The remote-PHY (R-PHY) modular cable network for data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS) service conducts the physical layer processing for the transmissions over the broadcast cable in a remote node. In contrast, the cloud radio access network (CRAN) for long-term evolution (LTE) cellular wireless services conducts all baseband physical layer processing in a central baseband unit and the remaining physical layer processing steps toward radio frequency (RF) transmission in remote nodes. Both DOCSIS and LTE are based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing physical layer processing. We propose to unify cable and wireless cellular access networks by utilizing the hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) cable network infrastructure as fiber fronthaul network for cellular wireless services. For efficient operation of such a unified access network, we propose a novel remote-fast-Fourier transform (R-FFT) node that conducts the physical layer processing from the FFT module toward the RF transmission, whereby DOCSIS and LTE share a common FFT module. The frequency domain in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) symbols for both DOCSIS and LTE are transmitted over the fiber between remote node and cable headend, where the remaining physical layer processing is conducted. We further propose to cache repetitive quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) symbols in the R-FFT node to reduce the fronthaul bitrate requirements and enable statistical multiplexing. We evaluate the fronthaul bitrate reductions achieved by R-FFT node caching, the fronthaul transmission bitrates arising from the unified DOCSIS and LTE service, and illustrate the delay implications of moving part of the cable R-PHY remote node physical layer processing to the headend. Overall, our evaluations indicate that the proposed R-FFT node can effectively support unified DOCSIS and LTE services over the HFC cable plant while substantially reducing the fronthaul bitrate requirements of the existing CRAN structures.


The incidence and mortality from cervical cancer (CC) remains high. There are few effective options among chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of recurrent and metastatic CC. One of the novel therapeutic approaches is to induce anti-cancer immunity by immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). The search for prognostic biomarkers to improve the efficacy of immunotherapy is ongoing. The efficacy and safety of ICI, either used as monotherapy or in combination with chemotherapy, radiation therapy, is being evaluated in several clinical studies. Early results are promising, making ICI an important field of research in the development of novel therapies for CC.


We consider some non-smooth functions and investigate the numerical behavior of the Piecewise Linear Hompotopy (PLH) method ([Bozântan, A., An implementation of the piecewise-linear homotopy algorithm for the computation of fixed points, Creat. Math. Inform., 19 (2010), No. 2, 140–148] and [Bozântan, A. and Berinde, V., Applications of the PL homotopy algorithm for the computation of fixed points to unconstrained optimization problems, Creat. Math. Inform., 22 (2013), No. 1, 41–46]). We compare the PLH method with the BFGS with inexact line search, a quasi-Newton method, having some results reported in [Lewis, A. S. and Overton, M. L., Nonsmooth optimization via BFGS, submitted to SIAM J. Optimiz, (2009)]. For most of the considered cases, the characteristics of the PLH method are quite similar to the BFGS method, that is, the PLH method converges to local minimum values and the convergence rate seems to be linear with respect to the number of function evaluations, but we also identify some issues with the PLH method.


Cu has been used as interconnection and lead frame in ULSIs. However, the oxidation and contamination of Cu are not easily avoided. As a result, a thin layer of Cu2O, CuO and carbon contaminations are formed at the Cu surface and these resistances are increased. Therefore, Cu cleaning is necessary. There are some reports to remove Cu oxide layers. Chemical processes such as H2 and NH3 plasma reduction are being investigated [1-5]. These methods have the problem of the plasma damage. Lee et al. proposed Cu oxide reduction using vacuum annealing [6]. However, it seems not suitable for the ULSI process, because the heat-treatment of 400oC is necessary. Therefore, low temperature Cu cleaning without plasma assist is strongly desired. In our previous work, we proposed novel low temperature atomic hydrogen or NH3 decomposed species cleaning generated by heated catalyzer [7,8]. However, in the method it is used 100% hydrogen gas. From the view point of safety, hydrogen gas diluted below explosion limit is preferred to use. In this paper we proposed a novel Cu cleaning method by atomic hydrogen generated on a heated tungsten catalyzer using diluted hydrogen as a cleaning gas.


Collagens are often considered a metazoan hallmark, with the fibril-forming fibrillar collagens present from sponges to human. From evolutionary studies, three fibrillar collagen clades (named A, B, and C) have been defined and shown to be present in mammals, whereas the emergence of the A and B clades predates the protostome/deuterostome split. Moreover, several C clade fibrillar collagen chains are present in some invertebrate deuterostome genomes but not in protostomes whose genomes have been sequenced. The newly sequenced genomes of the choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis, the demosponge Amphimedon queenslandica, and the cnidarians Hydra magnipapillata (Hydra) and Nematostella vectensis (sea anemone) allow us to have a better understanding of the origin and evolution of fibrillar collagens. Analysis of these genomes suggests that an ancestral fibrillar collagen gene arose at the dawn of the Metazoa, before the divergence of sponge and eumetazoan lineages. The duplication events leading to the formation of the three fibrillar collagen clades (A, B, and C) occurred before the eumetazoan radiation. Interestingly, only the B clade fibrillar collagens preserved their characteristic modular structure from sponge to human. This observation is compatible with the suggested primordial function of type V/XI fibrillar collagens in the initiation of the formation of the collagen fibrils.


Quantitative characterization of the mechanical properties of materials
in micro-/nano-scale using depth-sensing indentation technique demands high performance
of nanoindentation instruments in use. In this paper, the efforts to calibrate
the capacitive force transducer of a commercial nanoindentation instrument are presented,
where the quasi-static characteristic of the force transducer has been calibrated
by a precise compensation balance with a resolution of ~1 nN. To investigate the
dynamic response of the transducer, an electrostatic MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical
System) based on nano-force transfer standard with nano-Newton (10-9 Newton)
resolution and a bandwidth up to 6 kHz have been employed. Preliminary
experimental results indicate that 1) the force transducer under calibration has a
probing force uncertainty less than 300 nN (1σ) in the calibration range of 1 mN; 2) the transient duration
at contact points amounts to 10 seconds; 3) the overshoot of
engagement is pre-load dependent.


A detailed two-dimensional, elastic-plastic finite element analysis of a pin-loaded hole was conducted. A thin rectangular aluminum alloy sheet (7075-T6) with a circular hole was considered under plane stress conditions. The hole was loaded purely by a rigid pin to different load magnitudes. Appropriate contact elements were used at the pin-hole interface to transfer the traction loads from one surface to another. Material nonlinearities for the sheet and friction were included in the analyses. Radial and hoop stress solutions along the pin-hole interface were compared in elastically and plastically loaded holes. The influence of friction on the stress results was studied. The locations and magnitudes of the peak hoop stresses were determined. Lastly, an initial residual field was introduced around the hole by a cold expansion simulation before a subsequent pin-loading analysis. Because the cold expansion process involves some reverse yielding, both isotropic and kinematic material hardening models were considered.


Endogenous creatinine clearance was determined in 5 healthy female pigs of different body weight simultaneously to the clearance of inulin. The average creatinine clearance (3.74 +/- 0.57 mg/min/kg) has been found to be 7% higher than inulin clearance indicating some tubular secretion of creatinine. However, since this difference was not significant, the endogenous creatinine clearance is a practicable method for the measurement of glomerular filtration rate in swine. Data of creatinine concentration in plasma and of creatinine excretion showed close relationships to the body weight. It is discussed, whether the glomerular filtration rate can be predicted from the creatinine concentration in plasma and creatinine excretion, which might be estimated from the body weight without quantitative urine collection.


BACKGROUND & AIMS
Prucalopride (PRU) is a selective benzofuran 5-hydroxytryptamine(4)-receptor agonist with gastrointestinal and colonic prokinetic activities. We evaluated the effects of PRU on gastrointestinal and colonic transit in patients with constipation.

METHODS
Gastrointestinal and colonic transit were measured over 48 hours in 40 patients who fulfilled modified Rome I criteria for functional constipation. Patients had no evidence of a rectal evacuation disorder. Subjects were randomized to receive a daily dose of 2 or 4 mg PRU or placebo in a double-blind, parallel-group design. Each treatment lasted 7 days. The transit test was performed over the last 48 hours of the study. Effects on gastric emptying, small bowel transit, and colonic transit were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon rank sum tests.

RESULTS
Of 61 patients screened, 40 were eligible and randomized. Two patients withdrew because of adverse events. PRU accelerated overall gastric emptying and small bowel transit. PRU tended to accelerate overall colonic transit with significantly faster overall colonic transit and ascending colon emptying with the 4-mg dose.

CONCLUSIONS
PRU accelerates transit through the stomach, small bowel, and colon in patients with constipation unassociated with a rectal evacuation disorder.


White canes give the visually impaired the freedom to travel independently in unknown environments, but they cannot warn the user of overhead hazards such as tree branches. This paper presents the development and evaluation of a device that provides haptic cues to warn a visually impaired user of low-hanging obstacles during white cane navigation. The Haptic Alerts for Low-hanging Obstacles (HALO) system is a portable and affordable attachment to traditional white canes. By pairing distance data acquired from an ultrasonic range sensor with vibration feedback delivered by an eccentric mass motor, the device aims to alert users of low-hanging obstacles without interfering with the standard functionality of a white cane. We conducted a preliminary validation study wherein twelve blindfolded subjects navigated a custom obstacle course with and without vibration alerts from HALO. The results showed that this new device is intuitive and highly effective at enabling the user to safely navigate around low-hanging obstacles.


During the last year or two medical literature abounds with various descriptions of the soldier's and recruit's heart. Indeed, so much has been written that with but a superficial knowledge or interest in cardiology, the impression is gained that a new and distinct entity characteristic of warfare had been discovered, and that it is never, or only extremely rarely, observed in civil life. This impression is heightened by the fact that similar conditions in civil life have scarcely been alluded to in the numerous reports, and that new and more or less confusing names have been given to this complex. To mention a few: The soldier's heart; effort syndrome; neurocirculatory asthenia; neurocirculatory myasthenia; disordered heart action and hyperthyroidism. From the broader viewpoint of clinical medicine, and as a result of an intensive study of the condition in cardiologic practice for many years, the examination of hundreds of candidates before the


BACKGROUND
There is a scarcity of cost-effectiveness analyses in the national literature comparing drug-eluting stents (DES) with bare-metal stents (BMS), at late follow-up.

OBJECTIVE
To estimate the Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) between DES and BMS in uniarterial coronariopathy.

METHODS
217 patients (130 DES and 87 BMS), with 48 months of follow-up (mean = 26 months) were assessed.

PRIMARY OUTCOME
cost per prevented restenosis, with effectiveness being defined as the decrease in major events. The analytical model of decision was based on the study by Polanczyk et al. The direct costs were those used directly in the interventions.

RESULTS
The sample was homogenous for age and sex. The DES was more used in diabetic patients: 59 (45.4%) vs 16 (18.4%)(p<0.0001) and with a history of coronary artery disease (CAD): 53 (40.7%) vs 13 (14.9%)(p<0.0001). The BMS was more used in simple lesions, but with worse ventricular function. The DES were implanted preferentially in proximal lesions: (p=0.0428) and the BMS in the mid-third (p=0.0001). Event-free survival: DES = 118 (90.8%) vs BMS=74 (85.0%) (p=0.19); Angina: DES=9 (6.9%) vs BMS=9 (10.3%) (NS): Clinical restenosis: DES=3 (2.3%) vs BMS=10 (10.3%) (p=0.0253). Cardiac deaths: 2 (1.5%) in DES and 3 (3.5%) in BMS (NS).

COSTS
the tree of decision was modeled based on restenosis. The net benefit for the DES needed an increment of R$7,238.16. The ICER was R$131,647.84 per prevented restenosis (above the WHO threshold).

CONCLUSIONS
The DES was used in more complex lesions. The clinical results were similar. The restenosis rate was higher in the BMS group. The DES was a non-cost-effective strategy.


Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic affects population groups differently, worsening existing social, economic, and health inequities. Purpose: This study examined 159 counties within Georgia to identify community characteristics associated with county-level COVID-19 case, hospitalization, and death rates. Methods: Data from the 2020 County Health Rankings, the 2010 US Census, and the Georgia Department of Public Health COVID-19 Daily Status Report were linked using county Federal Information Processing Standard codes and evaluated through multivariable linear regression models. Results: The percentages of children in poverty, severe housing problems, and people not proficient in the English language were significant predictors associated with increases in case, hospitalization, and death rates. Diabetic prevalence was significantly associated with increases in the hospitalization and death rates; in contrast, the percentages of people with excessive drinking and female were inversely associated with hospitalization and death rates. Other independent variables showing an association with death rate included the percentages of people reporting fair or poor health and American Indian/Alaska Native. Implication: Local authorities' proper allocation of resources and plans to address community social determinants of health are essential to mitigate disease transmission and reduce hospitalizations and deaths associated with COVID-19, especially among vulnerable groups.


Active management of a mutual fund aims to obtain a better return than a representative market portfolio, by means of regularly adjusting the composition of the fund's portfolio of securities. This study investigates the determinants of the portfolio turnover indexes of actively managed stock investment funds in the Brazilian market. By applying the method developed by Gaspar, Massa and Matos (2005), we show how the characteristics of funds and their managers affect their level of portfolio turnover. Large funds and those that require high initial deposits tend to present higher turnover, as is the case of funds having longer manager tenure. In contrast, the longer the manager's experience is, the lower the turnover tends to be. Finally, managers with business administration degrees tend to be more active traders than those trained in economics or engineering.


The aim of this research is to propose a model of SA and
interaction in virtual environments of the relationship
among immersion, presence, situation awareness, and
performance. The research presents an experiment to
examine presence, task/user performance and SA with
different VE interface designs (hybrid 2D&3D, 3D nonnaturalistic,
3D naturalistic) and head tracking system
(non-tracking, tracking). The interrelationship among
immersion, presence, SA, and performance is also
investigated. The results from VRSARM and VRSAGAT
indicated that the participants, who felt present and
immersed, exposed to hybrid 2D&3D were more
situationally aware than those who exposed to 3D nonnaturalistic
and 3D naturalistic. By using sickness
questionnaire, the participants who exposed to 3D nonnaturalistic
experienced higher sickness symptom than
those who exposed to hybrid 2D&3D and 3D naturalistic.
There were no significant main effects on recall measure,
VRSAGAT, or presence. VRSARM indicated that there
was a significant correlation between immersion and
presence (r = 0.66, ρ < 0.000), presence was positively
correlated with SA (r = 0.373, ρ < 0.003), and immersion
was positively correlated with SA (r = 0.532, ρ < 0.000).
However, there was no significant correlation between
presence and performance or SA and performance. It was
therefore concluded that presence does not lead to
enhance performance, and the relation between SA and
performance is not apparent. Nevertheless, this
experiment is used to generate design implications for
future directions for SA in VE in which associations
between variables might be found based on the IPSAP
model presented here.


This study analyzes how the energy transition might change gender bias in power-generating industries. To this end, this paper employs a sample of 102 renewable energy generation companies from six countries in Latin America and the Caribbean: Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, and Uruguay. The analysis of collected data shows that renewable generation companies with the highest relative efficiency in the labor-capital ratio are those with the highest participation of women. In addition, the results show that renewable companies are incrementing recruitment of women in energy generation. Nevertheless, in the analyzed sample, the participation of women in renewables is still lower than the sectorial average. Moreover, there is no structural change with respect to roles that women occupy, when comparing renewables companies with others generation companies. Considering the companies size, bigger renewables companies (with higher installed generation capacity) tend to hire more women, but those women occupy mostly non-technical positions. In addition, women's participation decreases in positions requiring more technical occupations. Women represent 36% of STEM1 employees, 39% of non-STEM employees, and 48% of non-qualified employees of the renewable generation companies surveyed. Concerning the role of women in decision making roles within energy companies, wide gender gaps exist in executive and management positions; the proportion of females in the boardroom and in management roles for renewables generation companies was 24% and 22%, respectively. Furthermore, 68% of surveyed companies did not have a gender policy in place. This study confirms that a change in technology alone does not generate qualitative changes in the labor market from a gender perspective. Such changes would be achieved by complementing technological change with inclusion policies, encouraging women to study careers related to science and technology to fill the shortage of female professionals in these areas, and closing the knowledge gap through systematic data collection and sharing about gender in the energy workforce.


Background: Previously, small studies have found that BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast tumors differ in their pathology. Analysis of larger datasets of mutation carriers should allow further tumor characterization. Methods: We used data from 4,325 BRCA1 and 2,568 BRCA2 mutation carriers to analyze the pathology of invasive breast, ovarian, and contralateral breast cancers. Results: There was strong evidence that the proportion of estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast tumors decreased with age at diagnosis among BRCA1 (P-trend = 1.2 × 10−5), but increased with age at diagnosis among BRCA2, carriers (P-trend = 6.8 × 10−6). The proportion of triple-negative tumors decreased with age at diagnosis in BRCA1 carriers but increased with age at diagnosis of BRCA2 carriers. In both BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers, ER-negative tumors were of higher histologic grade than ER-positive tumors (grade 3 vs. grade 1; P = 1.2 × 10−13 for BRCA1 and P = 0.001 for BRCA2). ER and progesterone receptor (PR) expression were independently associated with mutation carrier status [ER-positive odds ratio (OR) for BRCA2 = 9.4, 95% CI: 7.0–12.6 and PR-positive OR = 1.7, 95% CI: 1.3–2.3, under joint analysis]. Lobular tumors were more likely to be BRCA2-related (OR for BRCA2 = 3.3, 95% CI: 2.4–4.4; P = 4.4 × 10−14), and medullary tumors BRCA1-related (OR for BRCA2 = 0.25, 95% CI: 0.18–0.35; P = 2.3 × 10−15). ER-status of the first breast cancer was predictive of ER-status of asynchronous contralateral breast cancer (P = 0.0004 for BRCA1; P = 0.002 for BRCA2). There were no significant differences in ovarian cancer morphology between BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers (serous: 67%; mucinous: 1%; endometrioid: 12%; clear-cell: 2%). Conclusions/Impact: Pathologic characteristics of BRCA1 and BRCA2 tumors may be useful for improving risk-prediction algorithms and informing clinical strategies for screening and prophylaxis. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 21(1); 134–47. ©2011 AACR.


City managers need indicators for target setting, performance assessment, monitoring, management and decision-making purposes. The choice of the most suitable indicator framework is crucial, but difficult, as it requires expert knowledge. To help cities in their choice, this paper compares seven recently published indicator standards for Smart sustainable cities. A taxonomy was developed to evaluate each of their 413 indicators against five conceptual urban focuses (types of urban sustainability and smartness), ten sectoral application domains (energy, transport, ICT, economy, etc.) and five indicator types (input, process, output, outcome, impact). The results clearly discriminate between indicator standards suited for evaluating the implementation of predominantly smart city approaches versus standards more focused on sustainability assessment. A further distinction is possible in standards almost fully oriented towards impacts reached, and standards that allow for progress evaluation according to steps in the implementation process. Some standards provide a narrow focus on output indicators evaluating the progress in implementing smart urban ICT solutions (e.g. number of smart meters installed). Cities are encouraged to complement such evaluations with impact indicators that demonstrate the effects of those solutions. This paper provides guidance for city managers and policy makers to select the indicators and standard that best correspond to their assessment need and goals, and align with their stage in Smart sustainable city implementation.


Nitrogen-containing compounds are widely present in both natural products and synthetic compounds, for example, they show up within functional materials, top-selling drugs, as well as bioactive molecules. Thus, organic chemists have paid considerable attention in developing novel methodologies for their preparation. To synthesize these compounds in a green and sustainable way, researchers have focused on the direct functionalization of hydrocarbons via C–H and/or C–C bond cleavage. Although significant progress has been made in the direct functionalization of simple hydrocarbons, direct incorporation of N-atoms into simple substrates via C–H and/or C–C bond cleavage remains challenging due to the inert chemical bonds and the unstable character of some N-sources under oxidative conditions. Azide reagents are frequently used as nitrogen source in incorporating nitrogen into carbon skeletons. Although the exact reaction pathway remains unclear, detailed mechanistic studies revealed that the carbon cation containing the azido group may exist as the key intermediate which would undergo Schmidt-type rearrangement to afford nitriles, tetrazoles, arylamines, or other kinds of nitrogen-containing compounds. Considering the high cost and toxicity of heavy metals, copper and iron, as inexpensive, readily accessible metals have already shown their unique utilities. This account attempts to focus on C–H/C–C bond nitrogenation reactions via Cu and Fe catalysis, as well as their applications in synthetic chemistry.


Consumer research has paid scant attention to public goods, especially at a time when the contestation between categorizing public and private goods and controlling public goods is pronounced. In this multisited ethnography, we explore the ways in which active consumers negotiate meanings about the consumption of a particular public good, public space. Using the context of street art, we document four main ideologies of public space consumption that result from the interaction, both conflict and common intent, of urban dwellers and street artists. We show how public space can be contested as private and commercialized, or offered back as a collective good, where sense of belonging and dialogue restore it to a meaningful place. We demonstrate how the common nature of space both stimulates dialectical and dialogical exchanges across stakeholders and fuels forms of layered agency.


Advances in medicine have signifi- cantly reduced child mortality worldwide ; however those caring for children with life-threatening med- ical conditions are usually committed to employing curative and life-prolonging treatments until death is at hand. This type of intensive care and attention can expose children and their families to unnecessar y suffering, particularly if inadequate attention is paid to the children's physical and emotional distress. This review presents healthcare providers with the basic concepts of pediatric palliative care (PPC) available to assist them in the care of the child with life-threatening medical conditions. It defines PPC and the principles guiding it ; it reviews the reasons behind PPC emphasizing developmental and epi- demiological aspects of childhood death ; it discusses the needs of children with life-threatening conditions and the needs of their families ; and it examines PPC services available, and the obstacles and challenges faced in providing PPC.


Multi-agent systems like Peer-to-Peer networks are widely used for content sharing and searching. However, privacy and security are the concerns with such networks as they are vulnerable to attacks due to open, dynamic and anonymous nature. To protect communications over such networks many models came into existence that are based on the reputation or trust of the peers that interact with each other. However, they can not cope with the unpredictable behaviour of malicious peers. To overcome this problem and improve QoS (Quality of Service) Das and Islam presented a dynamic trust computation model. In this paper we implement that trust model and build a prototype of multi-agent system to show the proof of concept. The experimental results revealed that the application facilitates dynamic trust computation and achieves secure communication and quality of service by balancing load among the agents. KeywordsPeer-to-Peer Networks, Trust, Trust Management, Malicious Agents, Load Balancing


This thesis is performed on master level and covers an assignment given by the Value Added Services(VAS) department at SSAB (Oxelosund, Sweden). The thesis has been carried out by Mattias Hagglundduring the fall of 2014 atMalardalen University.The transportation industry has over time developed to be more efficient and environmentally aware. Looking at the truck industry shows that the development is strong and constant, new solutions and improvements is being introduced every year. One result of this is reduced fuel consumption and/or increased loading capacity. In the mining industry for example, can a few hundred kilos extra payload make a big different at the end of the day.This constant development seen in many fields is something that SSAB wants to take part in.By using product diversification canthe VAS department reach new customers and secure sales of SSAB steel. Subframes, being a natural step from tipper bodies, are worth to consider as a possible project start-up. Combined with SSABs current tipper body program could a new subframe make its way to the market.This project have adapted a new product development process in order to come up with a subframe design not yet physically tested, but theoretically superior to conventional subframes. Each development phase of this process is explained and executed in the report, giving the reader a detailed step-by-step overview.The projects result builds on the knowledge attained from the course of the project and simulation results. With the use of a CAD-program and by applying FEM, have a number of concepts been analysed with regards to their strength and rigidity. The simulation results have made it possible to design a final solution where a number of demands and desired properties have been fulfilled.The result from this thesis work have reduced the weight by 7%, increased rigidity about 20% and substantially improved the strength in comparison to a typical subframe. This shows that there are possibilities to improve on the current subframe design, and that there is cause for SSAB to make further research and development in the subject of tipper body subframes.


Aim: Anaemia is a common side-effect of cancer treatments and can lead to a reduction in quality of life. Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) are licensed for use in conjunction with red blood cell transfusions (RBCTs) to improve cancer treatment-induced anaemia (CIA). We aim to review the clinical-effectiveness evidence for ESAs for treating CIA. Methods: The clinical effectiveness review followed principles published by the NHS CRD. Electronic databases and grey literature sources were searched up to December 2013. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing ESAs in accordance with their EU licenses (based on start dose administered) with best supportive care, placebo, or other ESA in adults with CIAwere included. Anaemia- and malignancy-related outcomes, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and adverse events (AEs) were extracted from primary studies. Where appropriate, data were pooled using random-effects meta-analyses. Results: Twenty-three RCTs were included in the review. None of the RCTs were completely aligned with current EU licenses. Results suggest that there is clinical benefit from ESAs for anaemia-related outcomes. Sixty-three percent of participants who received ESAs achieved a haematological response compared with 18% of participants who did not receive ESAs, and there was a reduction in requirement for RBCT by an estimated 37% with ESAs. Data also suggest some improvement in HRQoL scores (FACT-F, FACT-G and FACT-An). The impact of ESAs on malignancy-related outcomes and AEs is uncertain. The overall survival (OS) results (HR 0.97, 95% CI 0.83, 1.13, I 2 of 42.4%) suggest no effect of ESAs on OS. Although all AEs were relatively rare (max. 6%), an increased risk for thromboembolic events, pruritus and hypertension was found. Post-hoc sensitivity analyses suggested that the effectiveness for some outcomes was improved when ESAs were evaluated 'closer to licence'. Conclusions: Although results from the review suggest that ESAs may be beneficial when used closer to their licensed indications, this trend should be interpreted with caution due to high statistical heterogeneity, wide confidence intervals, multiple testing, and the licence interpretation. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Five groups of three subjects resided for 10 or 15 days within a continuously programmed environment. Subjects followed a programmatic arrangement of required and optional private and social activities that determined the individual and group baseline behaviors into which experimental operations were introduced and withdrawn. A cooperation condition was in effect when all three subjects were required to select simultaneous access to a group area before it became available for use. A noncooperation condition was in effect when access to a group area could be selected by individual subjects, without regard to the other subjects' selections. For all groups, the effects of these two conditions on individual and group behaviors were investigated in reversal designs where several successive days occurred under each condition. Groups 1, 4, and 5 had the noncooperation condition interposed between cooperation conditions. Groups 2 and 3 had the cooperation condition interposed between noncooperation conditions. Durations of triadic activities, per cent of time in triadic activities, intercom use, and intersubject program synchronization were greater during cooperation conditions than during noncooperation conditions. These data show that a cooperation contingency within the behavioral program affected both social behavior and the collateral individual behavior necessary to execute the cooperation response.


The paper describes the lexicographical aspects of creating a frequency dictionary by a semi-automatic process. The bulk of the work is made by task specific software. The output of the program is then manually checked, corrected and filtered. The result is a collection of the most frequent Hungarian verb phrase constructions (VPCs), illustrated by corpus examples. This is a corpus driven dictionary, based on the 187,6 million word synchronic Hungarian National Corpus (http://corpus.nytud.hu/mnsz) which was analyzed by a series of programs. Its output is a set of XML format draft entries, which were then hand validated and edited by lexicographers. The dictionary contains the most frequent Hungarian verbs along with their most typical syntactic constructions. At the current phase of the project we decided to collect the most frequent constructions only: their absolute frequency had to be more than 250. The dictionary contains roughly 2300 entries and 6500 VPCs. Each construction is illustrated by a corpus example. The verbal entries are presented in alphabetical order primarily. Different kinds of indices are also included in the printed version. The users of this dictionary envisaged to be mainly linguists, working on Hungarian grammars, lexicographers working on bilingual dictionaries and last but not least: advanced level learners of Hungarian, who want to expand their knowledge on the Hungarian nominal verbal collocation relationships. The dictionary is planned to be published both in printed and electronic format. Parts of the algorithm used for this project could be applied to produce other dictionaries, all the more so, as some of them are actually language independent. It is also highly cost effective: both the programming and the lexicographic work required one person year each.


Recently, it has been reported that anti-cancer drug bexarotene can remarkably destroy amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques in mouse models suggesting therapeutic potential for Alzheimer's disease. However, the effect of bexarotene on clearance of plaques has not been seen in some mouse models. One of the possible mechanisms explaining this phenomenon is that bexarotene levels up expression of apolipoprotein 4 (ApoE4) leading to intracellular clearance of Aβ peptide. Therefore, an interesting question emerges of whether bexarotene can destroy Aβ plaques by direct interaction with them or by preventing production of Aβ peptides. In our previous work we have shown that bexarotene cannot clear amyloid aggregates due to their weak interaction using in silico and in vitro experiments. Here we explore the possibility of inhibiting Aβ production through bexarotene binding to β-secretase which can cleave Aβ peptides from amyloid precursor protein. Using the molecular mechanics-Poisson-Boltzmann surface area method and all-atom simulations we have shown that bexarotene has a very low binding affinity to β-secretase. This result has been also confirmed by our in vitro experiment implying that bexarotene cannot clear amyloid plaques through inhibition of Aβ production. We have also shown that bexarotene tightly binds to both peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPAR-γ) and retinoid X receptors (RXRs). Thus, our result does not contradict the hypothesis that the reduction of Aβ plaques occurs due to bexarotene-induced overexpression of ApoE4.


Due to the ongoing biodiversity crisis, many species including great apes such as chimpanzees or gorillas are threatened and need to be protected. To overcome the catastrophic decline of biodiversity, biologists recently started to use remote cameras for wildlife monitoring. However, the manual analysis of the resulting image and video material is extremely tedious, time consuming, and highly cost intensive. To overcome the burden of time-consuming routine work we studied and proposed novel approaches for automatic chimpanzee identification in our previous work. Starting from the assumption that humans and our closest relatives share similar facial properties, algorithms for human face recognition were adapted and extended for this purpose. However, the proposed algorithms were designed to recognize chimpanzee individuals in still images only. In this paper we extend these ideas towards chimpanzee identification in video sequences. Thus, a novel frame weighting approach is presented which significantly improves the system's accuracy.


A dynamic business climate and technological advancements create new opportunities and challenges in the changing environment of IS development organizations. The clear distinction between the development and the implementation of Enterprise Systems software has affected the roles of involved parties, their work environment, and the knowledge needed. In response to the pressure for more efficiency and effectiveness and also flexibility and quality in Enterprise Systems implementations, new development models and methods, such as rapid product development, agile software development, and component-based development, have been suggested andare considered to be beneficial to consultants in their work. Yet, the quality of ES solutions continues to be problematic, resulting in various outcomes and, once again, questioning the value of the new IS development methodologies. What is not always clear from current IS studies, is the fact that IS development methodology represents a multi-perspective and cross-level phenomenon of study. Over the last decade, different perspectives in research works have tried to address the challenges related to development and deployment of IS development methodologies. We argue that existing fragmented approaches in studying IS developmentmethodology reduces the possibility to understand and explain the challengesencountered by IS professionals in practice. Therefore, in order to develop valuable theories, tools, and educational programs with practical relevance, as several scholars indicate, it is imperative to scrutinize new approaches and provide robust frameworks to study and explain the development, deployment, and the potentials of IS development methodologies. This work is motivated by the perception that a change of understanding and framing the study of IS development methodology is not only needed but is also a fundamental issue in order to facilitate the design of artefacts based on cumulative and integrated knowledge. This paper proposes to extend the existing body of IS research in general and ES research in particular, by exploring an alternative way to frame the study of ES implementation methodology from a critical realist perspective. The beneficial feature of this perspective is represented by a theoretical basis which allows to bridge the gap between two significant streams of IS research, i.e. the development and the deployment of IS development methodology. The framework outlined in this study is based on a synthesis of frameworks and theories of the development and deployment of IS development methodologies, and explores the characteristics and relations between social and technical objects together with potential transformations and implications in a stratified context.


The paper has a threefold purpose. The first is simply expository: it outlines and explicates the general character of Jaspers' notion of the idea of the university, and seeks to do so in such a way as to make this notion more readily intelligible to readers unfamiliar with Jaspers' philosophy as a whole. To this end, it elucidates the essential content of the notion, clarifies what is meant here by the term "idea", illumines the essential philosophic foundations up-on which Jaspers' discussion is based and traces out the systematic structure of his position. Secondly, the paper states a number of basic objections to Jaspers' view, and in most cases, through the extrapolation of his explicit remarks, is able to suggest how Jaspers himself might have responded to these objections. The purpose of this discussion, however, is not principally to resolve the issues raised, but simply to open the way for genuine debate. Thirdly, throughout the paper the attempt is made, both explicitly and implicitly, to establish the relevance of Jaspers' work to current university problems. This is accomplished on two levels: the first emphasises the importance per se of continued reflection on the idea of the university as the means of gaining needed clarity regarding both the true nature and mission of the university and the ultimate significance of our commitment to this in- stitution; and the second indicates how Jaspers' particular judgements concerning this first matter bear directly upon more specific issues, e.g. the relation of teaching and research, academic standards, university autonomy, the essential responsibilities of professors and students, etc. Implicit to this threefold intention is the conviction that philosophic reflection on the idea of the university is vital to the institution's authentic existence, and that Jaspers' own work in this area is at present unrivalled in its breadth of vision and profundity. It is thus hoped that the paper will lead its readers to a more serious consideration of Jaspers' work, and from there, once they perceive what is really at stake, to a reflection on the issue itself - the idea of the university.


The isoelectric point (pI) of a protein is a key characteristic that influences its overall electrostatic behaviour. The majority of conventional methods for the determination of the isoelectric point of a molecule rely on the use of spatial gradients in pH, although significant practical challenges are associated with such techniques, notably the difficulty in generating a stable and well controlled pH gradient. Here, we introduce a gradient-free approach, exploiting a microfluidic platform which allows us to perform rapid pH change on chip and probe the electrophoretic mobility of species in a controlled field. In particular, in this approach, the pH of the electrolyte solution is modulated in time rather than in space, as in the case for conventional determinations of the isoelectric point. To demonstrate the general approachability of this platform, we have measured the isoelectric points of representative set of seven proteins, bovine serum albumin, β-lactoglobulin, ribonuclease A, ovalbumin, human transferrin, ubiquitin and myoglobin in microlitre sample volumes. The ability to conduct measurements in free solution thus provides the basis for the rapid determination of isoelectric points of proteins under a wide variety of solution conditions and in small volumes.


The alleged capacity of Payment for Environmental Services (PES) to reach conservation policy goals, while reducing poverty in a cost-effective manner, makes it an extremely attractive development instrument for policymakers and international funding agencies. This article reconstructs the process of envisioning and building the National PES Strategy in Colombia. It reveals how this conservation policy has resulted from the mobilisation of the transnational/national PES epistemic community and its globally expanding discourse. The influential PES network generates internally defined standards of success that proceed without reference to empirical evidence as to the impacts of the implemented policies. PES adoption is influenced by regulatory instruments' unsatisfactory outcomes, the ways in which market-environmentalist models induce profound indifference towards on-the-ground policy impacts, the discursive power and alignment properties of the PES policy epistemic community, and financial and political pressures by international banks and environmental NGOs.


AIM
To present the results of endoscopic endonasal repair of ventral midline skull base cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak (VMSBL) at our institution and to discuss the technique and results from a neurosurgical perspective.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
A retrospective analysis of all VMSBL cases that underwent endoscopic endonasal skull base approach (EESBA) for CSF leak repair at a single tertiary neurosurgical center was performed. Twenty six patients with an average age of 44.4 (range: 17-63) years were included in the study.

RESULTS
The etiology of VMSBL was spontaneous in 16 patients, traumatic in 7, and iatrogenic in 3. The leakage site was the cribriform plate in 13 patients, ethmoidal cells in 7, and sphenoid sinus in 3. There were multiple leaks in 3 patients. This approach for VMSBL repair was performed 28 times on 26 patients. The success rate was 88.5% (23/26 patients) after primary endoscopic repair and 96% after the second attempt. The location of the leakage site relative to the upper attachment of the middle turbinate played a crucial role in the anteriorly located VMSBL, which made an impact on the surgical repair plan. All the 16 cases with accompanying meningoencephaloceles were treated successfully by EESBA. Use of vascularized pedicled flaps to support the repair site resulted in 100% success after primary repair.

CONCLUSION
EESBA is safe and highly effective and can be a first-line surgical treatment option for VMSBL. In addition, it enables adequate reconstruction of ventral midline skull base meningoencephaloceles regardless of size and location.


In this pointed appraisal of composition studies, Donna Strickland contends the rise of writing program administration is crucial to understanding the history of the field. Noting existing histories of composition studies that offer little to no exploration of administration, Strickland argues the field suffers from a "managerial unconscious" that ignores or denies the dependence of the teaching of writing on administrative structures. The Managerial Unconscious in the History of Composition Studies is the first book to address the history of composition studies as a profession rather than focusing on its pedagogical theories and systems. Strickland questions why writing and the teaching of writing have been the major areas of scholarly inquiry in the field when specialists often work primarily as writing program administrators, not teachers. Strickland traces the emergence of writing programs in the early twentieth century, the founding of two professional organizations by and for writing program administrators, and the managerial overtones of the "social turn" of the field during the 1990s. She illustrates how these managerial imperatives not only have provided much of the impetus for the growth of composition studies over the past three decades but also have contributed to the stratified workplaces and managed writing practices the field's pedagogical research often decries. The Managerial Unconscious in the History of Composition Studies makes the case that administrative work should not be separated from intellectual work, calling attention to the interplay between these two kinds of work in academia at large and to the pronounced hierarchies of contingent faculty and tenure-track administrators endemic to college writing programs. The result is a reasoned plea for an alternative understanding of the very mission of the field itself.


Allotetraploid durum wheat is the second most widely cultivated wheat, following hexaploid bread wheat, and is one of the major protein and calorie sources of the human diet. However, durum wheat is encountered with a severe grain yield bottleneck due to the erosion of genetic diversity stemming from long-term domestication and especially modern breeding programs. The improvement of yield and grain quality of durum wheat is crucial when confronted with the increasing global population, changing climate environments, and the non-ignorable increasing incidence of wheat-related disorders. This review summarized the domestication and evolution process and discussed the durum wheat re-evolution attempts performed by global researchers using diploid einkorn, tetraploid emmer wheat, hexaploid wheat (particularly the D-subgenome), etc. In addition, the re-evolution of durum wheat would be promoted by the genetic enrichment process, which could diversify allelic combinations through enhancing chromosome recombination (pentaploid hybridization or pairing of homologous chromosomes gene Ph mutant line induced homoeologous recombination) and environmental adaptability via alien introgressive genes (wide cross or distant hybridization followed by embryo rescue), and modifying target genes or traits by molecular approaches, such as CRISPR/Cas9 or RNA interference (RNAi). A brief discussion of the future perspectives for exploring germplasm for the modern improvement and re-evolution of durum wheat is included.


Ciucu proved a simple product formula for the tiling number of a hexagon in which a chain of equilateral triangles of alternating orientations, called a `fern', has been removed from the center (Adv. Math. 2017). In this paper, we present a multi-parameter generalization of this work by giving an explicit tiling enumeration for a hexagon with three ferns removed, besides the central fern as in Ciucu's region, we remove two new ferns from two sides of the hexagon. Our result also implies a new `dual' of MacMahon's classical formula of boxed plane partitions, corresponding to the exterior of the union of three disjoint concave polygons obtained by turning 120 degrees after drawing each side.


The detection of void and/or partially filled caves has been attempted using all the surface geophysical methods. However, the microgravity and the resistivity seems to be the most suitable methods, although, nowadays, the radar has a more and more important role in this domain. The resistivity method has been used by several authors, Spiegel et al. (1980), D. L. Smith (1986), Andrade Afonso (1987), Andrade Afonso et al. (1989). Spiegel et al. (1980) considered the caves as void zones using the integral equation method. to obtain the solution for the pole-dipole array. Andrade Afonso (1987) and Andrade Afonso et al. (1989), generalized this method for the dipole-dipole array. However, the method is unstable for voids close to the terrain surface. So, we tested the hypothesis of approaching, for numerical proposals, the void zones to areas of high resistivities in relation to the surrounding environment. The results obtained in an automated electric analogie test tank (2,lx1,25x1,25 m), filled with a 26 Ohmxm copper sulphate aqueous solution, and in the field (caves with known geometry) were compared with the numerical results obtained by the mentioned method and with the results obtained using numerical techriiques (A. Dey et al,1979: N. C. Smith et al., 1984 and Sasaki, 1989) suitable for continuous media. The experiment al pseudo-sections for the pole-dipole, as well as, for the dipole-dipole arrays fit very well with the numerical ones.


Large deformation finite element analyses were carried out to investigate the optimized trench geometry for 24 inch (610 mm) diameter subsea pipelines and power cables (33 kV; outer diameter = 186 mm) used for transporting gas in shallow water depth (approximately 15 m), with an emphasis being on pipe-soil interaction assessment. An extensive parametric investigation was performed varying the relative density of the backfill sand (35%, 54% and 78%) and buried depth (1.89 and 3.14 diameters). Upward and lateral soil failure mec hanisms around a pipe uplifting in a backfill sand layer were compared. The failure mechanisms were manifested by shear band formation and subsequent propagation. It was shown that the trench dimensions originally designed based on conventional conservative approaches can be reduced by up to 10.6% in loose backfill sand (ID = 35%) and 8.7% in dense backfill sand (ID = 78%), leading to minimize cost and time of trenching and backfilling.


We describe an unusual case of hepatosplenic T‐cell lymphoma in a 61‐year‐old man who presented with fever, hepatosplenomegaly, anemia, and thrombocytopenia. A spleen biopsy was consistent with T‐cell lymphoma. Cytogenetic studies did not reveal chromosome abnormalities. Using the polymerase chain reaction approach, clonality of the T‐cell receptor γ‐chain gene rearrangement could be demonstrated, while Southern blot analysis disclosed only a germline configuration of the T‐cell receptor β chain genes. Of interest, an immune‐mediated mechanism was demonstrated and was most likely responsible for erythrocyte and platelet destruction; this is, therefore, the first report of γ T‐cell lymphoma in association with Evans' syndrome. Initial steroid treatment was efficacious in limiting autoimmunity but constitutional symptoms did not subside. Chemotherapy (MACOP‐B) was successful in obtaining complete clinical remission. Finally, thrombocytopenia in γδ T‐cell lymphoma patients should be routinely evaluated for platelet autoantibodies. Am. J. Hematol. 69:272–276, 2002.© 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


A New Linc in Innate Immunity Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have recently emerged as important regulators of gene expression in a wide variety of biological processes, although specific roles for these molecules in the immune system have not been described. Carpenter et al. (p. 789, published online 1 August) now define the function of one such lncRNA in the immune system, lincRNA-Cox2. Whole-transcriptome profiling revealed that lincRNA-Cox2 was induced in mouse macrophages in response to activation of Toll-like receptors—molecules that detect microbes and alert the immune system to respond. LincRNA-Cox2 both positively and negatively regulated the expression of distinct groups of inflammatory genes. Negative regulation of gene expression was mediated by lincRNA-Cox interaction with heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A/B and A2/B1. In mice, a broadly acting RNA, lincRNA-Cox2, regulates the circuit that controls the inflammatory response. An inducible program of inflammatory gene expression is central to antimicrobial defenses. This response is controlled by a collaboration involving signal-dependent activation of transcription factors, transcriptional co-regulators, and chromatin-modifying factors. We have identified a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) that acts as a key regulator of this inflammatory response. Pattern recognition receptors such as the Toll-like receptors induce the expression of numerous lncRNAs. One of these, lincRNA-Cox2, mediates both the activation and repression of distinct classes of immune genes. Transcriptional repression of target genes is dependent on interactions of lincRNA-Cox2 with heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A/B and A2/B1. Collectively, these studies unveil a central role of lincRNA-Cox2 as a broad-acting regulatory component of the circuit that controls the inflammatory response.


A wide selection of data of 45 males versus those of 94 females were compared and correlated with 11 variables selected from the available variables. The estimation of creatinine clearance by the Cockroft formula was studied in depth, and both its significant correlation with measured clearances and its overestimation were noted. Scores were attributed to the p values of performed correlations to mathematically compare the correlations. The magnitude of the dispersion of the scores was evaluated by the ratio mean of the scores/standard deviation, which is the width of the range of the significance of the correlations, thus providing the relevance of the correlations for each basal variable. Lean Body Mass (LBM) was calculated, using the Boer formula as well as the serum creatinine, and it was shown that LBM was strongly related to the body structure represented by BMI. The study ofnbspnbspnbsp total body water (TBW) showed its significantly greater size in males, but it has a significantly greater size in females as a percentage of body weight . This results in a greater dry mass in males and greater body water with respect to weight in females. No differences between males and females resulted from age, the relationship of weight/height in terms of BMI, or the efficacy of treatment. It was concluded that 1) age is relevant in estimating the size of creatinine clearance, as shown by the creatinine clearance via Cockroft, but it overestimated the creatinine clearance 2) Lean Body Mass is proportional to BMI 3) the variability of statistical significance in a correlation is well defined by the scores values and 4) dry mass is significantly greater in males, while body water is greater in females in terms of percentage of weight.


Knowing the mating habits of guppies is beneficial in the case of selective breeding.  If we are able to speed up the mating process by offering up the right combination of male and female then it will aid in the future by producing the wanted traits of the guppy species. We can deduce which type of female, the male prefers by watching his behaviors towards the different models. Our experiment consisted of a total of 10 trials that lasted 5 minutes each. We had 5 different females; blue, purple, orange, white, and purple with a pregnant spot, each were placed in the tank with a control female so we could compare the behaviors. Our group hypothesized that male guppies will show more extreme mating behviors to brighter colored females. Our results have shown that there is a slight correlation between bright colored females and males mating choice.


Many neurologic and non-neurologic diseases can mimic Multiple Sclerosis. One of these conditions is silent
perinatal ischemic injury, which can mimic MS on brain MRI. Here, we present 3 cases of patients who presented to
the American University of Beirut Medical Center, Lebanon, and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, NC, USA, with
nonspecific neurologic symptoms and brain MRI findings that mimic MS. After an extensive workup and thorough
history, these patients recall having a prolonged and difficult delivery, which was the most probable cause of their
MRI findings given their distribution and their characteristics on MRI.


Background The current lack of pharmacological treatments for cannabis use disorder (CUD) warrants novel approaches and further investigation of promising pharmacotherapy. We previously showed that nabiximols (27 mg/ml Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)/ 25 mg/ml cannabidiol (CBD), Sativex®) can decrease cannabis withdrawal symptoms. Here, we assessed in a pilot study the tolerability and safety of self-titrated nabiximols vs. placebo among 40 treatment-seeking cannabis-dependent participants. Methods Subjects participated in a double blind randomized clinical trial, with as-needed nabiximols up to 113.4 mg THC/105 mg CBD or placebo daily for 12 weeks, concurrently with Motivational Enhancement Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (MET/CBT). Primary outcome measures were tolerability and abstinence, secondary outcome measures were days and amount of cannabis use, withdrawal, and craving scores. Participants received up to CDN$ 855 in compensation for their time. Results Medication was well tolerated and no serious adverse events (SAEs) were observed. Rates of adverse events did not differ between treatment arms (F1,39 = 0.205, NS). There was no significant change in abstinence rates at trial end. Participants were not able to differentiate between subjective effects associated with nabiximols or placebo treatments (F1,40 = 0.585, NS). Cannabis use was reduced in the nabiximols (70.5%) and placebo groups (42.6%). Nabiximols reduced cannabis craving but no significant differences between the nabiximols and placebo groups were observed on withdrawal scores. Conclusions Nabiximols in combination with MET/CBT was well tolerated and allowed for reduction of cannabis use. Future clinical trials should explore the potential of high doses of nabiximols for cannabis dependence.


The incursion of African swine fever virus (ASFV) into Eurasia presents a threat to the world's swine industry. Highly sensitive and specific diagnostic assays are urgently needed for rapid detection during an outbreak, post-outbreak investigation, and disease surveillance. In this study, a highly specific and repeatable blocking ELISA (bELISA) was developed using a recombinant p30 protein as the antigen combined with biotinylated mAb against p30 as the detection antibody. Initial test validation included sera from 810 uninfected animals and 106 animals experimentally inoculated with ASFV or recombinant alphavirus/adenovirus expressing p30. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis of the data calculated an optimal percentage of inhibition (PI) cutoff value of 45.92%, giving a diagnostic sensitivity of 98.11% and diagnostic specificity of 99.42%. The coefficient of variation of an internal quality control serum was 6.81% for between runs, 6.71% for within run, and 6.14% for within plate. A time course study of infected pigs showed that bELISA was able to detect seroconversion as early as 7 days post-inoculation. Taken together, these results demonstrate that bELISA can be used as an alternative serological test for detecting ASFV infection.


Reconstructing missing areas of arbitrary shape and size is particularly important in error-prone communication as well as in applications where motion compensation is conducted such as multi-image super-resolution or framerate up-conversion. To that end, frequency selective extrapolation is an effective image reconstruction technique. This approach was originally designed for block losses and has recently been enhanced by a centroid adaptation to improve the reconstruction quality in the case of arbitrarily shaped loss areas. In this paper, we reuse the idea of centroid adaptation and introduce a novel shape adaptation so as to better assign higher weights to more relevant pixels. Moreover, we propose to combine both the shape adaptation and the centroid adaptation into a joint solution to further improve the reconstruction quality. To evaluate the proposed method, three different loss patterns are used. Simulation results yield an average gain in luminance PSNR of up to 0.2 dB for the high quality profile and 3.4 dB for the high efficiency profile, respectively. A visual comparison confirms these results.


Planar and helical slow-wave circuits for THz radiation sources have been made using novel microfabrication and assembly methods. A biplanar slow-wave circuit for a 650 GHz backward wave oscillator (BWO) was fabricated through the growth of diamond into high aspect ratio silicon molds and the selective metallization of the tops and sidewalls of 90 µm tall diamond features using lithographically created shadow masks. Helical slow-wave circuits for a 650 GHz BWO and a 95 GHz traveling wave tube were created through the patterning of trenches in thin film diamond, electroplating of gold half-helices, and high accuracy bonding of helix halves. The development of new techniques for the microfabrication of vacuum electronic components will help to facilitate compact and high-power sources for terahertz range radiation.


A broad family of the nowadays studied low-dimensional systems, including 2D materials, demonstrate many fascinating properties, which however depend on the atomic composition as well as on the system dimensionality. Therefore, the studies of the electronic correlation effects in the new 2D materials is of paramount importance for the understanding of their transport, optical and catalytic properties. Here, by means of electron spectroscopy methods in combination with density functional theory calculations we investigate the electronic structure of a new layered van der Waals FePX 3 (X: S, Se) materials. Using systematic resonant photoelectron spectroscopy studies we observed strong resonant behavior for the peaks associated with the 3dn−1 final state at low binding energies for these materials. Such observations clearly assign FePX 3 to the class of Mott–Hubbard type insulators for which the top of the valence band is formed by the hybrid Fe-S/Se electronic states. These observations are important for the deep understanding of this new class of materials and draw perspectives for their further applications in different application areas, like (opto)spintronics and catalysis.


Biosensors based on field-effect transistors (FETs) have attracted much attention, as they offer rapid, inexpensive, and label-free detection. While the low sensitivity of FET biosensors based on bulk 3D structures has been overcome by using 1D structures (nanotubes/nanowires), the latter face severe fabrication challenges, impairing their practical applications. In this paper, we introduce and demonstrate FET biosensors based on molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), which provides extremely high sensitivity and at the same time offers easy patternability and device fabrication, due to its 2D atomically layered structure. A MoS2-based pH sensor achieving sensitivity as high as 713 for a pH change by 1 unit along with efficient operation over a wide pH range (3-9) is demonstrated. Ultrasensitive and specific protein sensing is also achieved with a sensitivity of 196 even at 100 femtomolar concentration. While graphene is also a 2D material, we show here that it cannot compete with a MoS2-based FET biosensor, which surpasses the sensitivity of that based on graphene by more than 74-fold. Moreover, we establish through theoretical analysis that MoS2 is greatly advantageous for biosensor device scaling without compromising its sensitivity, which is beneficial for single molecular detection. Furthermore, MoS2, with its highly flexible and transparent nature, can offer new opportunities in advanced diagnostics and medical prostheses. This unique fusion of desirable properties makes MoS2 a highly potential candidate for next-generation low-cost biosensors.


Graph neural networks exhibit remarkable performance in graph data analysis. However, the robustness of GNN models remains a challenge. As a result, they are not reliable enough to be deployed in critical applications. Recent studies demonstrate that GNNs could be easily fooled with adversarial perturbations, especially structural perturbations. Such vulnerability is attributed to the excessive dependence on the structure information to make predictions. To achieve better robustness, it is desirable to build the prediction of GNNs with more comprehensive features. Graph data, in most cases, has two views of information, namely structure information and feature information. In this paper, we propose CoG, a simple yet effective co-training framework to combine these two views for the purpose of robustness. CoG trains sub-models from the feature view and the structure view independently and allows them to distill knowledge from each other by adding their most confident unlabeled data into the training set. The orthogonality of these two views diversifies the sub-models, thus enhancing the robustness of their ensemble. We evaluate our framework on three popular datasets, and results show that CoG significantly improves the robustness of graph models against adversarial attacks without sacrificing their performance on clean data. We also show that CoG still achieves good robustness when both node features and graph structures are perturbed.


This paper presents a content-based image retrieval (CBIR) system using multiple Hierarchical Temporal Memory classifiers. in order to improve the efficiency of image management and retrieval, the CBIR system proposed in this paper take advantage of Hierarchical Temporal Memory Algorithm which replicates the structure and function of the human neocortex. in this study, multiple Hierarchical Temporal Memory classifiers were used to provide an intelligent system that aims to understand a query image's category semantics, rather than the low-level image features for image indexing and retrieval. the system supports query by example image, the experiments based on Internet images show the efficiency of our method.


The purpose of this study is to accumulate data to predict the ruptures of aneurysms on the bifurcation of the middle cerebral arteries at the base of the brain. Particular stress is laid on understanding the elemental nature of branch flows with/without an aneurysm. Therefore, "flow patterns" and "wall shear stress", which are important factors for the causes of ruptures, are investigated by the three-dimensional experiments in vitro and the two-dimensional numerical simulations with simplified models. In the branch arteries without an aneurysm, there is a possibility of growing aneurysms at the location slightly away from a stagnation point. If an aneurysm forms into a centrosymmetric shape for the inlet axis, it is considered that they tend to grow further in a symmetrical plane. From the viewpoint of the risk of ruptures, recirculation flows become problematic with the lower Reynolds number, while the influence of wall shear stress becomes larger with the higher Reynolds number.


Twenty cases of mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome (MCLS), from Fall 1984 to April 1986, are included in this study. The serial immunoglobulin levels including IgG, IgA, IgM showed polyclonal increased immunoglobulin levels during the first month. Only one-fourth of patients had high serum IgE levels. There was no correlation with house dust mite antigen skin test and anti-mite IgE levels. By using the polyethylene glycol and ELISA methods, IgE-circulating immune complexes were detectable in 60% of high serum IgE patients. IgG-circulating immune complexes were also detected in 70% by the polyethylene glycol method and 60% by Raji cell method. CH50 and serum properdin factor B level increased during acute febrile phase. Serial T cell subset studies showed OKT4 cells decreased progressively and OKT8 levels were within normal range during the first and second week. By the third week, OKT4 cells increased and OKT8 cells decreased. This progressed to the fifth week and returned to normal range 2 months later. During the acute febrile phase of the first week, Leu2+15+ cells increased and Leu2+15- cells decreased. After the second week, the Leu2+15+ cells decreased and Leu2+15- cells increased. This increase continued to the fifth week when the Leu2+15+ cells were at the lowest level and the Leu2+15- cells at the higher level corresponding to the OKT8 change. After the fifth week, the Leu2+15+ cells and Leu2+15- cells returned to normal. Patients had increased antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxic reaction at the first week of the acute febrile stage. It decreased dramatically in the second week and returned to normal 2 months later.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


We are evaluating teledental consultations at the interface between primary and secondary care, between general dental practices in Highland and Island communities and the restorative dental consultant in Aberdeen. Teledentistry is the provision of oral health-care services from distant sites for realtime and off-line diagnosis, treatment planning and review. The benefits of teledentistry in the provision of secondary care to a remote community are:


In this paper, we study the application of physical layer network coding to the joint design of uplink and downlink transmissions, where the base station and the relay have multiple antennas, and all mobile stations only have a single antenna. A new network coding transmission protocol is proposed, where uplink and downlink transmissions can be accomplished within two time slots. Since each single antenna user has poor receive capability, precoding at the base station and relay has been carefully designed to ensure that co-channel interference can be removed completely. Explicit analytic results have been developed to demonstrate that the multiplexing gain achieved by the proposed transmission protocol is , much better than existing time sharing schemes. To further increase the achievable diversity gain, two variations of the proposed transmission protocols have also been proposed when there are multiple relays and the number of the antennas at the base station and relay is increased. Monte-Carlo simulation results have also been provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed network coded transmission protocol.


Roadside plantings along urban and rural road corridors are designed to create visual effects as well as to provide functional benefits such as shading, screening or routing. Considering their potential for daily public use, roads and road corridors, as significant visual impact centers, can attract people's attention and affect their points of view. Poplar species, which grow rapidly and easily along road corridors and can adapt to different ecological conditions swiftly, are used widely in both urban and rural landscapes in Turkey. The main objective of this study was to determine the visual structures dependent on the road-plant relationships of the poplar compositions that play an important role in shaping the roadside landscapes. For this purpose, compositions of poplar trees in selected urban and rural road corridors throughout Turkey were photographed and visual analysis techniques (VATs) were applied to determine visual preferences. Participants (n= 35) were shown 30 photographs, selected from the nearly 1000 taken, of road corridor poplar plantings and their evaluations were recorded in a questionnaire. In this survey, the people were requested to evaluate their appreciation levels towards the plantings as well as to express their other visual preferences and to assess visual quality. In addition, the association of all these evaluations with the demographic characteristics of the participants were determined. A correlation analysis was then performed to identify the relationships among all the visual assessments and a cluster analysis was conducted according to the visual status of the photographs in order to determine their groups. In the results of the study, the poplar trees, either individually or in the form of compositions, were reported to have a significant visual diversity. Moreover, the cluster analysis found the resulting three groups to be associated with leaf density, seasonal conditions and the trees as individuals or in groups. The seasonal variation factor in particular was shown to be visually effective in the poplar compositions. It was determined that visual perception of the poplar plantations differed in accordance with the demographic differences. This work established that poplar plantations as single trees or in groups and their proximity to the road altered visual preferences, and consequently, some suggestions were made concerning the use of poplars in roadside landscape planning.


STUDY OBJECTIVES
Obesity is a common feature of narcolepsy. In addition, an increased occurrence of non-insulin dependent diabetes has been reported. So far, it is not known whether glucose metabolism in narcolepsy is disturbed due to, or independently of obesity.

DESIGN
Case-control study.

SETTING
Sleep medicine clinic at a research institute.

PATIENTS
We studied 17 patients with narcolepsy/cataplexy compared to 17 healthy controls matched for age, sex, and body mass index (BMI).

INTERVENTIONS
A 75-g oral glucose tolerance test was performed.

MEASUREMENTS
Glucose tolerance was determined by computing plasma glucose curve following oral glucose challenge for 240 minutes; insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion by homeostasis model assessment and minimal model analysis.

RESULTS
Standard outcome measures and indices of the oral glucose tolerance test did not differ between the patient group and the group of control subjects.

CONCLUSIONS
In this study, no clinically relevant pathologic findings in the glucose metabolism of narcoleptic patients compared to weight matched controls were found. Thus, narcolepsy is unlikely to be a risk factor per se for impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes.


Motivated by the previous literature on investor sentiment and assuming that terrorist activities affect investor mood, this study attempts to address the psychological impact of terrorism for investors in Pakistan stock market. Apart from a direct economic loss, major terrorist incidents create/exacerbate uncertainty and fear in the market. The investors are likely to over-respond to such incidents and once the dust settles the market tend to recover. The analysis of cumulative abnormal returns in the aftermaths of terrorist incidents and the volume analysis provide strong evidence that the terrorist incidents adversely affect investors' sentiments and confidence in the market as manifested through relatively feeble trading volumes.


We found that CS mice exhibit an extremely low immobility time (almost no immobility) in both the tail suspension test (TST) and forced swimming test (FST). In these tests, animals are subjected to the short-term, inescapable stress of being suspended by their tail or being forced to swim in a water-filled cylinder. In such situations, the animals rapidly adopt a characteristic immobile posture that has been named "behavioral despair" on the assumption that the animals have given up hope of escaping. These tests have been widely used for assessing antidepressant activity and depression-like behavior. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping using CS and C57BL/6J mice revealed significant QTLs on chromosomes (Chrs) 4 (FST) and 5 (TST and FST). To identify the quantitative trait gene on Chr 5, we narrowed the QTL interval to 0.5 Mb using several congenic and subcongenic strains. Ubiquitin-specific peptidase 46 (Usp46) with a lysine codon deletion was located in this region. This deletion affected nest-building, muscimol-induced righting reflex and anti-immobility effects of imipramine. The muscimol-induced current in the hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons and hippocampal expression of the 67-kDa isoform of glutamic acid decarboxylase significantly decreased in the Usp46 mutant mice compared to control mice. All these phenotypes were rescued in transgenic mice with bacterial artificial chromosomes containing wild-type Usp46. Thus, Usp46 affects "behavioral despair" and it is implicated in the regulation of GABA action.


In the sustainable production of non-fossil fuels, water oxidation is pivotal. Development of efficient catalysts based on manganese is desirable because this element is earth-abundant, inexpensive, and largely non-toxic. We report an electrodeposited Mn oxide (MnCat) that catalyzes electrochemical water oxidation at neutral pH at rates that approach the level needed for direct coupling to photoactive materials. By choice of the voltage protocol we could switch between electrodeposition of inactive Mn oxides (deposition at constant anodic potentials) and synthesis of the active MnCat (deposition by voltage-cycling protocols). Electron microscopy reveals that the MnCat consists of nanoparticles (100 nm) with complex fine-structure. X-ray spectroscopy reveals that the amorphous MnCat resembles the biological paragon, the water-splitting Mn4Ca complex of photosynthesis, with respect to mean Mn oxidation state (ca. +3.8 in the MnCat) and central structural motifs. Yet the MnCat functions without calcium or other bivalent ions. Comparing the MnCat with electrodeposited Mn oxides inactive in water oxidation, we identify characteristics that likely are crucial for catalytic activity. In both inactive Mn oxides and active ones (MnCat), extensive di-μ-oxo bridging between Mn ions is observed. However in the MnCat, the voltage-cycling protocol resulted in formation of MnIII sites and prevented formation of well-ordered and unreactive MnIVO2. Structure–function relations in Mn-based water-oxidation catalysts and strategies to design catalytically active Mn-based materials are discussed. Knowledge-guided performance optimization of the MnCat could pave the road for its technological use.


Selective laser melting (SLM) is an advanced manufacturing technology, which is flexible in building three-dimensional (3D) metallic parts. In this work, SLM experiment of a multicomponent Ni-based composite powder, which consisted of Ni, Cr, Fe, and Al powders, was conducted with favorable forming ability. The SEM, EDX, and XRD analysis were used to characterize the surface morphology, microstructure, and phase structure of as-formed Ni-based alloy. The XRD analysis showed that the as-received phase structure was Ni based solid solution. The SEM analysis of surface morphology revealed that metal agglomerates or balls were very easily formed in SLM surface, between which some pore channels existed. The surface condition and porosity could be improved by increasing laser energy input, because of a higher molten temperature and accordingly better flowing and flatting characteristics. The SEM analysis of microstructure showed that the crystalline grains were in cellular and columnar shape. Moreover, the grains were very fine with average dimensions about 5μm, due to the rapid cooling rate with rapid laser beam moving. The EDX analysis illustrated that the element contents of starting powder were uniformly distributed in as-prepared sample. A case investigation into SLM of this composite powder to form an impeller was also performed.


The Guide to I.T. Contracting' is a complete guide to contracting for all I.T. contractors and anyone planning on entering this exciting and lucrative market. The book covers how to form a Limited Company, using an umbrella company, job hunting, interviewing, improving the chances of contract renewal, rate negotiation and rate setting, training and certification, tax minimisation, tax efficient investing, contracting abroad, contractor's etiquette, selecting a bank, selecting an accountant, buying insurance cover, buying a home as a contractor and much more. 'The Guide to I.T. Contracting' is specifically written for ambitious I.T. contractors, offers many insider 'secrets' and is full of useful and practical information.


Introduction
Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (sabr) is a relatively new technique for the curative-intent treatment of patients with inoperable early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (nsclc). Previous studies have demonstrated a prognostic value for positron emission tomography-computed tomography (pet/ct) parameters, including maximal standardized uptake value (suvmax), metabolic tumour volume (mtv), and total lesion glycolysis (tlg) in lung cancer patients. We aimed to determine which pet/ct parameter is most prognostic of local control (lc) and overall survival (os) in patients treated with sabr for nsclc.

Methods
We conducted a retrospective review of patients treated with sabr for stage I inoperable nsclc at BC Cancer between 2009 and 2013. The Akaike information criterion was used to compare the prognostic value of the various pet/ct parameters.

Results
The study included 134 patients with a median age of 76 years. Median tumour diameter was 2.2 cm, gross tumour volume was 8.1 mL, suvmax was 7.9, mtv was 2.4 mL, and tlg was 10.9 suv·mL. The 2-year lc was 92%, and os was 66%. On univariate and multivariate analysis, imaging variables including tumour size, gross tumour volume, suvmax, mtv, and tlg were all associated with worse lc. Tumour size was not associated with significantly worse os, but other imaging variables were. The pet/ct parameter most prognostic of lc was mtv. Compared with suvmax, tlg and mtv were more prognostic of os.

Conclusions
In patients with early-stage nsclc treated with sabr, mtv appears to be prognostic of lc and os.


The ideas presented in this paper are challenged especially by the certain critical questions concerning web-based interaction and the qualitative analysis of such interaction and learning. The question arises whether the students from different contexts and countries are able to reach such interaction that would lead them to educationally relevant higher-level discussion and learning in web-based environments. Furthermore, as this field of study is fairly novel, there is a shortage of established methodologies for analysing computer-mediated communication and the complex phenomena it encompasses. In this presentation, we attempt to find new approaches to discover how people establish and maintain a common ground in interaction, particularly in situations where students are working collaboratively in a web-based environment. In order to construct the common ground, students share mutual understanding, knowledge, beliefs, assumptions and pre-suppositions. The common ground can be constructed and maintained during the interactive process called grounding. The study described in this paper is a part of the Finnish research project SHAPE (Sharing and Making Perspectives in Virtual Interaction).


The paper discusses the results emerging from a research carried out on a social housing intervention currently in progress in Turin, Northern Italy. The aim of the research relays in defining a model useful to control the building integrated sustainability, especially regarding some designing and operative variables such as plants typology, building technologies or inhabitants income burdens, all affecting housing cost components as well as the operating margin of the building manager.The methodological approach is based on the application of a financial-economic and dynamic tool finalized to simulate cash flows scenarios depending on variations to be applied to different variables such as energetic performances of the building, average rents per type of dwelling, etc.The emerging results evidence that it is effectively possible to balance the housing costs components (rent rates and operating expenses) with the energetic performances of the building, reducing up to 60% the energetic expenses and up to10% the 'housing cost' as a whole. The results highlight the added value acquirable by real estate promoters and developers in testing ex-ante technical, designing and managerial choices by means of flexible scenarios.The value of the analysis lies in showing how to take into account architecture, plants and relative impacts on housing costs, in order to define the best mix of technical and operating inputs, to foresee and adjust the economic and social variables, also in relation to a specific urban location and a peculiar mixite of inhabitants.


The delivery process is determined by several factors that influence it, one of which is from the mother and fetus side (Psychology, Power, Passage, Passanger, Position and Placenta). Childbirth can proceed normally (Euthocia) if these factors are met properly. This type of research is an observational study using a comparative study and a cross sectional approach, namely observing the position of labor (upright position and recumbent position) and observing the duration of second labor. The population in this study were mothers who gave birth at PMB Sari Nurhayati. The sampling technique used purposive sampling.  The results of the Mann Whitney test analysis showed ρ value of 0.009 (ρ <0.05), which means that there is a significant difference between the upright position and the recumbent position. The average length of time II in the upright position was 11.3 minutes, while in the recumbent position group was 19.7 minutes.


A quantitative theory of 1/f type noise is derived from the distribution of trapping times for charges in interface states. The distribution of trapping times has been recently explained quantitatively by means of a random distribution of surface potential caused by a random distribution over the plane of the interface of fixed charges located in the oxide. This model, which agrees with the interface state time constant dispersion measured by the MIS conductance technique, leads to a noise spectrum which is independent of frequency at very low frequencies, tends towards a 1/f2dependence at high frequencies, and has an extended 1/f frequency dependence at intermediate frequencies. The mechanism for time constant dispersion is independent of temperature and silicon resistivity; it depends only on the majority carrier density at the silicon surface, the interface state density, and the density of fixed oxide charges. The dependence of open circuit mean square noise voltage on these parameters and frequency are illustrated for an MOS capacitor.


Risk averse behavior are psychological barriers for investor to join the capital market. Risk averse behavior will restrict the investor financial decision, so it needs to be anticipated through improving financial literacy. Low financial literacy increases the evaluation frequency, hence the risk averse behavior will increased and reduce the return. This problem can be prevented by increasing financial literacy so that the investor  will behave as a risk seeker and increase the return. This paper aims to examine factors that are affected the investor returns. Multiple linear regression analyses using SPSS 20 was utilized to see the effect of financial literacy, evaluation frequency, maxhold, investment duration, technical analysis, and fundamental analysis against return increasing. The results showed that financial literacy and investment durations were positively significant towards investor returns, the use of technical analysis negatively significant towards investor returns, while insufficient evidence to Indicates that the frequency of evaluation, max hold, and the use of fundamental analysis affects investors returns at a 90 percent confidence level.


Consistent Mode Imperfections Method based on eigenvalue buckling mode is widely adopted in the stability analysis for the spatial steel structures with initial geometrical imperfections, i.e. latticed shells, thin shells, etc. Taking the new type hybrid structure of suspendome as the analytical object, the applicability of Consistent Mode Imperfections Method is discussed. The effects on structural stability are probed arisen by the factors such as different initial reference loads and different order eigenvalue buckling modes. It is indicated that this stability analysis method can be quite fit for the spatial structures such as latticed shells, while for suspendomes, the initial reference load has a distinct effect upon the analytical result obtained by the stability analysis method. Moreover, it is not always to dominate calculating result when selecting the first order eigenvalue buckling mode as the distributing pattern of initial geometrical imperfections. As a result, some measures should be taken to improve the accuracy in evaluating the stability bearing capacity of the structures with Consistent Mode Imperfections Method based on eigenvalue buckling mode.


The initial stage of drug development is the hit (active) compound search from a pool of millions of compounds; for this process, in silico (virtual) screening has been successfully applied. One of the problems of in silico screening, however, is the low hit ratio in relation to the high computational cost and the long CPU time. This problem becomes serious in structure-based in silico screening. The major reason is the low accuracy of the estimation of protein-compound binding free energy. The problem of ligand-based in silico screening is that the conventional quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) approach is not effective at predicting new hit compounds with new scaffolds. Recently, machine-learning approaches have been applied to in silico drug screening to overcome the above problems. We review here machine-learning approaches for both structure-based and ligand-based drug screening. Machine learning is used to improve database enrichment in two ways, namely by improving the docking score calculated by the protein-compound docking program and by calculating the optimal distance between the feature vectors of active and inactive compounds. Both approaches require compounds that are known to be active with respect to the target protein. In structure-based screening, the former approach is mainly used with a protein-compound affinity matrix. In ligand-based screening, both the former and latter approaches are used, and the latter approach can be applied to various kinds of descriptors, such as 1D/2D descriptors/fingerprints and the affinity fingerprint given by the protein-compound affinity matrix.


Background: Although trabecular bone is highly porous heterogeneous composite, most studies use homogenized continuum finite element (FE) approaches to model trabecular bone. Such models neglect the porous nature of the tissue. When microstructural models are desired, the use of continuum elements may require costly CT/MRI imaging and detailed meshing. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate an approach that simulates trabecular bone with less dependency on medical images while capturing of porosity.
 Methods: A stochastic structural FE model was created representing the trabecular micro-architecture as beam elements. Beam orientation, length and connectivity were stochastically determined by random placement of nodes and meshing the resulting Voronoi diagram. Boundary conditions were applied on the structure to attain normalized axial and shear strain. Also, apparent mechanical properties, apparent densities and anisotropy ratio's were calculated from the model output.
 Results: The number of generated nodes within the model and cross sectional area of the random beams were observed as parameters that affect model outcome. Trabecular bone apparent density was found highly correlated to beams cross sectional area rather than the generated number of nodes. Similarly, Young's moduli and shear moduli were dependent on beams cross sectional area. For example, a (0.015 mm2) increase in beam cross section area can produce (175 MPa, 30 MPa and 0.55 g/cm3) increases in Young's moduli, shear moduli and apparent density, respectively.
 Clinical Relevance: The proposed finite element technique provides a stochastically accurate structural representation of trabecular tissue and its reaction to applied loads. It incorporates several advantages of high fidelity methods but at lower cost and requiring only clinical imaging. Therefore, the approach may be useful for patient specific musculo-skeletal biomechanical models (e.g. osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, joint replacement and implants interface).


Hepatoma-derived growth factor (HDGF) is a secreted heparin-binding growth factor that has been implicated in cancer development and progression. Here, we report that HDGF is a critical target for transcriptional repression by the tumor suppressor p53. Endogenous HDGF expression was decreased in cancer cells with introduction of wild-type p53, which also downregulated HDGF expression after DNA damage. In support of the likelihood that HDGF is a critical driver of cancer cell growth, addition of neutralizing HDGF antibodies to culture media was sufficient to block cell growth, migration, and invasion. Similarly, these effects were elicited by conditioned culture medium from p53-expressing cells, and they could be reversed by the addition of recombinant human HDGF. Interestingly, we found that HDGF was overexpressed also in primary gastric, breast, and lung cancer tissues harboring mutant p53 genes. Mechanistic investigations revealed that p53 repressed HDGF transcription by altering HDAC-dependent chromatin remodeling. Taken together, our results reveal a new pathway in which loss of p53 function contributes to the aggressive pathobiological potential of human cancers by elevating HDGF expression.


Zambia's strong dependence on copper exports has suppressed other tradables sectors, indicative of a Dutch disease phenomenon. The current copper crisis will have strong economic effects, possibly reversing such Dutch disease effects. We use a computable general equilibrium model built around a 1995 social accounting matrix to simulate the short- and long-run effects of two scenarios that reflect the current crisis, a 20 percent reduction in world copper prices and a complete collapse of copper mining. Compared to the short run, the long run is characterized by more flexibility in production technology and capital allocation. Both scenarios require a significant reduction in the "non-copper" trade deficit, absorption, and household consumption. The strongest effects occur under the short-run mining-collapse scenario where household consumption falls by 13 percent and the real exchange rate depreciates by 42 percent. In the long run, these effects are approximately half as strong. The short- and long-run impacts of a 20 percent fall in world copper prices include a cut in household consumption by 4-5 percent and real depreciation by 7-10 percent. For all scenarios, the welfare losses for rural households are below the national average. Given that per-capita consumption is lower in rural areas, inequality falls. This distributional outcome is driven by the fact that the agro-food-fiber complex, which produces outputs that are relatively tradable, expands relative to the rest of the economy in terms of value-added, employment, and exports, suggesting that the copper crisis may induce an agricultural renaissance.