetable and fruits in our diet and the correlated level of pesticides residues in the food intake by humans. On most of the products analysed, no pesticide residues were found. Pesticides residuals were found only on a small portion and in this case, the limit allowed by law was never been reached. Activities to raise awareness about the adoption of good diet and promoting actions concerning the implementation of organic production and consumption were conducted with students and Azorean consumers. Actions of knowledge increasing and technology transfer to farmer and the technicians ensured the adoption and implementation of integrated protection measures, promoting the sustainable use of pesticides by the farmers that implemented alternative means of protection against the major crop's phytosanitary problems. This work has been funded by the European Fund for Regional Development (FEDER), articulated through the Territorial cooperation MAC 2014-2020.


Carol A. Hess, Advisor From his 1921 ballet El Fuego Nuevo to his triumphant Sinfonia India of 1936, Mexican composer Carlos Chavez was seen as a leader in the so-called "Aztec Renaissance." This status, however, has overshadowed his work in other areas, notably that of Mexican popular song. In fact, his music is often restricted to the labels "Indianist" and "non-Mexican," excluding works that draw from both tendencies as well as a third (Mexican popular) style. Such works include his 1934 choral works Corrido de "El sol" and Llamadas: Sinfonia proletaria in which he sought to create a national but universal art and communicate with the Mexican people, following the goals of the Mexican painters' movement of the 1920s as well as his own art music aesthetic. For Chavez, Mexican national art entailed a fusion of popular and classical music that would elevate popular song to art and reach out to the Mexican people from a didactic posture. In 1928, he intended to redeem popular music, which he considered vulgar. Six years later, he wrote Corrido de "El sol" and Llamadas, both of which use preexisting songs from the popular Mexican genre known as the corrido. Through musical analyses, this thesis shows how Chavez uses principles of the corrido alongside those of his Indianist and non-Mexican styles to raise the corrido to "art" and potentially benefit the cultural growth of the masses. Textual analyses of these works examine the variants between the lyrics of Corrido de "El sol" and Llamadas and the text of the corridos on which they are based. Alone, these analyses show that the iv lyrics contributed to Chavez's goals insofar as they were taken from the corrido, a form of mass-media that the Mexican people had already adopted as their own. However, I also relate the lyrics of Corrido de "El sol" and Llamadas to agrarian and labor reforms in Mexico. Through his polystylistic tendencies and sensitivity to the political climate, Chavez expanded the possibilities of the corrido, contributing to the genre's adaptability as a soundtrack to current events.


Many people have been gradually building the knowledge of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) for a long time and new knowledge is created based on previous knowledge. Therefore, all knowledge is related to each other and structured. Currently, knowledge structure of STEM is huge and complicated. We consider that visualization of knowledge structure is very useful for learning STEM. By acquiring knowledge structure students can understand STEM more deeply and learning speed is accelerated. From this background, we developed the system visualizing the knowledge structure of STEM. We realize visualization of knowledge structure by using a network graph of hyperlink structure of STEM e-learning website which we have been developing. In order to analyze the hyperlink structure we developed crawler software and computed the data for graph drawing. The website contains about one thousand units of knowledge. In the graph drawing a node indicates a unit of knowledge which is allocated to one webpage and a directed edge indicates a hyperlink. The label of the node comes from the title of the webpage. The graph drawing is limited to knowledge within 3 graph distances from noticing knowledge. The graph drawing is opened by just clicking hyperlink on the webpage which you are visiting to study. The noticed webpage is displayed as a red node. In the graph, you can easily recognize some nodes which connect with many other nodes. These nodes indicate very important knowledge which you should know. We can not only easily understand the relation between knowledge through this graph drawing, but also learn basic knowledge and advanced knowledge by just clicking the node in the graph drawing. This graph drawing system enables you to learn STEM efficiently and effectively.


There is a well-documented crisis in mathematics education
both nationally and internationally. Increasing numbers of
students are struggling with many of the basics of mathematics
when they enter third level. One response has been the
widespread establishment of mathematics support services for
students who are deemed at risk. These supports are constantly
analysed and quantified to establish best practice and to
measure the impact they have on students. In this paper we give
an overview of these issues. We also discuss how introducing
struggling students to topics in the historical development of
mathematics can help them deal successfully with many of the
issues that they have.


A description is given of VITS (for vision task sequencer), the vision system for the autonomous land vehicle (ALV) Alvin, addressing in particular the task of road-following. The ALV vision system builds symbolic descriptions of road and obstacle boundaries using both video and range sensors. The authors discuss various road segmentation methods for video-based road-following, along with approaches to boundary extraction and transformation of boundaries in the image plane into a vehicle-centered three-dimensional scene model. >


In this paper, we present an adaptive graph-based personalized recommendation method based on co-ranking and query-based collaborative diffusion. By utilizing the unique network structure of n-partite heterogeneous graph, we attempt to address the problem of personalized recommendation in a two-layer ranking process with the help of reasonable measure of high and low order relationships and analyzing the representation of user's preference in the graph. The experiments show that this algorithm can outperform the traditional CF methods and achieve competitive performance compared with many model-based and graph-based recommendation methods, and have better scalability and flexibility.


OBJECTIVES:Assess the role of cholangioscopy in primary sclerosing cholangitis for 1) detection of cholangiocarcinoma using cholangioscopy-assisted biopsy 2) detection of stones not seen on cholangiography 3) stone removal with cholangioscopy-directed lithotripsy.METHODS:Prospective cohort of consecutive patients referred for cholangioscopy to evaluate dominant strictures or stones. A data collection sheet was employed. Follow-up was by chart review/phone contact. Clinical improvement was defined as resolution of jaundice or ≥50% reduction in pain or cholangitis episodes requiring hospitalization.RESULTS:41 patients (30M, 11F) had 60 cholangioscopy procedures (55 per oral, 5 percutaneous). 33/41 (80%) patients underwent 44 tissue sampling events. Histology: positive for extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (N = 1), negative/atypical (N = 31), and inadequate (N = 1). Stones were found in 23/41 (56%) patients, of which 7/23 (30%) were missed on cholangiography and detected only by cholangioscopy. 9/23 (39%) underwent cholangioscopy-directed lithotripsy. Stone clearance: complete (N = 10, 7 by cholangioscopy-directed lithotripsy after failed conventional stone extraction); partial (N = 7); and not attempted (N = 6). Median follow-up was 17.0 months (range 1–56). Clinical improvement was achieved in 25/40 (63%). Eight patients have undergone transplant and cholangiocarcinoma was present in the explant of two at 1 and 12 months post-cholangioscopy, respectively.CONCLUSIONS:This is the first series of patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis undergoing cholangioscopy for the evaluation of dominant strictures and cholangioscopy-directed stone therapy with demonstrable clinical benefits. Stones detected by cholangioscopy were missed by cholangiography in nearly one of three patients. Cholangioscopy-directed lithotripsy may be superior to conventional ERCP for achieving complete stone clearance. Despite the use of cholangioscopy, diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma remains technically challenging.


Abstract. The Coalburn experimental catchment, located in the Kielder Forest in northern Britain, was established in 1967 to study the hydrological impacts of upland coniferous plantation forestry. Results of 30 years' study (1967–96) are presented; they cover the transformation of the catchment from rough grazing through drainage and planting with conifers in 1972–73 and the subsequent forest development to canopy closure. In the early years of forest growth, the pre-planting forestry drainage dominated the hydrology and the observed changes were quite different from those normally associated with forestry; catchment evaporation was reduced, stream stormflow response times were shortened and dry weather baseflows were enhanced. These effects were sustained for an unexpectedly long period-up to one half of the forest plantation cropping cycle - before being reversed by the increasing influence of the growing forest. These results indicate that significant areas of young plantation forests may function hydrologically in ways very different from what is generally assumed from studies of mature forests. For large plantations, a mixed age forest structure may have hydrological as well as environmental advantages.


As technologies scale down in size, multiple-transistors being affected by a single ion has become a universal phenomenon, and some new effects are present in single event transients (SETs) due to the charge sharing collection of the adjacent multiple-transistors. In this paper, not only the off-state p-channel metal—oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (PMOS FET), but also the on-state PMOS is struck by a heavy-ion in the two-transistor inverter chain, due to the charge sharing collection and the electrical interaction. The SET induced by striking the off-state PMOS is efficiently mitigated by the pulse quenching effect, but the SET induced by striking the on-state PMOS becomes dominant. It is indicated in this study that in the advanced technologies, the SET will no longer just be induced by an ion striking the off-state transistor, and the SET sensitive region will no longer just surround the off-state transistor either, as it is in the older technologies. We also discuss this issue in a three-transistor inverter in depth, and the study illustrates that the three-transistor inverter is still a better replacement for spaceborne integrated circuit design in advanced technologies.


Intense sound waves with a resonant frequency of 5000 cycles per second were imposed on a stationary propane-air flame issuing from a nozzle. In addition to a slight increase of the flame velocity, a fundamental change both in the shape of the burning zone and in the flow pattern could be observed. An attempt is made to explain the origin of the variations in the flame configuration on the basis of transition at the nozzle from jet flow to potential flow.


OBJECTIVES To identify the histologic and ultrastructural features of surgically excised subfoveal choroidal neovascular lesions from patients enrolled in the Submacular Surgery Trials and to compare them with clinical data. METHODS Surgically excised subfoveal choroidal neovascular lesions from patients enrolled in the Submacular Surgery Trials group N trial (lesion predominantly choroidal neovascularization [CNV] with evidence of classic CNV from age-related macular degeneration), group B trial (lesion predominantly hemorrhagic from age-related macular degeneration), and group H trial (idiopathic subfoveal CNV or subfoveal CNV from ocular histoplasmosis syndrome) between October 1, 1999, and September 1, 2001, were submitted to the pathology center. The lesion growth pattern (subretinal pigment epithelial [sub-RPE], subretinal, combined, or indeterminate) and the cellular and extracellular constituents were classified independently. Demographic, clinical, and fluorescein angiographic characteristics of patients, eyes, and lesions, respectively, were compared with the pathologic features. RESULTS Of 269 patients assigned to surgery during the 24 months that pathologic specimens were collected, surgical specimens from study eyes of 199 were submitted to the pathology center. Of the 199 routine histologic specimens processed, 144 (72%) were classified as CNV, 51 (26%) as fibrocellular tissue, and 4 (2%) as hemorrhage. The median specimen size was smaller in group H (932 x 208 mum) than in groups N (1980 x 325 mum) and B (1800 x 395 mum). The CNV growth pattern was determined in 91 (46%) of 199 specimens. Of 159 group N and group B lesions, 76 (48%) had an indeterminate growth pattern, 28 (18%) had a sub-RPE growth pattern, and 33 (21%) had sub-RPE and subretinal growth patterns. Of 40 group H lesions, 32 (80%) had an indeterminate growth pattern, 7 (18%) had a subretinal growth pattern, and 1 (2%) had a combined sub-RPE and subretinal pattern. Based on electron microscopy, the most common cellular lesion components were RPE, macrophages, erythrocytes, fibrocytes, and vascular endothelium; the most common extracellular components were 24-nm collagen and fibrin. Basal laminar and linear deposits were found in 80% (40/50) and 16% (8/49) of group N specimens, 66% (43/65) and 5% (3/65) of group B specimens, and 8% (2/26) and 0% (0/26) of group H specimens, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Most surgically excised subfoveal specimens had evidence of CNV or tissue associated with CNV. The constituents in CNV were consistent with granulation tissue proliferation. The presence of basal deposits in surgically excised specimens suggested a clinical diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration, even when blood was the predominant component of the lesion. Correlation of growth patterns above or below the RPE with fluorescein angiographic patterns of classic or occult CNV was limited because most specimens had insufficient material to determine these patterns.


Book synopsis: Over 100 years since its origins, psychoanalysis continues to be a key source of insights across the humanities and social sciences. Being well-versed in psychoanalytic concepts is a crucial element in cultural literacy today.

Key Concepts in Psychoanalysis accessibly introduces the core psychoanalytic concepts. In contrast to existing dictionaries, the volume does not simply offer cursory definitions, and it is not overly entrenched in a particular psychoanalytic tradition.

Providing short, reader-friendly descriptions of each concept, Key Concepts in Psychoanalysis shows both its place in the field as well its more general cultural usage. It is not simply a reference book, but can be read cover to cover to provide an overview of the therapeutic and cultural uses of central terms. Concepts are introduced in ways which make them truly available to a non-expert readership and to beginning students.

Examples of concepts introduced include: unconscious, repression, projection, Oedipus complex, interpretation, resistance, and transference.


In this paper, the impact of the Si nanocrystals technological fluctuations on the programming window dispersion, of multi nanocrystals memory is thoroughly investigated. Numerical Monte Carlo simulations as well as an original compact modelling, based on the compound distributions statistics, are here presented and deeply discussed. Technological dispersions of different nanocrystals populations, directly measured by high resolution transmission electron microscopy, are used as starting points for the modelling of the device characteristics. Finally, the good agreement between our simulations and experimental data of ultra-scaled nanocrystal devices, made by conventional UV lithography or by e-beam lithography, definitively confirms the validity of our theoretical approach.


The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of the supplementation of an antibiotic growth promoter or novel feed additives with or without a xylanase-based enzyme complex to wheat-based diets on the growth performance, carcass yields and quality and intestinal characteristics (length of the total and small intestine, pH and viscosity of digesta, microflora) of Japanese quail. Eight hundred and forty day-old male quail chicks were randomly assigned to 14 groups of similar mean weight each of which included three replicates of 20 quail. The control group received a wheat-soyabean meal basal diet. In the treatment groups, the basal diet was supplemented with one of the following: an antibiotic, oregano essential oil, cinnamon essential oil, oregano essential oil plus cinnamon essential oil, a probiotic, a mannanoligosaccharide, and the same diets plus an enzyme. During the 35-d growth period there were no significant differences in body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI) or feed conversion ratio (FCR) of quail between dietary treatments. The use of oregano essential oil plus cinnamon essential oil or mannanoligosaccharide without the enzyme complex in the quail diets decreased plasma total cholesterol level compared to the control diet. The dietary supplementation of AGP, oregano essential oil, cinnamon essential oil, oregano essential oil plus cinnamon essential oil without the enzyme complex decreased plasma triglyceride levels compared with the control diet. When oregano essential oil, cinnamon essential oil, oregano oil plus cinnamon oil, a probiotic or a mannanoligosaccharide with an enzyme complex were used in a wheat based quail diet, the intestinal viscosity was significantly decreased compared to the control diet. Although the use of essential oils in combination with the enzyme complex, a probiotic and a mannanoligosaccharide with or without the enzyme complex in the wheat based diet significantly reduced the intestinal viscosity compared to the control diet, these treatments negatively decreased plasma total cholesterol and triglyceride.


Objectives: Medicinal images assume a key part in the diagnosis of tumors as well as Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) leak. In a similar way, MRI could be the cutting edge regenerative imaging technology, which permits an angle sectional perspective of the body, which gives convenience to specialists to inspect the affected person. In this study, the authors had attempted the strategy to classify MRI images (4-Dimensional) either at the beginning of production to have a tumor or even can be utilized for tumor recognition. The aim of the study is to address the aforementioned problems associated with the brain cancer due to the leakage of CSF. Methods/Findings: This research is to construct the research framework that can identify cancer damage area or be isolated from tumors and non-tumors quiet by using Fourier transformation. Another research tool, based on Fourier Transform, is the main mathematical method for frequency analysis and has extensive engineering and science applications. Because DFT is omnipresent, there has been extensive study of highways for the DFT account and active research has continued. Application: Several fast algorithms are provided by the DFT partitioning method. In this document, we provide DFT with two rapid implementation algorithms to assess their performance. This study helps the detection of brain cancer due to the process of interfacing the 4-D (4 Dimensional) image segmentation process and Fourier transformation. 4-D is followed by MATLAB software modeling techniques to measure the size of brain damage cells deep inside of CSF. These Methods of light fields can be useful for improving the quality of application editing segmentation and light field composite pipeline, as they reduce boundary artefacts.
Keywords: Brain Tumor, Cerebrospinal Fluid, Fourier Transformation, Image segmentation, MRI


We are developing a capturing system to get handwritten sequential coordinates of a pen movement by using two video cameras which observe a writing pen. We call this system "video tablet". At first, sequential images are obtained through the video cameras. Next, our system estimates coordinates of handwritten positions by using a color marker in each image. For extracting the color marker, we use uniform color space. Through these operations, our video tablet system can get handwritten sequential coordinates by using stereo camera method.


ABSTRACT Devonian reef complexes in the subsurface of the Swan Hills area of central Alberta are some of the most prolific oil-producing reservoirs in Canada. The complexes, composed of carbonate rocks and collectively forming the Swan Hills Formation, contain rich, varied, and well-preserved stromatoporoid faunas and other associated fossils, including ostracodes. Six discrete reef complexes (Snipe Lake, Goose River, Kaybob, Virginia Hills, Swan Hills, and House Mountain) lend themselves in particular to detailed stratigraphic analysis. From the many available cored sections, the rock sequences can be established readily, and divisions of the sequences correlated from one reef complex to another. Moreover, the rocks of these complexes are negligibly altered, so that various facies can be recognized, and facies relationships established with little difficulty. Nine separate stages of growth can be recognized in the Swan Hills reef complexes, and these are designated conveniently, from bottom to top, Divisions I to IX. A distinct break is apparent at the boundary between Divisions V and VI, expressed in part by a perceptible southwesterly shift in the loci of reef growth. Each division consists of as many as four main facies, which contain characteristic rocks and fossils. Thirty-one species of stromatoporoids have been recognized in the Swan Hills Formation, and five of these (Euryamphipora sp. A, Trupetostroma sp. A, Trupetostroma sp. B, Clathrocoilona sp., and Stromatopora sp.) are new. From examination of the many stromatoporoid colonies present in the rocks, it is apparent that growth forms intergrade, and dendroid stromatoporoids are allied genetically to both subspherical and tabular forms. It is proposed, therefore, that, in contrast to the importance accorded it by many palaeontologists, growth form be relegated to a position of little importance for taxonomic purposes. Three distinct species of Amphipora, (A. ramosa, A. pervesiculata, and A. angusta) can be recognized in the collections from the Swan Hills Formation. A progressive loss of stromatoporoid species occurs at the end of each stage of reef growth (top of each division) except for Division I. The most significant faunal break occurs at the boundary between Divisions V and VI, where seven stromatoporoid species disappear. Significantly, diagnostic Middle Devonian ostracode species also disappear at this level. No ostracodes diagnostic of either Middle or Late Devonian age were recovered from the rocks above this boundary. The shales of the Waterways Formation, which enclose the reef complexes and locally underlie Divisions VI to IX, where these lie to the southwest of the main centres of the complexes, contain a Late Devonian microfaunal assemblage. Lithological and faunal evidence points to a disconformity, marking a considerable time lapse, between Divisions V and VI, and there is little doubt that this hiatus contains the Middle-Late Devonian boundary. Fluctuations in sea level, preceding retreat of the Middle Devonian sea, resulted in the development of Divisions I to V. Similar fluctuations of the Late Devonian sea, after deposition of early Waterways Shale, resulted in the development of Divisions VI to IX. End_Page 444------------------------


Background:  It remains a mystery as to how genetic and environmental factors cause schizophrenia.

Objective:  To develop a pathophysiological model of schizophrenia that has greater explanatory power than existing hypotheses of the disorder.

Method:  Published findings on schizophrenia are integrated with more recent data from human and animal studies of striatal and cerebellar functions.

Results:  The analysis shows that during phylo- and ontogenesis two primarily motor-control mechanisms are applied at the intentional (limbic) level of functioning to organize emotional and cognitive behavior: one for initiating and dosing (drive) and the other for the representational guidance (guidance) of both movements and intentions. The intentional drive and guidance mechanisms are organized through a ventral, respectively, a dorsal cortical–subcortical circuitry.

Conclusions:  A deficient implementation of these mechanisms at the limbic domain manifests itself as schizophrenia, whereby the heterogeneity in symptomatology is explained by the extent of the remaining cerebral activity and by the degree of indirect activation of these systems. In general, activation manifests itself as positive symptomatology and the absence of such activation as negative symptomatology. The model provides a more comprehensive explanation for existing clinical and epidemiological data than do the current alternatives. It is compatible with the major prevailing views on the illness, such as the theories that regard this as a progressive neurodevelopmental, or a connectivity disorder, or one resulting from a deficient cerebral lateralization, or an interrupted cortico–thalamo–cerebello–cortical circuitry. The model fits with recent theories in evolutionary psychology and evolutionary psychiatry.


Sea ice models contain transport equations for the area, volume, and energy of ice and snow in various thickness categories. These equations typically are solved with first-order-accurate upwind schemes, which are very diffusive; with second-order-accurate centered schemes, which are highly oscillatory; or with more sophisticated second-order schemes that are computationally costly if many quantities must be transported [e.g., multidimensional positive-definite advection transport algorithm (MPDATA)]. Here an incremental remapping scheme, originally designed for horizontal transport in ocean models, is adapted for sea ice transport. This scheme has several desirable features: it preserves the monotonicity of both conserved quantities and tracers; it is second-order accurate except where the accuracy is reduced locally to preserve monotonicity; and it efficiently solves the large number of equations in sea ice models with multiple thickness categories and tracers. Remapping outperforms the first-order upwind scheme and basic MPDATA scheme in several simple test problems. In realistic model runs, remapping is less diffusive than the upwind scheme and about twice as fast as MPDATA.


Surgery after proper imaging (MRI or CT scan) is the main stay of treatment for salivary gland tumors. Although excision margins should be ≥5 mm for malignant tumors in cases of parotid gland carcinoma, the facial nerve should be preserved whenever it is not infiltrated. Adjuvant external radiation is indicated for malignant tumors with high-risk features such as close (or invaded) margins, perineural speed, lymphatic and/or vascular invasion, lymph-node involvement and high-grade histology. A Phase II trial testing adjuvant concomitant cisplatin plus radiation therapy versus adjuvant radiation therapy alone after surgery is currently under investigation for high-risk salivary gland cancer. For inoperable cancers, photons combined with proton boost seem to be a valuable option. Even if protons or carbon ions are promising, access to the latter is limited for usual treatment. For recurrent and/or metastatic cancer, polychemotherapy (cisplatin based) gives a 25% response rate in adenoid cystic carcinoma and should be used when the disease is overtly in progression. Targeted therapies with anti-EGF receptor molecules, antiangiogenic agents and tyrosine kinase inhibitors are ongoing, but more trials are needed to establish their efficacy, as is the use of bortezomib followed by doxorubicin. The products of fusion oncogenes, which have a pathogenic role in some adenoid cystic carcinoma and mucoepidermoid carcinomas, are of interest as potential therapeutic targets.


Vinylene carbonate (VC) is the most well-known additive for current lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Low anodic stability or insufficient oxidation stability as a drawback of VC affected LIBs performance, especially in high voltage applications. As computational screening is faster and much less expensive than experimental trial and error testing, by using density functional theory (DFT) computations, phthalimide derivatives are screened as promising solid electrolyte interface (SEI) forming additives in LIBs. Our computational screening comprising frontier orbital energy, binding energy, and redox potentials shows that phthalimide derivatives are promising candidates as SEI-forming additives on graphite anode in ethylene carbonate (EC), and propylene carbonate (PC), based electrolytes. Additionally, four phthalimide derivatives including 3-nitrophthalimide, N-chlorophthalimide, 3,4,5,6-tetrachlorophthalimide, and phthalimide itself, due to their higher anodic stability and also reduction potential compared to VC, can be used as future alternatives of VC for LIBs.


In this paper, we explore traffic analysis attacks on Tor that are conducted solely with middle relays rather than with relays from the entry or exit positions. We create a methodology to apply novel Tor circuit and website fingerprinting from middle relays to detect onion service usage; that is, we are able to identify websites with hidden network addresses by their traffic patterns. We also carry out the first privacypreserving popularity measurement of a single social networking website hosted as an onion service by deploying our novel circuit and website fingerprinting techniques in the wild. Our results show: (i) that the middle position enables wide-scale monitoring and measurement not possible from a comparable resource deployment in other relay positions, (ii) that traffic fingerprinting techniques are as effective from the middle relay position as prior works show from a guard relay, and (iii) that an adversary can use our fingerprinting methodology to discover the popularity of onion services, or as a filter to target specific nodes in the network, such as particular guard relays.


Anorexia nervosa (AN) severely impacts individual's mental and physical health as well as quality of life. In 21% of cases no durable response to conservative treatment can be obtained. The serious course of the disease in the most severely affected patients justifies invasive treatment options. One of the treatment methods increasingly used in recent years is deep brain stimulation (DBS). A 42-year-old woman suffering from chronic AN of the bulimic subtype shows a 46.9% weight gain and a subjective increase in quality of life, 12 months after bilateral nucleus accumbens (NAcc) DBS implantation. No improvement in comorbid depression could be achieved. DBS of the NAcc is a treatment option to be considered in severe AN when conventional treatment modalities recommended by evidence-based guidelines have not been able to bring lasting relief to the patient's suffering.


The services are provided mainly at home. This situation seems to meet the needs of the parents as a recent survey shows. Accessibility to the services is quite good although some parents with a disabled baby report that they did not receive adequate information. ECI services in Belgium do not provide therapies or medical care. They act as a mediator to empower the families as a whole. The use of existing regular services in hospitals, in specific rehabilitation centres or delivered by private therapists is encouraged. Various challenges are presented. Among others, we wonder how the ECI services will be able in a next future to cope with the increasing demands. Further, for the parents, a balance is to be found between the need for appropriate support and the need to assimilate the elements of the situation, find some landmarks and become able to take their own decisions. The networking with various regular services is another important challenge. Finally we explore the question of training and the necessary links to be maintained between in-service training and research.


Polymeric foams with different concentrations of Fe particles were prepared. The effects of magnetic field (MF) during the foaming process was analyzed. Mechanical properties and cell morphology of samples foamed with and without the application of the MF were compared. As revealed by optical and electronic scanning microscopy the magnetic field induced an alignment of Fe particles. The compressive mechanical tests performed on the foams showed an enhancement of the properties with the increase of particles concentration. When the iron particles were aligned by the magnetic field an improvement of the mechanical properties in the alignment direction was measured when compared to the samples with the same particle content. The effect of particles alignment was evident starting from low weight concentrations (5%wt). The mechanical behavior of the samples prepared by using the magnetic field was strongly anisotropic: in the field direction the mechanical behavior was higher than that in the orthogonal direction. The development of cellular structures produced by applying a magnetic field during the foaming process allows the design of anisotropic structures with cell morphology and mechanical properties tailored for desired directions.


Evaluation practices in the higher education sector have been criticised for having unclear purpose and principles; ignoring the complexity and changing nature of learning and teaching and the environments in which they occur; relying almost exclusively on student ratings of teachers working in classroom settings; lacking reliability and validity; using data for inappropriate purposes; and focusing on accountability and marketing rather than the improvement of learning and teaching. In response to similar criticism from stakeholders, in 2011 Queensland University of Technology began a project, entitled REFRAME, to review its approach to evaluation, particularly the student survey system it had been using for the past five years. This presentation will outline the scholarly, evidence based methodology used to undertake institution-wide change, meet the needs of stakeholders suitable to the cultural needs of the institution. It is believed that this approach is broadly applicable to other institutions contemplating change with regard to evaluation of learning and teaching.


This paper presents analyses current and voltage harmonic in traction converting substation 3 kV. It researches their rise and influence to three-phase cable line 6 kV, 50 Hz that is used for feeding interlocking plant. Processing of this task is arisen from requirement practice for line Pěcky - Pořicany - Rostoklaty where happened to adverse ratio in particular transmission line of feeding system. It is meant especially about backward influence traction substation rectifier Pecky to three - phase cable line 6 kV, 50 Hz. At the determinate lenght of the cable line, when resonace frequency of circuit transformer 22 kV/6 kV and the cable line 6 kV, 50 Hz is approached frequency 550 Hz and 650 Hz (i.e. 11 and 13 harmonic) are happened to socalled "annulations input reactance of this circuit". That is caused by the leakage of current resonace frequency from traction converting substation to cable line. That proceduces additional losses and deformation waveform of voltage too. This deformation can be reflected on how interlocking plant is working.


The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges for the population. The advent of national COVID-19 vaccination programmes was therefore welcome as a key control strategy for the COVID-19 pandemic, as evidence has shown that vaccination is the best strategy to reduce the adverse individual and population level adverse outcomes associated with infectious diseases such as COVID-19. Zimbabwe rolled out its vaccination programme in February 2021 with an ambitious target to vaccinate at least 60% of its eligible population by December 2021. However, by that time, the country was still to reach that target. To move the vaccination programme towards achieving this target, it is crucial to understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the programme. We, therefore, with this narrative review, discuss some of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the programme since its rollout in February 2021. Though the programme has several strengths and opportunities to leverage on, we argue that among other challenges, the emergence of new variants of concern poses one of the biggest threats to local, regional and international vaccination programmes and requires concerted multistakeholder efforts to deal with. Additionally, addressing vaccine hesitancy remains as important as availing the vaccines to the population, to obtain the most benefits out of the programme.


Abstract. Human societies depend on the resources ecosystems provide. Particularly since the last century, human activities have transformed the relationship between nature and society at a global scale. We study this coevolutionary relationship by utilizing a stylized model of private resource use and social learning on an adaptive network. The latter process is based on two social key dynamics beyond economic paradigms: boundedly rational imitation of resource use strategies and homophily in the formation of social network ties. The private and logistically growing resources are harvested with either a sustainable (small) or non-sustainable (large) effort. We show that these social processes can have a profound influence on the environmental state, such as determining whether the private renewable resources collapse from overuse or not. Additionally, we demonstrate that heterogeneously distributed regional resource capacities shift the critical social parameters where this resource extraction system collapses. We make these points to argue that, in more advanced coevolutionary models of the planetary social–ecological system, such socio-cultural phenomena as well as regional resource heterogeneities should receive attention in addition to the processes represented in established Earth system and integrated assessment models.


In the framework of loop quantum gravity, we define a new Hilbert space of states which are solutions of a large number of components of the diffeomorphism constraint. On this Hilbert space, using the methods of Thiemann, we obtain a family of gravitational scalar constraints. They preserve the Hilbert space for every choice of lapse function. Thus adjointness and commutator properties of the constraint can be investigated in a straightforward manner. We show how the space of solutions of the symmetrized constraint can be defined by spectral decomposition, and the Hilbert space of physical states by subsequently fully implementing the diffeomorphism constraint. The relationship of the solutions to those resulting from a proposal for a symmetric constraint operator by Thiemann remains to be elucidated.


Orthophosphate (OP) sorption by eight reagent-grade CaCO3 samples and a natural limestone, as influenced by the surface area and zeta potential (ZP), was investigated in the absence and presence of pyrophosphate (PP) as a crystal growth inhibitor. Reacting the nine CaCO3 samples for 24 h with 1 mmol OP L 1 indicated a rapid 0.08-h adsorption reaction and a 2-h induction period that preceded OP precipitation. The amount of adsorbed OP was proportional to the CaCO3 surface area which ranged from 250 to 12 780 m kg and accounted for 92.8% of the variation in OP adsorption. The surface area was generally proportional to the ZP, as five CaCO3 samples were positively charged with ZP values ranging from 17.7 to 25.3 mV, three samples were noncharged, and only limestone was negatively charged with a ZP of -6 mV. The ZP decreased with OP adsorption and again increased after OP precipitation. Addition of PP did not interfere with OP adsorption, but inhibited OP precipitation during the 24-h reaction period by extending the induction period, and markedly reduced the ZP. Negativity of the CaCO3 particles per se was not considered the main factor in retarding P precipitation, as polyacrylamide was very effective in lowering ZP but had no effect on OP sorption. The added PP was also subject to adsorption by the CaCO3 and, therefore, the amount of PP needed for inhibiting growth of the calcium phosphate crystals depended on CaCO3 reactivity as well as on OP concentration. Additional Index Words: surface charge, pyrophosphate, polyacrylamide, crystal growth inhibition. View complete article To view this complete article, insert Disc 4 then click button8


Genes detected by wheat expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were mapped into chromosome bins delineated by breakpoints of 159 overlapping deletions. These data were used to assess the organizational and evolutionary aspects of wheat genomes. Relative gene density and recombination rate increased with the relative distance of a bin from the centromere. Single-gene loci present once in the wheat genomes were found predominantly in the proximal, low-recombination regions, while multigene loci tended to be more frequent in distal, high-recombination regions. One-quarter of all gene motifs within wheat genomes were represented by two or more duplicated loci (paralogous sets). For 40 such sets, ancestral loci and loci derived from them by duplication were identified. Loci derived by duplication were most frequently located in distal, high-recombination chromosome regions whereas ancestral loci were most frequently located proximal to them. It is suggested that recombination has played a central role in the evolution of wheat genome structure and that gradients of recombination rates along chromosome arms promote more rapid rates of genome evolution in distal, high-recombination regions than in proximal, low-recombination regions.


We present 2 cases of sirenomelia and highlight the recent theories about its pathogenesis. Both cases had a large aberrant abdominal umbilical artery (AAUA) arising from the aorta, suggesting vascular steal as the pathophysiology. However, the bilateral upper limb defects noted in 1 case, the reported 10% association of holoprosencephaly and anencephaly, and the reports of sirenomelia with normal umbilical arteries point to the alternative caudal dysgenesis (CD) theory. This proposes that an insult at the early blastogenic stage interferes with the formation of the notochord, resulting in abnormal development of caudal structures, an AAUA, and occasional neural tube defects. We have also analyzed the implications of the similarities between sirenomelia/CD and the VATER association; the increased risk of CD but not sirenomelia in infants of diabetic mothers; the fact that sirenomelia, holoprosencephaly, and the VATER association are all more common in monozygotic twins; the experimental production of sirenomelia in mice; and the possible genetic implications of the co-occurrence of sirenomelia and CD.


Drawing on my recent research with aid workers in Jordan and Lebanon, as well as on examples from Greece and Italy, in this commentary I propose the concept of care work as one of the possible ways to achieve a grounded critical understanding of welcome, one that goes beyond solidarity versus institutionalization, bureaucracy versus generosity and state versus civil society dichotomies. Framing the issue in such a way means asking three fundamental questions: not only, as Gill poignantly does, what is welcome, but also where is welcome actually located and, most importantly, who welcomes. These questions illuminate the many overlooked forms of affective and physical labour without which state-centred, institutional, and internationally organized aid and "welcome" would not be possible. The task, I contend, is to unearth the labour of care that the governance of migration and refuge requires, labour that is mostly feminized, racialized, and precarious. By illuminating the forms of care and interdependencies upon which the reproduction of our societies depends – in all its aspects, including border regimes – this perspective opens up an emancipatory pathway to the politicization of welcoming and aid to migrants and refugees, alternative to humanitarian discourses.


A cost-effective doping strategy was developed to enhance the oxygen permeability and structural stability of BaFeO3−δ. We demonstrated that the alkaline earth metal element Ca, which is usually considered an A-site dopant for perovskite oxides, can be successfully introduced into the B-site of BaFeO3−δ. The cubic perovskite structure of BaFe1−xCaxO3−δ was stabilized down to room temperature for the Ca-doping concentration range from 5 to 15 at%. First principles calculations not only proved the preference of Ca at the B-site with lower defect formation energies than the A-site, but also demonstrated that the migration of the oxygens located greater distances from the Ca position is characterized by lower barrier energies than those in the Ca vicinity and even lower than that for the undoped BaFeO3−δ. We found that these favourable, low energy barrier paths away from the Ca sites exert more pronounced effects on the oxygen migration at diluted dopant concentrations, and hence, the material with x = 0.05 level of substitution shows a higher oxygen permeability with a lower activation energy compared to the undoped or highly-doped BaFeO3−δ. The BaFe0.95Ca0.05O3−δ membrane is characterized by a high oxygen permeability of 1.30 mL cm−2 min−1 at 950 °C and good long-term stability at 800/900 °C, as obtained over 200 h. Therefore, the feasibility and applicability of Ca-doping at the B-site of the perovskite can be highlighted, which allows for the enhancement of the oxygen migration ability, originating from the appropriate tuning of the lattice structure.


Abstract This article examines the representation of Bakhta, a Siberian village, in Dmitrii Vasiukov's documentary mini-series Happy People (2007) and draws parallels with Vasiukov and Werner Herzog's Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2010) and Mikhail Tarkovskii's Frozen Time (2014). The characters in these films undergo moral purification in the Siberian taiga, having purged themselves of habits and patterns of thinking associated with city life. The space of Bakhta comes to symbolize simplicity and authenticity associated with provincial life. The article investigates the ambivalence of political meanings attached to Bakhta as the representative space of the Siberian region, as well as a generic provincial space. Bakhta becomes the setting for the constructed image of a heroic Russian trapper, represented as a valiant but humble guardian of Siberian traditions and brave settler of Siberia's wild expanses. The article explores the connections between the images created in these documentaries and national ideology in contemporary Russia. In Happy People, the rhetoric of authenticity, masculinity and conquest finds resonance with new ideas of Russianness, while relegating the native Ket populations of the Yenisei region to the periphery.


Continual learning deals with training models on new tasks and datasets in an online fashion. One strand of research has used probabilistic regularization for continual learning, with two of the main approaches in this vein being Online Elastic Weight Consolidation (Online EWC) and Variational Continual Learning (VCL). VCL employs variational inference, which in other settings has been improved empirically by applying likelihood-tempering. We show that applying this modification to VCL recovers Online EWC as a limiting case, allowing for interpolation between the two approaches. We term the general algorithm Generalized VCL (GVCL). In order to mitigate the observed overpruning effect of VI, we take inspiration from a common multi-task architecture, neural networks with task-specific FiLM layers, and find that this addition leads to significant performance gains, specifically for variational methods. In the small-data regime, GVCL strongly outperforms existing baselines. In larger datasets, GVCL with FiLM layers outperforms or is competitive with existing baselines in terms of accuracy, whilst also providing significantly better calibration.


Many psychology studies are statistically underpowered. In part, this may be because many researchers rely on intuition, rules of thumb, and prior practice (along with practical considerations) to determine the number of subjects to test. In Study 1, we surveyed 291 published research psychologists and found large discrepancies between their reports of their preferred amount of power and the actual power of their studies (calculated from their reported typical cell size, typical effect size, and acceptable alpha). Furthermore, in Study 2, 89% of the 214 respondents overestimated the power of specific research designs with a small expected effect size, and 95% underestimated the sample size needed to obtain .80 power for detecting a small effect. Neither researchers' experience nor their knowledge predicted the bias in their self-reported power intuitions. Because many respondents reported that they based their sample sizes on rules of thumb or common practice in the field, we recommend that researchers conduct and report formal power analyses for their studies.


UNLABELLED: The programming of dualchamber pacemakers to DDD(R) mode is not recommended in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation/flutter, because the pacemaker detects atrial fibrillation/flutter and paces the ventricle up to the pacemaker's upper tracking rate. Some newer pacemakers have the feature to switch automatically from DDD(R) to DDIR mode at the onset of atrial tachyarrhythmias. The aim of the study was to assess how many patients who received such a new DDDR pacemaker with automatic mode switch can be programmed to DDD(R) mode during follow-up. The dual-chamber pacemaker Thera DR (Medtronic) was implanted for clinical evaluation in 142 patients (65 +/- 16 years, male n = 86; female n = 56). Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation/flutter was present in 54 patients, with an additional 2nd or 3rd degree AV-block in 13 and no high-degree AV block in 22 cases; an AV node ablation was performed in 19 patients. Pacemakers were programmed to DDD(R) mode at discharge in 52 of 53, at month 1 in 44 of 46, and at month 3 in 28 of 30 cases. In respect to the programming to DDD(R) mode there were no statistically significant differences to patients without paroxysmal atrial fibrillation/flutter. CONCLUSION: Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation/flutter was present in 38% of the studied patients. During follow up more than 90% of the patients were paced in the DDD(R) mode.


Precise Point Positioning (PPP) has become a popular technique to process GNSS receiver data by applying precise satellite orbit and clock information, along with other minor corrections. Although PPP presents definite advantages such as operational flexibility and cost effectiveness for users, it requires tens of minutes for solution initialization, as carrier-phase ambiguities converge to constant values and the solution reaches its optimal precision. Pseudorange multipath and noise are the largest remaining unmanaged error sources in PPP. It is proposed that by reducing the effects of multipath and noise on the pseudorange observable, accurate estimates of carrier-phase float ambiguities will be attained sooner, thus reducing the convergence period of PPP. Given this problem, this study seeks to improve management of the pseudorange errors. The well-known multipath linear combination was used in two distinct ways: 1) to directly correct the raw pseudorange observables, and 2) to stochastically de-weight the pseudorange observables. Corrections to the observables were made in real-time using data from the previous day, and post-processed using data from the same day. The improvements in the solution were calculated with respect to the standard PPP solution, where the raw pseudorange observables were not modified or stochastically de-weighted. Using the post-processed multipath observable has shown improvement in the rate of convergence for 59% of the data, as the pseudorange multipath and noise were effectively mitigated. An improvement in the rate of convergence for 50% of the data was observed when the pseudorange measurements were stochastically de-weighting using the multipath observable. The strength of this model is that it allows for real-time compensation of the effects of the pseudorange multipath and noise in the stochastic model.


The Seaborne process separates nutrients from the sewage sludge and produces a high quality fertilizer without heavy metals or organic pollutants. A first large-scale pilot plant with a modified Seaborne Technology was built on the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) of Gifhorn in Germany. The plant was established in the year 2005 and the start-of-operation phase is being monitored technically and scientifically. The priority objective of the technical and scientific monitoring is to determine the efficiency of the process. This includes monitoring of resource consumption as well as the quality and quantity of the produced fertilizer. Furthermore the influence of this technology on the operation of the WWTP will be investigated. Another question to be answered is the profitability of the recycling process and a possible transferability to other WWTPs. Mass balances of nutrient and pollutant streams established before start-of-operation will be used as reference values for comparing future results. In addition, organic and inorganic pollutant concentrations in the digested sludge were determined before the sludge was fed to the Seaborne process. The obtained reference values will then be compared with the measuring results obtained under operation of the Seaborne process. Thus load redistribution in the material flows of the WWTP will be determined. Since so far, no stable operation of the large-scale Seaborne Technology has been achieved, it has not been possible to carry out the measuring programme. Therefore reference values for nutrient streams obtained from the primary mass balances, were used to calculate expected mass balances after implementing the Seaborne Technology to the WWTP, in order to be able to estimate possible future load redistribution in the material flows of the WWTP.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between organizational ambidexterity, the ability of companies to explore new and to exploit existing processes simultaneously, and manufacturing performance as represented by the sand cone model. Moreover, the paper analyses the impact of stable and dynamic environments on this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

A set of research questions are tested using structural equation modeling on a sample of 231 Spanish manufacturing companies.

Findings

Results illustrate a significant relationship between ambidexterity as the basis and enabler for manufacturing performance improvements, building on the sand cone model and its dimensions of quality, delivery, cost, and flexibility. This relationship is further emphasized when companies work in a dynamic environment.

Practical implications

The study contributes to practice by investigating the important and yet under-explored relationships of ambidexterity, the sand cone model, performance, and a company's wider market environment. Findings suggest a positive relationship between the sand cone model and ambidexterity capability.

Originality/value

This study adds to the limited theoretical and empirical understanding of the relationships between ambidexterity, the sand cone model, environmental dynamism, and performance. It also contributes through a set of empirical data derived from Spanish manufacturing companies.


Abstract The Coriolis force, named after French mathematician Gaspard Gustave de Coriolis (1792–1843), has traditionally been derived as a matter of coordinate transformation by an essentially kinematic technique. This has had the consequence that its physical significance for processes in the atmosphere, as well for simple mechanical systems, has not been fully comprehended. A study of Coriolis's own scientific career and achievements shows how the discovery of the Coriolis force was linked, not to any earth sciences, but to early nineteenth century mechanics and industrial developments. His own approach, which followed from a general discussion of the energetics of a rotating mechanical system, provides an alternative and more physical way to look at and understand, for example, its property as a complementary centrifugal force. It also helps to clarify the relation between angular momentum and rotational kinetic energy and how an inertial force can have a significant affect on the movement of a body an...


BACKGROUND
Major depression is one of the most prevalent psychiatry comorbidities of alcohol use disorders (AUD). As negative emotions can trigger craving and increase the risk of relapse, treatments that target both conditions simultaneously may augment treatment success. Previous studies showed a potential synergistic effect of Food and Drug Administration approved medication for AUD acamprosate and the antidepressant escitalopram. In this study, we investigated the effects of combining acamprosate and escitalopram on ethanol (EtOH) consumption in stress-induced depressed mice.

METHODS
Forty singly housed C57BL/6J male mice were subjected to chronic unpredictable stress. In parallel, 40 group-housed male mice were subjected to normal husbandry. After 3 weeks, depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors and EtOH consumption were assessed. For the next 7 days, mice were injected with saline, acamprosate (200 mg/kg; twice/d), escitalopram (5 mg/kg; twice/d), or their combination (n = 9 to 11/drug group/stress group). Two-bottle choice limited-access drinking of 15% EtOH and tap water was performed 3 hours into dark phase immediately after the daily dark phase injection. EtOH drinking was monitored for another 7 days without drug administration.

RESULTS
Mice subjected to the chronic unpredictable stress paradigm for 3 weeks showed apparent depression- and anxiety-like behaviors compared to their nonstressed counterparts including longer immobility time in the forced swim test and lower sucrose preference. Stressed mice also displayed higher EtOH consumption and preference in a 2-bottle choice drinking test. During the drug administration period, the escitalopram-only and combined drug groups showed significant reduction in EtOH consumption in nonstressed mice, while only the combined drug group showed significantly reduced consumption in stressed mice. However, such reduction did not persist into the postdrug administration period.

CONCLUSIONS
The combination of acamprosate and escitalopram suppressed EtOH intake in both nonstressed and stressed mice; hence, this combination is potentially helpful for AUD individuals with or without comorbid depression to reduce alcohol use.


A new and unusual pliosaurid from the Peterborough Member, Oxford Clay Formation (Callovian, Jurassic) of Cambridgeshire, UK, exhibits a type of pachyostosis and bone thickening of the rib cage and vertebrae. Pachycostasaurus dawni gen. et sp. nov. was most probably a benthic feeding carnivore with a generalist diet that included fish and invertebrates, and was a slow swimming underwater flyer with ventrally placed ballasting of the skeleton to resist roll. The apparent rarity of this pliosaur may indicate that it is allochthonous in the Oxford Clay biota. From a palaeoecological viewpoint, the find is significant for two reasons. Firstly, as an air breathing animal that is thought to have fed on benthos or nektobenthos, Pachycostasaurus may have been important in transferring resources from the benthic food web to the surface food web. In a more general sense, the new find provides further insights into the possible trophic structure of aquatic animal communities during deposition of the Oxford Clay.


In 2009, the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. released a line of dissolvable tobacco products that are marketed as an alternative to smoking in places where smoking is prohibited. These products are currently available in Indianapolis, IN, Columbus, OH, and Portland, OR. This paper describes the chemical characterization of four such products by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The dissolvable tobacco products were extracted and prepared by ultrasonic extraction using acetone, trimethylsilyl derivatization, and headspace solid phase microextraction (SPME). The following compounds were identified in the dissolvables using either ultrasonic extractions or trimethylsilyl derivatization: nicotine, ethyl citrate, palmitic acid, stearic acid, sorbitol, glycerol, and xylitol. The following compounds were identified in the dissolvables using headspace SPME: nicotine, ethyl citrate, cinnamaldehyde, coumarin, vanillin, and carvone. With the exception of nicotine, the compounds identified thus far in the dissolvables are either flavoring compounds or binders. The concentration of free nicotine in the dissolvables was determined from the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation and by measuring the pH and nicotine concentration by GC-MS. The results presented here are the first to reveal the complexity of dissolvable tobacco products and may be used to assess potential oral health effects.


The determination of the slant-path long-term rain attenuation has been formally characterized on the ITU Recommendation P. 618–8, using an empirical statistical model, suitable for frequencies up to 55 GHz. For the purpose of applying this method on the study of the rain phenomena over the Venezuelan region, different Matlab scripts have been written, aiming to automate the calculation process, iterating the attenuation prediction over the area of interest. The implementation was done based on the VENESAT-I telecommunication system. Results yield with the expected values, and the Matlab implementation has been made available for free use and distribution.


Aim: To determine the association of adverse maternal outcome with early onset preeclampsia than delayed onset preeclampsia. Study Design: Cohort study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology Unit-II, DHQ Hospital, Mirpur, AJK from 30th December 2020 to 29th June 2021. Methodology: A total of 60 (30 early onset pre-eclampsia and 30 delayed onset pre-eclampsia) females of age 18-40 years with parity <5, presenting at gestational age >24 weeks were included. Patients with chronic or gestational diabetes (BSR>186mg/dl), chronic hypertension (BP≥140/90mmHg), cardiac disease (on medical record), multiple gestation (on ultrasound), abnormal placenta (abruption, previa, accrete, increta, percreta on ultrasound) were excluded. Females were evaluated for eclampsia (BP>160/100mmHg along with convulsions), DIC, HELLP syndrome and avascular tubular necrosis by using blood samples and ultrasound findings. Results: The adverse maternal outcome i.e. eclampsia was recorded in 11 (36.67%) in exposed group (early onset pre-eclampsia) versus 04 (13.33%) in unexposed group (delayed onset pre-eclampsia) (p= 0.053; relative risk = 2.75), acute tubular necrosis was recorded in 05 (16.67%) in exposed group (early onset pre-eclampsia) while 00 (0.0%) in unexposed group (delayed onset pre-eclampsia) (p = 0.099; relative risk = 11.00), DIC was recorded in 03 (10.0%) versus 00 (0.0%) respectively (p= 0.192; relative risk = 7.00) and HELLP syndrome in 06 (20.0%) versus 00 (0.0%) respectively (p = 0.076; relative risk = 13.0). Practical Implication: We recommend that a proper protocol should be designed in these high risk patients for antenatal monitoring and proper management plans in order to reduce the morbidity and mortality of the mother and fetus. Conclusion: This study concluded that adverse maternal outcome is higher in early onset preeclampsia as compared to delayed onset preeclampsia. Keywords: Preeclampsia, Adverse Maternal Outcome, Eclampsia.


Research shows that more than 80% of accidents at sea were caused by human related factors. Some experts implied that less than adequate design is one significant element that may lead to human errors. There are several ways to discover whether a design has considered human factors, i.e., to refer to the design specification, to consult the designers, to conduct a direct observation through a site visit or through a model, to interview the users, or to look into the system that regulates the design. This paper applied a content analysis methodology to explore how human factors have been covered in the design of marine systems. Various documents such as rules, regulations, design guidelines, standards and other texts have been analysed. The results indicate that there are extensive references that cover human factors in designing ships. They are published with different degrees of enforcement, some are prescriptive and some are obligatory but still optional. The topic is developing very rapidly. A more assertive measure is required from the regulators to endorse human factors into implementation.


ANTIVIVISECTION IN GLASGOW. SIP,-In Dr. Hadwen's letter under the above heading the followingpassageoccurs: "Ihave quoted Sir Frederick Treves fairly anid squarely, and I repudiate his subse,quent assertion that irnproper vse has been made of his statement." The first 1Jart of this sentence embodies an important confessionl, for it shows that the antivivisectionist's idea of fair and square quotation is to cunningly isolate one particutlar sentence from its context in order to foist upon it a meaning, which it obviously does not bear. The paragraph fromu miy Birmiingham address (delivered in 1898), wlien fairly and squarely quoted, reads as follows: " Dr. Halsted expresses his conviction ' that there slhould be a lawNv compelling all surgeons to practise on aniimals the operations for circutlar suture of the intestine and for initestiinal aniastomosis.' I hope this view will not comminienid itself to the legislators of this country. Many years ago I carried out on the Continent sundry operations upon the intestines of dogs, but sucll are the differences betweeln the human and the canine bowel that whlen I came to operate upon man -I found that I was muclh hani&pered by new experience, that I had everything to nlearni, and tllat my experiments had done little but unfit me to deal with the human intestine." The clhampion of fair and square quotation would add to the above the following from a letter to the Times (.lated April 18th, 1902), in which I protest against the o itrageotus methods of the antivivisectionist in connexicn %v th this identical paragrapl: "No one is more lieenlv aware tllan I am of the great beaefits conferred iupon suffering humanitv by certain re3earches carried out by means of vivisection." With regard to the second part of Dr. Hadwen's stateI'ent, it is difficult to speak witlh moderation. For years the above observation of mine has been used in-advertisements, pamiphlets, and speeclhes as affording evidence that I condemn all vivisectioni experiments as usless. For years I lhave been so pestered wvitlh correspondence on the sublject that I have had to keep in hand a supply of reprints of thie Timies letter above alluded to in order that I might deal w^"ith this ever-recurring matter with the least inconvenience. -The conmmunications I receive are for the most part of.two types. -Sonie open with such a sentence as "I'sVissi r antivivisection lie?'.' while others libel me Yr We offensive assunmption that I am opposed to vissecaion, and conclude by asking me to speak at a drawing-room meetinig against vivisection or to subscribe X a bniib. Ii We that Dr. Hadwen will continue to make his fair and squiare quotations, for they are very efficient in exposing thie; pitiable controversial methods of his party, wllile, on the other hand, tliey provide the opportunity of sending wholesomlle liteiature to the many who seemeven in.this enliahtened age-to be still in some doubt as to the trutlh.-I am, etc., Kingston-on-ThanIes, Nov. 24tlh: FREDERICK TREVES.


As an important component of automobile, the quality control and tracility of airbag's manufacturing process is very important. In this situation, an assembly line is put forward which is made up of computer, barcode scanner, electric nut runner and specialized electric testing instrument. System uses the Client/Server framework , bar code technology and SQL database to save or find the assembly data and the information of the operators. Electric nut runner is used to control the torque value of the nuts. Specialized electric testing instrument is used to test the electric parameters of the airbag. By the practical application in the assembly line, there are many advantages of this system such as good human-machine interface, fast response, and so on. This system can be used for many products, and it is an flexible assemble line with procedures rectification, quality control and product tracing.


This paper investigated carnival activity and economic development of youths in Southern Senatorial District of Cross River State, Nigeria: Implication for environmental adult education. To achieve the purpose of this study, one (1) null hypothesis was formulated to direct the study. Survey research design was adopted for the study. The sample was made of five hundred and forty four (544) respondents drawn from the area of the study. The instruments for data collection were Carnival Activity Questionnaire (CAQ) and Economic Development Questionnaire (EDQ) developed by the researchers which were validated by three (3) experts in Measurement and Evaluation. The reliability was established through test-retest reliability. Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis was adopted to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the analysis revealed that carnival activities had significant influence on economic development of the State. It was therefore recommended that the Calabar annual carnival should be decentralized and extended to other zones and Local Government Areas of the State to enable them showcase their tourism potentials which has remain in obscurity.


In 2009, over 2 million children were hospitalized, and over 5,000 experienced surgery or other painful procedures. Research has shown that as many as 87% of hospitalized children and 77% of parents caring for children at home reported moderate-to-severe pain. If children are experiencing pain and analgesics are available, why are nurses and parents not administering analgesics to relieve children's pain? Nurses and parents are known to have misconceptions about pain management, particularly about signs of pain, opioid use, and risk for addiction; nurses are concerned about respiratory depression. Nurses are known to discredit children's self-report of pain; parents might do the same. When children do not receive pain relief, the ramifications are profound such as lower thresholds to painful stimuli and increased pain intensity. How do you know if children are in pain? Ask them! Self-report is the foremost indicator of pain intensity in children 4 years of age and older for children able to self-report. Children 4 to 7 years of age generally understand faces scales while children over age 7 years usually understand numeric scales. When it is unclear if children understand pain intensity scales, nurses can ask children to practice using the scale by rating three to five fictions situations representing no pain to severe pain. Nurses should set a "comfort goal" with children. They can ask: What is an acceptable level of pain? What number do you want your pain to be? This number should be the goal for treatment. When asking children to self-report pain intensity, a valid and reliable measure (e.g., 0–10 Numeric Rating Scale [NRS], Faces Pain Scale–Revised [FPS-R]) should be used. For children unable to provide self-report (such as infants, children with cognitive impairment, critically ill children), assessment of pain behavior is appropriate. As with pain intensity scales, care providers should use valid behavior scales (e.g., Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability [FLACC], Neonatal Infant Pain Scale [NIPS]). Teaching parents not only provides them with an important role in the management of their children's pain in the hospital but also prepares them for caring for their children at home after discharge. Pain treatment needs to be appropriate to the level of children's pain. Although nonpharmacological approaches such as distraction and relaxation can be appropriate for mild pain, analgesics are needed to relieve moderate-to-severe pain. Administration of opioid analgesics (e.g., morphine, oxycodone) in combination with nonopioid analgesics (acetaminophen, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) can result in improved pain relief by targeting multiple points of action along the pain pathway. When children are expected to experience pain over a period of time, such as after surgical procedures, around-the-clock analgesic administration is most effective. The addition of nonpharmacological approaches to opioid/ nonopioid combinations can be particularly effective at relieving pain. Analgesics, particularly opioids, can be accompanied by adverse effects. Care providers can anticipate and prevent or treat common side effects (constipation, nausea, vomiting, itching). Nurses must be vigilant for the more serious adverse effects of oversedation and respiratory depression, particularly in children at high risk (e.g., opioid-naive, concurrent sedation medication). To diminish concerns about addiction, nurses need to be knowledgeable about the occurrence and incidence of addiction and teach parents—addiction does not result from receiving opioids, but rather is a neurobiological disease. Nurses and parents are at the forefront of managing children's pain. Only with accurate knowledge and skills can these care providers be successful in relieving children's pain. ✜


The first of July 2007 can be regarded as an important milestone for the children of South Africa. It was on this date that a proclamation was signed by the President of South Africa on the commencement of certain sections of the new Children's Act, 2005 (Act No. 38 of 2005). For the first time in South African history, trafficking in children under 18 years of age is criminalized, and offenders contravening this new law can be investigated and prosecuted.
The South African Police Service will play a vital role in the investigation and combating of child trafficking. This article will therefore focus on the challenges that the police will face with regard to the implementation of this new law on child trafficking and the investigation and combating of the crime. Human trafficking in general has become a popular topic amongst researchers worldwide. However, almost no research has been done on the complexities and problems involved in the investigation of child trafficking cases. Content analysis provided specific findings that contributed to practical actions and implications. This study will make practical recommendations on how the police should deal with child trafficking investigations to ensure effective implementation of the law. An inquiry based on primary source interviews and a literature study will provide in-depth insight and knowledge on how the police consider implementing this new law.


The Aldeia Nova project aimed at demobilizing ex-combatants to remote areas and settling them in modern agricultural communities. Three years since the first settlers arrived at the Waku-Kungu valley, 600 families are using modern agricultural technology to produce milk, eggs and vegetables which are marketed in the urban centers of Angola. These families earn a decent living and provide employment to hundreds of others. The entire area was revitalized with thousands of families pouring in to enjoy the benefits of the booming local economy. This paper presents the concept of the Aldeia Nova project, describes its evolution, and discusses its strengths and weaknesses. It concludes that the benefits of the project go far beyond its measureable economic impact, and that its ambitious goals are not beyond the reach of the Angolan people.


Measured concentrations of relatively nonreactive, anthropogenic halocarbon tracers (CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113) were used to infer the time since recharge, or age, of groundwater collected from the Upper Glacial and Magothy Aquifers underlying Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, NY. On the basis of the reconstructed historical atmospheric concentrations of CCl4, the initial CCl4 concentration for the precipitation that recharged the aquifer was estimated as a function of age. Correlation of measured and estimated initial CCl4 concentrations within the aquifer, over inferred ages of 0−50 yr, suggested that CCl4 was being removed in situ with a half-life of 14 ± 4 yr. Groundwater samples collected at the water table had CCl4 concentrations that were ≤50% of equilibrium with contemporary atmospheric concentrations, suggesting that removal was also significant in the unsaturated zone. Soil gas profiles confirmed that atmospheric CCl4 was being removed from the unsaturated zone, with only ∼25% of the initial CCl4 being present in the gas phase at a depth of 30 cm, and with no evidence for removal of CFC-11, CFC-12, or CFC-113. A time−series of soil gas profiles col lected before and after a major rainfall event indicated that most removal occurred in the top 15 cm of soil. The flux of CCl4 into the soil was estimated to be ∼8600 ± 5100 pmol m-2 d-1, and removal of CCl4 in soils therefore has the potential to significantly affect the global atmospheric lifetime of this compound. The observed degradation in bulk aerobic environments raises questions concerning the conventional wisdom that CCl4 is degraded significantly only within reducing environ ments.


Based on the acknowledged theoretical proofs and experiences in the modernization of water supply systems, it can be concluded that out of the range of available measures to reduce leakages, the regulation and/or reduction of operating pressures is being recommended as the most efficient method thereto. The known proof-theoretical papers on water supply system leakage and the corresponding operating pressure losses advocate thesis on possibility to reduce the level of operating pressures to the range of 3.5- 2.5 bars, in all parts of the network where applicable, which is evidenced to be a sufficient level enabling the uninterrupted operations of the large percent of the users. The justification of the previously stated attitude can be proved by means of simple schemes of supply line which correspond to the possible states that can occur in actual operating modes of the water supply system. An analysis was performed with focus on the location and role of the pressureboosting pumping stations used to increase the pressure in achieving the new low-pressure state and their respective influence on techno-economic parameters upon which a decision is made on economic viability of the solution concerned.


The ambient-light-canceling camera (ALCC) is a proposed near-infrared electronic camera that would utilize a combination of (1) synchronized illumination during alternate frame periods and (2) subtraction of readouts from consecutive frames to obtain images without a background component of ambient light. The ALCC is intended especially for use in tracking the motion of an eye by the pupil center corneal reflection (PCCR) method. Eye tracking by the PCCR method has shown potential for application in human-computer interaction for people with and without disabilities, and for noninvasive monitoring, detection, and even diagnosis of physiological and neurological deficiencies. In the PCCR method, an eye is illuminated by near-infrared light from a lightemitting diode (LED). Some of the infrared light is reflected from the surface of the cornea. Some of the infrared light enters the eye through the pupil and is reflected from back of the eye out through the pupil a phenomenon commonly observed as the red-eye effect in flash photography. An electronic camera is oriented to image the user's eye. The output of the camera is digitized and processed by algorithms that locate the two reflections. Then from the locations of the centers of the two reflections, the direction of gaze is computed. As described thus far, the PCCR method is susceptible to errors caused by reflections of ambient light. Although a near-infrared band-pass optical filter can be used to discriminate against ambient light, some sources of ambient light have enough in-band power to compete with the LED signal. The mode of operation of the ALCC would complement or supplant spectral filtering by providing more nearly complete cancellation of the effect of ambient light. In the operation of the ALCC, a near-infrared LED would be pulsed on during one camera frame period and off during the next frame period. Thus, the scene would be illuminated by both the LED (signal) light and the ambient (background) light during one frame period, and would be illuminated with only ambient (background) light during the next frame period. The camera output would be digitized and sent to a computer, wherein the pixel values of the background-only frame would be subtracted from the pixel values of the signal-plus-background frame to obtain signal-only pixel values (see figure). To prevent artifacts of motion from entering the images, it would be necessary to acquire image data at a rate greater than the standard video rate of 30 frames per second. For this purpose, the ALCC would exploit a novel control technique developed at NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for advanced charge-coupled-device (CCD) cameras. This technique provides for readout from a subwindow [region of interest (ROI)] within the image frame. Because the desired reflections from the eye would typically occupy a small fraction of the area within the image frame, the ROI capability would make it possible to acquire and subtract pixel values at rates of several hundred frames per second considerably greater than the standard video rate and sufficient to both (1) suppress motion artifacts and (2) track the motion of the eye between consecutive subtractive frame pairs.


These authors seek to establish the imaging features that would allow classification of medulloblastomas according to their genetic attributes. In nearly 100 tumors they found that groups 3 and 4 occurred predominantly in the fourth ventricle, wingless ones were located in the cerebellar peduncles or CPA region, and sonic hedgehog tumors were present in cerebellar hemispheres. Midline group 4 tumors showed minimal contrast enhancement. Thus, tumor location and contrast-enhancement patterns may be predictive of the molecular subtypes of medulloblastoma. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Recently identified molecular subgroups of medulloblastoma have shown potential for improved risk stratification. We hypothesized that distinct MR imaging features can predict these subgroups. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All patients with a diagnosis of medulloblastoma at one institution, with both pretherapy MR imaging and surgical tissue, served as the discovery cohort (n = 47). MR imaging features were assessed by 3 blinded neuroradiologists. NanoString-based assay of tumor tissues was conducted to classify the tumors into the 4 established molecular subgroups (wingless, sonic hedgehog, group 3, and group 4). A second pediatric medulloblastoma cohort (n = 52) from an independent institution was used for validation of the MR imaging features predictive of the molecular subtypes. RESULTS: Logistic regression analysis within the discovery cohort revealed tumor location (P < .001) and enhancement pattern (P = .001) to be significant predictors of medulloblastoma subgroups. Stereospecific computational analyses confirmed that group 3 and 4 tumors predominated within the midline fourth ventricle (100%, P = .007), wingless tumors were localized to the cerebellar peduncle/cerebellopontine angle cistern with a positive predictive value of 100% (95% CI, 30%–100%), and sonic hedgehog tumors arose in the cerebellar hemispheres with a positive predictive value of 100% (95% CI, 59%–100%). Midline group 4 tumors presented with minimal/no enhancement with a positive predictive value of 91% (95% CI, 59%–98%). When we used the MR imaging feature–based regression model, 66% of medulloblastomas were correctly predicted in the discovery cohort, and 65%, in the validation cohort. CONCLUSIONS: Tumor location and enhancement pattern were predictive of molecular subgroups of pediatric medulloblastoma and may potentially serve as a surrogate for genomic testing.