Many studies of psychiatry share the same methodological and theoretical assumption: namely, to show that the reality of mental illness—both its definition and treatment—is social, always involves challenging the construction of its subject through psychiatry, and that to focus on one dimension of this reality, psychiatric or social, inevitably leads to neglect of the other. The establishment of this mutually exclusive relationship between social and psychiatric issues produces a "dualist" approach, in which the role of social sciences is to distinguish between what psychiatry claims to do—identify and treat mental health problems—and what it actually does—social control, normalizing deviance, moralizing a social class, or serving as an instrument of power over the education system. This article aims to distance itself from these dualistic approaches by challenging the mutually exclusive relationship between the social and the psychiatric, as well as the competitive relationship between the social sciences and psychiatry that it produces. This challenge is based on an approach that highlights tensions internal to the activity as a point of entry to the study of psychiatry. It attempts to describe a specific type of tension: ontological tension. This refers to the way in which professionals respond, in practice and under given circumstances, to the issue of the ontological indeterminacy of the problems they face. This article aims to reveal the ontological tension between psychiatric and social issues that is at work in the practices of diagnosing and treating problematic behaviors and individuals. It seeks to show that the question of the ontology of the problem, and specifically the ontological problem of the border between the psychiatric and the social, is faced by psychiatry professionals themselves and that this question, aligned with institutionalized professions, raises key issues regarding the practical division of labor and shared responsibility for a situation.


Introduction/purpose Unconventional Access techniques have been documented in the literature and have the potential to provide a complimentary platform for intervention in select cases. This limited case series illustrates two such approaches. Materials/methods Periprocedural clinical data and imaging was gathered around two cases requiring unconventional methods of access. Results A 29-year-old female with known NF-1 was found to have a large dural AVF causing significant compression of the cervical cord. In the first stage of embolization, the right vertebral artery and thyrocervical perforating vessels providing antegrade flow to the lesion were occluded using a traditional femoral approach. Access to the left vertebral artery from the same approach was precluded by an aplastic proximal segment. Access to deploy coils and onyx to the distal right vertebral artery occluding retrograde filling was achieved by direct puncture of the artery near the skull base under fluoroscopic guidance. A 67-year-old female was diagnosed with a dural cavernous-carotid fistula after presenting with proptosis and conjuctival chemosis. Embolization of perforating branches from the external carotid by femoral approach was unsuccessful in occluding flow. Access was obtained by performing a limited cut down of the upper eyelid with ultrasound-guided catheterization the superior ophthalmic vein. Embolization of the cavernous sinus with coils and onyx resulted in immediate symptom resolution. Conclusion In the absence of favorable access to a lesion by conventional femoral approach, unconventional access techniques may be safely employed for definitive treatment. Competing interests B Baxter: Stryker Neurovascular, Penumbra, EV3, Codman, Rapid Medical, Reverse Medical. M Mayich: None. J Hungerford: None.


The Swedish school curriculum and syllabi are goal driven and a lot of freedom is given to the teachers. School marks have not before 2012 been given until school year eight. From the government there is now a demand for earlier assessment and grading. As part of such a development Kristianstad University together with Malmo University have been given the task to produce a formative assessment material in science for school years one to six. Rubrics and exercises to assess abilities in science have been produced. The team producing the material has decided to follow what happens to science teaching during the implementation of such a material. Questionnaires, observations and interviews have been used to collect data. The results from a questionnaire used in the autumn 2009 show that the science taught in the early school years in Sweden is mostly within the biology area. At the conference a presentation of the first ideas from teachers, students and researchers on the effect of using formative assessment material in science will be given.


Several important poultry pathogens, including avian influenza virus (AIV), enter the host through the mucosae of the respiratory tract (RT) and subsequently disseminate towards other organs in the body. Therefore, animal health significantly depends on the control of infection in the lung tissue by the RT immune system. There is limited knowledge of the lung-associated immune system in poultry, which might be a consequence of the unique and complex anatomy and function of the avian lung. The rational design of mucosal vaccines requires a comprehensive knowledge of the structure and function of the RT immune system in order to target vaccines appropriately and to design efficient mucosal adjuvants. We therefore studied uptake of antigen (Ag) in the RT and the humoral immune responses after AIV infection. Furthermore, we tested the feasibility of respiratory applied adjuvanted whole-inactivated influenza vaccine (WIV) for use in a rapid intervention strategy. We used LPS-coated and AIV-coated beads to mimick uptake of bacterial and viral Ag and identified different subsets of macrophages and dendritic cells (DC) in chicken lung, based on expression of CD11, activation markers and DEC205. In vivo uptake of LPS-beads and AIV-beads resulted in up regulation of co-stimulatory molecules of different subsets of phagocytic cells, with the MHC II+ and CD80+ bead+ cell population containing the DC based on the absence of phagosomal acidification. LPS-bead+ cells were present in bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue, suggesting local induction of immune responses [J Immunol 2012]. We then studied humoral immune responses following primary and secondary influenza infection. As expected, IgM responses predominated during primary infection. Antiviral IgA and IgY responses were induced both locally in the lung and systemically in the spleen. Responses in the lung preceded responses in the spleen, indicating that respiratory immune responses were locally in the lung [Dev Comp Imm 2010]. When chickens were aerosolized or intranasally vaccinated with adjuvanted WIV no AIV-specific Ab-responses were detected. However, the vaccine did enter the RT as cholera toxin B subunit (CT-B)-specific antibodies were detected in chickens vaccinated with the CT-B-adjuvanted vaccine and therefore the adjuvanted aerosol vaccination technique is in principle feasible to use [Vet Imm Immpathol]. As in our hands a respiratory applied WIV vaccine did not induce an AIV-specific antibody response, future research for mucosal vaccination strategies should focus on alternatives such as enhancing retention time through the use mucoadhesives, application of immunomodulatory compounds suitable for the mucosae, and increase the Ag uptake by the selective targeting of RT-DC subsets. Finally, we characterized the antibody responses against virus glycan epitopes using glycan-arrays and identified immunogenic virus antigens. To increase our understanding of the interaction between avian influenza virus and its chicken host, we identified receptors for putative avian influenza virus glycan determinants on chicken dendritic cells based on glycan-binding properties and C-type lectin receptor (CLR) mRNA expression. In conclusion, a step towards the understanding of the immune system in the respiratory tract of the chicken has been made and will contribute to the rational design of novel vaccines for mucosal vaccination against AIV.


The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of melatonin as an antioxidant on spatial navigation memory in male diabetic rats. Thirty-two male white Wistar rats weighing 200 ± 20 g were divided into four groups, randomly: control, melatonin, diabetic and melatonin-treated diabetic. Experimental diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injection of 50 mg kg-1 streptozotocin. Melatonin was injected (10 mg kg-1 day-1, ip) for 2 weeks after 21 days of diabetes induction. At the end of administration period, the spatial navigation memory of rats was evaluated by cross-arm maze. In this study lipid peroxidation levels, glutathione-peroxidase and catalase activities were measured in hippocampus. Diabetes caused to significant decrease in alternation percent in the cross-arm maze, as a spatial memory index, compared to the control group (p < 0.05), whereas administration of melatonin prevented the spatial memory deficit in diabetic rats. Also melatonin injection significantly increased the spatial memory in intact animals compared to the control group (p < 0.05). Assessment of hippocampus homogenates indicated an increase in lipid peroxidation levels and a decrease in GSH-Px and CAT activities in the diabetic group compared to the control animals, while melatonin administration ameliorated these indices in diabetic rats. In conclusion, diabetes induction leads to debilitation of spatial navigation memory in rats, and the melatonin treatment improves the memory presumably through the reduction of oxidative stress in hippocampus of diabetic rats.


This article uses historical scholarship on Guido da Montefeltro and medieval Romagna (Franceschini and Vasina) alongside Ovid's Metamorphosis and the Serventese del 1277 to contextualize the question asked by the soul of Guido (about peace or war in Romagna) and the catalog of tyrants provided by the pilgrim in Inferno 27. It examines how Dante held Guido accountable for the intensification of warfare in Romagna and made an argument for the responsibility of military strategists in the consolidation of urban signorie. Dante's assessment coincides with current historiography and shows his concerns about the formation of regional states. A recontextualization of Guido's question reveals the targeted nature of the pilgrim's response, in which the pilgrim presents Guido with the triumph of his enemies.


Fibrinogen is involved in many biochemically and medically important processes. In order to obtain a deeper insight into the functional mechanisms of these processes it is necessary to analyse them on the molecular level. The complete covalent structure of human fibrinogen is known, and it is therefore now possible to establish structure-function relationships. For several functional sites the structural equivalent has been well identified, e.g. the thrombin and plasmin cleavage sites, the crosslinking site. For some other sites only the corresponding regions of the molecule are known, e.g. polymerization and calcium-binding sites. However, for many significant physiological functions of fibrinogen the structural basis has not yet been established. On the other hand, there are several regions of the molecule which by evolutionary evidence seem to be of functional importance, but for which no specific functions as yet have been assigned.


Altered L-type Ca 2 1 channel currents in vascular smooth muscle cells from experimental diabetic rats. Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. 278: H714– H722, 2000.—Vascular complications of diabetes are associated with abnormal Ca 2 1 handling by vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in which the alteration in L-type voltage-dependent Ca 2 1 channel (VDCC) currents may play an important role. In the present study, the characteristics of L-type VDCC currents in tail artery SMCs from streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats were examined. The densities, but not the voltage dependence, of L-type VDCC currents were reduced as diabetes progressed from 1 wk to 3 mo. The inhibitory effect of dibutyryl-cAMP on L-type VDCC currents was greater in diabetic SMCs than in age-matched control cells ( P , 0.01). Both the stimulatory effect of BAY K 8644 and the inhibitory effect of nifedipine on L-type VDCC currents were significantly enhanced in diabetic cells. The diabetes-related abnormalities in L-type VDCC currents were mimicked by culturing SMCs with a high concentration of glucose. Our results suggest that the properties of L-type VDCC in diabetic vascular SMCs were significantly altered, partially related to the increased L-type VDCC sensitivity to cAMP and hyperglycemia.


Increasing genomic instability is associated with aging in eukaryotes, but the connection between genomic instability and natural variation in life span is unknown. We have quantified chronological life span and loss-of-heterozygosity (LOH) in 11 natural isolates of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We show that genomic instability increases and mitotic asymmetry breaks down during chronological aging. The age-dependent increase of genomic instability generally lags behind the drop of viability and this delay accounts for ∼50% of the observed natural variation of replicative life span in these yeast isolates. We conclude that the abilities of yeast strains to tolerate genomic instability co-vary with their replicative life spans. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first quantitative evidence that demonstrates a link between genomic instability and natural variation in life span.


This book began when the author met "the Satch" for the first time at the Twilight Zone Lounge of the Rhythm Lanes Bowling Alley in Kansas City. What started as a simple interview for Holiday magazine quickly grew into an animated conversation that lasted nearly a week as Palge and Fox moved from bar to club to restaurant to auto repair shop and from one topic to the next. Fox describes, with amazement, the reception the legendary baseball player received at Gates' Place, a famous barbecue restaurant, and The Flamingo, a big dance club. Over the course of the week, Palge shared stories about his start in the Negro leagues, his time with the Kansas City Monarchs, and barnstorming around the country, sleeping on the ground because there were no hotels for blacks. He also tells of his breakthrough to the big leagues when he signed with the Cleveland Indians and later pitched two shutouts against the Chicago White Sox. In addition to his baseball career, Palge tells Fox about his childhood in Mobile, Alabama, catching fish during the Jubilee, throwing rocks at white boys, hustling bags at the train station, and working in the Depression era medicine shows. In contrast to these humble beginnings, Satchel recounts his later connections with film and music celebrities like Orson Welles, Jelly Roll Morton, Billie Holliday, and Cab Calloway. He also expounds on his friendships with other sports greats, including Goose Tatum, Meadowlark Lemon, and Sugar Ray Robinson. The Ironic intersections between oppression and fame, and between poverty and wealth, that emerge from Palge's narrative memoir exemplify the affliction of talent and genius in an era of racial discrimination and segregation.


Coronavirus infection is a pandemic threat and the most dangerous disease of the 21st century. Despite the rigorous exertion of world-class researchers, there is no perfect cure for it. It has been seen in presently available studies that Paxlovid prevents the progression of diseases and reduces severity in patients tremendously who are at high risk of hospitalization and death. It is a safe oral antiviral drug and has the potential to treat infections from multiple corona variants including omicron which affects humans. Paxlovid is comparatively less expensive than other available effective medicines. Consequently, it reduces hospitalization and death and helps to plummet the economic burden on patients and the health-care system globally. This medicine is still under investigation, and numerous clinical trials are still underway. Its potential side effects are minor and well tolerated by research study participants. Studies show its benefits outweigh the risk, and it is an effective and good alternative for the treatment of coronavirus disease.


Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a common condition affecting lives of patients across the globe. The statistics are much worse than previously thought. Studies showed that 9 23% of the world population is suffering from IBS. Very few options are available with inadequate efficacy and a dire need for newer options. Rifaximin is one such promising drug. This study has been conducted to determine the efficacy of rifaximin therapy in IBS patients. Objective: The efficacy of rifaximin was compared with a placebo in controlling the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. Study design: Randomized Controlled Trial. Setting: Medicine Outpatient Clinical Department, Allied Hospital, Faisalabad. Duration of study: 27-05-2015 to 2611-2015. Sample size: 620 (310 in each group) were enrolled in the study after fulfilling inclusion criteria. Sampling technique: Non-Probability Consecutive Sampling. Results: 620 patients were enrolled in this study. Mean age of study population was 28.31 + 6.45 (Table I). 298 (48.1%) were male and 322 (51.9%) were female. Patients were divided into group A and Group B. Group A received rifaximin and group B received placebo. In group A, improvement in IBS symptoms with Rifaximin was noted in 171 (55.1%) as compared to 90 (29.03%) in group B (p-value <0.0001). Conclusion: Rifaximin is effective in treatment of IBS without constipation. Prescribing rifaximin should be considered in treatment of IBS patients as it provides a promising treatment option which is cost effective and has fewer side effects.


Burns and Saul Social Theory and Economic Change (1967) Hb: 0-415-26495-2 Cherns et al Social Science and Government: Policies and Problems (1972) Hb: 0-415-26496-0 Collins The Use of Models in the Social Sciences (1976) Hb: 0-415-26497-9 de Kadt and Williams Sociology and Development (1974) Hb: 0-415-26498-7 Friend et al Public Planning (1974) Hb: 0-415-26499-5 Jones Immigration and Social Policy in Britain (1977) Hb: 0-415-26500-2 Parkin The Social Analysis of Class Structure (1974) Hb: 0-415-26501-0 Shanin The Rules of the Game (1972) Hb: 0-415-26502-9 Vickersa Value Systems and Social Process (1968) Hb: 0-415-26503-7 Willener Action Image of Society on Cultural Politicization (1970) Hb: 0-415-26504-5


Nicorandil, opener of potassium channels, was studied in Russia and abroad. Its cardioprotective, anti-ischemic, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties are reviewed as well as side effects and area of application in patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD). The trial have found efficacy of nicorandil in prevention of anginal attacks. Also, the drug increases exercise tolerance. Administration of nicorandil is indicated before intervention on coronary arteries for reproduction of the effect of myocardial preconditioning. Nicorandil is recommended for treatment of patients with chronic stable coronary heart disease.


Efficacy of Thymus vulgaris essential oils was assessed on growth, immune response and disease resistance of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Fish weighing 10 g were fed with dietary supplemented of the oils at 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 ml/kg feed for 2 months. Fish fed with the oils at 0.5 ml/kg feed demonstrated a better weight gain and specific growth rate, compared to other treatments (p < .05). Fish fed with 1.0 ml the oils showed the highest up-regulation of complement component 3 (C3) and (cluster of differentiation 4) (CD4) genes expression (p < .05), while lysozyme gene expression level significantly increased in fish fed with 2.0 ml of the oils. In addition, at the end of the experiment, the expression of C3 and CD4 genes were significantly up-regulated in fish fed with 1.0 and 2.0 ml of the oils, while IL-1 ss and lysozyme genes expression levels were significantly decreased in fish fed 2.0 ml oils, towards the end of the trial (p < .05). There was a fluctuation in the levels of Alanine aminotransferase, Aspartate aminotransferase and Alkaline phosphatase in all treatments during the experiment. When treated fish were challenged with Aeromonas hydrophila, the highest survival rate was observed in 0.5 ml/kg treatment, followed by 2 and 1 mg/kg treatments. Overall, these findings demonstrated that dietary administration of T. vulgaris oils especially at 0.5 mg/kg feed can be considered as a potential component for enhancing of the growth, immune responses and disease resistance of trout against motile Aeromonas septicemia caused by A. hydrophila.


Murine monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) were raised against two outer-membrane-associated polypeptides of Treponema pallidum (47 and 44 kDa). Three Mabs against each polypeptide were investigated further and only those directed against the 44 kDa polypeptide were demonstrated to have immobilizing activity. The specificity of the Mabs for T. pallidum was determined by Western blotting procedures and the surface association of the antigens was inferred by immunogold electron microscopy. The clear distinction between these two polypeptides in their biological activity could help to explain the pathobiology of syphilis infections as the 47 kDa antigen has been shown to be associated with the outer membrane of this organism. Inactivity of such a surface-located protein in antibody-mediated anti-treponemal mechanisms could account for the observed ability of this organism to survive in the face of strong antibody responses in infection.


We show that a reversible pumping mechanism operating between two states of a kinetic network can give rise to Poisson transitions between these two states. An external observer, for whom the pumping mechanism is not accessible, will observe a Markov chain satisfying local detailed balance with an emerging effective force induced by the hidden pump. Due to the reversibility of the pump, the actual entropy production turns out to be lower than the coarse grained entropy production estimated from the flows and affinities of the resulting Markov chain. Moreover, in presence of a large time scale separation between the fast pumping dynamics and the slow network dynamics, a finite current with zero dissipation may be produced. We make use of these general results to build a synthetase-like kinetic scheme able to reversibly produce high free energy molecules at a finite rate and a rotatory motor achieving 100% efficiency at finite speed.


In this paper, we investigate the effects of an imposed axial flow on hydrodynamic instabilities' Couette-Taylor flow in the case where the wall of the inner cylinder of the system is grouved.
 Without imposed axial flow, the basic flow of a fluid between two coaxial cylinders known by Couette flow, which is characterized by several temporal and spatial symmetries. The increase in the rotation causes the breaking of these symmetries.
 In both cases where the surface of the inner cylinder is smooth and grooved, five different flow regimes can be determined: Taylor vortex flow (TVF), wavy vortex flow (WVF), and Modulated Wavy vortex flow (MWVF). Each time the flow passes from one hydrodynamic regime to another until it enters a state of turbulence, which is characterized by the destruction of all the symmetries that existed at the beginning.
 In addition, when an axial flow is imposed on a Taylor-Couette flow, new helical vortex structures are observed in both cases (with and without surface groove).
 The influence of surface structures (grooves) on the shear stress of the wall is discussed with and without axial base flow. A spatio-temporal description of several flow models was obtained using firstly, a visualization's qualitative study using kalliroscope particles. Secondly, a quantitative study by polarography using simple probes have been used to characterize the impact of vortex structures on the Couette-Taylor flows without and with an axial flow on the transfer.


Polymeric ionic liquids (i.e., PILs) are single ion-conducting materials that exhibit the thermal and electrochemical stability of ionic liquids and the mechanical properties of polymers. Although PILs are exciting for a variety of applications in energy conversion and storage, the tradeoff between mechanics and ion transport remains an important limitation in materials design. Herein, a photocrosslinkable PIL based on the cycloaddition reaction of anthracene is converted from a viscous liquid into a soft solid without detrimental effects on the bulk ionic conductivity. The independent control of mechanical- and ion-conducting properties results from negligible changes in polymer segmental dynamics (i.e., glass transition temperature) upon crosslinking. This was demonstrated for both a polymer (i.e., N = 279) and its corresponding oligomer (i.e., N = 10). The ease of processability facilitated by the presented molecular design is illustrated by both patterning the PIL into μm-sized features, and incorporating it as a dielectric in thin-film transistors for low-voltage operation independent of device fabrication geometry.


During the last couple of decades, the improvement of senior leadership qualities became the focus of public service reform around the world. There is a wide range of countries that formally recognize a distinct group of senior civil servants with special roles and needs. Along such a global trend, the Korean government introduced it on July 1, 2006. It is expected that the senior civil service will serve as a key link between political executives and the rest of the career civil service. However, establishing senior management does not just mean modifying the profile of senior officials. It requires the reorganization of a strategically managed separate group trained to cope with new demands and sociopolitical environmental changes. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to review the establishment of the senior civil service, one of the hottest current issues in the Korean government's public service reform.


Methylphenidate hydrochloride (Ritalin) has been used to treat both depression and apathy. Although it can be useful for apathy, there is little reason to prefer it over a tricyclic antidepressant in the treatment of depression. Side effects and drug interactions are generally not limiting, and methylphenidate is tentatively recommended for the patient whose apathy is jeopardizing his care.


The current control design development process in automotive industry and elsewhere involves many expensive experiments and hand-tuning of control parameters. Model based control design is a promising approach to reduce costs and development time. In this process low complexity models are essential. This thesis combines the areas of modeling and model reduction in automotive systems. A model of the exhaust gas oxygen sensor, used for air-fuel ratio control in automotive spark ignition engines, is developed and successfully validated. A model reduction case study is also performed on an engine air path. The heuristic method commonly used when modeling engine dynamics is compared with a more systematic approach based on the balanced truncation method. Finally, a method for model reduction of nonlinear systems has been derived. The procedure is focused on reducing the number of states using information obtained by linearization around trajectories. The methodology is closely tied to existing theory on error bounds and good results are shown in form of examples and simulation data. (Less)


Based on the design of specimen with standard hourglass shape, a modified dog-bone-shaped ultrasonic vibrational fatigue specimen was proposed and studied in this paper. The resonance length and the distribution functions of axial displacement and stress of such specimen were obtained analytically. A comparison of the very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) life of 6061 aluminium alloy with dog-bone-shaped specimen and hourglass-shaped specimen was done and it indicate that the forer is obviously lower than the latter and the data obtained by specimen with proposed shape are conservative. Then, the ultrasonic vibrational fatigue test of 6063 aluminium alloy specimen with dog-bone-shape was done, showing that the fatigue failure occured at the middle of the specimen with invariable section where has predicted maximum stress; the S-N curve descends continuously and there is no fatigue limit as the traditional fatigue conception describes; the fatigue crack grows in the form of shearing.


Birth centres seek to promote
physiological childbirth by
recognising, respecting and
safeguarding normal birth processes.This
philosophy enableswomen and their
families to experience a positive start to
parenthood (Kirkham2003a).Midwives are
also able to practise 'realmidwifery'
(Kirkham2003b: 14). Indeed,when there is
no risk tomother or baby, themother should
be the personwho decideswhere her birth
will take place (DoH2004).Astructured
reviewof birth centres carried out byWalsh
and Downe (2004) found that five studies
reported benefits towomen choosing to
birth their babies in freestanding birth
centres.There is alsowell-documented
evidence that home births andmidwife-led
care are safe options forwomen (Tew1998,
Walsh 2000, van derHulst et al 2004).


What should the post-COVID conference look like? In our attempt to answer this question, we first describe the primary functions and affordances of conferences. Our frank appraisal reveals the breadth of reasons why academics attend conferences, and how conference attendance often blends personal and professional motivations. We also elaborate some of the shortcomings of in-person conferences, spanning personal, professional, and societal concerns. Recent alternative (virtual) formats for convening scholars provide means for alleviating some of these shortcomings, but do not seem entirely up to the task of providing a fully satisfactory solution to all that conferencing can be. Moreover, we extrapolate from prior history and ongoing trends to predict that technological solutionism to conferencing is likely to unleash both positive and negative dynamics, some of which will exacerbate current ills in our profession. We then sketch out a values-based approach that can serve as a basis for reimagining academic conferences. This vision promotes a federated model of conferencing, grounded in principles of inclusion, diversity, community, and environmental stewardship.


The efficiency-reinforcement design framework of hydraulic reciprocating sealing driven by ideal solution is proposed. The seals' main operating characteristics, seal efficiency control, leakage control and friction losses control are analyzed. The efficiency-reinforcement sealing element is designed according to TRIZ ideal final result searching strategy, sealing mechanism and tribological behavior. The computational model of efficiency-reinforcement sealing element is established with ANSYS, and its stress, strain and contact pressure distribution in different fluid pressure are also analyzed. The results demonstrated that the presented seal element outperforms the old seal in efficiency reinforcement capacity.


Using an event study approach, this analysis examines whether or not intracompany mergers of subsidiary banks by multibank holding companies result in significant, positive, abnormal stock returns. Such a result implies that investors expect this type of merger will improve future profitability, presumably by permitting efficiencies to be realized or revenues to increase. The analysis of the stock returns for a sample of 39 consolidating companies indicates that this is the case. These findings appear to be quite robust. Furthermore, the findings imply that permitting holding companies with interstate operations to consolidate their banking units across state lines could yield efficiencies as proponents of interstate branching claim.


Calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) is a main component of cement-based material required for constructing the geological repository. As in many countries, since the repository in Japan is constructed below water table, we must consider the interaction of radionuclide with cement materials altered around the repository after the backfill. Using fluorescence emission spectra, so far, the authors have investigated the interaction of Eu(III) (as a chemical analog of Am(III)) with CSH gels formed with no dried process, considering a condition saturated with groundwater. However, in such fluorescence emission behaviors, a deexcitation process of OH vibrators of light water and a quenching effect caused by Eu-Eu energy transfer between Eu atoms incorporated in the CSH gel must be considered.This study examined the fluorescence emission behavior of Eu(III) sorbed on CSH gels formed with no dried process, by using La(III) (non-fluorescent ions) as a diluent of Eu(III). Furthermore, the CSH samples were synthesized with CaO, SiO2, and heavy water (D2O) as a solvent in order to avoid the obvious deexcitation process of OH vibrators of light water. This study prepared CSH samples with the Ca/Si ratio set to 1.6, 1.0, and 0.5. A 1 mM solution of a given combination of Eu(III) and La(III) (Eu(III) content: 100%, 67%, 50% or 33%) was added into CSH gel sample. The contact time-period of the CSH gel with the Eu(III)/La(III) solution was set to 60 days.In the results, the peak around 618 nm was split into two peaks of 613 nm and 622 nm in the cases of Ca/Si = 1.0 and 1.6. Then, the peak of 613 nm decreased with increment of Eu(III)/La(III) ratio. This means that the relative intensity of 613 nm is useful to quantify the amount of Eu(III) incorporated in CSH gel. Besides, the intensity peak of 584 nm decayed with increment of Eu/La ratio, suggesting a quenching effect due to Eu-Eu energy transfer. However, the decay behavior of the fluorescence emission did not depend on the Eu/La concentration ratio. That is, such a quenching effect is neglectable. Additionally, the low Ca/Si ratio samples underwent slow attenuation of fluorescence and showed profiles similar to those of high Ca/Si ratio samples. Therefore, low Ca/Si ratio samples also include the reaction forming a complex on the surface of CSH gel with Eu(III). In other words, even if Ca/Si ratio is lower than 1.0, CSH gels would retard the migration of radionuclides released from the repository.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


The question of LGBT rights was first examined as part of gender and sexuality studies in the 1980s, predominantly in the United States. This was a result of the LGBT movement that had articulated the demand for equal rights and freedom of sexual and gender minorities a decade before. Since then, the examination of LGBT rights has traversed multiple theoretical and methodological approaches and breached many disciplinary frontiers. Initially, gay and lesbian studies (GLS) emerged as an approach to understand the notion of LGBT identity using historical evidence. GLS emphasized the objectives of the LGBT movement in articulating its identity as an issue of minority rights within the ambit of litigation and case law. However, the definition of LGBT identity as a homogeneous and fixed category, and the conceptualization of equality rights as the ultimate project of emancipation, was critiqued on grounds of its normative and assimilationist tendencies. Queer theory emerged in the 1990s as a counter-discourse to GLS, using the individual-centric postmodern technique of deconstruction as the method of analysis. This approach opened up scope for multiple identities within the LGBT community to articulate their positionality, and reclaim the possibilities of sexual liberation that GLS had previously obscured.
 Subsequent scholarship has critiqued GLS and queer theory for incomplete theorization and inadequate representation, based on four types of counter-argument. The first argument is that queer theory, with its emphasis on self as an alternative for wider social interaction, concealed constitutive macrostructures such as neoliberal capitalism, as well as the social basis of identity and power relations. The second argument highlights the incomplete theorization of bisexual and transgender identities within the LGBT community. For example, understanding bisexuality involves questioning the universalism of monosexuality and postmodern notions of linear sexuality, and acknowledging the possibility of an integrated axis of gender and sexuality. Theorization of transgender and transsexual rights requires a grounded approach incorporating new variables such as work and violence in the historiography of transgender life. The third critique comes from decolonial scholarship that argues that intersectionality of race, gender, class, caste, and nationality brings out multiple concerns of social justice that have been rendered invisible by existing theory. The fourth critique emerged from family studies and clinical psychology, that used queer theory to ask questions about definitions of all family structures outside the couple norm, including non-reproductive heterosexuality, polyamorous relationships, and non-marital sexual unions. These critiques have allowed new questions to emerge as part of LGBT rights within the existing traditions, and enabled the question of LGBT rights to be considered across new disciplinary fronts. For example, the incorporation of the "queer" variable in hitherto technical disciplines such as economics, finance, and management is a development of the early-21st-century scholarship. In particular, the introduction of LGBT rights in economics to expand human capabilities has policy implications as it widens and mainstreams access of opportunities for LGBT communities through consumption, trade, education, employment, and social benefits, thereby expanding the actualization of LGBT rights.


Abstract : Market segmentation enables the marketers to understand and serve the customers more effectively thereby improving company's competitive position. In this paper, we study the impact of price and promotion efforts on evolution of sales intensity in segmented market to obtain the optimal price and promotion effort policies. Evolution of sales rate for each segment is developed under the assumption that marketer may choose both differentiated as well as mass market promotion effort to influence the uncaptured market potential. An optimal control model is formulated and a solution method using Maximum Principle has been discussed. The model is extended to incorporate budget constraint. Model applicability is illustrated by a numerical example. Since the discrete time data is available, the formulated model is discretized. For solving the discrete model, differential evolution algorithm is used. Keywords : Market segmentation, price policy, promotional effort policy, differentiated market promotion effort, mass market promotion effort, optimal control problem, maximum principle, differential evolution algorithm. MSC : 34K10, 49J15, 49K15, 49M25, 68Q25, 93B40, 68T20.


This volume demarcates the distinctly pederastic elements
within a series of highly nuanced, Uranian texts. In the face
of stringent opposition, these Uranians and their literary and
aesthetic works established an eccentric positionality worthy
of consideration - to further our understanding of Victorian
sexuality and culture. Chapter one considers recent engagements
of Gerard Manley Hopkins's eroticism; chapter two considers
Hopkins's unique problematics; chapter three is a close reading
of Hopkins's 'Epithalamion'; chapter four considers the
pederastic pedagogy advocated by Walter Pater in 'Marius the
Epicurean'; chapter five considers the breach between Pater and
Oscar Wilde facilitated by Pater's review of 'The Picture of
Dorian Gray'. The conclusion considers the Uranian continuum
stretching from William Johnson to Guy Davenport.


This study aimed to determine the effect of commitment, trust and customer retention partially or simultaneously. This research includes the development of research with reference to the journals and books that guide researchers. Determination of the subject is done by purposive sampling, which consisted of 30 respondents as sample determination ketch and added 59 respondents in order to meet a large sample used in accordance with the theory. Data collected by distributing questionnaires. This questionnaire is used to determine how much influence commitment, trust and satisfaction in influencing customer retention. Data were analyzed by descriptive quantitative.The results showed that, trust and customer satisfaction partially significant effect on customer retention while partial commitment does not affect customer retention but commitment, trust and satisfaction simultaneously affect customer retention


We conducted energetic radiation measurement at Uchinada town, Kanazawa, during the winter thunderstorm. Active winter thunderstorm approaches the sea coast at Uchinada town and a number of cloud-to-ground winter lightning frequently occur. During our campagine observation on 2015-2016, we observed two short burst generated by lightnign stroke and five long burst attributed to electric field inside the thunderstorm . In this presentation, we introduce our results


Abstract Can or should countries impose the local production of inventions for which they grant a patent? In times of trade in components, in times of 'made in the world'; the answer seems given: no. However, the calculation of costs and benefits of a local production requirement on the local community depend on a number of factors. The results of the calculation are likely to vary among regions and technology sectors, and the answer thus appears nuanced. What does international law impose in this regard? Does it sufficiently (allow to) reflect these differences, and how to bring the economic reality into play when discussing the legal interpretation of (international) laws? This paper offers a case study on these questions analysing the apparent legal conflict between Article 5 of the Paris Convention and Article 27 of the TRIPs Agreement.


A general theory of imaging a randomly aberrated wave is presented. Special emphasis is placed upon identifying parameters and characteristics necessary to simulate imaging through the turbulent atmosphere. Two components are found in the average image and optical transfer function. Energy and intensity ratios are calculated. Special cases studied include wave amplitude and phase fluctuations alone and in combination, image contrast, predetection compensation, and stellar speckle interferometry. Observations of cores in star images and laboratory simulations give support to our calculation of an additional term in the long exposure image and optical transfer function.


We consider the problem of recovering a rankone matrix when a perturbed subset of its entries is revealed. We propose a method based on least squares in the log-space and show its performance matches the lower bounds that we derive for this problem in the smallperturbation regime, which are related to the spectral gap of a graph representing the revealed entries. Unfortunately, we show that for larger disturbances, potentially exponentially growing errors are unavoidable for any consistent recovery method. We then propose a second algorithm relying on encoding the matrix factorization in the stationary distribution of a certain Markov chain. We show that, under the stronger assumption of known upper and lower bounds on the entries of the true matrix, this second method does not have exponential error growth for large disturbances. Both algorithms can be implemented in nearly linear time.


Kamchatka's forests span across the peninsula's diverse topography and provide a wide range of physiographic and elevational settings that can be used to investigate how forests are responding to climate change and to anticipate future response. Birch (Betula ermanii Cham.) and larch (Larix gmelinii (Rupr.) Kuzen) were sampled at eight new sites and together with previous collections were compared with monthly temperature and precipitation records to identify their climate response. Comparisons show that tree-ring widths in both species are primarily influenced by May through August temperatures of the current growth year, and that there is a general increase in temperature sensitivity with altitude. The ring-width data for each species were also combined into regional chronologies. The resulting composite larch chronology shows a strong resemblance to a Northern Hemisphere (NH) tree-ring based temperature reconstruction with the larch series tracking NH temperatures closely through the past 300 years. The composite birch ring-width series more closely reflects the Pacific regional coastal late summer temperatures. These new data improve our understanding of the response of forests to climate and show the low frequency warming noted in other, more continental records from high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. Also evident in the ring-width record is that the larch and birch forests continue to track the strong warming of interior Kamchatka.


Background Metabolic abnormalities that lead to type 2 diabetes mellitus begin in early childhood. Objectives We investigate whether common genetic variants identified in adults have an effect on glucose in early life. Methods 610 newborns, 463 mothers, and 366 fathers were included in the present study. Plasma glucose and anthropometric characteristics were collected at birth, 3, and 5 years. After quality assessment, 37 SNPs, which have demonstrated an association with fasting plasma glucose at the genome-wide threshold in adults, were studied. Quantitative trait disequilibrium tests and mixed-effects regressions were conducted to estimate an effect of the SNPs on glucose. Results Risk alleles for 6 loci increased glucose levels from birth to 5 years of age (ADCY5, ADRA2A, CDKAL1, CDKN2A/B, GRB10, and TCF7L2, 4.85x10-3 ≤ P ≤ 4.60x10-2). Together, these 6 SNPs increase glucose by 0.05 mmol/L for each risk allele in a genotype score (P = 6.33x10-5). None of the associations described in the present study have been reported previously in early childhood. Conclusion Our data support the notion that a subset of loci contributing to plasma glucose variation in adults has an effect at birth and in early life.


Inflammatory disorders which may affect the heart muscle, the endocardium, the pericardium and/or the coronary arteries are rare, but potentially devastating diseases. As the incidence of rheumatic heart disease has decreased, children with congenital heart disease now constitute the primary patient population at risk of infective endocarditis. Streptococcus viridans and Staphylococcus aureus are still the most frequently observed organisms. The majority of children with infective endocarditis can be cured today, but good results depend on early diagnosis and accurate treatment. Myocarditis occurs when the heart muscle is involved in an inflammatory process. Causes are numerous, but most common in children are infections with cocksackie viruses. Approximately two-thirds of children with symptomatic acute myocarditis show complete recovery of impaired ventricular function, 10-20% progress of dilatative cardiomyopathy and about 10% die or require heart transplantation. Kawasaki disease is the most prevalent inflammatory coronary artery disease and the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children. The origin of this acute systemic vasculitis remains unknown. Visible coronary arterial abnormalities develop in approximately 20% of children with untreated Kawasaki syndrome. A single dose of gamma-globulin (2 g/kg over 12 h) given within the first 10 days of onset of illness as early as possible, in addition to aspirin has been shown to reduce the duration of fever, which may reflect the severity of ongoing vasculitis, and to reduce the prevalence of coronary artery anomalies.


Survivors of interpersonal violence face many challenges when interacting with the criminal justice system, including the fear of being disbelieved, concerns about safety and retaliation, and a distrust in the system's ability to adequately respond to their cases. Although past studies have documented the challenges survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence face when interacting with the justice system, few have focused on survivors of human trafficking—a population that often experiences misconceptions regarding their victimization, stigma due to perceived involvement with illegal behavior, xenophobia, and criminalization. Without survivors' perspectives, little is known about how criminal justice actors can address these challenges and improve their interactions with human trafficking survivors.


Objective: The purpose of our study was to examine the association between depression with diabetes, current smokers, and overweight or obesity among adults in four racial/ethnic groups: non-Hispanic whites (NHWs), non-Hispanic African Americans/blacks (NHAA/blacks), Hispanics, and American Indians/Alaskan Natives (AI/ANs), in Arizona.
Methods: Data from the 2014-2017 Arizona Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System was used to examine the association between self-reported provider-diagnosed depression and self-reported provider-diagnosed diabetes and associated risk factors for each racial/ethnic group (n=31,671). The analysis was extended to test whether current smoking status or overweight or having obesity status modified the association between depression and diabetes among all Arizona adults. Weighted adjusted prevalence ratios (APRs) accounting for potential confounders were estimated using Cox's proportional hazards regression analysis.
Results: For all Arizona adults after adjusting for potential confounders, the prevalence of diabetes (APR =1.60: 95% confidence interval=1.43-1.72), current smoking status (APR=1.04: 1.02-1.07), and overweight or obesity status (APR=1.07:1.03-1.11) was greater among adults with depression versus without depression. For NHWs (APR=1.63:1.47-1.80), Hispanics (APR=1.71:1.39-2.12), and AI/ANs (APR=1.44:1.11-2.05) the prevalence of diabetes was greater among adults with depression versus without depression. In addition, the association between depression and diabetes was greater for current smokers and those overweight or with obesity than their counterparts in all Arizona adults (p<0.05 for both).
Conclusion: Depression was associated with diabetes among all Arizona adults and NHWs, Hispanics, and AI/ANs. Current smoking status and overweight/obese status modified the association between depression and diabetes for all Arizona adults.


Rationale Aminoglycoside (AG) resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis (CF) is associated with poorer clinical outcomes and is usually due to overexpression of the efflux pump MexXY. MexXY is regulated by mexZ, one of the most commonly mutated genes in CF P. aeruginosa isolates. Little is known about the evolutionary relationship between AG resistance, MexXY expression and mexZ mutations. Objectives To test the hypothesis that AG resistance in P. aeruginosa develops in parallel with higher MexXY expression and mexZ mutations. Methods CF P. aeruginosa isolates were compared for chronically infected (CI) adults, CI children and children with new infection. Measurements One P. aeruginosa isolate from each patient was analysed for mexZ mutations, mexY mRNA expression and amikacin resistance. Main results 56 patients with CF were enrolled: 21 children with new P. aeruginosa infection, 18 CI children and 17 CI adults. Amikacin resistance and mexY mRNA expression were higher in cohorts with longer P. aeruginosa infection. The prevalence of non-conservative mexZ mutations was 0%, 33% and 65% in children with new infection, CI children and CI adults, respectively. The same trend was seen in the ratio of non-conservative to non-synonymous mexZ mutations. Of isolates with non-conservative mexZ mutations, 59% were amikacin-resistant compared with 18% of isolates with non-synonymous mutations. The doubling rate of amikacin resistance and non-conservative mexZ mutations was approximately 5 years. Conclusions P. aeruginosa mexZ mutations undergo positive selection resulting in increased mexY mRNA expression and amikacin resistance and likely play a role in bacterial adaption in the CF lung.


Meidän piti lähteä (We Had to Leave, 2018) is a wordless picturebook by the Finnish author Sanna Pelliccioni. It is a work of 41 pages, most of which are formed from pairs of images with matching colours produced in acrylic. It starts with images of a family enjoying their life, but shifts to images of aeroplanes bombing a city, a journey over the sea to a place where people build snowmen: the implied narrative is that of a family caught up in the recent refugee crisis seeking asylum in Finland. In this article, I examine the literary strategies in narrating the refugee experience in this wordless picturebook. The approach is pedagogical as I ask: How can a picturebook, such as Meidän piti lähteä, give voice to the refugee experience? I also ask whether picturebooks about the refugee experience can teach about empathy, without essentializing the Other. Two not controversial, but differing views related to the notion of "giving voice" frame these questions. While emphasising the pedagogical opportunities, Julia Hope ("One Day" 302), argues that the refugee experiences in children's literature form "an ideal context for sharing the stories, feelings and fears" that children have experienced, but also expose stereotypes and media myths. On the other hand, Gayatri Spivak famously argued in "Can the Subaltern Speak?" (1988) that, in the context of colonial production, the subaltern has no history and cannot speak. This article situates Meidän piti lähteä in the midst of these discourses to present wordless picturebooks as an arena for diverse narratives about refugees, which have the potential to support empathy, but which may also reinforce stereotypical and tokenistic images of refugees. The analysis suggests that the visual discourse creates an effective narrative, with space for listening. In addition, the article suggests that refugee narratives can foster critical self-reflexivity.


This publication summarizes an evaluation of smaller and lower investment swine production systems. The systems analyzed range from pasture operations with production during the warmer months to rather intense year-round use of remodeled buildings. In each case the system emphasizes use of facilities that can be constructed and remodeled by the farm operator. The report includes one section for each type of hog production: feeder pig production, farrow-to-finish operations and hog finishing.


Mineral concretions in the digestive cells of bees were examined under transmission electron microscope and histochemically. Ultrastructure shows two types of mineral deposits: 1) mineral concretions which are organized in granules with a striking concentrically layered organization of opaque and clear zones and 2) electron dense granules which appear inside small vacuoles (0.4-0.7 μm). These two structures are present in the apex of the digestive cells of the posterior midgut. Histochemical data reveal that mineral concretions are composed of calcium, iron and uric acid or its salts while calcium determination gives a positive reaction for electron dense granules. Morphological and chemical similarities between the mineral concretions of bees and those described for other insects suggest that they have an important physiological role regulating the composition of the internal environment and to avoid intoxication. Since concretions and granules are structurally distinct, it is suggested that they are functionally different.


Problem. In the theoretical framework of the sport sociology and coaching was taken analysis the link of activity undertaken by people practicing martial arts with their physical general fitness and special fitness/efficiency. It was decided to take into account the social factor (activity) and the regular measurement of efficiency. Method. As an indicator of activity was adopted ranking led by technical director, as an indicator of the special efficiency – held technical level kyu or dan, awarded on the basis of expert judgment by the practical test. The research was carried in 6-year period 2007-2012. It includes research (purposeful choice) N=14 person practicing in this time martial arts in sections of Rzeszow Centre "Dojo Budokan" (RCDB) – central branch of Idokan Poland Association (IPA); people who are the leaders of ranking lists and winners of high scoring. Researched are practicing under direction the same coach in Rzeszow and Strzyzow. It was employed a method of expert estimate (ranking executed by technical director with assistance of two other experts, 10th dan holders), participant observation and two investigative instruments: 1) International Physical Fitness Test (IPFT); 2) Index of Physical Fitness of K. Zuchora (IPFZ). So an analysis of documents (rankings, the results of indicated tests – measuring efficiency, a central register IPA) were used, too. Statistical analysis included the use of Spearman's rank test. Results. Calculated the correlation of motor skills (according to the results IPFZ) activity (by ranking) and the results of IPFT. It has been found that there is very strong correlation between all three variables. Conclusions. Subjects are the best from among researched by the reason of their biggest activities fairest (engagement), diligence and consistency. They achieve high level of development of motor ability and physical efficiency and next technical degrees. © Idōkan Poland Association "IDO MOVEMENT FOR CULTURE. Journal of Martial Arts Anthropology", Vol. 17, no. 1 (2017), pp. 38–44 DOI: 10.14589/ido.17.1.6


We report the processing of InGaN/GaN epifilms on GaN-silicon substrates. High-quality InGaN/GaN multi-quantum wells (MQWs) were grown on GaN-silicon substrates, and their membranes were successfully fabricated using a selective wet etching of silicon followed by a dry etching of the AlGaN buffer layer. With atomic force microscope (AFM) measurements and photoluminescence (PL) measurements, we investigated the physical and the optical properties of the InGaN/GaN MQWs membranes. On the InGaN/GaN MQW membranes, dielectric distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) were successfully deposited, which give, new possibilities for use in GaN microcavity and surface-emitting laser fabrication.


This thesis contains descriptions and definitions of the Iron Age Proto-Aeolic capitals from Israel - Palestine area. The modern area, which my materials cover is Israel and Jordan. The time period of the capitals is between the 9th century BC and the late 8th or the beginning of the 7th century BC. Attention has been put on issues of typological characteristics, usage and time periods of the capitals and how this, through the new examples, described here for the first time, created a new typology and usage for the Proto-Aeolic capitals.


Abstract:Jean Charles-Brun (1870–1946), best known as a regionalist activist, became interested in the theater early on: it was certainly from there that he consolidated his discourse on the relationship between art and society. Years before the courses on the social novel in nineteenth-century France that he gave at the Collège libre des sciences sociales, Charles-Brun had delivered several lectures on social theater in the same institution (1898–99, 1908–09). These lectures were never published, but traces of them remain in an unpublished notebook kept in the archives of the MuCEM in Marseille. The genetic study of this document does not make it possible to determine the specific content of the lectures. But, by placing the references it mobilizes in the ideological context of the day, and by reading these references in relation to the speaker's social networks, we can glimpse the difficulties involved in defending "social theater," such as it was promoted, in particular, by the movement of the "Universités populaires," before a largely bourgeois, even "mondain" public. (In French.)


Understanding, reasoning, and manipulating semantic concepts of images have been a fundamental research problem for decades. Previous work mainly focused on direct manipulation of natural image manifold through color strokes, key-points, textures, and holes-to-fill. In this work, we present a novel hierarchical framework for semantic image manipulation. Key to our hierarchical framework is that we employ structured semantic layout as our intermediate representations for manipulation. Initialized with coarse-level bounding boxes, our layout generator first creates pixel-wise semantic layout capturing the object shape, object-object interactions, and object-scene relations. Then our image generator fills in the pixel-level textures guided by the semantic layout. Such framework allows a user to manipulate images at object-level by adding, removing, and moving one bounding box at a time. Experimental evaluations demonstrate the advantages of the hierarchical manipulation framework over existing image generation and context hole-filing models, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Benefits of the hierarchical framework are further demonstrated in applications such as semantic object manipulation, interactive image editing, and data-driven image manipulation.


Neural network (NN) employed to settle network anomaly has become prevalent. However, traditional training algorithm for NN is not optimum, that is, often suboptimum, and encountering complicated network anomaly, an adaptive yet efficient NN or hybrid NN model should be better considered.  Therefore, this paper proposes a novel network anomaly detection method employing wavelet fuzzy neural network (WFNN) to use modified Quantum-Behaved Particle Swarm Optimization (QPSO). In this paper, wavelet transform is applied to extract fault characteristics from the anomaly state. Fuzzy theory and neural network are employed to fuzzify the extracted information. Wavelet is then integrated with fuzzy neural network to form the wavelet fuzzy neural network (WFNN). The Quantum-Behaved Particle Swarm Optimization, which outperforms other optimization algorithm considerably on its simple architecture and fast convergence, has previously applied to solve optimum problem. However, the QPSO also has its own shortcomings. So, there exists a modified QPSO which is used to train WFNN in this paper. Experimental result on KDD99 intrusion detection datasets shows that this WFNN using the novel training algorithm has high detection rate while maintaining a low false positive rate.


The intention of this paper is to analyze the correlation between two techniques used to measure prostatic volume: transrectal ultrasound with planimetry and transabdominal vesicoprostatic ultrasound. A total of 44 patients have been subjected to transrectal ultrasound, where prostatic volume was determined by planimetry. With this simultaneous technique, patients were performed a vesico-prostatic ultrasound with estimation of volume, achieved by measuring the prostatic diameters and then applying the ellipsoid formula. There were no statistically significant differences between mean values of prostatic volumes as calculated by either technique, both showing a strong correlation (r = 0.817). During transrectal planimetry, the three prostatic diameters were measured and, using a multiple regression study, the influence they have on the changes of prostate's volume was noted. It was observed that it is the transverse, but essentially the longitudinal diameter, the ones which explain those changes (Sig T = 0.0012 and 0.0000, respectively).


Inspired by a dated compilation from a 1995 Pacific University College of Optometry student thesis, the purpose of this project is to compile a complete reference resource for the primary care optometrist to improve the quality, efficiency, and understanding of visual findings gathered in a clinical setting. Sources were gathered by a literature search of the database of the Southern College of Optometry's Optometric Archives and literature VISIONET. A normative database such as this may be useful as a reference for an optometric physician in choosing efficient and effective test protocols, interpreting test results and defining better diagnoses, therefore also treatment prioritization.


Venlafaxine, a dual serotonin and noradrenaline re-uptake inhibitor, has been found to be effective at doses below 375 mg daily, but for patients with major depression higher doses can be required. In this retrospective naturalistic study, we investigated the effectiveness and resource implications of prescribing higher than standard doses of venlafaxine (tablet preparation). Ninety-six outpatients fulfilling DSM-IV criteria for major depressive disorder were assigned to two demographically matched cohorts: cohort A, receiving high doses (n = 38; doses ≥375 mg/day) and cohort B, receiving standard doses (n = 58; doses <375 mg/day). Data on hospital resources, drugs and medical profiles were extracted from patients' records. Information on cohort A was also obtained before their high-dose regime, while taking standard doses. A within-group analysis of cohort A showed that patients spent fewer days in hospital (P = 0.03) and had fewer outpatients visits (P < 0.01) when on high doses than when on standard doses. A between-group analysis found that cohort A, while on higher doses, had fewer outpatient visits compared with cohort B (P < 0.01). Patients in both groups had satisfactory drug tolerability and efficacy profiles. There were no differences between cohorts with regard to baseline characteristics, a part from the more intensive use of additional medications made by cohort A. Our preliminary investigation suggests that higher doses of venlafaxine may be cost-saving in relation to selected hospital resources. However, one cannot firmly conclude that the change in service use is due to the higher-dose regime, and we recommend further research to ascertain the cost-effectiveness of adequate dose prescribing in patients with poor symptom resolution at lower doses of venlafaxine.


In this paper we study fault detection in systems that can be modeled as finite state machines (FSMs). We aim at detecting faults that manifest themselves as permanent changes in the next-state transition functionality of the FSM. Fault diagnosis is performed by an external observer/diagnoser that functions as an FSM and which has access to the input sequence applied to the system but has only limited access to the system state or output. In particular, we assume that the observer/diagnoser is only able to obtain partial information regarding the state of the system at irregular time intervals that are determined by certain synchronizing conditions between the system and the observer/diagnoser. By adopting a probabilistic framework, we analyze ways to optimally choose these synchronizing conditions and develop adaptive strategies that achieve a low probability of aliasing, i.e., a low probability that the external observer/diagnoser incorrectly declares the system as fault-free.


The multi-grid algorithm for the tsunami propagation computation from the initial source to the coastline that uses scale switching has been developed. Computations are carried out on a sequence of grids with various resolutions where one is embedded into another. Tsunami wave parameters are transferred from a larger domain to the embedded smaller one by means of the boundary conditions. Using the method proposed, the numerical simulation of tsunami generated by a model ellipsoidal source located in the middle of the Pacific was carried out.The multi-grid algorithm for the tsunami propagation computation from the initial source to the coastline that uses scale switching has been developed. Computations are carried out on a sequence of grids with various resolutions where one is embedded into another. Tsunami wave parameters are transferred from a larger domain to the embedded smaller one by means of the boundary conditions. Using the method proposed, the numerical simulation of tsunami generated by a model ellipsoidal source located in the middle of the Pacific was carried out.


We report on the preparation and performance of catalysts from earth abundant materials and their implementation in a stand-alone photovoltaic-electrochemical (PV-EC) module with 64 cm2 active area. NiFeOX as the oxygen evolution reaction catalyst and NiMo as the hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst were electrodeposited on nickel sheets. We compare the NiFeOX/NiMo catalysts to a noble metal catalyst system consisting of IrOX and Pt regarding their potential for upscaling to large areas and their application and performance in the PV-EC module with a triple junction thin film silicon based solar cell. Additionally, we present long-term stability measurements of the catalyst systems (i) NiMo/NiFeOX and (ii) Ni/Ni under simulated day-night cycles. Overall, we show the feasibility of using earth abundant catalysts in an upscaled stand-alone PV-EC module. The NiMo/NiFeOX catalyst pair outperforms the precious metal catalysts with a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of ηSTH(NiMo/NiFeOX) = 5.1% (ηSTH(Pt/IrOX) = 4.8%) and shows an excellent long-term stability in the simulated day-night cycles.


Abstract. Three species of Habrostroma dominate stromatoporoid faunas in the Lower Devonian (Lochkovian) of five areas in North America: New York, Virginia, Maine, Bathurst Island, and Ellesmere Island. In addition, they occur in what could be the upper Silurian (uppermost Pridoli) of Virginia, and possibly New York. Measurements of nine morphologies from 127 specimens of Habrostroma were subjected to an average linkage cluster analysis. Using average linkage between groups, three distinct clusters were revealed. Group assignments made from the cluster analysis were saved, and entered into a canonical discriminant analysis with the nine morphological variables. An overall Wilks' lambda was calculated, and is statistically significant at alpha <0.001. The hit rate for classifying group 1 is 98%, that for group 2 is 100%, and that for group 3 is 97.9%; the total hit rate is 100%. The morphological variables contributing most to group membership are: (1) percent cystlike microlaminae, (2) microlaminae per mm, (3) gallery height, (4) laminae per mm, and (5) laminar thickness. The statistics confirm that there are three species: H. centrotum, H. microporum, and H. consimile. Habrostroma centrotum occurs in all five areas. This is unusual because Virginia, New York, and Maine are part of the Eastern Americas Realm, and the arctic islands are part of the Old World Realm. Separation of the realms is based on a high percentage of unique genera in each. A breach in the inter-realm barrier is proposed to have existed across the Canadian Shield during the Lochkovian. The nature of the breach is determined to be a shallow-water filter, allowing the passage of a limited number of taxa.


U-Pb geochronology of detrital zircons from upper Paleozoic loessite (western United States) provides data bearing on atmospheric circulation within western equatorial Pangea. Zircon age spectra of four loessites from three localities representing middle Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian) and Early Permian (Wolfcampian) time vary significantly, reflecting changing provenances attributable to temporal and spatial shifts in winds. Zircons from two Desmoinesian samples (from Arizona and Utah) show a dominant mode between 1800 and 1600 Ma, reflecting the Yavapai-Mazatzal terranes that cored the Ancestral Rockies uplifts and suggesting northeasterly winds. Both samples also contain a secondary cluster of Grenvillian grains (1300–1000 Ma), reflecting a south-southeasterly source. Ages for Wolfcampian samples (from New Mexico and Utah) differ from one another; the New Mexico loessite contains a large mode at 1700 Ma, missing in the Utah sample, reflecting their locations on opposing sides of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains, within a westerly wind regime. Inferred easterly winds for middle Pennsylvanian time match model predictions, and the presence of both northerly and southerly directions might reflect time-averaged fluctuation of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone. In contrast, monsoonal circulation and attendant westerly winds appear to have been well established by earliest Permian time.


Tidal current turbines (TCTs) are newly developed electricity generating devices. Aiming at the stabilization of the power output of TCTs, this paper introduces the hydraulic transmission technologies into TCTs. The hydrodynamics of the turbine was analyzed at first and its power output characteristics were predicted. A hydraulic power transmission system and a hydraulic pitch-controlled system were designed. Then related simulations were conducted. Finally, a TCT prototype was manufactured and tested in the workshop. The test results have confirmed the correctness of the current design and availability of installation of the hydraulic system in TCTs.


On October 29, 2010, Kristin Henrard accepted the position of extraordinary professor on minority protection at the Erasmus School of Law, a chair which is funded by the Trustfonds of Erasmus University Rotterdam. This book contains Henrard's inaugural speech. Henrard first revisits the relationship between and temporal evolution of general human rights and special minority-specific rights, by showing how fundamental rights were originally conceived for and tailored towards the needs of religious minorities. In the second part, Henrard exposes the ambiguous relationship between religious minorities and fundamental rights. Indeed, while religious minorities, and the protection they were considered to need, may have triggered the emergence of both general human rights and special minority rights, subsequently their special needs - in terms of human dignity, identity, and substantive equality - were neglected. Henrard consequently calls for a redress of the current imbalance - more particularly by a refinement of the existing norms.


Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors prevent neural cell death in in vivo models of cerebral ischaemia, brain injury and neurodegenerative disease. One mechanism by which HDAC inhibitors may do this is by suppressing the excessive inflammatory response of chronically activated microglia. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this anti‐inflammatory effect and the specific HDAC responsible are not fully understood. Recent data from in vivo rodent studies have shown that inhibition of class I HDACs suppresses neuroinflammation and is neuroprotective. In our study, we have identified that selective HDAC inhibition with inhibitors apicidin, MS‐275 or MI‐192, or specific knockdown of HDAC1 or 2 using siRNA, suppresses the expression of cytokines interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) and tumour necrosis factor‐alpha (TNF‐α) in BV‐2 murine microglia activated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Furthermore, we found that in the absence of HDAC1, HDAC2 is up‐regulated and these increased levels are compensatory, suggesting that these two HDACs have redundancy in regulating the inflammatory response of microglia. Investigating the possible underlying anti‐inflammatory mechanisms suggests an increase in protein expression is not important. Taken together, this study supports the idea that inhibitors selective towards HDAC1 or HDAC2, may be therapeutically useful for targeting neuroinflammation in brain injuries and neurodegenerative disease.


Over the past few decades, the liberal Justices on the Supreme Court have made their most notable extrajudicial communications about the Constitution in academic venues discussing academic issues. This has limited their appeal to broader audiences. In this Essay -- written for a symposium at Yale Law School on Justice Sotomayor's first five years on the Court -- David Fontana explores the distinctive path that Justice Sotomayor has pursued. Justice Sotomayor has spoken to academic audiences, as past liberal Justices have. What is most notable about Justice Sotomayor, though, is that she has also appeared in locations and addressed issues that make her and what she discusses of broader appeal; that gives her the potential, as this Essay discusses, to become the "People's Justice." Justice Sotomayor thus may make liberal perspectives on the Constitution more known, more liked, and more comprehensible. For those concerned with pursuing a liberal vision of the Constitution, this could be an important development.


The direct simulation Monte Carlo method is used to reproduce Turing patterns at the microscopic level in reaction-diffusion systems. In order to satisfy the basic condition for the development of such a spatial structure, we propose a model involving a solvent, which allows for disparate diffusivities of individual reactive species. One-dimensional structures are simulated in systems of various lengths. Simulation results agree with the macroscopic predictions obtained by integration of the reaction-diffusion equations. Additional effects due to internal fluctuations are observed, such as temporal transitions between structures of different wavelengths in a confined system. For a structure developing behind a propagating wave front, the fluctuations suppress the induction period and accelerate the formation of the Turing pattern. These results support the ability of reaction-diffusion models to robustly reproduce axial segmentation including the formation of early vertebrae or somites in noisy biological environments.


Background: Prolonged psychosocial load at the workplace may increase the risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD), but the issue is still unsettled. We analyzed the association between psychosocial workload and risk of IHD using a new approach allocating measures of psychosocial load to individuals based on the average exposure level in minor work units. Methods: Cohort study of 18,258 Danish public service workers in 1106 work units; 79% were women; 108 subjects with history of cardiovascular disease were excluded from the follow-up. The outcome was hospitalization due to IHD (angina pectoris or myocardial infarction) during the period 2002 to end of 2007. Results: During 87,428 person-years at risk (mean follow-up = 4.82 years), 101 subjects were admitted to a hospital due to IHD. Neither job strain (synergy of job demands and job control) nor general job dissatisfaction were related to IHD risk. However, compared with others, subjects who were allocated to the low job control category, had an increased risk of IHD, Hazard Ratio (95% CI) = 2.0 (1.1 to 3.6). Conclusions: The findings presented do not lend support to the hypothesis that high job strain and job dissatisfaction are important determinants for IHD among Danish predominantly female public service workers.


Night work involving disruption of circadian rhythm was suggested as a possible cause of breast cancer. We examined the role of night work in a large population‐based case‐control study carried out in France between 2005 and 2008. Lifetime occupational history including work schedules of each night work period was elicited in 1,232 cases of breast cancer and 1,317 population controls. Thirteen percent of the cases and 11% of the controls had ever worked on night shifts (OR = 1.27 [95% confidence interval = 0.99–1.64]). Odds ratios were 1.35 [1.01–1.80] in women who worked on overnight shifts, 1.40 [1.01–1.92] in women who had worked at night for 4.5 or more years, and 1.43 [1.01–2.03] in those who worked less than three nights per week on average. The odds ratio was 1.95 [1.13–3.35] in women employed in night work for >4 years before their first full‐term pregnancy, a period where mammary gland cells are incompletely differentiated and possibly more susceptible to circadian disruption effects. Our results support the hypothesis that night work plays a role in breast cancer, particularly in women who started working at night before first full‐term pregnancy.


In this paper, we analyse the convergence rates of several different predictorcorrector iterations for computing the minimal positive solution of the nonsymmetric algebraic Riccati equation arising in transport theory. We have shown theoretically that the new predictor-corrector iteration given in [Numer. Linear Algebra Appl., 21 (2014), pp. 761–780] will converge no faster than the simple predictor-corrector iteration and the nonlinear block Jacobi predictor-corrector iteration. Moreover the last two have the same asymptotic convergence rate with the nonlinear block Gauss-Seidel iteration given in [SIAM J. Sci. Comput., 30 (2008), pp. 804–818]. Preliminary numerical experiments have been reported for the validation of the developed comparison theory. AMS subject classifications: 65F50, 15A24


In December 2019, a new coronavirus identified, named SARS-CoV-2, as a factor in the investigations conducted on the reporting of viral pneumonia cases in the Wuhan city of China, and the disease called "Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)". Chronic diseases take the first line among the risk factors that increase the case fatality rates in COVID-19 outbreak worldwide. Chronic diseases that progress slowly, last for three months or more, caused by over one risk factor, usually show a complicated course and affect the quality of life of the person. In fact, chronic diseases caused a silent global epidemic, and together with the COVID-19 pandemic, they prepared a ground that increased the effects of the pandemic. The first data of COVID-19 increased our knowledge about the clinical characteristics of the disease and pointed out that the disease is more frequent and more severe in individuals with chronic disease. In this article, the literature information on the most common chronic diseases, with important role in COVID-19 course and mortality, is given.


The study of breakpoints that occurred during primate evolution promises to yield valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying chromosome rearrangements in both evolution and pathology. Karyotypic differences between humans and chimpanzees include nine pericentric inversions, which may have potentiated the parapatric speciation of hominids and chimpanzees 5–6 million years ago. Detailed analysis of the respective chromosomal breakpoints is a prerequisite for any assessment of the genetic consequences of these inversions. The breakpoints of the inversion that distinguishes human chromosome 4 (HSA4) from its chimpanzee counterpart were identified by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and comparative sequence analysis. These breakpoints, at HSA4p14 and 4q21.3, do not disrupt the protein coding region of a gene, although they occur in regions with an abundance of LINE and LTR‐elements. At 30 kb proximal to the breakpoint in 4q21.3, we identified an as yet unannotated gene, C4orf12, that lacks an homologous counterpart in rodents and is expressed at a 33‐fold higher level in human fibroblasts as compared to chimpanzee. Seven out of 11 genes that mapped to the breakpoint regions have been previously analyzed using oligonucleotide‐microarrays. One of these genes, WDFY3, exhibits a three‐fold difference in expression between human and chimpanzee. To investigate whether the genomic architecture might have facilitated the inversion, comparative sequence analysis was used to identify an ∼5‐kb inverted repeat in the breakpoint regions. This inverted repeat is inexact and comprises six subrepeats with 78 to 98% complementarity. (TA)‐rich repeats were also noted at the breakpoints. These findings imply that genomic architecture, and specifically high‐copy repetitive elements, may have made a significant contribution to hominoid karyotype evolution, predisposing specific genomic regions to rearrangements. Hum Mutat 25:45–55, 2005. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Statement of the automatic speech recognition problem, the assignment of speech recognition and the application fields are shown in the paper. At the same time as Azerbaijan speech, the establishment principles of speech recognition system and the problems arising in the system are investigated. The computing algorithms of speech features, being the main part of speech recognition system, are analyzed. From this point of view, the determination algorithms of Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) and Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) coefficients expressing the basic speech features are developed. Combined use of cepstrals of MFCC and LPC in speech recognition system is suggested to improve the reliability of speech recognition system. To this end, the recognition system is divided into MFCC and LPC-based recognition subsystems. The training and recognition processes are realized in both subsystems separately, and recognition system gets the decision being the same results of each subsystems. This results in decrease of error rate during recognition. The training and recognition processes are realized by artificial neural networks in the automatic speech recognition system. The neural networks are trained by the conjugate gradient method. In the paper the problems observed by the number of speech features at training the neural networks of MFCC and LPC-based speech recognition subsystems are investigated. The variety of results of neural networks trained from different initial points in training process is analyzed. Methodology of combined use of neural networks trained from different initial points in speech recognition system is suggested to improve the reliability of recognition system and increase the recognition quality, and obtained practical results are shown.


Abstract. Multi-frequency observations of E-region coherent backscatter from decametre waves reveal that auroral echoes tend to comprise two spectral components superimposed, one at low Doppler shifts, below 250 ms -1 , and the other Doppler shifted to near the ion-acoustic speed or above, up to 800 ms -1 . The low Doppler shift component occurs at all look directions; Doppler shifts near the ion acoustic speed occur when looking at low flow angles along the direction of the electron drift in the electrojet, and Doppler shifts in excess of the ion acoustic speed occur at intermediate flow angles. The latter population appears most commonly at radar frequencies near 10–12 MHz, with its occurrence decreasing dramatically at higher frequencies. The velocity of the high Doppler shift echoes increases with increasing radar frequency, or irregularity wave number k . The velocity of the low Doppler shift population appears to be suppressed significantly below the line-of-sight component of the electron drift. Initial estimates of the altitude from which scatter occurs suggest that the high Doppler shift echoes originate from higher in the E-region than the low Doppler shift echoes, certainly in the eastward electrojet. We discuss these observations with reference to the theories of de/stabilization of two-stream waves by electron density gradients and electrostatic ion cyclotron waves excited by field-parallel electron drifts. Key words. Ionosphere (ionospheric irregularities)


As accessing computing resources from the remote cloud for big data processing inherently incurs high end-to-end (E2E) delay for mobile users, cloudlets, which are deployed at the edge of networks, can potentially mitigate this problem. Although load offloading in cloudlet networks has been proposed, placing the cloudlets to minimize the deployment cost of cloudlet providers and E2E delay of user requests has not been addressed so far. The locations and number of cloudlets and their servers have a crucial impact on both the deployment cost and E2E delay of user requests. Therefore, in this paper, we propose the Cost Aware cloudlet PlAcement in moBiLe Edge computing strategy (CAPABLE) to optimize the tradeoff between the deployment cost and E2E delay. When cloudlets are already placed in the network, we also design a load allocation scheme to minimize the E2E delay of user requests by assigning the workload of each region to the suitable cloudlets. The performance of CAPABLE is demonstrated by extensive simulation results.


Electron-hole recombination activated Shockley partial dislocations bounding expanding stacking faults and their interactions with threading dislocations have been studied in 4H-SiC epitaxial layers using synchrotron x-ray topography. The bounding partials appear as white stripes or narrow dark lines in back-reflection X-ray topographs recorded using the basal plane reflections. Such contrast variations are attributable to the defocusing/focusing of the diffracted X-rays due to the edge component of the partial dislocations, which creates a convex/concave distortion of the basal planes. Simulation results based on the ray-tracing principle confirm our argument. The sign of the partial dislocations can be subsequently determined.


In this paper, new type electro-hydraulic servo equipment is given for testing the working feature on pumping unit. It is the key to get the real simulation of motion and loading of pumping unit. The equipment in paper can be used to repeat all kind of the real force and motion on pumping unit. In order to get better simulation results, the algorithm for self-adaptation control with Kalman filter, which is used for error-free estimate of motion state in order to obtain high accuracy, is applied to solve powerful motion error—surplus force in passive loading system . All algorithms can be used in computer. Last, the test results of pumping unit loading are given. By actual use,the results show that self-adaptation control model with Kalman filter are used for decreasing error by motion of loading system is feasible and the control model can automatically regulate coefficients of regulator.


Oxidative stress and uncontrolled inflammation are hallmarks of sepsis, leading to organ failure and death. As demonstrated in animal studies, oxidative stress can be alleviated by antioxidant therapies. Paraoxonase-1 (PON1) is a serum-based antioxidant, anti-inflammatory agent, detoxifier, and quorum-sensing factor found to be a prognostic marker in sepsis. However, its associations with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), a complication of sepsis and the leading cause of death in the surgical intensive care units (ICU), as well as with specific organ dysfunction, infection site, and invading pathogen remain unknown. Therefore, we measured arylesterase activity of PON1 in 87 individuals (35 with MODS) and related it to the clinical type, organ failure, infection site, pathogens, and hematological and biochemical indices of inflammation at admission to ICU and during a five-day follow-up. Suitability of PON1 and its indices derived from a follow-up as biomarkers in MODS was evaluated as well. MODS was associated with decreased PON1, more so in patients with septic shock, displaying an excellent accuracy as a marker of MODS (91%) and a fair one as a marker in differentiating septic shock from severe sepsis (76%). Decreased admission PON1 accompanied cardiovascular insufficiency (CVI), and, as its marker, PON1 displayed a good accuracy (82%). It was also associated with the abdomen as a site of infection but not with an invading pathogen. In multivariate analysis, 50% of variability in PON1 activity in patients with MODS was explained by the patients' age, CVI, and abdomen as a site of infection. Patients with septic shock, CVI, and abdominal MODS had distinctly different dynamics of PON1 during a follow-up. Mean PON1 activity during the follow-up reflected the associations observed for admission PON1 but was also significantly associated with metabolic dysfunction. Our results show PON1 potential as a biomarker in MODS, particularly as an indicator of CVI.


According to Estonian Statistical Office whether we take the number of grade repeaters, the number of graduates or the number of students graduating with a distinction as a basis for the analysis, the academic achievement incline has remained the same for several years – girls whose language of instruction is Russian come at the top, followed by girls who study in Estonian. Boys come last, and boys studying in Russian reveal much better results than boys whose language of instruction is Estonian (Heinlo 2001, 23). Current paper is going to show that native Estonians have problems as well and starting from school already; Russian speaking youth is doing even better (with hard work). So the question is: who is the better citizen - a native but quite easy-going, or an (former) immigrant who is eager? In European social thought the concept of citizenship is constructed as universal, but it contains tensions between sameness and difference, us and others, centres and margins (Gordon et al 2000, 9). For us citizenship means belonging, which means safety. Here we will ask: is it (for better future) enough just to be a native Estonian, or should one work for ones success as much as many immigrants do.


Background: Tissue-engineered skin can be used not only to cover and repair skin damage, but also as a model to test the efficacy of drugs and cosmetics. Objective: To establish a 3-dimensional (3D) culture model of skin melanoma invasion using A375 melanoma cells in vitro for studying melanoma and with which to conduct preliminary evaluation of therapeutic drugs. Here we evaluated the efficacy of cinnamic aldehyde to inhibit tumor cell growth in our 3D model of malignant melanoma. Methods: Melanoma cells A375 were inoculated onto the surface of tissue-engineered skin and cultured at the air–liquid interface. On day 5, cinnamic aldehyde (20 μ ) was added to the culture medium. Skin samples cultured for different days were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and observed using transmission electron microscopy. Immunohistochemical staining of E-cadherin, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 was conducted separately. Results: A large number of A375 cell clumps had invaded the deep dermis by day 15. The tumor cells formed clumps through the desmosomes and connected with the surrounding fibroblasts through cell junctions. While the expression of E-cadherin was lost in the tumor cells, expression of MMP-9 and PCNA increased with increasing depth of invasion. Cinnamic aldehyde inhibited the proliferation and invasion of melanoma cells in the 3D culture model. Expression of MMP-9 and PCNA significantly decreased in melanoma cells in the model treated with cinnamic aldehyde. Conclusion: The 3D culture model successfully retains the biological proliferation and invasion characteristics of the malignant melanoma cells and can be used as a system to study further the biological characteristics of malignant melanoma and to evaluate the efficacy of drug treatment. Cinnamic aldehyde and compounds of its class may prove useful treatments for patients with advanced melanomas.


The ablation technique consisted of making an incision across the eyeball to allow free flow of fluids while holding the prawn under water, squeezing the eyeball contents outwards, and pinching hard the eyestalk tissue. The cut area heals completely in about a week; no application of antibiotics is necessary. Spent spawners were tagged with thin brass rings (Rodriguez, 1976) around the unablated eyestalk for a separate experiment on rematuration. Two spawning yielding approximately 277,000 eggs were obtained three weeks after ablation, followed four days later by two more spawnings with 160,000 eggs; all four spawners weighed more than 100 g. With a hatching rate of 98% and 78% for the first and second batch, respectively, the spawnings produced viable nauplii. Water temperatures as low as 23 degree C due to a delayed cold spell in March depressed molting; weakened larvae had to be discharged at the mysis stage. Although ovarian development continued, no further spawnings were obtained due mainly to the onset of bacterial and fungal disease. Infection is initiated in injured portions of the exoskeleton, sometimes penetrating right through the muscles to the ovarian tissues. The non-flowthrough conditions and mussel meat feeding led to fouling of the culture water resulting in consecutive mortalities caused by disease. Female P.monodon held in maturation pens were ablated at the age of 15 months (Santiago, et al., 1976); they averaged only 16 g body weight after four months growth in ponds. In another experiment, pond-reared P.monodon females ranging from 50 to 80 g were ablated at approximately seven months (Aquacop, 1977). The present results show a minimum age of four months from postlarve that P.monodon is capable of ovarian development and spawning upon ablation. However, maturation is probably affected by size as well as age - the four-month old females weighed an average of 100 g in contrast to the smaller animals in the earlier experiments.


In the past few years, cloud computing develops very quickly. A large amount of data are uploaded and stored in remote public cloud servers which cannot fully be trusted by users. Especially, more and more enterprises would like to manage their data by the aid of the cloud servers. However, when the data outsourced in the cloud are sensitive, the challenges of security and privacy becomes urgent for wide deployment of the cloud systems. This paper proposes a secure data sharing scheme to ensure the privacy of data owner and the security of the outsourced cloud data. The proposed scheme provides flexible utility of data while solving the privacy and security challenges for data sharing. The security and efficiency analysis demonstrate that the designed scheme is feasible and efficient. At last, we discuss its application in electronic health record.