In men under the age of 35 years, testicular cancer is the most prevalent solid tumor. Additional treatment is necessary for many people with nonseminomatus germ cell tumors (NSGCTs). Whether in conjunction with chemotherapy or as a stand-alone procedure, retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND) continues to play a critical role in the treatment of these patients. There is a lack of information in Saudi Arabian literature about the long-term oncologic outcome of NSGCT following RPLND surgery.

 The study's goals were to identify clinical and pathological characteristics related with long-term survival following NSGCT for RPLND, as well as to assess the surgical and oncological results of this treatment.

 From January 2010 to April 2021, nine adults who had had orchidectomy for testicular cancer and RPLND following treatment for the evidence of persistent NSGCT disease at our hospital were included in this retrospective research. Demographic information, laboratory results, radiological findings, staging, chemotherapy and radiotherapy status, surgical procedure details, perioperative problems, morbidity, and mortality were all acquired from patients' medical records. Rates of disease return and overall survival. SPSS was utilized for the data analysis.

 During the study period, nine patients with NSGCT underwent RPLND, with a mean age of 28 years (5.4: standard deviation). The most common diseases were yolk sac and embryonal cell cancer. In addition to receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy, all patients had a Clavien–Dindo score of 2, and there was no mortality after RPLND. Overall median survival time was 26, and disease-free survival time was 21 months. Overall survival at 1 year was 86%, and at 5 years, it was 66%. The prognosis of embryonal cell cancer was more optimistic than that of a tumor of the yolk sac.

 We have shown that RPLND has an extremely low rate of morbidity and postoperative problems. In terms of oncology, it results in adequate overall and disease-free survival rates, with low morbidity and postoperative complications.


Murine model organisms are an essential tool in the scientific community quest to decipher the molecular etiology of human diseases. Currently, several methods are used to induce or reproduce human diseases in mouse models using advanced genetic engineering techniques to mutate the wild-type genes. We utilized the Baygenomics gene-trap method to study the effects of two mammalian genes: FOXN3 and CHD2. The Forkhead Box (FOX) family of transcription factors shares a common DNA-binding domain and has been associated with organ development, differentiation, cell growth and proliferation, and cancer. Meanwhile, the CHD (Chromodomain helicase DNA binding protein) family of proteins is known to be involved in chromatin remodeling and regulation of gene expression. Phenotypic analysis of Foxn3 mutant animals revealed its indispensible role in craniofacial and embryonic development, embryonic lethality, expression of bone morphogenetic proteins, and spontaneous development of cancers in heterozygous and homozygous mutant mice. Preliminary evaluation of molecular mechanisms of FOXN3 signifies deregulation of cell-cycle checkpoint proteins Cyclin-B1 and CDK2 as the underlying etiology of tumors. Chd2 mutant mice exhibit spontaneous thymic and splenic lymphomas and reduced lifespan which can be restored through Chd2 re-expression in the thymus. At the molecular level, CHD2 deficiency reduces Puma (p53-upregulated modulator of apoptosis) induction after DNA damage in mouse thymocytes and HCT116 cells. Additionally, CHD2 is enriched at the Puma locus after DNA damage. CHD2-deficient cells also exhibit global reduction of active transcription markers H3K9-Acetylated and H4K8-Acetylated. Table of


In a pulse oximeter, clean artifact-free photoplethysmographic (PPG) signals with clearly separable DC and AC parts are necessary for error-free estimation of arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2). Motion artifacts (MA) introduced in the PPG signals due to the movement of a patient result in a significant error in the readings of pulse oximeters and hence are a common cause of oximeter failure and loss of accuracy. In this paper, we present a comparative analysis of using different wavelets for the case of MA reduction from corrupted PPG signals. PPG signals with frequently encountered artifacts (horizontal, vertical and bending motions of finger) were recorded from the subjects and processed with different wavelets. Simulation results and statistical analysis revealed that the Daubechies wavelet performed well for obtaining clean motion artifact-free PPG signal. Interestingly, the wavelet based method proved to be efficient in reducing MA restoring the respiratory information in tact with the PPG.


On the basis of patterns of haemocyte ultrastructure and functions at preimago and imago stages of Metrioptera roeselii, secretory cells of granulocyte type were recognized in the haemolymph. The development of granulocytes was traced starting from their formation up to cell death and destruction. The haemocytes develop as "dark" and "light" cells, differing in their functional activity, although their ultrastructure is similar. In the cytoplasm of granulocytes, granules of both mitochondrial and nuclear origin were detected. Simultaneously two processes occur in the cells--the accumulation and discharge of granules.


Camera traps are being increasingly used in biological surveys. One of the most common uses of camera trap data is the generation of species inventories and estimations of species richness. Many authors have advocated for increased camera trap-nights (long deployment times or more cameras in an array) to detect rare or wide-ranging species. However, in practice, the number of traps and the duration of surveys are constrained; a survey leader must make decisions about allocating the available cameras to sites. Here we investigate the effect of deployment time, camera array size and number of sites on detection of saxicoline mammal and varanid species obtained from surveys of discrete vegetation pockets in tropical Australia. This paper provides an analysis method for optimising decisions about how a limited number of cameras should be deployed across sites. We found that increasing the number of sites leads to larger species richness estimates in a shorter period. Increasing the number of cameras per site also leads to higher species richness estimates in a shorter time, but not to the same extent as increasing the number of sites. With fewer sites used or smaller arrays deployed at each site, a longer deployment duration is required, especially for rarer or wider-ranging species, or those not attracted to bait. Finally, we compared estimates of species richness generated by our camera trapping to those generated by live trapping at a subset of our sites, and found camera traps generated much larger estimates.


In this paper, we present evidence that some novice programmers have the ability to hand execute (" trace ") small pieces of code and yet are not able to explain what that code does. That evidence is consistent with neo-Piagetian stage theory of programming. Novices who cannot trace code are working at the first stage, the sensorimotor stage. Novices who are working at the preoperational stage, the second stage, can trace code but do not yet have a well-developed ability to reason about the code's purpose, other than by induction from input/output pairs. The third stage, the concrete operational stage, is the first stage where novices can reliably reason about code. We present data from think aloud sessions that contrast the behaviour of preoperational and concrete students while they attempt to reason about code.


A hybrid zone is a spatial area in which two genetically and phenotypically different
populations of the same species (so called divergent ecotypes) meet and produce
viable and fertile offspring. Hybrid zones are commonly observed in nature. Examples
include hybrid zones found in the sea snail Littorina saxatilis on the Swedish
West coast. This species has formed two divergent ecotypes (a crab-exposed and a
wave-exposed one) as a response to the adaptation to the local environmental conditions,
primarily the presence and absence of crabs, respectively. However, other
environmental conditions, such as the presence of additional species' interactions
in a given ecosystem, may have contributed to the formation and maintenance of
the hybrid zones observed. The spatial positions of the environmental transitions
corresponding to different environmental factors may or may not coincide with each
other. Yet, most theoretical studies on hybrid zones assume only a single environmental
transition in the habitat in question (Gay et al. 2008; but see Slatkin, 1975).
These studies have shown that allele frequencies at the locus under selection exhibit
a sigmoid-like function of the spatial position in the habitat (so called genetic
clines). However, when analyzing empirical data, it is of crucial interest to answer:
Is the hybrid zone in question subject to multiple, spatially separated, environmental
transitions? To answer this question, it is necessary to understand how the presence
of multiple environmental transitions is reflected in spatial patterns of genetic
variation at the loci under selection. Slatkin (1975) considered a model with two
environmental transitions, assuming that two loci are under the selection pressures
imposed by these environmental changes. His main finding concerns the relationship
between the average cline centres at the two loci under selection in dependence of
the recombination rate between the loci, and the distance between the two environmental
transitions. However, these results are insufficient to answer under which
conditions it becomes possible to detect multiple environmental transitions in the
habitat based on empirical genetic data on allele frequencies. To answer this question
it is necessary to estimate the probability distributions of the cline centers at
the two loci, and the corresponding mixture distribution. Notably, in the case of
a single environmental transition the distribution of cline centers is unimodal. By
contrast, and as shown in this thesis, in the case of two environmental transitions
the resulting mixture distribution may be bimodal. A bimodal mixture distribution
is a direct indicator of the existence of two environmental changes. Using a test of
bimodality, I estimate the critical value of the distance between the two environmental
transitions above which a bimodal pattern of the mixture distribution of cline
centres emerges. These results can be further improved by assessing the patterns
of neutral loci linked to the loci under selection, and the bias these may introduce
when inferring the presence of multiple environmental transitions in the hybrid zone
in question.


Accurate depiction of existing traffic states is essential to devise effective real-time traffic management strategies using Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). Existing applications of Dynamic Traffic Assignment (DTA) methods are mainly based on either the prediction from macroscopic traffic flow models or measurements from the sensors and do not take advantage of traffic state estimation techniques, which produce estimate of the traffic states with less uncertainty than the prediction or measurement alone. On the other hand, research studies highlighting estimation of real-time traffic state are focused only on traffic state estimation and have not utilized the estimated traffic state for DTA applications. This research introduces a framework which integrates real-time traffic state estimate with applications of DTA to optimize network performance during uncertain traffic conditions through traveller information system.
The estimate of real-time traffic states is obtained by combining the prediction of traffic density using Cell Transmission Model (CTM) and the measurements from the traffic sensors in Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) recursive algorithm. The estimated traffic state is used for predicting travel times on available routes in a traffic network and the predicted travel times are communicated to the commuters by a variable message sign (VMS). In numerical experiments, the proposed estimation and information framework is applied to optimize network performance during traffic incident on a two route network. The proposed framework significantly improved the network performance and commuters' travel time when compared with no-information scenario during the incident. The application of the formulated methodology is extended to model day-to-day dynamics of traffic flow and route choice with time-varying traffic demand. The day-to-day network performance is improved by providing accurate and reliable traveller information. The implementation of the proposed framework through numerical experiments shows a significant improvement in daily travel times and stability in day-to-day performance of the network when compared with no-information scenario.
The use of model based real-time traffic state estimation in DTA models allows modelling and estimating behaviour parameters in DTA models which improves the accuracy of the modelling process. In this research, a framework is proposed to model commuters' level of trust in the information provided which defines the weight given to the information by commuters while they update their perception about expected travel time. A methodology is formulated to model and estimate logit parameter for perception variation among commuters for expected travel time based on measurements from traffic sensors and estimated traffic state. The application of the proposed framework to a test network shows that the model accurately estimated the value of logit parameter when started with a different initial value of the parameter.


Removal of zinc from aqueous solutions by 15 species of plant leaves was studied. The maximum efficiency of removal was found to be by walnut and poplar leaves at pH 6 with a maximum removal of 82%. Increasing the concentration of plant leaves increased the removal of zinc up to a limit. Agitation of solution increased the efficiency of the removal process. The presence of competing and complexing agents affected the removal process negatively but also positively in few cases.


Despite the effective pharmacological management of the disease over the last two decades, many individuals with RA continue to have psychological distress, and this is associated with poor outcomes. Addressing psychological issues hand in hand with pharmacological treatment will help to maximize outcomes for people with RA. Self-management (SM) is of utmost importance for people with rheumatoid arthritis to minimize their complaints, reduce clinic visits, and reduce disability. Considering the continuous update on the guidelines for disease management, non-pharmacological management remains a poorly addressed need of importance. In this chapter, we will introduce the current and progress of self-management in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.


The fundamental frequency (F0) represents pitch in speech that determines prosodic characteristics of speech and is needed in various tasks for speech analysis and synthesis. Despite decades of research on this topic, F0 estimation at low signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) in unexpected noise conditions remains difficult. This work proposes a new approach to noise robust F0 estimation using a recurrent neural network (RNN) trained in a supervised manner. Recent studies employ deep neural networks (DNNs) for F0 tracking as a frame-by-frame classification task into quantised frequency states but we propose waveform-to-sinusoid regression instead to achieve both noise robustness and accurate estimation with increased frequency resolution.
Experimental results with PTDB-TUG corpus contaminated by additive noise (NOISEX-92) demonstrate that the proposed method improves gross pitch error (GPE) rate and fine pitch error (FPE) by more than 35 % at SNRs between -10 dB and +10 dB compared with well-known noise robust F0 tracker, PEFAC. Furthermore, the proposed method also outperforms state-of-the-art DNN-based approaches by more than 15 % in terms of both FPE and GPE rate over the preceding SNR range.


There has been a considerable amount of discussion concerning partial discharge (PD) measurements on medium voltage motors and generators. If one considers the total plant electrical distribution system and production equipment, motors comprise only a small part of the plant electrical equipment. If a motor should fail, part of production will likely be shut down and there will be lost revenue. However, there is a wide variety of other equipment in a facility besides a motor that can fail and can have a much more devastating effect on the plant's production. Additional items to consider for partial discharge monitoring are the plant incoming transformers (they may be owned by the plant if the plant is purchasing primary power), the incoming switchgear, cables, bus duct, other remote substation switchgear and power center transformers. Methods have been developed for monitoring partial discharges in all types of medium voltage equipment. This paper discusses application of sensors, methods of measurement and data interpretation and presents several case studies.


Faced with resistance from civil society, pressured by an increasingly volatile world, handicapped by the loss of the cover of secrecy, disarmed of plausible deniability, and driven by the sustainability agenda, the UN and national governments have become desperate and isolated and have been forced to adopt a new strategy of population control that no longer relies on their lost ability to turn man against man but on a newly gained ability to turn nature against man. Population control via chemically-induced sterility and morbidity over the course of a lifetime through the adulteration of the basic elements of life with endocrine disruptors is being phased out as more ambitious depopulation targets via vaccine-induced apoptosis through mandatory immunization programmes are being phased in. This new methodology of subverting fertility and increasing mortality, the two means of stable populations, implemented under the guise of societal interventions for public health outcomes with the help of a new global instrument of coercion called 'public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) requires far fewer financial and human resources but entails far greater risks for mankind and for all life on earth. This methodology allows for the concomitant pursuit of peak population and peak life expectancy by genetically programming sterility and morbidity early in life through childhood vaccines so the engineered demographic transition is accomplished worldwide by 2050 in the most economical fashion and with the furthest timeframe of responsibility, but also with little or no regard to the integrity of human life, fully outside the law and in defiance of constitutional guarantees.


The purpose of this paper will be to study the evolution of inequality and poverty in Uruguay between 1989 and 1997. We found that from 1991 there was an increase wage inequality in Uruguay and poverty changed little, decreased until 1993 and then increased and deprivation increased. Near a half of poor people in Uruguay are children and old people contribute very little to poverty.


There is a rapid advancement in wireless communication technology providing the network services anywhere and anytime. 4G communication systems are being developed to solve the various problems the current communication systems (3G, 2.5G) are facing.4G will be an intelligent technology that will reduce the number of different technologies to a single global standard. Cognitive Radio (CR) is the key enabling technology for next generation networks. Cognitive Radio techniques provide the capability to use or share the spectrum in an opportunistic manner. With the use of CR, 4G wireless networks will support global roaming across multiple wireless and mobile networks. In this paper, the Role of CR in 4G Communications is reviewed. The recent research being done on Cognitive Radio and 4G technologies is identified. The main possibilities of implementing Cognitive Radios in 4G Communication Systems are surveyed. IEEE 802.22 networks are cognitive technology based networks which will enhance the performance of 4G Communication systems. IEEE 802.16h (WiMAX) provide extensions to support unlicensed coexistence.


Summary.  Genetic polymorphisms near IL28B are associated with spontaneous and treatment‐induced clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV). Our objective was to assess the predictive value of IL28B polymorphisms in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C of patients with HCV genotypes 4, for which data are currently limited. We analysed the association of IL28B polymorphisms with the virological response to treatment among 182 naïve chronic hepatitis C patients with HCV genotype 4, all from Syria. Associations of alleles with the response patterns were evaluated by univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression, accounting for all relevant covariates. Sustained virological response (SVR) was achieved in 26% of rs8099917 TG/GG carriers compared with 60% of TT carriers (P < 0.0001) and 35% of rs12979860 CT/TT carriers compared with 62% of CC carriers (P = 0.0011). By multivariate analysis, the association between rs8099917 and SVR remained significant (OR = 0.19, 95% CI 0.07–0.50, for TG/GG vs TT, P = 0.0007), with the only significant covariate being advanced fibrosis (OR = 0.13, 95% CI 0.04–0.37, P = 0.0002). In conclusion, IL28B polymorphisms are the strongest predictors of response to therapy among chronic hepatitis C patients with HCV genotype 4.


Abstract:When developing instructional programs related to information literacy at a university, a logical audience to focus on is undergraduates. However, information literacy spans far beyond the traditional ability to find, access, evaluate, use, and properly cite information. It also encompasses the ability to evaluate the impact of scholarship, determine appropriate data-management practices, understand author rights, promote ethical use of scholarship, and maintain an awareness of changes in scholarly communication. Between 2010 and 2016 librarians at Virginia Tech have focused on developing programs to strengthen several of these information literacy skills across the continuum of students, faculty, and extension agents in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). Starting with undergraduates, traditional information literacy skills were incorporated into the two CALS First-Year Experience programs. A scientific writing workshop and online information literacy course were designed for CALS graduate students. Extension agents and faculty were introduced to both traditional and more advanced applications to explore how changes in the information landscape impacts their work. This paper will discuss how these librarians have partnered to create and promote these information literacy initiatives.


The authors should be congratulated for their excellent long-term outcomes. The use of standardized metrics for reporting surgical complications has allowed a more direct comparison between surgical series. The most commonly used system is the one described by Clavien et al. [2]. In this article the authors only reported on in-hospital mortality. Of interest is the non-fatal sequel which is frequently experienced by those patients who undergo CPB and DHCA. In the future we hope that the authors will provide these data using a standardized means of reporting so that we, and others, can compare between surgical series. Only then can the authors conclude that DHCA would be considered 'the safest procedure'.


This paper proposes a new methodology based on Monte Carlo chronological simulation to evaluate the operating reserve requirements of generating systems with large amounts of renewable energy sources. The main idea is to build a new probabilistic approach to assess several performance indices bearing in mind the long-term planning. Besides the conventional indices used in generating capacity reliability assessment and also those obtained from the well-being framework, a new set of indices are proposed to measure the availability of different types of operating reserve. The relationship between the proposed approach and the traditional PJM method is also discussed. Renewable in this study mainly comprises wind power sources and for that the IEEE RTS-96 is adapted to illustrate the proposed methodology. Finally, different planning criteria are discussed to deal with the design of generation system capacity, static and operational, in the long-term planning.


Background: Pre school children need adequate nutrition for growth and development, as one of the most  vulnerable  groups is primarily anemia.  Nutritional  disorders of  anemia  can be caused by various  factors, one  of  which  is  a  diet  (amount, frequency and variety ) that does not meet the balance. Objective  to analyze  The  Effect of Diet on Hemoglobin Levels In Pre-School children. Methods: Cross-sectional  study was conducted on 28 chlidren. Sampling is done by Purposive Sampling  technique.  Data  collect  from  food Record and misson Hb. Data analyze used Pearson product moment correlation test and Multiple Regression Analysis.  Results: The results of this study obtained the average hemoglobin  level  of children is 10.18 (0.99). The  results  of  the  test  on  energy intake (ρ = 0.820), iron intake (ρ = 0.300), vitamin C intake (ρ = 0.300) which  states  no  significant relationship  with  hemoglobin  levels.  Protein  intake (ρ = 0,007), variation (ρ = 0,000), and  frequency (ρ = -0,035) have significant relationship with hemoglobin level. Multivariate analysis of dietary variations  significantly  influenced  hemoglobin  levels  in  pre-school  children (ρ = 0.000, r = 0.0636; R2 = 0.405).  Conclusions: That  daily  intake,  iron  intake  and vitamin C alone have no effect on hemoglobin, but it is necessary to increase protein intake, eating  frequency  setting  especially  variation in food menu.  Required  intervention  strategies to increase  intake,  selection of  foodstuffs,  processing,  presentation  to children  for iron  absorption  and control of anemia can be solved.


In the present paper we have analysed a fermionic infinite-ranged quantum Heisenberg spin glass (s=1/2) with a BCS coupling in real space in the presence of an applied magnetic field. This model has been obtained by tracing out the conducting fermions in a superconducting alloy. The magnetic field is applied in the resulting effective model. The problem is formulated in the path integral formalism where the spin variables are defined as bilinear combinations of the Grassmann fields. The static approximation is used to treat both the pairing and the spin terms together with the replica symmetry ansatz. Henceforth, the problem can be reduced to a one site problem. The field in the z direction, Hz, separates the order parameters in two groups: parallel and transverse to it. We have obtained a phase diagram in T-g space with zero transverse spin-glass ordering, g being the strength of the pairing interaction. It has been possible to locate the transition temperature between the normal paramagnetic phase (NP) and the phase where there is a long range order corresponding to formation of pairs (PAIR). The transition ends at the temperature Tf, the transition temperature between the NP phase and the spin glass (SG) phase. Tf decreases for stronger fields allowing us to calculate the NP-PAIR line transition even at low temperatures. The NP-PAIR transition line has a complex dependence with g and Hz, having a tricritical point depending on Hz from where second order transitions occur for higher values of g and first order transitions occur for lower values of g.


This presents the capabilities of two English Electric Aviation Canberra aircraft owned by High Altitude Mapping Missions, Inc. These aircraft are available for high altitude commercial, government, and scientific missions. The basic specifications of the Canberra are provided and compared to other high-performance jet aircraft falling into the same category. This describes the high altitude flight characteristics and mission capabilities of the Canberras. The aircraft are configured to conduct up to eight-hour flight operations with up to six hours at 50,000 feet altitude. Shorter missions can be conducted at higher altitudes. Potential missions include: IFSAR, magnetic field mapping, gravity field mapping, imaging (SAR, IR, & hyper-spectral), LIDAR, communications relay, dropsonde deployment, hybrid rocket launching, severe storm monitoring, and disaster monitoring. Canberra high altitude operations have minimal weather impact on missions, are free from flight constraints imposed by air traffic control, can do large area coverage, and long mission times.


This paper proposes a method for learning how to generate narrative by recombining sentences from a previous collection. Given a corpus of story events categorised into 9 topics, we approximate a deep reinforcement learning agent policy to recombine them in order to satisfy narrative structure. We also propose an evaluation of such a system. The evaluation is based on coherence, interest, and topic, in order to figure how much sense the generated stories make, how interesting they are, and examine whether new narrative topics can emerge.


The optimal conditions for decomposition of oily sludge were investigated at BP Refinery (Kwinana), by of a set of field trials together with laboratory experiments. Field trials tested the effect of oily sludge load,
frequency of tilling and the addition of fertiliser on the rate of degradation of oily sludge. Laboratory trials investigated, under controlled conditions, the effects of oily sludge load, moisture, temperature, aeration and the addition of manure. Investigations of the bacterial population included monitoring the change in bacteria numbers, diversity and C02 production after oily sludge application.

There was significant degradation of oil in all field trial plots over 6 months. From three loadings of oil (3%, 6% and 12%), 12% oil showed the greatest overall percentage reduction. Testing three frequencies of tilling, to provide aeration to the soil, found weekly tilling to be optimal for oil breakdown. The effects of inorganic fertiliser and manure were not statistically significant but the results suggest that degradation was enhanced by their addition. Addition of manure may provide both the nutritional requirement for degradation and enhance co-metabolism as well as the bulky matter providing air spaces and allow for extra retention of moisture. Of the combinations tested, 12% oily sludge loading, weekly tilling and the addition of fertiliser or manure were optimal.

Hydrocarbon traces over time revealed the preferential disappearance of the n-alkanes.

Contamination of hydrocarbons was not found to occur below the zone of incorporation beneath the field trial plots.

The monitoring of the bacterial populations revealed a change in diversity of species after oil application. Application of oily sludge stimulated the growth of hydrocarbon degrading bacteria. Greater numbers were found in 12% oil plots as compared to 6% and control plots. Species that were isolated and identified as hydrocarbon degraders included bacteria of the genera Pseudomonas, Agro bacterium, Aeromonas and the families Micrococcus and Bacillus.

The process of landfarming, with careful maintenance and monitoring, was found to be a cheap and adequate method of disposal of oily sludge.


The problem of controlling a finite Markov chain so as to maximize the long-run expected reward per unit time is studied. The chain's transition probabilities depend upon an unknown parameter taking values in a subset [a, b] of R". A control policy is defined as the probability of selecting a control action for each state of the chain. Derived is a Taylor-like expansion formula for the expected reward in tenns of policy variations. Based on that result a recursive stochastic gradient algorithm is presented for the adaptation of the control policy at consecutive times. The gradient depends on the estimated transition parameter which is also recursively updated using the gradient of the likelihood function. Convergence with probability 1 is proved for the control and estimation algorithms.


We propose an optimal bit allocation strategy for a joint source/channel video codec over noisy channel when the average channel state is assumed to be known. Our approach is to partition source and channel coding bits in such a way that the expected distortion is minimized. The particular source coding algorithm we use is rate scalable and is based on 3D subband coding with multi-rate quantization. We show that using this strategy, transmission of video over very noisy channels still renders acceptable visual quality and outperforms schemes that use equal error protection only. The exibility of the algorithm also permits the bit allocation to be selected optimally when the channel state is in the form of a probability distribution instead of a deterministic state. iii Contents


Ascomycete yeasts (phylum Ascomycota: subphylum Saccharomycotina: class Saccharomycetes: order Saccharomycetales) comprise a monophyletic lineage with a single order of about 1000 known species. These yeasts live as saprobes, often in association with plants, animals and their interfaces. A few species account for most human mycotic infections, and fewer than 10 species are plant pathogens. Yeasts are responsible for important industrial and biotechnological processes, including baking, brewing and synthesis of recombinant proteins. Species such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae are model organisms in research, some of which led to a Nobel Prize. Yeasts usually reproduce asexually by budding, and their sexual states are not enclosed in a fruiting body. The group also is well defined by synapomorphies visible at the ultrastructural level. Yeast identification and classification changed dramatically with the availability of DNA sequencing. Species identification now benefits from a constantly updated sequence database and no longer relies on ambiguous growth tests. A phylogeny based on single gene analyses has shown the order to be remarkably divergent despite morphological similarities among members. The limits of many previously described genera are not supported by sequence comparisons, and multigene phylogenetic studies are under way to provide a stable circumscription of genera, families and orders. One recent multigene study has resolved species of the Saccharomycetaceae into genera that differ markedly from those defined by analysis of morphology and growth responses, and similar changes are likely to occur in other branches of the yeast tree as additional sequences become available.


THE MAINTENANCE of nutrition is an ever-present problem in the management of both medical and surgical patients. The superiority of alimentary ingestion is well recognized, although emphasis in recent years has been directed toward the intravenous route. There are always some patients who cannot or will not take fluid and food by mouth. In this group until recently jejunostomy has been the only recourse when the usual type of gastric or jejunal tube has been poorly tolerated and the intravenous route has been unequal to the task of maintaining the patient in positive nitrogen, fluid, and electrolyte balance. The availability of fine caliber polyethylene tubes has changed this picture, since these small tubes are well tolerated in the upper gastrointestinal tract over a long time. Polyethylene tubes are available in various sizes.1We have found that size PE 200 with an outside diameter of 1.9 mm. is very satisfactory


Rabbits were solidly immunised by parenteral injection of purified Clostridium difficile toxin A such that they resisted an intravenous challenge with a normally lethal dose of toxin A. Ileal and colonic loops constructed in non-immune and immune animals received challenge injections of crude culture filtrate or purified toxin A of C. difficile. Protection of ileum was manifest after sufficient initial mucosal damage resulted in release of high levels of antitoxin A into the loop lumen of immune animals. There was less fluid accumulation in ligated ileal loops of immune than of non-immune rabbits. Less protection was observed when loops were challenged with crude culture filtrate containing toxins A and B than when challenged with purified toxin A. In-vitro studies with Ussing chambers yielded no evidence for tissue-localised immunity as judged by electrical responses and histology of toxin-treated tissue from non-immune and immune animals. No differences were found in the degree of epithelial damage, or volume or composition of fluid accumulating in colonic loops of non-immune and immune rabbits challenged with toxin A or crude culture filtrate. However, in colonic loops of immune rabbits there was no overt tissue-localised haemorrhage, whereas in those of non-immune rabbits tissue-localised haemorrhage was marked. In contrast to our findings with ileal loops, fluid accumulating in colonic loops was watery and contained substantially less total protein and (in immune animals) antitoxin A.


China does persecute its' people because of religious beliefs. There are Catholic bishops in jail.... There are Protestant pastors in jail. They are persecuting the people of Tibet. They are persecuting the Moslem population in the northwest portion of the country.... They are oppressing the people in China. -Representative Frank Wolf (R-Va) October 28, 1997* China's religious community has maintained stability and harmony in a world filled with national discord and religious conflicts. All nationalities, religious bodies, and citizens who believe or disbelieve in any religion respect each other, coexist harmoniously, and work jointly to ensure the prosperity of the motherland. . . Claims that China practices "religious persecution" are totally groundless and are quite simply based on ulterior motives. - Ye Xiaowen, Director, Bureau of Religious Affairs, People's Republic of China, September 1, 1997 I. INTRODUCTION Religious freedom in the People's Republic of China is a topic that has generated much discussion in the United States in recent months. While U.S. dissatisfaction with China's human rights record has been fairly consistent over the past twenty-five years, only recently has attention been turned to reported human rights violations in China which may be described as including violations of religious freedom rights. Congressional response to this concern precipitated on May 20, 1997, in the form of a proposed "Freedom from Religious Persecution Act,"1 offered in the U.S. House of Representatives by Frank Wolf (R-VA) and in the U.S. Senate by Arlen Specter (R-PA). The Wolf-Specter bill would create an Office of Religious Persecution Monitoring in the White House and mandate certain export sanctions against nations found to be involved in "religious persecution" under the defined terms of the bill.2 At the time of this writing, the bill's sponsors are preparing to introduce a substantial amendment to the bill. The proposed amendment attempts to respond to some of the criticisms of the bill raised by the administration, certain members of Congress, and some churches and human rights organizations.3 The bill as amended will be titled the Freedom From Religious Persecution Act of 1998.4 In addition to the Wolf-Specter bill, in early November, 1997, the House passed, by overwhelming majorities, nine bills which can be fairly described as "anti-China" legislation.5 During the debate surrounding these bills, China was characterized "as the world's leading human rights violator, and its regime compared to Nazi Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union."6 While anti-China sentiment was building in Congress, the Clinton administration pursued a policy of "engagement" with China's leadership, which culminated in the summit meeting between President Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin in late October, 1997. Many in Congress saw the administration's actions as unacceptable "appeasement"7 of a government that has consistently ignored human rights and religious freedom standards urged by the international community.8 At the same time, the Chinese government has continued to express outrage at what it sees as an impermissible affront to its sovereignty-U.S. interference with China's internal affairs. China also continues to hold itself out as committed to international human rights law and global efforts to protect religious freedom.9 This Comment will explain some of the historical, philosophical, and geopolitical reasons for China's failure to respond to U.S. pressure for religious freedom reform. Part II of the Comment describes the current state of religious activity and religious persecution in China today and explains the government structure responsible for regulating religious activity. Part III gives an overview of the U.S. response to the issue of religious rights abuses in China. It briefly discusses the Clinton administration's policy of "engagement," as well as the administration's professed "strategic partnership" with China. …


One of the characteristic histologic features of psoriasis is the accumulation of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in the stratum corneum. A major clinical feature of patients with pustular psoriasis or irritated psoriasis vulgaris is migration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes into the skin. The role of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in the pathogenesis of psoriasis is unknown, but a number of observations imply that these cells might be important in the development of clinical lesions. Recently, there has been tremendous interest in the mechanisms by which polymorphonuclear leukocytes are attracted to the epidermis in psoriasis. Tagami and Ofuji 1 have demonstrated that psoriatic scale contains leukotactic substances that appear to be products of complement activation. One possible mechanism for the production of these chemoattractant complement peptides by psoriatic skin could be the release or activation of an epidermal proteolytic enzyme that activates complement by a nonimmunologic mechanism. 2 Extracts of parenchymatous tissues and cells are chemotactic


This paper uses recently digitised samples of apprentices and masters in London and Bristol to quantify the practice of apprenticeship in the late 17th century. Apprenticeship appears much more fluid than is traditionally understood. Many apprentices did not complete their terms of indenture; late arrival and early departure from the master's household was widespread. Other apprentices appear to have been absent temporarily, returning to the master shortly before the end of their indenture. Regression analysis indicates that the patterns of presence and absence are broadly reflective of the resources and outside opportunities available to apprentices.


A new mathematical simulation technique for physico-mechanical properties of multicomponent powder materials is proposed in this paper. The main advantage of the technique is that finite elements representing different components are placed into a common mesh and may exchange their properties. The input data are properties of components and specified value of porosity. The output data are properties of material after sintering. The technique allows us to investigate the influence of each component of a material on the properties and distribution of properties inside the sample. The comparative analysis of materials with different compositions is based on simulation results that are well concordant with the results of the laboratory experiments.


Many Austronesian (and other) languages contain one or more syntactic constructions of the following basic kinds: PETER WE(DUAL) WENT FISHING and/ or PETER WE(DUAL)-WENT FISHING, which can be glossed as 'Peter and I went fishing' or 'I went fishing with Peter'. The independent pronoun or the dependent pronominal (such as an affix) identifies a set of participants that includes the one or those referred to by the lexical noun phrase. Pronominal forms with this function are "inclusory." Constructions with inclusory pronominals have usually been analyzed as coordinate or comitative. The purpose of the paper is a detailed investigation of the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic properties of the two types of inclusory-pronominal construction found in Toqabaqita, arguing that they are neither coordinate nor comitative. One type is a noun phrase with the inclusory pronoun as its head and the lexical noun phrase as its modifier. In the other type, the inclusory function is borne by a dependent pronominal. It is misma tch in the values of morphosyntactic features that identifies constructions of the latter type as inclusory. This also shows that dependent pronominals may be independently meaningful rather than merely agreement phenomena. 1. INTRODUCTION. Quite a few languages--Austronesian as well as others-- have constructions that are analogous to that found in Toqabaqita, exemplified (in boldface) in (1): [2] (1) Kamareqa doqora-ku meki lae ma-i qusungadi. IDU(EXCL) brother-ISG.PERS IDU(EXCL).FUT go VENIT-at tomorrow 'I and my brother will come tomorrow.' Although the Toqabaqita sentence is best translated as 'I and my brother will come tomorrow', and although it contains a direct counterpart of 'my brother' (doqoraku), it does not contain a first-person singular pronoun. Instead, it contains the first-person dual exclusive independent pronoun kamareqa (and also the first-person dual exclusive future tense subject marker meki, which agrees with the independent pronoun). Importantly, sentence (I) makes a statement about two and only two individuals: the speaker and his/her brother. The independent pronoun identifies the total set of participants (two), and the following lexical noun phrase identifies a subset (the speaker's brother). That is, the referent of the lexical NP is included in the set identified by the pronoun. In the discussion that follows, a pronominal form that identifies a total set of participants, a subset of which is identified by a lexical NP, will be referred to as an "inclusory pronominal." The term "pronominal" is a convenient cover term for independent personal pronouns and various dependent forms that exhibit distinctions that are the same as, or similar to, those found with the independent pronouns, such as subject and object markers; see meki in (I) above. Inclusory pronominals are not special forms distinct from noninclusory pronominals (and "inclusory" is not the same as "inclusive"). The term "inclusory pronoun" will be used to refer specifically to independent personal pronouns that are inclusory. The lexical noun phrase that identifies a subset of the set encoded by an inclusory pronominal will be referred to as the "included noun phrase." The central concern of this study is an investigation of the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic properties of constructions with inclusory pronominals, or inclusory constructions for short, in Toqabaqita, an Oceanic language spoken on Malaita, Solomon Islands. [3] I leave it to experts on other languages that have constructions with inclusory pronominals to decide which, if any, of the conclusions reached here are applicable to those languages as well. The structure of the paper is as follows: in section 2, I exemplify and discuss basic types of constructions with inclusory pronominals, two of which are found in Toqabaqita. Section 3 briefly considers some earlier studies of inclusory constructions. …


The aim of this thesis is the scouting and implementation of a metrology system in the design loop for the production of elements in Additive Manufacturing, and in particular with Selective Laser Sintering (SLS). An Optical scanner has been tested and study on the repeatability of measurements taken on part produced with SLS have been performed. Additive manufacturing is intended to be a fast technology to produce prototypes or small batches of elements, and it usually takes different iteration for the element to achieve the desired tolerances. Each iteration is composed by production, measurement and design adjustment. Implementing a new system such as a 3D scanner to perform measurement can give faster and more detailed information about the shape of the produced element. The work in the thesis is divided in two main part. The first part takes into account all the measurement process and methods. When all the equipment has been created to allow a good measuring setup and the data have been acquired through the GOM Suite software, it is possible in fact to acquire single points measurements or entire faces/geometries, according to the type of feedback required. The software can be also used to give visual maps of the deviations to the designer or the process engineer, in order to understand the behaviour of an entire job at different shapes and parameters of the printing machine. The second part of the work is focused on the correction and compensation of the deviation observed in the measuring part. Different ways are suggested for the correction, using completely different approaches. The more traditional way will be to use the data obtained from the measurement in the CAD file effectively changing the dimensions of the part's features. The changes can be obtained applying the measurement by hand or linking the dimensions in the CAD file to the measurement exported in an Excel file. Another interesting approach to apply compensations on the file is through the use of a Reverse Engineering software (Zeiss Reverse Engineering is the one used in this thesis) in order to automatically correct the shape of the object. This will create a freeform surface that will be suitable to run a new printing iteration. The works present the entire workflow from the creation of the measuring setup and program to the effective creation of the measurements on the part and the exportation of the data. The correction process is presented as well, describing pros and cons of the different software and methods used to perform the corrections. A compendium of the best workflow to achieve the more reliable and fast result is proposed at the end.


Received: 2016-05-24 | Accepted: 2016-05-30 | Available online: 2017-06-20 http://dx.doi.org/10.15414/afz.2017.20.01.20-22 The fact that lytic enzymes such as b-glucuronidase are capable of cell wall lysis, while the integrity of the spore is not affected, is used in the spore viability tests to investigate meiotic processes. Meiosis as a fundamental feature in all living organisms comprises of a complex tightly linked and mutually dependent processes most of which are scientific targets of many research institutions. The fission yeast Shizosaccharomyces pombe is a powerful tool for studies on eukaryotic meiosis. Mating of yeast strains of opposite mating types on nitrogen free medium results in spores production. Whereas not all cells undergo meiosis, some cells persist in vegetative stage even in the absence of nitrogen, this leads to generation of a mixed suspension of vegetative cells and spores. Thus, in order to separate spores from vegetative cells obtained mixture was exposed to lytic enzyme action. This treatment kills vegetative cells without affecting spores. To obtain the best and reproducible results of spore recovery and viability, different lytic conditions were analysed. Obtained results show, that use of b-glucuronidase as lytic enzyme for random spore analyses in the fission yeast is dose and time dependent. Keywords: b-glucuronidase, cell cycle, spore viability, Schizosaccharomycesn pombe References BAHALUL, M., KANETI, G. and KASHI, Y. (2010) Ether–zymolyase ascospore isolation procedure: an efficient protocol for ascosppores isolation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast. Yeast, vol.27, no.12, pp.999–1003. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/yea.1808 DAWES, I.W., HARDIE, I.D. (1974) Selective killing of vegetative cells in sporulated cultures by exposure to diethyl ether. Mol Gen Genet, vol.131, no. 4, pp. 281–289. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00264859 DONOVAN, D.M., KERR, D.E. and WALL, R.J. (2005) Engineering disease resistant cattle. Transgenic Res, vol. 14, pp. 563–567. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11248-005-0670-8 KHARE, A. K., SINGH, B., and SINGH, J. (2011) A fast and inexpensive method for random spore analysis in Schizosaccharomyces pombe . Yeast, vol. 28, pp. 527–533. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/yea.1855 MORENO, S., KLAR, A. and NURSE, P. (1991) Molecular genetic analysis of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe . Methods Enzymol, vol .  194, pp. 795–823. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0076-6879(91)94059-L PARENTI-CASTELLI G, et al. (1974) Effect of soluble and membrane proteins upon diethyl ether extraction of aqueous phospholipid dispersions. Lipids, vol . 9, pp.221–228. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02532197 SALAZAR, O. and ASENJO, J.A. (2007) Enzymatic lysis of microbial cells Review Biotechnology Letters , vol. 29, no. 7, pp. 985-994. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10529-007-9345-2 SMITH, G.R. (2009) Genetic Analysis of Meiotic Recombination in Schizosaccharomyces pombe Methods Mol Biol ., vol. 557, pp. 65–76. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-527-5_6 YANG, Y.G, et al. (2000) The application of a novel lytic system to the recovery of recombinant proteins in E. coli. Sheng Wu Hua Xue Yu Sheng Wu Wu Li Xue Bao (Shanghai) Acta biochimica et biophysica Sinica, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 211–216. ŽUKAITE, V. and BIZIULEVICIUS, G.A. (2000) Acceleration of hyaluronidase production in the course of batch cultivation of Clostridium perfringens can be achieved with bacteriolytic enzymes. Lett Appl Microbiol , vol. 30, pp. 203–206. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1472-765x.2000.00693.x


The full text of all occupational injury claims associated with threats or violence from Police Officers and Security Guards reported to the Swedish National workers' compensation insurance 2004 –2007 was analysed with the help of text-mining software. The analysis generated clusters of details on hazardous exposures and accident processes, and the level of information in the clusters describing the different scenarios identified possible practical modifications in training, technology and professional operating procedures. The analysis of the textual information in the reporting of traumatic injuries promises to better represent the dynamics and detail of exposure and accident process and, when applied to valid and representative insurance data with the help of a suitable text-mining software, will provide industry groups and local companies with detailed decision support for safety management and prevention.


One hundred and eight mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences were used in combination with multilocus genotypes generated from 19 nuclear microsatellite loci to assess the genetic diversity in the North American captive African elephant collection. The analysis of 4488 bp of mitochondrial nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide hydrogenenase subunit 4-cytochrome b (ND4-cyt b) sequence revealed the existence of three distinct mtDNA lineages (Haplogroups I–III). The genetic distance between Haplogroups I/II and Haplogroup III was determined to be 0.046. The nucleotide diversity for the elephant mtDNA ND4-cyt b was <0.004. Analysis of multilocus genotypes indicated an average observed heterozygosity of 0.53 compared with the expected heterozygosity of 0.64. No subdivision in the data was detected including data partitioned by mtDNA haplogroup. Relatedness among the 108 individuals did not differ from that expected in random mating populations.


Measurements of initial glucose entry rate and intracellular glucose concentration incultured cells are difficult because of rapid transport relative to intracellular volume and a substantial extracellular space from which glucose cannot be completely removed by quick exchanges of medium. In 3T3-L1 cells, we obtained good estimates of initial entry of [14C]methylglucose and D-[14C]glucose with 1) L-[3H]glucose as an extracellular marker together with the [14C]glucose or [14C]methylglucose in the substrate mixture, 2) sampling times as short as 2 s, 3) icecold phloretin-containing medium to stop uptake and rinse away the extracellular label, and 4) nonlinear regression of time courses. Methylglucose equilibrated in two phases—the first with a half-time of 1.7 s and the second with a half-time of 23 s; it eventually equilibrated in an intracellular space of 8 μl/mg protein. Entry of glucose remained almost linear for 10 s, making its transport kinetics easier to study (Km = 5.7 mM, Vmax = 590 nmol · s−1 · ml−1 cell water). Steadystate intracellular glucose concentration was 75–90% of extracellular glucose concentration. Cells grown in a high-glucose medium (24 mM) exhibited a 67% reduction of glucose-transport activity and a 50% reduction of steady-state ratio of intracellular glucose to extracellular glucose.


Entrepreneurship requires energy and creativity as well as business acumen. Some factors that contribute to entrepreneurship decline with age, but business skills increase with experience in high-level positions. Having too many older workers in society slows entrepreneurship. When older workers occupy key positions, they block younger workers from acquiring skills. A theory is formulated and tested using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data. A one standard deviation decrease in a country's median age increases new business formation by 2.5 percentage points, which is about 40 percent of the mean rate. Furthermore, older societies have lower rates of entrepreneurship at every age.


ABSTRACT This study reviews the published literature on intergenerational activities involving adolescents and residents of aged care facilities. Electronic sources were comprehensively searched, resulting in 14 articles meeting the criteria for review. Overall, three key themes emerged: the impact of intergenerational activities on adolescents and aged care residents, and effective intergenerational activities. Thoughtfully planned and implemented activities appear to be the most successful. Intergenerational activities can enrich the lives of participants, but the mechanisms of action are poorly understood. Further research is warranted to develop theoretical understandings of intergenerational activities and rigorous evaluation tools.


Background: Although survival rates for retinoblastoma (RB) are over 95% in high-income countries, its high mortality rate in low and middle-income countries remains a great concern. Few studies investigated treatment outcome and factors contributing to RB survival in these latter settings. Aims of this study are to determine treatment outcome of Indonesian children diagnosed with RB and to explore factors predictive of treatment outcome. Methods: This study was a retrospective medical records review combined with an illustrative case report. Children newly diagnosed with RB between January 2011 and December 2016 at a tertiary care referral hospital in Indonesia were included. A home visit was conducted to perform an in-depth interview with a mother of two children affected by RB. Results: Of all 61 children with RB, 39% abandoned treatment, 21% died, 20% had progressive or relapsed disease and 20% event-free survival. Progressive or relapsed disease was more common in older (≥ 2 years at diagnosis, 29%) than young (<2 years at diagnosis, 0%) children (P=0.012). Event-free survival estimate at 5 years was higher in young (42%) than older (6%) children (P=0.045). Odds-ratio for event-free survival was 6.9 (95% CI: 1.747 – 27.328, P=0.006) for young versus older children. Other clinical and socio-demographic characteristics had no significant correlation with treatment outcome or event-free survival. The case report elucidated conditions and obstacles that Indonesian families face when their children are diagnosed with RB. Conclusion: Survival of children with RB in Indonesia is much lower compared to high-income and many other low and middle-income countries. Abandonment of treatment is the most common cause of treatment failure. Older age at diagnosis is associated with more progressive or relapsed disease and worse survival. Interventions to improve general public and health-care providers' awareness, early detection and treatment adherence are required.


In wave propagation in complex media, phase changes along the propagation path are often approximated by a series of abrupt phase changes at discrete planes called ''phase screens.'' It is shown here how phase screens can be used in an analogous way in ray‐tracing problems. The total travel time of each ray is formulated as a sum over phase screen and free space contributions. Fermat's principle is then applied to the travel time, yielding a discrete mapping. The mapping connects the ray position at one phase screen to that at each succeeding screen. Examples of the method are given for both nonchaotic and chaotic ray tracing problems. The ray‐tracing solution is compared to the wave solution calculated by the parabolic equation. By letting the separation between phase screens go to zero, the connection between continuous propagation and propagation with discrete transitions at phase screens is shown. [Work supported by the Penn State Univ. Applied Res. Lab.]


Abstract Co-crystals of L-phenylalanine hydrochloride (LPAHCl) were grown by slow evaporation technique in the presence of manganese sulphate and cadmium chloride. Crystallinity of the grown crystals was confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Optical transmission spectra showed very high transmittance in the entire visible region. The cut-off wavelength was observed at 250 nm for both the crystals. The optical band gap energy was found to be 4.37 eV and 4.31 eV for the grown co-crystals of LPAHCl with MnSO4 and CdCl2, respectively. The second harmonic generation of the grown crystals was confirmed by Kurtz and Perry powder SHG method and compared with KDP. The frequency dependent dielectric properties of the co-crystals were studied at different temperatures.


One of the major drawbacks of conducting business online is the raised level of risk associated with business transactions. Potential business partners usually have limited information about each other's reliability or product / service quality before an online transaction. In this paper, we focus on the problem of selecting a trustful electronic market (e-market), in order to perform business transactions with it. In particular, we examine how the decision of selecting an appropriate e-market can be facilitated by an e-market recommendation algorithm. For this purpose, a metadata model for collecting and storing e-market evaluations from the members of a virtual business community in a reusable and interoperable manner is introduced. Then, an e-market recommendation algorithm that can synthesize existing e-market evaluations stored using the metadata model, is designed. Finally, a scenario of how the presented e-market recommendation algorithm can support a virtual agribusiness community of the organic agriculture sector is discussed.


Rules-based monetary policy evaluation has long been central to macroeconomics. Using the original Taylor rule, a modified Taylor rule with a higher output gap coefficient, and an estimated Taylor rule, we define rules-based and discretionary eras by smaller and larger policy rule deviations, the absolute value of the difference between the actual federal funds rate and the federal funds rate prescribed by the three rules. We use tests for multiple structural changes to identify the eras so that knowledge of subsequent economic outcomes cannot influence the choice of the dates. With the original Taylor rule, monetary policy in the U.S. is characterized by a rules-based era until 1974, a discretionary era from 1974 to 1985, a rules-based era from 1985 to 2000, and a discretionary era from 2001 to 2013. With the modified Taylor rule, the rules-based era extends further into the 1970s and there is an additional rules-based period starting in 2006. We calculate various loss functions and find that economic performance is uniformly better during rules-based eras than during discretionary eras, and that the original Taylor rule provides the largest loss during discretionary periods relative to loss during rules-based periods.


Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) constitutes a small proportion of stroke. Its risk factors include hypercoagulability of various causes. We report the case of a 54-year-old woman in whom thrombosis of the left transverse and sigmoid sinus was diagnosed. The extended etiological workup revealed hyperthyroidism, and further analysis showed clinical results consistent with Graves' disease and decreased levels of protein C. A small number of similar cases - of both the general association of hyperthyroidism and CVST and the additional finding of low protein C - have been described in the literature, so that our case further supports the likely association of hyperthyroidism and hypercoagulability. J Endocrinol Metab. 2016;6(5):162-164 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jem378w


Kanerva presented a model to estimate the intersection of two circles, or hyperspheres, in the n-dimensional Boolean space. The results were applied to show the properties of the Sparse Distributed Memory model. In a recent work, Braga and Aleksander presented a more general model that is able to estimate any density in the Boolean space and is not restricted to the intersection problem. In both previous work, the densities are calculated in relation to two fixed points in the space. It is shown in this work that the previous work of Braga and Aleksander can be extended to estimate densities in relation to more than two fixed points. With these results, intersections of three or more hyperspheres can be estimated. The results can be applied to provide a more accurate study of the properties of Boolean associative memories.


Abstract : Recent tests by G. L. Rowe indicated the possibility of monitoring fatigue damage of 70-30 copper-nickel by use of a commercial fatigue life gage. The work reported herein, however, which includes tests at cyclic strain levels considerably higher and lower than those used by Rowe, suggests that much more study and development will be required before in-service monitoring will be careful or reliable. Fatigue failure, using initial surface crack formation as a criterion, takes place at low cyclic strain levels with appreciably smaller gage indication than does failure at medium or high cyclic strain levels. It is further noted that ability to detect surface cracks depends greatly upon the expertise of the observer so that a less subjective criterion of failure should be developed.


Background and Objective: The frequency and pattern of eye neoplasms differ in various geographic areas. Our aim was to determine the distribution of patient age, gender, ocular tumor origin, location and histological type in our region. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all of the 384 eye globe enucleation cases carried out during a 10-year period in Farabi Medical Center in Tehran were selected and reviewed. The inflammatory and non-tumoral conditions were excluded. Results: Out of 350 primary tumors, 344 (98.6%) were malignant including 248 cases of retinoblastomas (70.9%), 76 cases of (21.7%) melanomas and 14 cases of (4%) squamous cell carcinomas. Mean ages for these tumors were 3.2, 51 and 64.8 years respectively. Overall the tumors were 1.15 times more frequent in left eye and 1.53 times more common in males. Out of 248 cases of retinoblastomas, only 12 (4.8%) cases were bilateral (mean age 3.46 years; male to female ratio 1.4:1). Some rare cases in our series included a primary non-Hodgkin lymphoma of choroid, two choroidal leiomyomas and an adenocarcinoma of the retinal pigment epithelium. Conclusion: The overall frequency of the three most common primary malignancies in our series was similar to the reported Asian countries but slightly differed with western countries in terms of lower incidence of melanoma here. Also bilateral retinoblastoma was less frequent here and occurred in a slightly older age. The actual frequency of metastatic eye tumors could not be evaluated precisely due to lack of systematic autopsy data.


The cell-mediated immune response is important to host defense against viruses, yet techniques with which to measure the contribution of lymphocytes (particularly K cells) to anti-viral cytotoxic reactions are not well-established. We describe a new procedure for measuring lymphocyte-mediated antibody-dependent immunity to cytomegalovirus. Central to the assay is the use of 51Cr-containing red blood cells labeled with purified viral antigen, which can be easily quantitated and readily stored for at least 72 hours. High sensitivity was observed, as sera with a 1: 512 complement fixation titer could be diluted 10,000-fold without extinguishing the detectable cytotoxic response. A set of conditions (target/effector ratio; dilution of serum; source and age of target cells; and incubation medium and time) was defined that optimized sensitivity, maintained a low level of background release, yet utilized small amounts of reagents. A kinetics study revealed that 80% of specific release of radioisotope occurred in the first 4 hours. Investigation of the epidemiology, diagnosis, and management of disease caused by CMV may be greatly aided by this new method for quantitating specific cell-mediated anti-viral immune reactivity.


This paper presents an efficient implementation of the electric-field integral-equation (EFIE) method to deal with planar anisotropic layered printed structures. A convenient treatment of the kernel of the integral equation gives rise to reaction integrals that only involve quasi-singularities and R/sup -1/-type singularities. When the well-known Rao-Wilton-Glisson triangular basis functions are used in conjunction with the Galerkin's method, closed-form expressions are found for the singular parts of the self-reaction integrals, as well as for the inner convolution integrals of the remaining singular/quasi-singular reaction integrals. Thus, the present procedure sets the EFIE method as a competitive alternative to other formulations.


Importance Even though osteoarthritis is a chronic and progressive disease, pharmacological agents are mainly studied over short-term periods, resulting in unclear recommendations for long-term disease management. Objective To search, review, and analyze long-term (≥12 months) outcomes (symptoms, joint structure) from randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of medications for knee osteoarthritis. Data Sources and Study Selection The databases of MEDLINE, Scopus, EMBASE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched until June 30, 2018 (MEDLINE alerts through August 31, 2018) for RCTs of patients with knee osteoarthritis that had treatment and follow-up lasting 1 year or longer. Data Extraction and Synthesis Data at baseline and at the longest available treatment and follow-up of 12 months' duration or longer (or the change from baseline) were extracted. A Bayesian random-effects network meta-analysis was performed. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was the mean change from baseline in knee pain. Secondary outcomes were physical function and joint structure (the latter was measured radiologically as joint space narrowing). Standardized mean differences (SMDs) and mean differences with 95% credibility intervals (95% CrIs) were calculated. Findings were interpreted as associations when the 95% CrIs excluded the null value. Results Forty-seven RCTs (22 037 patients; mean age range, mostly 55-70 years; and a higher mean proportion of women than men, around 70%) included the following medication categories: analgesics; antioxidants; bone-acting agents such as bisphosphonates and strontium ranelate; nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; intra-articular injection medications such as hyaluronic acid and corticosteroids; symptomatic slow-acting drugs in osteoarthritis such as glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate; and putative disease-modifying agents such as cindunistat and sprifermin. Thirty-one interventions were studied for pain, 13 for physical function, and 16 for joint structure. Trial duration ranged from 1 to 4 years. Associations with decreases in pain were found for the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug celecoxib (SMD, −0.18 [95% CrI, −0.35 to −0.01]) and the symptomatic slow-acting drug in osteoarthritis glucosamine sulfate (SMD, −0.29 [95% CrI, −0.49 to −0.09]), but there was large uncertainty for all estimates vs placebo. The association with pain improvement remained significant only for glucosamine sulfate when data were analyzed using the mean difference on a scale from 0 to 100 and when trials at high risk of bias were excluded. Associations with improvement in joint space narrowing were found for glucosamine sulfate (SMD, −0.42 [95% CrI, −0.65 to −0.19]), chondroitin sulfate (SMD, −0.20 [95% CrI, −0.31 to −0.07]), and strontium ranelate (SMD, −0.20 [95% CrI, −0.36 to −0.05]). Conclusions and Relevance In this systematic review and network meta-analysis of studies of patients with knee osteoarthritis and at least 12 months of follow-up, there was uncertainty around the estimates of effect size for change in pain for all comparisons with placebo. Larger RCTs are needed to resolve the uncertainty around efficacy of medications for knee osteoarthritis.


INCREASED intracranial pressure in the absence of a space-occupying lesion or internal hydrocephalus was first described by Quincke (1893). The condition has since been variously described as serous meningitis (Quincke, 1897; Warrington, 1914; Sheldon, 1933), otitic hydrocephalus (Symonds, 1931), meningeal hydrops (Passot, 1913; Davidoff and Dyke, 1937), pseudotumour (Warrington, 1914), toxic hydrocephalus (McAlpine, 1937), and raised intracranial pressure without brain tumour (Dandy, 1937). The subject has been greatly clarified by Foley (1955), who described 106 cases from the literature and sixty personal cases, dividing them into two main groups: (1) Otitic hydrocephalus with preceding middle ear disease and thrombosis of the major lateral sinus, as suggested by Symonds (1931), and borne out by operative findings, and by sinography (Frenckner, 1937; Ray and Dunbar, 1951). (2) Non-otitic cases, in which the condition was described as benign intracranial hypertension, and which fell into two sub-groups, one with a history of antecedent infection or mild head injury (young age group, with equal sex incidence), and the other with no history of infection, consisting predominantly of females aged 35 to 50, with either obesity or uterine dysfunction. Those cases following infection are also described by Foley as toxic hydrocephalus, although McAlpine (1937) applied this term to cases following nasopharyngeal infection, including cases of otitic hydrocephalus. Bradshaw (1956), in an analysis of 42 cases, described very similar groups, and included them all under the heading of benign intracranial hypertension, a term also used by Davidoff (1956). The essential diagnostic criteria are increased cerebrospinal fluid pressure, with accompanying papilloedema, and the presence of a normal ventricular system. Thus accurate diagnosis has only been possible with the advent of ventriculography (Dandy, 1937; Davidoff and Dyke, 1937), and the term hydrocephalus is inappropriate. There is no good evidence to warrant the name meningeal hydrops, the deep sub-arachnoid space found at craniotomy being an artefact (Foley, 1955). The following case is unusual in that the patient presented with unilateral anterior and posterior uveitis accompanied by transient secondary glaucoma, and went on to develop typical benign intracranial hypertension.


Organizations with high employee engagement reap the benefits of higher employee retention and improved customer satisfaction. Studies find that engaged workers are in the minority. Among healthcare workers, nurses are found to be the least engaged. The association of the registered nurse (RN) at the bedside with improved patient outcomes has been documented by many. Today, the goal of providing safe, high quality and efficient patient care and an exceptional patient experience are benchmark measures for patient care delivery. Since nurses are essential to optimal patient outcomes, it is important to understand what motivates them. Career advancement programs (CAPs) are one method of addressing the challenge of creating engagement. The purpose of this scholarly project is to determine if participation in a professional career advancement program for RNs improves nurse engagement and has an impact on patient outcomes. The study will survey RNs in a tertiary care academic center in the southwestern United States who are enrolled in a career advancement program. The results of this project demonstrated that participation in a professional career advancement program for RNs does not improve nurse engagement, and extraneous variables must be considered. The potential exists for employers to identify those variables that impact nurse engagement. This


Johma Salades is the biggest salad producing company in the Netherlands. During negotiations with
their logistic service provider Muller Fresh Food Logistics (MFFL) on total transportation costs, MFFL
noticed the opportunity to create savings for Johma by improving the return flow of Returnable
Transportation Items (RTI). The items under consideration in this research are the secondary
packages called CBL-crates, consisting of multiple types that differ in size. The discussed problem
encountered by Johma is formulated as:
Johma has limited insight in, and limited control over, the use of Returnable Transportation Items
within the continuously changing Supply Chain. This causes a lack of control and more costs than
legitimated.
Knowledge on the current use of RTI in the supply chain is the starting point in managing their future
use. This brings up the goal of this research:
Developing methods for analysis, that contribute to an efficient use of Returnable Transportation Items
along the Supply Chain of Johma. The acquired information can be used as input in the negotiations
with different stakeholders.
Context information
Products of Johma are packed in RTI and shipped by MFFL from the production facility of Johma to
the different customer locations. The collection of RTI at these locations remains the responsibility of
the supplier who is legitimated to order a truck as long as the amount they sent to the customers
exceeds the amount collected. The RTI is transported to the cleaning facility of Habe. Johma uses two
types of RTI, Long Term Rentals (LTR) and Short Term Rentals (STR). In case the inventory levels at
the cleaning facility are not enough to cover for total production demand, Johma has the opportunity to
hire an additional amount of STR. If we account for a Cost of Capital (COC) of 5% on the deposit
money paid by Johma for LTR-RTI, the STR-RTI are roughly 9 times as expensive as LTR-RTI.
Indication of a saving opportunity for Johma
The data analysis on the situation of 2011 shows that current LTR-RTI contracts are not in line with
the observed demand. We identified three parameters that influence the optimal rental policy; 1)
required time to create/deplete a truckload, 2) the proportion of LTR- versus STR-costs and 3) the
number of RTI necessary as work-in-process. This last parameter is determined by the cycle time at
the customers' warehouses and the demand patterns at the production plant of Johma. We estimate a
saving opportunity of 50% of almost €43.000 by contracting LTR-RTI that complies with current
demand. The method followed to determine the optimal rental policy consists of eight steps, namely:
1. Clear the outstanding balances
2. Gather data
3. Determine the required time to create/deplete a full-truckload
4. Determine the proportional costs between LTR- and STR-RTI
5. Determine the cycle time and the required work-in-process
6. Set the number of LTR- and STR-RTI according to Kirby (1959)
7. Compare the costs of both situations
8. Adjust the contractual agreements accordingly
Model to solve an instance of the Inventory Routing Problem
We translated the practical situation of Johma and its difficulties to a more general problem, an
instance of the Inventory Routing Problem (IRP) based on the model of Lee et al (2003). The objective
function of this IRP aims to minimize total transportation and rental costs. The influence of customers
and suppliers who participate in the pooling system are not considered explicitly but their influence is
modeled as an exogenous process.
Conclusions
The mathematical Mixed Integer Linear Problem-formulation in solved for multiple problem instances
that resemble the situation of Johma as close as possible. Nevertheless, we had to makes some
assumptions due to the absence of enough (reliable) data. From this, we concluded:
- The experimental results support the hypothesis that it is possible to gain improvements by
adjusting the current LTR-contracts. With 95% certainty we can realize savings between €5.676
and €5.856 if we move from the current LTR-RTI levels to the levels determined with the method
of Kirby (1959).
- A decline of 40% in average inventory at Johma if we change the number of LTR-RTI to the
proposed situation, a desirable situation to keep the RTI moving through the supply chain.
Recommendations
RTI-management is no core-business activity and increasing control over RTI from the perspective of
Johma is difficult. Not only caused by the limited share of Johma compared to other participants, but
mostly because the RTI flow in the external environment, outside Johma's direct control. If we
combine this with the fact that not all customers participante into the pooling model, the
recommendations to improve Johma's control, are summarized as:
- Start actively promoting the membership of the pool provider Pool Service for customers of
Johma. To increase chances of success, Johma could work together with other suppliers and
include the pool provider in this process.
- Johma may consider negotiation on a different pricing structure with the cleaning facility Habe and
logistics service provider MFFL (both 50% shareholder of the cleaning facility in Holten), by
introducing a 'one-way-rental' fee. The pool operator charges suppliers a variable price on a 'per
trip' basis, with the operator responsible for collecting empty units after delivery.
- Before such a system is implemented, Johma still has the obligation to return the proper amounts
of RTI on LTR-contract to Pool Service so the contracts can be changed towards the proposed
future RTI-levels. These LTR-levels should be determined every year, based on expected long
term demand-rates.
A yearly check on the contracts and forecasts and more awareness of important cost factors increases
the insight of Johma and decreases total costs. Keeping the number of RTI, also known as "Hard
Workers", up to date decreases cycle times and keeps the RTI moving in the different supply chains.


Saliva plays an important role in the protection of oral cavity and alterations in either salivary flow rate or protein composition may have dramatic effects on oral health. Prevention and management of oral complications of cancer and cancer therapy will improve oral function and quality of life, and reduce morbidity and the cost of care. The aim of this study was to investigate the saliva of patients with breast cancer biochemically and cytologically and compare with healthy controls. Accordingly, lipid peroxidation (LPO), total protein, salivary flow rate, and pH levels were measured in the saliva samples obtained from 20 breast cancer patients and 11 healthy individuals. Tissue factor (TF) is a major regulator of normal hemostasis and thrombosis, and TF activity of saliva samples was evaluated. Under the conditions used, patients with breast cancer present a significant reduction in total protein, pH and LPO levels. Salivary TF activity was higher in breast cancer patients than that in control subjects, but the degree of increase was not statistically significant. In addition, the analysis of saliva samples by SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed the retarded mobility of the 66-kDa proteins and the increased proteins of about 36 kDa in the patient group. Some patients with breast cancer had increased number of leucocytes. Importantly, dysplastic cells and yeast cells were detected only in saliva samples of cancer patients. Decreased salivary LPO may be considered as a risk factor for breast cancer.


If one sees the place name Houston Mercer Dog Run in New York, how does one know how to pronounce it? Assuming one knows that Houston in New York is pronounced /ˈhaʊstən/ and not like the Texas city (/ˈhjuːstən/), then one can probably guess that /ˈhaʊstən/ is also used in the name of the dog park. We present a novel architecture that learns to use the pronunciations of neighboring names in order to guess the pronunciation of a given target feature. Applied to Japanese place names, we demonstrate the utility of the model to finding and proposing corrections for errors in Google Maps. To demonstrate the utility of this approach to structurally similar problems, we also report on an application to a totally different task: Cognate reflex prediction in comparative historical linguistics. A version of the code has been open-sourced.1


Objective: Pathological complete response (pCR) has been a commonly used endpoint in neoadjuvant trials for breast cancer (BC). A pooled analysis of 12 neoadjuvant BC trials by Cortazar et al (2014) reported a positive association between pCR and long-term survival outcomes among patients with general BC and certain subtypes including triple negative BC (TNBC). To update and extend the evidence to assess the association of pCR and survival outcomes in TNBC, this study reviewed and summarized cohort studies and recent clinical trials in the literature. Methods: English publications reporting association between pCR and survival outcomes among TNBC patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy were searched in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL, and Northern Light Sciences Conference Abstracts. Full-text publications from all years and conference abstracts since year 2016 were identified. Relevant clinical trials, real-world evidence (RWE) studies, and meta-analyses were included for review and extraction. Results: Of total 1,880 publications retrieved, 35 reported association between pCR and survival outcomes for neoadjuvant TNBC (9 clinical trials, 21 RWE studies, and 5 pooled/meta-analyses). The sample size of TNBC patients varied between 25 and 1,645. Different pCR definitions were used across studies, of which absence of tumor in the breast and axillary nodes was most common (N=29). The prognostic impact of pCR was evaluated for multiple survival outcomes: overall survival (OS; N=19), disease-free survival (DFS; N=14), relapse-free survival (RFS; N=7), event-free survival (N=5), distant DFS (N = 4), and local RFS (N=2). Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to assess the association between pCR and these outcomes in 31 studies. Clear separation of survival curves in favor of pCR was observed in all the studies. Log-rank tests were conducted in 18 studies, and statistically significant association was reported in majority of them, except for 1 RWE study with small sample size (N=35) and 1 pooled analysis with a different pCR definition (absence of tumor in the breast) than most of the others. Cox proportional hazards model was used in 17 studies, wherein hazard ratios of survival outcomes comparing pCR vs non-pCR ranged from 0.08 to 0.53. Conclusions: Despite divergent study designs and pCR definitions, evidence from both clinical and real-world settings consistently suggest that pCR is a strong predictor of OS and other survival outcomes among TNBC patients.


We present an end-to-end approach to extract semantic concepts directly from the speech audio signal. To overcome the lack of data available for this spoken language understanding approach, we investigate the use of a transfer learning strategy based on the principles of curriculum learning. This approach allows us to exploit out-of-domain data that can help to prepare a fully neural architecture. Experiments are carried out on the French MEDIA and PORTMEDIA corpora and show that this end-to-end SLU approach reaches the best results ever published on this task. We compare our approach to a classical pipeline approach that uses ASR, POS tagging, lemmatizer, chunker... and other NLP tools that aim to enrich ASR outputs that feed an SLU text to concepts system. Last, we explore the promising capacity of our end-to-end SLU approach to address the problem of domain portability.


Transparent all-solid-state supercapacitors are advanced power supply devices for multifunctional high-end electronics. However, the areal capacitance is seriously limited due to the low mass loading, as high transmittance usually corresponds to ultra-small electrode thickness, which hinders practical applications. Here, we develop an effective three-dimensional (3D) architecture using plasma-etched micro-structured NaCl as the template. The film is assembled by graphene hollow-cube building units, and the faces of the cubes are graphene network microstructures. The graphene-network-face hollow-cube units (GNHC) fully exploit the large surface area of graphene, ensure the transparency of the film and reduce junction contact resistance between the graphene sheets. As expected, the film exhibits improved areal capacitance (5.48 mF cm−2), high volumetric energy (657.2 μW h cm−3), and power densities (954.3 mW cm−3). Generally, GNHC based films will be promising energy storage materials and very suitable supports or templates for construction of graphene-based composites.


Transformative Innovation Policy (TIP) encompasses a variety of policy frameworks that seek to use the potential of science, technology, and innovation to address societal challenges. To do so, it relies on inclusive co-creation processes for the design, implementation and evaluation programmes and policies that can drive systemic transformation towards sustainability.
To date there are few empirical studies available on how this co-creation approach can be implemented at the level of programmes and projects working on transformative innovation, and what specific competences, processes and functions are required for the successful implementation of this framework. This paper seeks to provide empirical evidence on how to implement TIP at the project level.
This paper shows the importance of adaptability and modularity of processes that are used to translate the TIP framework to a specific context, allowing and encouraging processes of adaptation by project partners and other stakeholders. Secondly, we highlight how knowledge services can be used to translate and negotiate meaning for complex frameworks, resulting in the production of new knowledge that is not only contextually relevant, but that feeds into a larger pool of evidence of how theories apply to real-world cases. Thirdly, it highlights the importance of building teams with skills such as facilitation, brokering, communication, translation and embedding of science-based concepts and frameworks, and the ability to lead processes of co-design that ensure coherence across different interventions while being adaptable to varied project contexts.


Persimmon has good health function. To further investigate the antioxidant function in vivo, we set up a model mice with ionizing radiation. IRC mice were divided randomly into six groups, Blank control group, Model control group, VE control group, Low dosage group (G1), Middle dosage group (G2) and High dosage group (G3) respectively. Orally given persimmon extract for 35 days, mice were treated with γ-rays. Our results indicated that pervious administration of the persimmon extraction obviously increased the liver index of the mice. And pathological inspection by microscope suggested that orally given persimmon extraction obviously protected the liver cells of the mice. Further analysis demonstrated that persimmon extraction decreased the MDA content, and increased the SOD and GSH-PX activity in both the serum and the liver in the mice after the Ionizing radiation. Our results suggested the protection role of persimmon extraction by inhibiting the oxidation reaction in vivo.


This paper critically examines the discursive (mis) representation of 'race' and racism in the formal curriculum. Combining qualitative data derived from interviews with 35 young people who were enrolled in a Dublin-based, ethnically diverse secondary school, with a critical discursive analysis of 20 textbooks, the paper explores parallels between young people's understandings of 'race' and racism and curricular representations of these constructs. It is argued that the formal education system reinforces, rather than challenges, popular theories of racism, and endorses the ideological framework of colour-blind racism by providing definitions and explanations which individualize, minimize, and naturalize racism. The analysis centres on four major inter-related themes: (1) the individualization of racism; (2) the attribution of racism to difference; (3) the role of narratives of denial and redemption in the construction of an 'anti-racist' state; and (4) the reification of 'race'. The final section of the paper seeks to synthesize some of the broader political and ethical consequences and ideological effects of dominant discourses on 'race' and racism, and offers some concrete illustrations of how 'race' and racism could be re-narrativized in schools.


The rate of lipid peroxidation, the antiradical defense in red blood cells, the levels of cholesterol and phospholipids, and resistance of erythrocytes to hemolysis were studied in cyclic and non-cyclic sportsmen. Seventy-one male athletes aged 18-25 years were examined. A control group included 15 apparently healthy untrained volunteer students of the same age. Exercise was given in dose of as 13500-27000 Kgm during bicycle ergometer tests. Blood samples were taken by venepuncture at rest before and 5 and 30 minutes after exercise. It was found that intensity of lipoperoxidation, anti-radical protection in erythrocytes and stability of erythrocytes to hemolytic depended on adaptation to the amount and character of regular muscular activities. The findings allow the above parameters to be recommended in the comprehensive evaluation of the functional status of sportsmen.


Having high statistical power and good estimated precision are essential to statistical practice; however, this integrative consideration on sample size planning remains limited in the literature, especially for two-group mean comparisons with unequal/unknown variances and unequal sampling costs. Furthermore, due to the neglect or misuse of employing confidence intervals, the present study aims to illuminate the probabilistic thinking by finding optimal allocations of sample sizes such that researchers can claim that the null hypothesis is rejected, the desired confidence-interval width of mean difference is achieved, and/or the true difference is encompassed in the interval. Cost effectiveness was also considered to find the optimal sample size. The simulation showed that the proposed approach can maintain the desired probability level for the conditional/unconditional probabilities of events and has good coverage rates in terms of confidence intervals. This study provides an important opportunity to advance the understanding of sample size planning and confidence intervals as well. Three R Shiny apps are provided for easy application in the Supplementary Materials.


An equitable coloring of a graph $G=(V,E)$ is a (proper) vertex-coloring of
$G$, such that the sizes of any two color classes differ by at most one. In
this paper, we consider the equitable coloring problem in block graphs. Recall
that the latter are graphs in which each 2-connected component is a complete
graph. The problem remains hard in the class of block graphs. In this paper, we
present some graph theoretic results relating various parameters. Then we use
them in order to trace some algorithmic implications, mainly dealing with the
fixed-parameter tractability of the problem.


The interferon alpha (IFN α ) receptor consists of two subunits, the IFN α receptor 1 (IFNaR1) and 2 (IFNaR2) chains. Following ligand binding, IFNaR1 is phosphorylated on tyrosine 466 and this site recruits Stat2 via its SH2 domain. In contrast, IFNaR2 binds Stat2 constitutively. In this study we characterize the Stat2-IFNaR2 interaction, and examine its role in IFN α signaling. Stat2 binds the major IFNaR2 protein, but not a variant containing a shorter cytoplasmic domain. The interaction does not require a STAT SH2 domain. phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated Stat2 bind IFNaR2 in vitro ; however, relatively little phosphorylated Stat2 associates with IFNaR2 in vivo . In vitro binding assays defined IFNaR2 residues 418 to 444 as the minimal interaction domain and site-specific mutation of conserved acidic residues within this domain disrupted in vitro and in vivo binding. An IFNaR2 construct carrying these mutations was either (i) over-expressed in 293T cells or (ii) used to complement IFNaR2-deficient U5A cells. Unexpectedly, the activity of an IFN α dependent reporter gene was not reduced but, instead, was enhanced up to two-fold. This suggests that this particular IFNaR2-Stat2 interaction is not required for IFN α signaling, but might act to negatively inhibit signaling. Finally, a doubly truncated recombinant fragment of Stat2, spanning residues 136-702, associated with IFNaR2 in vitro, indicating that the interaction with IFNaR2 is direct and occurs in a central region of Stat2 marked by a hydrophobic core.