Purpose: To develop an on‐line patient alignment procedure that fully utilizes the CT guidance and dose verification feasibility in image guided radiotherapy. The new patient position is selected to optimize the plan that is evaluated using the daily contours created based on deformable image registration.Method and Materials: Before a treatment fraction is delivered, a CTimage of the patient in the treatment position is obtained. The couch is adjusted to match the planning CTimage via on‐line image guidance. Verification dose is calculated using this daily image. A deformable registration between the planning image and the daily image is performed and the ROIs are automatically re‐contoured on the daily image. The daily dose is mapped back to the planning frame and then accumulated with the previous fraction dose. The new patient position is chosen via a procedure that optimizes the plan evaluated using the daily ROIs. The whole procedure entails the sequential execution of the following tasks: daily CT, CT‐guided patient setup, deformable registration and automatic re‐contouring, deformation of dose back to reference CT,dose‐based patient position optimization, and plan evaluation using cumulative and daily doses.Results: The new couch alignment procedure was validated on clinical prostate cancer data that includes a planning CTimage and 17 fraction CTimages (256×256×47) with resolution of 0.1875×0.1875×0.3cm3. The whole procedure was completed in a few minutes. The DVH results indicated improved sparing of the sensitive structures and better target coverage. Conclusion: The new dose‐based patient alignment procedure is an advancement to the image guidance alignment alone. Notable improvement in delivery dose can be achieved for certain types of treatment sites such as prostate cancer where the inter‐faction positions of target relative to sensitive structures are not well correlated with the positions of rigid structures and are difficult to predict.


The study assesses the role of forces of law and order in modulating the insecurity-tourism nexus in 163 countries for the period 2010 to 2015. Policy syndromes or insecurity dynamics include: violent crime, access to weapons, political instability and perception of criminality while the policy variables of forces of law and order are captured with "security officers & police" and "armed service personnel". The empirical evidence is based on Negative Binomial regressions. The findings show that the policy variables can be effectively used to crowd-out the negative incidence of policy syndromes on tourist arrivals. The results are contingent on net effects (from conditional and unconditional effects), insecurity dynamics and thresholds. A threshold is an inflexion point at which the unfavorable unconditional effect from a policy syndrome of insecurity on tourist arrivals is completely neutralized by policy variables of forces of law and order. Policy implications are discussed. JEL Classification: D74; Z32; Z38


Effective therapeutic targets for triple‐negative breast cancer (TNBC), a special type of breast cancer (BC) with rapid metastasis and poor prognosis, are lacking, especially for patients with chemotherapy resistance. Decitabine (DCA) is a Food and Drug Administration‐approved DNA methyltransferase inhibitor that has been proven effective for the treatment of tumors. However, its antitumor effect in cancer cells is limited by multidrug resistance. Cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are thought to act as seeds during tumor formation, regulate tumorigenesis, metastasis, and drug resistance through complex signaling. Our previous study found that miR‐155 is upregulated in BC, but whether and how miR‐155 regulates DCA resistance is unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that miR‐155 was upregulated in CD24−CD44+ BC stem cells (BCSCs). In addition, the overexpression of miR‐155 increased the number of CD24−CD44+ CSCs, DCA resistance and tumor clone formation in MDA‐231 and BT‐549 BC cells, and knockdown of miR‐155 inhibited DCA resistance and stemness in BCSCs in vitro. Moreover, miR‐155 induced stemness and DCA resistance by inhibiting the direct target gene tetraspanin‐5 (TSPAN5). We further confirmed that overexpression of TSPAN5 abrogated the effect of miR‐155 in promoting stemness and DCA resistance in BC cells. Our data show that miR‐155 increases stemness and DCA resistance in BC cells by targeting TSPAN5. These data provide a therapeutic strategy and mechanistic basis for future possible clinical applications targeting the miR‐155/TSPAN5 signaling axis in the treatment of TNBC.


Though there are many hotels operating within and near Bauchi metropolis, they are not enough to carry the anticipated demand. There exists excess demand not satisfied by the present supply structure. This is occasioned by the fact that demand for hotel services is influenced by such factors as price, service quality, taste, income, ambience, among other others. Therefore, this study is aimed at carrying out a feasibility study with a view to establishing full-service hotel to fill the current gap. The purpose of a feasibility study is to assist in planning a large project by evaluating the chances of the project's success before it begins. A potentially viable opportunity for commercial hospitality exists in Bauchi and this requires technical, market, infrastructure, operational and management analyses to provide a framework for successful investment. Commercial hospitality, especially the lodging facility plays a significant role in development efforts and poverty alleviation of goals 1 and 8 of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 21st century. A feasibility study of a 54 – bedroom full service hotel in Bauchi metropolis was conducted. Operational data obtained from the existing hotels and demand survey were processed by thematic and ratio analyses. Results show that it is economically and financially feasible to invest in a 54-bedroom full service hotel with start up capital of N68, 576, 100. 00, capable of yielding average annual profit rate at 41% and a cap rate of 106%. It is recommended that Bauchi State government should provide enabling environment through its empowerment programme to motivate entrepreneurs to invest in commercial hospitality for poverty alleviation in Bauchi.


In this study we investigated the association between morphological asymmetry and patterns of cognitive ability in dementia of Alzheimer's type (DAT). Digitized CT scans were used to estimate volumetric parameters of the brain. The volume of the cranium, brain parenchyma, the subarachnoid space, and lateral ventricles was computed. The volume of the subarachnoid space was used as an index of cortical atrophy, while the ventricular volume served as an estimate of subcortical atrophy. Asymmetry indices were computed for all structures as the difference between left and right volume divided by their average and multiplied by 100. Cognitive asymmetry index was computed by dividing the difference between VIQ and PIQ of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) by their average and multiplying by 100. After statistically controlling for cranial asymmetry, hemispheric asymmetry was found to correlate positively with cognitive asymmetry. The correlation was somewhat greater for male than for female patients. Asymmetry of both cortical and subcortical atrophy correlated negatively with cognitive asymmetry.


Continuity Check, Proactive Connectivity Verification, and Remote
Defect Indication functionalities are required for MPLS Transport
Profile (MPLS-TP) Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM).
Continuity Check monitors a Label Switched Path for any loss of
continuity defect. Connectivity Verification augments Continuity Check
in order to provide confirmation that the desired source is connected
to the desired sink. Remote Defect Indication enables an end point to
report, to its associated end point, a fault or defect condition that
it detects on a pseudowire, Label Switched Path, or Section. This
document specifies specific extensions to Bidirectional Forwarding
Detection (BFD) and methods for proactive Continuity Check, Continuity
Verification, and Remote Defect Indication for MPLS-TP pseudowires,
Label Switched Paths, and Sections using BFD as extended by this memo.
[STANDARDS-TRACK]


The second point is the matter of visceral fat cells. We are happy that we were reminded of the excellent, careful work by Salans et al.} These authors have as a matter of fact already studied this question very carefully. They studied the fat cell sizes at three subcutaneous and three visceral depots in fairly extensive material from obese and non-obese subjects. They then analysed their data from a number of different aspects, including calculations of fat cell number with and without visceral fat cells taken into account, and with different assumed percentages of visceral fat. Their conclusion was that ". . . mean adipose cell number for the obese group is always significantly greater than that for the non-obese, irrespective of the cell size used and of the assumed distribution of total body fat." Not only the conclusions but also the results obtained are to a rather large extent different from those of Jung et al, and it is a pity that the reason for his has not been analysed in their report. The study by Salans et al shows conclusively that hypercellularity does exist. If we use the data of Jung et al, it does not exist if there are large differences in adipocyte distribution between subcutaneous and visceral fat in obese and non-obese subjects; and this is a very unlikely situation. Both these arguments demonstrate that the difference in opinion between our groups is actually quantitative. We believe that both groups agree on the basic point-that is, that adipose hypercellularity does exist, only its significance being evaluated differently. We do, of course, not use mean plus one SD of controls as cutting point for definition of hyperplastic obesity other than for analytical purposes.2 In this report the low limit had to be set (arbitrarily, as stated in our paper) in order to get a large enough group of hypercellular patients. This again emphasises the quantitative aspects here: these are rare patients. We do, however, apparently see more such patients than Dr Jung and his colleagues, probably because we have a referring "filter," the very frequent everyday problem of slight obesity usually being taken care of outside our hospital. These severely obese subjects are, however, a considerable clinical problem although they are relatively few.


A simple and controllable acid functionalised catalyst synthesis is presented based on the hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) of glucose in the presence of the structure directing agent sodium borate. This synthetic strategy in combination with a post-thermal carbonisation step allows direction of porosity/specific surface area, and HTC xerogel material functionality. All these parameters influence the introduction of S-containing functional groups (e.g. acidity) to the xerogel. The prepared acid functionalised HTC materials were characterised via N2 sorption, back titration, elemental analysis, XPS, ATR FT-IR, and SEM, with their applicability as solid acids assessed through model esterification reactions of different organic acids (e.g. short alkyl chain and aromatic systems). An S-functionalised HTC catalyst described in this study with a high specific surface area and porosity (502 m2 g−1; 0.42 cm3 g−1), and a loading of 1.1 mmol g−1 SO3H/SO42− acid sites (from a 2.7 mmol g−1 of total acid groups) was found to have comparable catalytic activities as commercial Amberlyst-36® catalyst in all the investigated esterification reactions. Catalyst re-usability under the applied batch conditions was improved by heating the catalyst at higher temperatures in order to remove deposited organic acids and their derivatives. The concept presented provides a basis for further development and optimisation of HTC supported catalysts in acid and other catalysis.


OBJECTIVE
Myocardial depression from verapamil toxicity may result from alterations in carbohydrate metabolism as well as calcium-channel antagonism. We hypothesized that pharmacologic doses of insulin may be effective in reversing both of these deficits.

DESIGN
Randomized, controlled, prospective study.

SETTING
Laboratory of an urban hospital.

SUBJECTS
Thirty mongrel dogs.

INTERVENTIONS
Thirty mongrel canines were anesthetized with alpha-chloralose. Toxicity was induced by the administration of 0.1 mg/kg/min iv of verapamil, until there was a 50% reduction in mean arterial pressure, for 30 mins (titration), followed by a continuous verapamil infusion of 1 mg/kg/hr. Animals (n = 6 per group) were randomized to the control group (saline only) or to one of four treatment protocols: a) calcium chloride (20 mg/kg), then 0.6 mg/kg/hr; b) hyperinsulinemia-euglycemia (4.0 U/min of recombinant insulin, with arterial glucose concentration clamped to +/- 10 mg/dL [+/- 0.5 mmol/L] of the basal value); c) epinephrine, with a starting rate of 1.0 microgram/kg/min, titrated to maintain left ventricular pressure at basal values; or d) glucagon, a 0.2-mg/kg bolus, followed by a 150-microgram/kg/hr infusion. Animals were monitored until death or 240 mins; infusate volumes were held constant for all groups.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
During verapamil titration, the myocardial respiratory quotient increased from 0.84 +/- 0.05 to 1.07 +/- 0.11 (p < .05, paired t-test) and myocardial glucose uptake doubled, despite a reduction in cardiac work (p < .05, paired t-test). Net myocardial lactate uptake also increased significantly, excluding myocardial ischemia. In controls, this trend continued, indicating preferential carbohydrate metabolism during untreated verapamil toxicity. Despite hyperglycemia, the plasma insulin concentration was not significantly different in controls (basal value 11 +/- 2 vs. 39 +/- 21 microU/mL at 30 mins). Hyperinsulinemia-euglycemia increased both myocardial glucose and lactate uptake five-fold, and significantly increased the ratio of myocardial oxygen delivery/work, along with superior improvements in maximal left ventricular elastance at end systole compared with other treatments (p < .05 vs. other treatments, contrast analysis).

CONCLUSIONS
Verapamil toxicity renders the heart dependent on carbohydrate metabolism. Inasmuch as the positive inotropic effects of all treatments were coincident with increased indices of myocardial carbohydrate uptake, adequate treatment of verapamil toxicity appeared to require maximal myocardial carbohydrate utilization. Hyperinsulinemia-euglycemia allows larger increases in myocardial carbohydrate metabolism and myocardial contractility than calcium chloride, epinephrine, or glucagon, resulting in improved survival rates during severe verapamil toxicity.


Over the years commercial banks in Kenya have been performing tremendously. In Kenya, the bank lending interest rates are always charged on loans by the commercial
banks to private individual and companies. The main objective for the study was to determine to what extent lending interest rates affect profitability of commercial banks. The study used descriptive research design using secondary data obtained from Central Bank of Kenya for the period of five years from 2010 to 2014 as well as published commercial banks annual reports 2014. Data obtained was analyzed using SPSS version
2.0 and results obtained tested for significance using ANOVA. The study found that lending interest rates have significant positive effect on financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya at 95% confidence level. The relationship between lending interest rates and profitability of commercial banks was also found to be linear with increase in lending interest rates leading to higher profitability. The study also concluded
that bank size, capital adequacy, and operational costs all significantly had effect on profitability of commercial banks. The study recommended that policies to be put in place to shield bank lending rates and ensure monitoring the same.


Ants (Hymenoptera, Apocrita, Aculeata, Formicoidea) comprise a well-succeeded group of animals. Like bees and wasps, ants are mostly venomous, having a sting system to deliver a mixture of bioactive organic compounds and peptides. The predatory giant ant Dinoponera quadriceps belongs to the subfamily Ponerinae that include one of the largest known ant species in the world. In the present study, low molecular weight compounds and peptides were identified by on-line peptide mass fingerprint. These include neuroactive biogenic amines (histamine, tyramine, and dopamine), monoamine alkaloid (phenethylamine), free amino acids (e.g., glutamic acid and proline), free thymidine and cytosine. To the best of our knowledge most of these components are described for the first time in an ant venom. Multifunctional dinoponeratoxin peptides variants (pilosulin- and ponericin-like peptides) were characterized that possess antimicrobial, hemolytic, and histamine-releasing properties. These venom components, particularly peptides, might synergistically contribute to the overall venom activity and toxicity, for immobilizing live prey, and defending D. quadriceps against aggressors, predators and potential microbial infection.


The methods of sensitivity analysis allow to estimate the influence of parameters determining the geometrical, physical, boundary and initial conditions on the course of thermal processes in the system considered. In this paper the possibilities of shape sensitivity analysis application (SSA) in the thermal theory of foundry processes are discussed. In particular, the direct approach is presented because it seems that for practical applications this variant of sensitivity analysis is more effective. The theoretical base of SSA is presented in chapters 1 and 2, next the practical aspects of the method are discussed. In the final part of the paper the examples of computations can be found.


We first develop a rate-distortion (R-D) model for DCT-based video coding incorporating the macroblock (MB) intra refreshing rate. For any given bit rate and intra refreshing rate, this model is capable of estimating the corresponding coding distortion even before a video frame is coded. We then present a theoretical analysis of the picture distortion caused by channel errors and the subsequent inter-frame propagation. Based on this analysis, we develop a statistical model to estimate such channel errors induced distortion for different channel conditions and encoder settings. The proposed analytic model mathematically describes the complex behavior of channel errors in a video coding and transmission system. Unlike other experimental approaches for distortion estimation reported in the literature, this analytic model has very low computational complexity and implementation cost, which are highly desirable in wireless video applications. Simulation results show that this model is able to accurately estimate the channel errors induced distortion with a minimum delay in processing. Based on the proposed source coding R-D model and the analytic channel-distortion estimation, we derive an analytic solution for adaptive intra mode selection and joint source-channel rate control under time-varying wireless channel conditions. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that this scheme significantly improves the end-to-end video quality in wireless video coding and transmission.


Surgical therapy currently allows for the correction of many pathologic conditions affecting the vasculature of the central nervous system. Recent advances in technology have given the cerebrovascular specialist further options in the minimally invasive sphere. Endovascular techniques, complimentary to surgery in some conditions, are poised to replace conventional open surgery in others. A review of current interventional radiological procedures for the treatment and prevention of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke are herewith presented.


Distributed Interactive Applications (DIAs) have been gaining commercial success in recent years due to the widespread appeal of networked multiplayer computer games. Within these games, participants interact with each other and their environment, producing complex behavioural patterns that evolve over time. These patterns are non-linear, and often appear to exhibit dependencies under certain conditions. In this paper, we analyse the behavioural patterns of two users interacting in a DIA. Our motivation behind this analysis is to construct models of user behaviour that can be used within Entity-State-Update (ESU) mechanisms. By representing their behaviour as time-series datasets, we investigate the use of simple statistical dependence measures to help partition the datasets and identify three different types of behavioural states exhibited by the two users. It is our intention that future research on ESU mechanisms can utilize this behavioural partitioning to reduce the network traffic in a DIA based on a hybrid-model approach.


Millennials 20-29 years old were disproportionately affected by the housing crisis resulting in 31% of them still living at home; shut out of the rental housing market (Johnson, 2010). They are cash-strapped due to mortgage inaccessibility and lack of affordable housing options. With aspirations to live in "exciting urban settings", as studies suggest, many of them are amenable to living in smaller spaces presumed to be affordable, such as micro-dwellings. As different types of these surface in the housing market, this assumption remains untested, suggesting the need for further research. Therefore, this study explores micro-dwellings as a potential rental housing option for this population and addresses the following research question: What is the possible fit between the housing aspirations of young adults, and the micro-dwelling housing model? 1. What do young adults value most in housing? 2. Which, among the different micro-dwelling housing types available in the rental market, might be viable housing options for young adults? 3. What is the optimal design of micro-dwellings as housing for young adults? This exploratory study combines data-driven, qualitative, and empirical components for a mixed-methods approach. Observations of existing micro-dwellings were documented to assess their characteristics through site visits and a design charrette. Millennials' housing aspirations were identified through literature review and examined via an online survey distributed to young adults in a mid-size city in the Southeast. Descriptive statistics analysis of the data found that: 1) Out of 32 responses recorded, 65.6% would prefer to live in an urban location; 2) 60.9% showed a high desire for proximity to neighborhood and community amenities, confirming previous published studies' claims; 3) 40.7% would live in a micro-dwelling, suggesting that current models partially satisfy the needs of the population; 4) 53.1% would find micro-dwellings more desirable if they offered communal spaces to satisfy their socialization needs. The information gathered from the review of literature, site visits, design charrette, and survey informed a pattern language. This pattern consisted of twelve design guidelines which were then tested through an empirical component. To provide the necessary proof of concept and accept or reject the hypothesis that micro-dwellings are a viable housing option for young adults; a comprehensive design proposal was developed, composed of a micro-dwelling community model and its units.


The signal processing (SP) landscape has been enriched by recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), yielding new tools for signal estimation, classification, prediction, and manipulation. Layered signal representations, nonlinear function approximation and nonlinear signal prediction are now feasible at very large scale in both dimensionality and data size. These are leading to significant performance gains in a variety of long-standing problem domains like speech and Image analysis. As well as providing the ability to construct new classes of nonlinear functions (e.g., fusion, nonlinear filtering). This book will help academics, researchers, developers, graduate and undergraduate students to comprehend complex SP data across a wide range of topical application areas such as social multimedia data collected from social media networks, medical imaging data, data from Covid tests etc. This book focuses on AI utilization in the speech, image, communications and yirtual reality domains. © 2021 River Publishers. All rights reserved.


This paper discusses a modality to access and to organize unstructured contents related to a particular topic coming from the access to Wikipedia pages. The proposed approach is focused on the acquisition of new knowledge from Wikipedia pages and is based on the definition of useful patterns able to extract and identify novel concepts and relations to be added in the knowledge base. We proposes a method that uses information from the wiki page's structure. According to the different part of the page we define different strategies to obtain new concepts or relation between them. We analyze not only structure but text directly to obtain relations and concepts and to extract the type of relations to be incorporated in a domain ontology. The purpose is to use the obtained information in an intelligent tutoring system to improve his capabilities in dialogue management with users.


The impact of the policy reform on economic performance has been one of the stifling issues in development economics in the recent years. Since the middle 1970s, there has been considerable progress in the trade reform in the most developing countries, turning from an import substitution strategy to export-oriented approach. Pakistan also follows export-oriented policies. Pakistan's trade pattern and trade policy have been moving towards fewer and fewer controls, tariffs rates have come tumbling down. Export-led-growth hypothesis (ELG) suggests that due to positive correlation between export and growth, therefore, export-oriented policies contribute to economic growth. Thus, international trade and development theory suggests that export growth contributes positively to economic growth. On the basis of this framework, most empirical work on the effects of export promoting strategy followed in developing countries evaluated openness with trade. Empirical research about the effect of this liberalisation process has treated export as principal channel for growth. The relationship with exports and growth, grounded in endogenous growth theory, has been tested for Pakistan.


Background: Functional deficits observed at long-term follow-up in surgically released clubfeet have led to the adoption of a nonoperative approach. Gait results reported at age 5 years found ankle motion was limited in clubfeet treated by posteromedial release (PMR), compared with those that required posterior release (PR) or remained nonoperative. The purpose of this study was to assess plantar pressures in clubfeet that required surgical correction by 5 years of age. Methods: Pedobarograph data were collected at age 5 years on patients with clubfeet that underwent surgical correction due to residual deformity or recurrence. Plantar pressures were assessed by subdividing the foot into the medial/lateral hindfoot, midfoot, and forefoot regions. Variables included maximum force, contact area%, contact time% (CT%), the hindfoot-forefoot angle, and displacement of the center of pressure line. Surgical feet were divided into those that underwent an isolated PR versus PMR. A group of 72 clubfeet that remained nonoperative were matched by initial severity and used for comparison. Results: Pedobarograph data from 53 patients (72 clubfeet; 25 PR and 47 PMR) showed minimal differences between the PR and PMR feet. Compared with the nonoperative group, both surgical groups had increased CT% in the medial hindfoot and medial midfoot regions. An increase in lateral hindfoot CT% was observed in the PMR group. In addition, CT% in the first metatarsal region in the PMR group was reduced compared with the nonoperative group. Lateralization is present across both surgical groups in the center of pressure line and hindfoot-forefoot angle. Conclusion: While there were minimal differences between surgical groups, patients who underwent PR exhibited pressure variables that were more comparable to the nonoperative group while the PMR group had greater deviations. Level of Evidence: Level II—therapeutic.


As federal policy makers explore using tax credits to help uninsured Americans buy individual health insurance, a key question is whether the credits are large enough to make insurance affordable for those who are older or in less-than-perfect health. A Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) analysis of two leading proposals--one by President Bush and the other by a bipartisan group of senators--indicates tax credits would make individual coverage affordable for many people but are unlikely to offer much help to those who are older or in imperfect health. For example, nine out of 10 19- to 29-year-olds in excellent health would receive credits covering at least half of the estimated cost of an individual policy, compared with only one in 100 people age 55-64 in poor health.


Background: Employment is a social determinant of health. However, few longitudinal studies have examined employment outcomes in women with early-stage breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to examine employment trajectories in a cohort of early-stage breast cancer patients from treatment to 2-year follow-up, and evaluate relationships between sociodemographic, clinical/treatment, and psychosocial factors and employment outcomes. Methods: Data from a cohort study of newly diagnosed early-stage breast cancer patients were used to examine employment outcomes among 347 working-age patients, 40-64 years old. We examined patients9 employment trajectories after definitive surgical treatment, using a multivariable logistic regression model to identify factors associated with diminished (versus sustained) employment at 2-year follow-up. Results: A total of 245 patients (71%) were employed at least part-time at the time of definitive surgical treatment. 50 patients (20%) reported diminished employment over the 2-year follow-up period. After adjusting for covariates (age, marital status, education, household income, insurance status, depression history, social support, comorbidity, and surgery alone or surgery with chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or both), we observed that fatigue, assessed as SF-36 vitality subscale score below the median (OR=5.50, 95%CI=2.41, 12.56), and African-American race (versus white race, OR=4.23, 95%CI=1.66, 10.76) were associated with diminished employment. Conclusions: Patients with elevated fatigue and African Americans patients were more likely to experience diminished employment participation after definitive surgical treatment. Further research is warranted to identify factors associated with these disparities and strategies to improve workforce participation after breast cancer. Citation Format: Christine C. Ekenga, Maria Perez, Julie A. Margenthaler, Donna B. Jeffe. Employment participation after early-stage breast cancer: Patterns and determinants [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Tenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2017 Sep 25-28; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2018;27(7 Suppl):Abstract nr C40.


This study evaluates the implementation of quality assurance at a private university in Indonesia, namely Atma Jaya Catholic University, Jakarta (UAJJ). The aim is to find out the quality (merit) and benefits (worth) of implementing the SPMI program at UAJJ comprehensively, because stakeholders do not understand it. UAJJ itself has implemented SPMI (Internal Quality Assurance System) consistently since 2017 based on the PPEPP model cycle (Determination, Implementation, Evaluation, Development, and Improvement) as an implementation guideline. This qualitative method uses the evaluation of the CIPP model developed by Stufflebeam. The CIPP model consists of the Context, Input, Process, and Product components and each related sub-component. The components and sub-components become the object of this research. The results and data analysis show that the implementation of Internal Quality Assurance in the UAJJ is of high quality and beneficial for all stakeholders. The conclusion and discussion materials are that quality assurance efforts and internal QA implementation, both at UAJJ, other higher education institutions, and professional researchers need to develop and seek internal QA implementation strategies to ensure the health of higher education institutions, especially in the three core values, namely student learning, research, and community service.


Often in control design it is necessary to construct estimates of state variables which are not available by direct measurement. If a system is linear, its state vector can be approximately reconstructed by building an observer which is itself a linear system driven by the available outputs and inputs of the original system. The state vector of an n th order system with m independent outputs can be reconstructed with an observer of order n-m . In this paper it is shown that the design of an observer for a system with M outputs can be reduced to the design of m separate observers for single-output subsystems. This result is a consequence of a special canonical form developed in the paper for multiple-output systems. In the special case of reconstruction of a single linear functional of the unknown state vector, it is shown that a great reduction in observer complexity is often possible. Finally, the application of observers to control design is investigated. It is shown that an observer's estimate of the system state vector can be used in place of the actual state vector in linear or nonlinear feedback designs without loss of stability.


Social media as a new democratic space has offered many possibilities to access information and interaction with other users but at the same time, can endangers the life of democracy itself. The research aimed to find out the types of fanaticism in social media and how it can endanger the life of democracy in Indonesia. This research was conducted in Malang from April-August 2016 and used descriptive qualitative method with interview and documentation as data gathering techniques. Meanwhile, the sampling technique was a purposive sampling and used interactive model from Miles & Huberman data analysis with three components namely: data reducation, data display and verification or conclusion withdrawal. The research results showed that there were two types of fanaticism in social media; politic and religion fanaticisms. Both types promote their ideology through fanpages, personal accounts and websites that circulate in social media. This research also found that fanaticism could endanger the life of democracy because it would not allow differences and againts the principle of democracy where diversities are celebrated. Some fanatic postings ignited debate and conflict and some other silently brain-washed people to be radical. Social media has cultivated fanaticism and ignited conflicts among people. It has become a "war zone" where anyone can say anything to anyone including some sensitive issues such as religion, politic and race. Keyword : social media; democracy; fanaticism


The field of genetic research, technology, and application is rapidly advancing. While such advancement provides great promise to evaluate, diagnose and treat medical conditions, there are many ethical and regulatory questions and challenges that must be addressed. In this article, we attempt to highlight both government regulation and professional codes of ethics as they relate to biomedical genetic technology. This article starts by articulating the first genetic code of ethics published in Canada in 1986, as well as other North American organisations, followed by European Union organisations, efforts around the globe and, finally, published guidelines or ethical codes that serve genetic professionals on an international scale. We also highlight that as genetic technology constantly changes, professionals and their ethical guidelines must adapt as well.

Key Concepts

Molecular biologists, biochemists, informatics professionals, genomicists and clinical researchers as well as clinicians and genetic counsellors are using genetic technology.
Government regulation alone is not enough to ensure that this technology is being used appropriately.
Many independent and professional organisations are also contributing to this arena.
This review for genetic professionals attempts to provide an overview of both comprehensive formal codes and decisions by various bodies that guide ethical medical genetics practices and supplement federal regulations.
The spread of genetic technologies around the world is adding to the challenge of adequately addressing the ethical issues raised in various nations and cultures.

Keywords:

genetic technology;
genetic professional;
genetic counsellor;
code of ethics;
direct-to-consumer;
incidental findings


Multiple myeloma is a plasma cell tumor that homes to and expands in the bone marrow and that, despite the new available drugs, remains incurable. We report the case of a 69-year-old male with multiply relapsed multiple myeloma(MM), who was found to have a testicular plasmacytoma. He presented with a gradually enlarging scrotal mass. Following orchidectomy, pathologic examination of the specimen demonstrated a plasmacytoma.


J Bone Joint Surg [Br] 2005;87-B:1385-90. Received 25 April 2005; Accepted after revision 2 June 2005 The purpose of this study was to describe the anatomical distribution and incidence of fatigue injuries of the femur in physically-active young adults, based upon MRI studies. During a period of 70 months, 1857 patients with exercise-induced pain in the femur underwent MRI of the pelvis, hips, femora, and/or knees. Of these, 170 patients had a total of 185 fatigue injuries, giving an incidence of 199 per 100 000 person-years. Bilateral injuries occurred in 9% of patients. The three most common sites affected were the femoral neck (50%), the condylar area (24%) and the proximal shaft (18%). A fatigue reaction was seen in 57%, and a fracture line in 22%. There was a statistical correlation between the severity of the fatigue injury and the duration of pain (p = 0.001). The location of the pain was normally at the site of the fatigue injury. Fatigue injuries of the femur appear to be relatively common in physically-active patients.


Rates of pay in the hotel and catering industry are a contentious issue. The industry is traditionally labour intensive and labour costs form a significant proportion of the total running costs of an organisation. On the other hand, the industry has a reputation for low pay, and evidence suggests that pay in the industry consistently falls behind many other industries. Information about pay in the industry is however limited. Existing sources do not provide detailed data on the rates of pay for a range of employees in the hotel and catering industry. The aim of this research therefore, is to develop a comprehensive study of pay in the industry for particular grades of staff, and also to examine the factors that influence pay in the industry. A survey was conducted throughout Great Britain into rates of pay in the hotel sector, the restaurant sector, the industrial catering sector and the contract catering sector. Rates were found to be generally higher in the industrial catering sector, while the hotel and restaurant sectors tended to have very similar rates of pay. The traditionally female occupations in the industry, such as the room maid and the housekeeper are shown to have some of the lowest rates of pay, and some average rates of pay were below the legal minimum laid down by the Wages Council, The examination of determinants of pay in the industry demonstrates that pay for the unskilled grades of staff is influenced by factors such as the regional and locational situation of the hotel restaurant or unit. As there are variations of demand for labour and alternative job opportunities in different regions and locations around Great Britain, the average rate of pay for unskilled workers fluctuates. The pay of the skilled grades of staff was affected to a greater extent by factors such as the size or the price level of a unit. These factors are mainly indicative of the style of the operation and perhaps the level of skill demanded.


In this paper the impact of possible input cost developments on the EU agriculture is analysed under ceteris paribus conditions. Two scenarios are developed with the partial equilibrium model CAPRI. The scenarios assume symmetric input price changes in positive and negative directions around a projected baseline in year 2020. The magnitude of the input price changes are based on observed volatility. To measure the volatility, the annual time-series of the CoCo database were analysed, which contains input cost estimates for a multitude of agricultural activities and cost categories at the geographical level of the EU countries. Our results suggest that the uncertainty in input cost development has a strong potential to affect commodity market balances and farm incomes. There is an ongoing discussion about possible policy measures to mitigate the negative impacts of price volatility on farm incomes. This study contributes to this discussion by estimating a share of 17 billion euros of EU agricultural income being put on risk every year. The analysis also identifies vulnerable regions and production technologies that are particularly affected by input price instability. It remains for further research to perform a systematic sensitivity analysis in order to explore the impact of input cost volatility fully on the model outcomes.


Background: Nonadherence has been reported in over 40% of patients taking maintenance therapies (MT) for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Studies in other illness groups have shown that nonadherence is related to negative attitudes to treatment. The aim of this study was to assess patients' attitudes to MT for IBD (beliefs about personal need for MT and potential adverse effects) and to identify whether such beliefs are associated with adherence to MT. Methods: A cross‐sectional survey was conducted in which 1871 members of the National Association for Colitis and Crohn's Disease (NACC) completed validated questionnaires assessing beliefs about MT and adherence to MT. Results: Low adherence to MT was reported by 29% of participants and was associated with doubts about personal need for MT (odds ratio [OR] = 0.56; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.48–0.64; P < 0.001) and concerns about potential adverse effects (OR = 1.66; 95% CI: 1.42–1.94; P < 0.001). Attitudinal analysis showed that while almost half (48%) of the participants were "accepting" of MT (high necessity, low concerns), a large proportion of the sample (42%) were "ambivalent" about MT (high necessity, high concerns), 6% were "sceptical" (low necessity, high concerns) and 4% were "indifferent" (low necessity, low concerns). Compared to those who were "accepting" of MT, participants in all 3 other attitudinal groups were significantly more likely to be nonadherent. Conclusions: The way in which patients judge their personal need for MT relative to their concerns about MT can be a significant barrier to adherence. Interventions to facilitate optimal adherence to MT for IBD should address such perceptual barriers.


TdIF1 was originally identified as a protein that directly binds to DNA polymerase TdT. TdIF1 is also thought to function in transcription regulation, because it binds directly to the transcriptional factor TReP-132, and to histone deacetylases HDAC1 and HDAC2. Here we show that TdIF1 recognizes a specific DNA sequence and regulates gene transcription. By constructing TdIF1 mutants, we identify amino acid residues essential for its interaction with DNA. An in vitro DNA selection assay, SELEX, reveals that TdIF1 preferentially binds to the sequence 5′-GNTGCATG-3′ following an AT-tract, through its Helix-Turn-Helix and AT-hook motifs. We show that four repeats of this recognition sequence allow TdIF1 to regulate gene transcription in a plasmid-based luciferase reporter assay. We demonstrate that TdIF1 associates with the RAB20 promoter, and RAB20 gene transcription is reduced in TdIF1-knocked-down cells, suggesting that TdIF1 stimulates RAB20 gene transcription.


Abstract This paper examines the supply-side determinants of international trade in crops that are intensive in genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The theoretical framework is a variant of the Heckscher–Ohlin model, which we estimate using cross-country data for 1995 and 2010 to examine soybeans, maize, and cotton trade. The data include measures of country land endowments, which we disaggregate into GMO and non-GMO components, as well as recently released measures of GMO regulations. Findings show land endowments are a primary source of comparative advantage in GMO intensive industries before and after the advent of GMOs. Further, an increase in a country's allocation of land to GMO crops has a positive effect on her net exports in GMO intensive industries. This positive effect occurs both across countries and time. Finally, a country's GMO regulations have a negligible effect as a supply-side determinant of comparative advantage. However, a country's decision about whether to adopt GMO technologies does matter to trade. These findings are robust with respect to a variety of considerations.


Based on a comparative study carried out in France and Germany, this article explores the mobilisations of "victims of racism". It shows how in the last two decades the « lived experience » of racism has became a pathway for asserting claims in antiracist struggles. Lived experience is expressed through ethnoracial identifications, which converts racialised bodies into a political ressource. This comparative study between France and Germany shines light upon nationally contextualised processes which aim to introduce racialised points of view in the field of the national antiracist struggle.


As we enter the year of 2011, the 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza virus is in the news again. At least 20 people have died of this virus in China since the beginning of 2011 and it is now the predominant flu strain in the country. Although this novel virus was quite stable during its run in the flu season of 2009-2010, a genetic variant of this virus was found in Singapore in early 2010, and then in Australia and New Zealand during their 2010 winter influenza season. Several critical mutations in the HA protein of this variant were uncovered in the strains collected from January 2010 to April 2010. Moreover, a structural homology model of HA from the A/Brisbane/10/2010(H1N1) strain was made based on the structure of A/California/04/2009 (H1N1). The purpose of this study was to investigate mutations in the HA protein of 2009 H1N1 from sequence data collected worldwide from May 2010 to February 2011. A fundamental problem in bioinformatics and biology is to find the similar gene sequences for a given gene sequence of interest. Here we proposed the inverse problem, i.e., finding the exemplars from a group of related gene sequences. With a clustering algorithm affinity propagation, six exemplars of the HA sequences were identified to represent six clusters. One of the clusters contained strain A/Brisbane/12/2010(H1N1) that only differed from A/Brisbane/10/2010 in the HA sequence at position 449. Based on the sequence identity of the six exemplars, nine mutations in HA were located that could be used to distinguish these six clusters. Finally, we discovered the change of correlation patterns for the HA and NA of 2009 H1N1 as a result of the HA receptor binding specificity switch, revealing the balanced interplay between these two surface proteins of the virus.


Vulnerability assessment is a process to calculate the damage degree of a combat vehicle when the combat vehicle is attacked by an enemy. When the vehicle is hit, it is necessary to analyze the shot line to calculate which components are damaged and judge whether the armor of the vehicle is penetrated by enemy's warhead. To analyze the shot line efficiently, this paper presents the target modeling and the shot line analysis system to assess vulnerability of the ground combat vehicle. This system is easily able to do several functions: 1) the program reads STL files converted from CAD model which is designed by commercial CAD software. 2) It calculates the intersection between triangle of STL mesh and the shot line, and check if the components of the model are penetrated. 3) This program can visualize the results using OpenGL. The vulnerability assessment using the shot line analysis can be used to model the armor of the combat vehicle and arrange the inner components effectively in the early stage of development of the combat vehicle.


Simulation and experimental results of a time-delay photonic reservoir computer based on VCSEL and photodiode chips with multi-mode waveguide splitter and combiner is presented. The design is based on technology developed for a high bandwidth density optical mulit-chip module with polymer waveguides for optical interconnect applications. The number of virtual nodes in the reservoir can be adjusted by varying the feedback delay time and the input signal rate. Results on distorted signal recovery and non-linear waveform generation tasks are presented and are promising for the development of a platform for board-integrated photonic neural network architecture.


This paper discusses how social categorizations can be of fundamental importance for power relations in intergroup relations during an implementation of cultural diversity in a work organization. One purpose is to present a conceptual bridge between Michel Foucault´s concept of power and Henri Tajfel´s Social Identity Theory. This is done through a conceptual synthesization of Foucault´s concepts hierarchical observation, normalizing judgment and examination and, Tajfel´s concepts social categorization, social comparison, and social identity. Another purpose is to illustrate the conceptual synthesization by analyzing personnel statistics from and interviews at a Swedish hospital and a truck factory. The findings show that cultural diversity would not only be a question about increased awareness or change of attitudes: it is also about a critical questioning of more complex and often invisible normal conditions in terms of particular aspects that cause subtle conflicts in intergroup relations.


The effectiveness of two stimuli (thermal and salinity shock) in inducing spawning in the eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica was tested under laboratory conditions. Organisms were obtained in Machona Lagoon, located in Sanchez Magallanes, Tabasco. Temperatures used were 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 ◦ C and the salinities were 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 psu. The objective of this work was to determine the effects of salinity and thermal shock on spawning of C. virginica oyster. The best spawning results were obtained by using salinity shock, which induced spawning in 55% of the oysters tested, with the number of males that spawned being signi cantly higher than that of the females. Thermal shock was less e ective with only 34% of organisms spawning and, unlike the salinity results, the number of females was higher than that of males. Temperatures of 30 ◦ C or greater had a negative e ect on spawning and was similar at a salinity of 30 psu. The optimum time for spawning was between 11 and 15 min of exposure to salinity shock, whilst for thermal shock it was between 16 and 20 min.


Neural networks are increasingly used for graph classification in a variety of contexts. Social media is a critical application area in this space, however the characteristics of social media graphs differ from those seen in most popular benchmark datasets. Social networks tend to be large and sparse, while benchmarks are small and dense. Classically, large and sparse networks are analyzed by studying the distribution of local properties. Inspired by this, we introduce Graph-Hist: an end-to-end architecture that extracts a graph's latent local features, bins nodes together along 1-D cross sections of the feature space, and classifies the graph based on this multi-channel histogram. We show that Graph-Hist improves state of the art performance on true social media benchmark datasets, while still performing well on other benchmarks. Finally, we demonstrate Graph-Hist's performance by conducting bot detection in social media. While sophisticated bot and cyborg accounts increasingly evade traditional detection methods, they leave artificial artifacts in their conversational graph that are detected through graph classification. We apply Graph-Hist to classify these conversational graphs. In the process, we confirm that social media graphs are different than most baselines and that Graph-Hist outperforms existing bot-detection models.


It is well known that Interleukin (IL)-6 is important in the regulation of both the chemokine directed recruitment and apoptotic removal of neutrophils and lymphocytes (Hurst et al. 2001, McLoughlin et al. 2003, 2005). However little is currently known about the role of IL-6 in governing the phenotype, activation and inflammatory trafficking of monocytic cells. In this thesis, an in vivo model of peritoneal inflammation was utilised in combination with in vitro studies using murine resident peritoneal leukocytes, to determine a role for IL-6 in the regulation of monocytic cell activity and trafficking during inflammation. In this respect, it was shown that resident peritoneal macrophages and dendritic cells (DC) were non-responsive to IL-6 signalling, which in DC was associated with an activation-induced loss of IL-6 receptor. This provides a potential mechanism by which DC are able to remove themselves from the immunosuppressive constraint imposed by IL-6, which is known to maintain immature DC (Park et al. 2004), allowing them to mature into activated DC. Upon activation, resident DC did not display a change in chemokine receptor expression, suggesting that they may remain within the peritoneal cavity and undergo antigen presentation and lymphocyte activation locally. In vivo studies revealed that IL-6 did not regulate the inflammatory trafficking of resident macrophages, DC or recruited circulatory monocytes during acute peritonitis. However upon repeated inflammatory activation, IL-6 directed the increased recruitment of infiltrating monocytes to the peritoneal cavity, implicating them as a contributing factor to the peritoneal tissue damage and fibrosis associated with chronic disease progression. Later studies focused on IL-10, since there is a known interplay that exists between IL-6 and IL-10 (Niemand et al. 2003, Fiorentino et al. 1991, Chernoff et al. 1995). In vivo studies defined an anti-inflammatory role for IL-10, whereby it was responsible for limiting inflammatory leukocyte recruitment via its control of chemokine expression, and the suppression of IL-17A secreting T cell development and recruitment. Therefore the pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory roles of IL-6 and IL-10 respectively must be finely balanced to allow competent cell mediated immunity against infection whilst preventing excessive tissue damage associated with disease progression.


In this paper, we demonstrate a low-cost method to measure the speed of light. It uses instruments which are readily available in any undergraduate laboratory in a developing country and some components which are inexpensive. The method is direct as it measures the time of flight of the LASER beam and easy to implement. It will allow students to verify the finite value of the speed of light first hand. It can be part of the undergraduate syllabus as a regular experiment or a demonstration experiment.


As part of the validation effort to evaluate the consistency of a new cold in-place recycling using foamed asphalt (CIR — foam) mix design process for the Iowa Department of Transportation, the dynamic modulus and repeated load tests were conducted to evaluate the performance characteristics of CIR — foam mixtures over a wide range of loading and temperature conditions. The main objective of this research is to study the impacts of the foamed asphalt contents and reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) material characteristics on dynamic modulus and flow number. Dynamic modulus and repeated load tests were conducted on CIR — foam mixtures with RAP materials collected from seven different CIR project sites located throughout Iowa. Dynamic modulus values of the RAP materials varied depending on the sources and foamed asphalt contents. Coarse RAP materials with a small amount of residual asphalt content exhibited a higher modulus value at 4.4°C but exhibited a lower dynamic modulus value at 37.8°C than fine RAP materials with a large amount of residual asphalt content. Flow numbers were varied significantly depending on their RAP sources and foamed asphalt contents. Fine RAP materials with a hard residual asphalt binder exhibited a higher flow number than coarse RAP materials with a soft residual binder. The relative rankings of RAP materials in terms of the flow number did not change when the foamed asphalt was increased from 1.0 to 3.0%, which supports the repeated load test being consistent in evaluating a rutting potential of RAP materials.


ABSTRACT We study decentralized decisions among resiliency investors for hardening electric distribution systems with governance, which could coordinate the achievement of social optimums. Significant investments are being made to build resilient infrastructure for society well-being by hardening electric distribution networks. However, whether independent investment decisions can reach social optimums is not well studied. Previous research has focused on optimization of system designs to improve resiliency with limited modeling efforts on the interactions of decentralized decision making. Within regulatory governance, we investigate interactions between two independent resiliency investors with a game-theoretic model incorporating detailed payoff functions. Moreover, we demonstrate the framework with typical data and sensitivity analyses. We find that the decentralized optimal solution is not a social optimum without governance and the government could subsidize grid hardening to achieve the social optimum. Additionally, we conduct Monte Carlo simulations by varying key parameters and find that a socially undesirable outcome could occur with the highest frequency. Therefore, it is important to narrow the uncertain ranges for particular benefits/costs and use policy instruments to induce the socially desired outcomes. These results yield important insights into the role of regulatory governance in supervising resiliency investors and highlight the significance of studying the interactions between independent investors.


Three nonretriggerable current-mode monostable multivibrators constructed of one operational transresistance amplifier (OTRA) and a few passive elements are presented in this brief. Two of these circuits are operated respectively under positive and negative triggering modes. However, the recovery time cannot be adjusted once the pulsewidth is decided. The third topology, which can work in either triggering mode, features a tunable recovery time. The proposed current-mode monostables are simpler compared to their counterparts composed of operational amplifiers. The circuit operations are described in detail. Experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical analysis


SUMMARY: Star mutants of coliphages produce irregularly-shaped plaques which harbour mixed phage clones consisting of two or more phage genotypes: one type which forms star plaques identical in morphology and genetic constitution to those of the primary star mutant and other types which form regular genetically-homogeneous plaques. The peculiar morphology and genetic heterogeneity of star plaques is due to the appearance and subsequent selection in every such plaque of secondary mutants with growth properties superior to those of the primary star mutant. In the present work, the genetic structure of three such primary star mutants of coliphage T2 and of the secondary, regular mutants which they sport has been examined. The 'bromouracil' star mutant s 8 owes its star character to a single mutation at a locus s 8, which is not closely linked to any known genetic marker of coliphage T2. The secondary, regular mutants found in every plaque of s 8 harbour reverse mutations to s 8 + wild-type at the mutated star locus itself. The 'extended-host-range' star mutant h' owes its star character to the h' allele of the host range locus h. The secondary, regular mutants found in every plaque of h' harbour suppressor mutations to h' at a definite locus i 1, closely linked to h. These suppressor mutations abolish only the star effect of the h' allele without affecting the extended-host-range conferred by h' upon the coliphage T2. The 'P32-decay' star mutant hrs harbours a mutation rs which extends over a considerable sector of the T2 genome situated between the distantly linked loci r 7 and r 1. The star phenotype of this mutant derives from an interaction between the host-range locus h and the rs mutation so that some genetic states of the host range locus confer poor plaque development on phage particles in which they exist in conjunction with rs . The secondary, regular mutants found in every plaque of hrs harbour one of a set of non-allelic h + or ht mutations in the h locus, which abolish the plaque growth-inhibiting interaction of h with the rs mutation and which also affect the host range. It is possible to replace variable sectors of the rs mutation proximal to r 7 with their r + alleles by crosses of hrs to wild-type. One may suppose that star mutants should be encountered with all those plaque-forming virus types which can sport with sufficiently high probability, i.e. soon enough during the development of each plaque, secondary mutants of growth characteristics superior to those of the parent type.


Several of the most popular deterministic radiation transport methods for heat transfer are compared. Relative solution error is compared as a function of optical thickness and scattering albedo. The test problems are chosen to represent a range of problem types. Problems with discontinuous boundary conditions are included to evaluate 'ray effects' for discrete ordinates solutions. A brief derivation and a statement of the governing equations for each method is included so that the details of the precise method used is clear. All solutions are generated using finite element discretization. Where applicable, any stabilization used is included in the statement of the governing equations.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


An efficient method for capacitor placement and network reconfiguration is presented in this paper to reduce energy loss in distribution networks over intervals of time. The concept of system state characterization and its relevant algorithm are introduced in order to develop a general, analytical method for solving network reconfiguration and capacitor placement problems and determining the conditions for energy loss minimization. Consequently, the computational effort required in solving such large-scale dynamic optimization problems is decreased greatly by converting the original problems into some simpler static optimization problems with appropriate linearization and stepwise correction idea. Based on sensitivity analysis, loop-analysis and superimpose theorem, the problem formulations are set in a realistic and robust framework so that the method is applicable to various electrical networks with complete or incomplete measurement allocations. A case study of IEEE 33-bus system demonstrates the rationality and validity of strategies proposed in this paper, and the results illustrate that this approach has a substantial reduction in computational expense while maintaining a high level of accuracy.


Introduction: The human papillomavirus (HPV) has significant public health importance because of its high prevalence, mode of transmission, major causative role in cervical cancer, and having effective vaccines. The main thrust of this study was to ascertain the level of awareness of HPV and its vaccines among students as well as their attitudes toward receiving the vaccines. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey conducted among female undergraduates of the University of Ibadan using structured self-administered questionnaires. The questionnaires sought to obtain information about their awareness of HPV, their sexual behavior, previous vaccination, and willingness to access HPV vaccination. Results: A total of 489 students, with a mean age of 19.7 ± 3.2 years, satisfactorily responded to the survey. Overall, 411 (84%) had an overall good knowledge about vaccines, 218 (44.6%) recalled that they had been previously vaccinated in childhood, and 147 (30.1%) were aware of HPV. Only 66 (13.5%) were aware of HPV vaccines, and 10 (2%) had ever been vaccinated against HPV. A majority were willing to get vaccinated if the current price is further reduced. Conclusion: There is a low level of awareness of HPV and its vaccines among female undergraduates. When available, uptake is restricted by cost. There is an urgent need to support public health programs that increase awareness through adequate information dissemination on mechanisms of cancer prevention and also to strengthen policy efforts that address the barriers of HPV vaccination.


CPAP emergent central sleep apnea (CSA) (classified as treatment emergent CSA) is a well-recognized phenomenon that has been included in the current edition of the International Classification of Sleep Disorders (1). It is defined as the presence of primarily obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) on the diagnostic sleep study, significant resolution of obstructive events with CPAP titration but emergence or persistence of central events during PAP treatment with a central apnea index (CAI) ≥5/hr and greater than 50% of events being central and the results cannot be better explained by another CSA disorder. The European Respiratory Society has recently clarified the diagnostic criteria (2). It refines the definition to state that central events should be rare on the diagnostic study which I believe should be defined as a CAI less than 5/hr. If the CAI is greater than 5/hr on the diagnostic study then a CAI greater than 5/hr during the titration study is really CPAP resistant CSA (defined as treatment resistant CSA by the European Respiratory Society) and not true CPAP emergent CSA.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Evaluation of severity and extension of gastric atrophy and intestinal metaplasia is recommended to identify subjects with a high risk for gastric cancer. The inter-observer agreement for the assessment of gastric atrophy is reported to be low. The aim of the study was to evaluate the inter-observer agreement for the assessment of severity and extension of gastric atrophy using oriented and unoriented gastric biopsy samples. Furthermore, the quality of biopsy specimens in oriented and unoriented samples was analyzed.

METHODS
A total of 35 subjects with dyspeptic symptoms addressed for gastrointestinal endoscopy that agreed to enter the study were prospectively enrolled. The OLGA/OLGIM gastric biopsies protocol was used. From each subject two sets of biopsies were obtained (four from the antrum, two oriented and two unoriented, two from the gastric incisure, one oriented and one unoriented, four from the gastric body, two oriented and two unoriented). The orientation of the biopsy samples was completed using nitrocellulose filters (Endokit®, BioOptica, Milan, Italy). The samples were blindly examined by two experienced pathologists. Inter-observer agreement was evaluated using kappa statistic for inter-rater agreement. The quality of histopathology specimens taking into account the identification of lamina propria was analyzed in oriented vs. unoriented samples. The samples with detectable lamina propria mucosae were defined as good quality specimens. Categorical data was analyzed using chi-square test and a two-sided p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS
A total of 350 biopsy samples were analyzed (175 oriented / 175 unoriented). The kappa index values for oriented/unoriented OLGA 0/I/II/III and IV stages have been 0.62/0.13, 0.70/0.20, 0.61/0.06, 0.62/0.46, and 0.77/0.50, respectively. For OLGIM 0/I/II/III stages the kappa index values for oriented/unoriented samples were 0.83/0.83, 0.88/0.89, 0.70/0.88 and 0.83/1, respectively. No case of OLGIM IV stage was found in the present case series. Good quality histopathology specimens were described in 95.43% of the oriented biopsy samples, and in 89.14% of the unoriented biopsy samples, respectively (p=0.0275).

CONCLUSION
The orientation of gastric biopsies specimens improves the inter-observer agreement for the assessment of gastric atrophy.


Wildfires are increasing in size and severity in forested landscapes across the Western United States. Not only do fires alter land surfaces, but they also affect the surface water quality in downstream systems. Previous studies of individual fires have observed an increase in various forms of nutrients, ions, sediments and metals in stream water for different post-fire time periods. In this research, data were compiled for over 24 000 fires across the western United States to evaluate post-fire water-quality response. The database included millions of water-quality data points downstream of these fires, and was synthesised along with geophysical data from each burned watershed. Data from 159 fires in 153 burned watersheds were used to identify common water-quality response during the first 5 years after a fire. Within this large dataset, a subset of seven fires was examined further to identify trends in water-quality response. Change-point analysis was used to identify moments in the post-fire water-quality data where significant shifts in analyte concentrations occurred. Evaluating individual fires revealed strong initial increases or decreases in concentrations, depending on the analyte, that are masked when averaged over 5 years. Evidence from this analysis shows significant increases in nutrient flux (different forms of nitrogen and phosphorus), major-ion flux and metal concentrations are the most common changes in stream water quality within the first 5 years after fire. Dissolved constituents of ions and metals tended to decrease in concentration 5 years after fire whereas particulate matter concentration continued to increase. Assembling this unique and extensive dataset provided the opportunity to determine the most common post-fire water-quality changes in the large and diverse Western USA. Results from this study could inform studies in other parts of the world, will help parameterise and validate post-fire water-quality models, and assist communities affected by wildfire to anticipate changes to their water quality.


In this paper, we introduce a modeling approach called independent variable group analysis (IVGA) which can be used for finding an efficient structural representation for a given data set. The basic idea is to determine such a grouping for the variables of the data set that mutually dependent variables are grouped together whereas mutually independent or weakly dependent variables end up in separate groups. Computation of an IVGA model requires a combinatorial algorithm for grouping of the variables and a modeling algorithm for the groups. In order to be able to compare different groupings, a cost function which reflects the quality of a grouping is also required. Such a cost function can be derived, for example, using the variational Bayesian approach, which is employed in our study. This approach is also shown to be approximately equivalent to minimizing the mutual information between the groups. The modeling task is computationally demanding. We describe an efficient heuristic grouping algorithm for the variables and derive a computationally light nonlinear mixture model for modeling of the dependencies within the groups. Finally, we carry out a set of experiments which indicate that IVGA may turn out to be beneficial in many different applications.


2 Abstract: Harmonic injection in supply current is most common problem arising in supply network because of the increased population of nonlinear loads. This paper present a comparative study between two different control strategies to determine the compensating currents for a three phase three wire Shunt Active Power Filter(SAPF). The first strategy is based on the instantaneous real and imaginary powers theory known as p-q theory, the second is Generalized Instanteneous Power Theory(GIPT). The two control strategies are applied to a three-wire shunt active power filter for eliminating load current harmonics, reactive power compensation and load balancing. The validity of the proposed control scheme is verified by the simulation study.


This study investigated adolescents' perception and attitudes towards gender representation in video game covers, and the degree to which these depictions may influence their notions on gender and identification. Seventeen participants ranging from ages 12 and 13 participated in semi-structured interviews to explore this topic. This study's conceptual framework encompassed social cognitive theory, gender schema theory, and cultivation theory. Findings suggest that gender representation in video games does influence the majority of participants' notions of gender. However, there are differences between how males and females' approach, interpret, and respond to this type of media. Findings also showcased that evidence of implicit bias was detected in both male and female participants, demonstrated through inconsistencies in their responses. Finally, the findings revealed a significant lack of identification from the majority of participants with video game characters, as many participants were able to clearly distinguish between simulated and real-life experiences.


Although rocks of Quesnel terrane in the Intermontane Belt of south-central British Columbia have long-been known as prolific producers of porphyry mineralization, much of the bedrock in the region is covered by glacial sediments. Nonetheless, geochemical and mineralogical data, particularly from locally derived tills, can help detect deposits buried under Quaternary sediments. We collected till samples from 99 sites near the Highland Valley Copper mine for geochemical, indicator mineral, and grain size determinations to test the utility of the method at a site where the configuration and tenor of ore-grade porphyry Cu mineralization are known. Landform-scale features such as drumlins, flutings, crag-and-tails mapped on aerial photographs, outcrop-scale features such as striations, grooves, and rat tails measured in the field, and data from previous studies indicate a relatively simple regional Late Wisconsinan ice-flow history with generally southward sediment transport, making provenance determinations on subglacial tills relatively straightforward. Commonly a first derivative of bedrock, subglacial till is the ideal sample medium for till geochemical and mineralogical surveys. Most of our samples were taken from a regionally developed till facies interpreted as a subglacial till deposited by moving ice (well compacted, markedly fissile, massive, cobble-boulder diamicton with a relatively clay-rich matrix and abundant faceted and striated clasts). For comparison, we also collected from a more locally developed till facies interpreted as an ablation till (poorly compacted, non-fissile, massive cobble-boulder diamicton with a relatively claydeficient matrix) that overlies the subglacial till. Quality assurance/quality control results indicate that, uncontrolled by analytical artefact, the geochemical and mineralogical results for the dataset presented herein are suitable for geological interpretations that will be considered in future publications.


3D hand pose estimation from egocentric vision is an important study in the construction of assistance systems and modeling of robot hand in robotics. In this paper, we propose a complete method for estimating 3D hand pose from the complex scene data obtained from the egocentric sensor. In which we propose a simple yet highly efficient pre-processing step for hand segmentation. In the estimation process, we used the Hand PointNet (HPN), V2V-PoseNet (V2V), Point-to-Point Regression PointNet (PtoP) for finetuning to estimate the 3D hand pose from the collected data obtained from the egocentric sensor, such as CVRA, FPHA (First-Person Hand Action) datasets. HPN, V2V, PtoP are the deep networks/Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for estimating 3D hand pose that uses the point cloud data of the hand. We evaluate the estimation results using the preprocessing step and do not use the pre-processing step to see the effectiveness of the proposed method. In particular, we evaluated the entire FPHA dataset with five different sampling configurations. The results show that 3D distance error is increased many times compared to estimates on the hand datasets are not obstructed (the hand data obtained from surveillance cameras, are viewed from top view, front view, sides view) such as MSRA, NYU, ICVL datasets. The results are quantified, analyzed, shown on the point cloud data of CVAR dataset and projected on the color image of FPHA dataset.


This paper describes the design and experimental evaluation of a fault-tolerant controller (FTC) for an electrohydraulic servo positioning system. The controller is required to retain the stability of the system under sensor failure or, in the presence of faults in servovalve and supply pump. A mathematical model describing the hydraulic actuator is derived in which sensor failures and component faults are captured as uncertainties in the model parameters. A robust controller is designed, using quantitative feedback theory (QFT), to maintain key properties of the closed-loop system, i.e., stability and disturbance rejection. The designed controller is easy to implement and no online tuning or adaptation is necessary. The feasibility of the controller was evaluated by implementing it on an experimental test rig. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the controller under abrupt sensor failures or incorrect supply pump pressures.


Arcam Ti6Al4V ELI (Grade 23) is a titanium-based alloy that is used for the production of additively manufactured components using electron beam melting (EBM). This alloy offers the best all-round performance for a variety of weight reduction applications in aerospace, automotive, and marine equipment. It also has numerous applications in the medical industry. Arcam Ti6Al4V ELI is very similar to Arcam Ti6Al4V, except that Arcam Ti6Al4V ELI contains reduced levels of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and iron. These lower interstitials provide improved ductility and better fracture toughness. This datasheet provides information on composition, physical properties, microstructure, hardness, elasticity, and tensile properties. It also includes information on machining and joining. Filing Code: Ti-178. Producer or source: Arcam AB (a GE Additive Company).


Most renal masses are diagnosed incidentally by imaging. Traditionally, conventional studies, in example ultrasonography (US), contrast enhanced computed tomography (ceCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are employed for detecting and characterizing renal masses. International guidelines recommend the use of ceCT in order to asses the tumour extension, including the widespread of disease in the local and distant lymph nodes, the assessment of the surrounding and distant organs and the function of the contralateral kidney.


A series of prospective protocols were designed to determine the yield ratio (true positives vs. false positives = nonclinical) in various patient groups using a variety of programmed electrical stimulation (PES) variables. First, a PES protocol was used in 772 patients. Single, double, and triple extrastimuli were delivered in sequence (leaving each successive extrastimulus just beyond its refractory period before moving to the next extrastimulus) during sinus rhythm and two ventricular paced rates at the RV apex, before moving to the outflow tract and repeating the sequence and then moving on to isoproterenol infusion with the PES sequence repeated at the apex. This protocol met NASPE standards for induction of VT in patients with coronary artery disease and a history of VT, while failing to induce monomorphic VT in any control patient. The best yield ratios combined with the greatest likelihood of inducing clinical tachycardia were achieved with sinus rhythm and three extrastimuli, and pacing at the lower rate and three extrastimuli. Pacing at the faster rate and triple extrastimuli was highly inductive of clinical arrhythmias, but had a low yield ratio due to induction of more nonclinical arrhythmias than other steps. The next protocol was performed in 61 patients with inducible ventricular tachycardia. In each case, the protocol described above was completed at the RV apex, even if tachycardia was also induced at an earlier point in the protocol. This allowed for more accurate yield ratios to be established for each step in the protocol, since each patient was exposed to each of these steps. The results confirmed those of the first protocol described above. The next protocol compared extrastimuli delivered (1) in a straight sequential fashion (each extrastimulus decremented to its refractory period and then left just late enough to capture while the next extrastimulus was added and decremented in a similar fashion); versus (2) the tandem method, in which after reaching refractoriness, each extrastimulus was moved 50 msec beyond the refractory period and then decremented in tandem with the next extrastimulus. Preliminary analysis of this protocol in > 30 subjects indicates no significant difference in the number of clinical or nonclinical arrhythmias induced with these methods, although the tandem method was much more time consuming. We conclude that a simple sequential PES protocol, taken to refractoriness, is efficient and effective, and is not at a disadvantage compared to more complex or cumbersome protocols.


Despite the great potential of small interfering RNA (siRNA) as a therapeutic agent, progress in this area has been hampered by a lack of efficient biocompatible transfection agents. Recently, cationic shell-crosslinked knedel-like nanoparticles (cSCKs) were found to possess lower cytotoxicity and better transfection ability for phosphorothioate ODNs and plasmid DNA than the commonly used cationic lipid-based agent Lipofectamine. To determine the usefulness of cSCKs for siRNA transfection, a small library of cSCKs with varying percentage of primary and tertiary amines was assessed for its ability to bind to siRNA, inhibit siRNA degradation in human serum, and to transfect HeLa and mouse macrophage cell lines. The silencing efficiency in HeLa cells was greatest with the cSCK with 100% primary amines (pa100) as determined by their viability following transfection with cytotoxic and non-cytotoxic siRNAs. cSCK-pa100 showed greater silencing efficiency than Lipofectamine 2000 in the HeLa cells, as well in 293T and human bronchial epithelial (HEK) cells, but was comparable in human bronchial epithelial (BEAS-2B) cells and human mammary epithelial (MCF10a) cells. cSCK-pa100 also showed greater silencing of iNOS expression than Lipofectamine 2000 in a mouse macrophage cell line, and provided greater protection from serum degradation, demonstrating its potential usefulness as an siRNA transfection agent. The siRNA silencing of iNOS at lower concentrations of siRNA could be enhanced by complexation with the fusogenic GALA peptide, which was shown to enhance endosomal escape following uptake.


The purpose of this project was two fold. First an assessment of the eye examination methods of western state Pediatricians and Pediatric residencies was examined via a letter survey. Second a quick but comprehensive routine for the examination of the visual function of the pediatric patient was generated. This routine was the result of current Optometric and Ophthalmological literature, insight gained from the survey and professional knowledge acquired as Optometry students. The letter survey revealed that Pediatricians were aware of the need for a good exam routine. It also revealed that their current procedures were quite inadequate by Optometric standards. The end result of this project was a good screening exam of the visual function of the pediatric patient -that could be performed by the Pediatrician or a qualified assistant. This leading to an earlier diagnosis and/or referral of eye problems resulting in improved care for the pediatric patient.


Myocardial infarction (MI) is a severe coronary artery disease resulted from substantial and sustained ischemia. Abnormal upregulation of calcium and integrin binding protein 1 (CIB1) has been found in several cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we established a mouse model of MI by permanent ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery. CIB1 was upregulated in the heart of MI mice. Notably, CIB1 knockdown by intramuscular injection of lentivirus-mediated short hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting Cib1 improved cardiac function and attenuated myocardial hypertrophy and infarct area in MI mice. MI-induced upregulation of α-SMA, vimentin, Collagen I, and Collagen III, which resulted in collagen production and myocardial fibrosis, were regressed by CIB1 silencing. In vitro, cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) isolated from mice were subjected to angiotensin II (Ang II) treatment. Inhibition of CIB1 downregulated the expression of α-SMA, vimentin, Collagen I, and Collagen III in Ang II-treated CFs. Moreover, CIB1 knockdown inhibited Ang II-induced phosphorylation of PI3K-p85 and Akt in CFs. The effect of CIB1 knockdown on Ang II-induced cellular injury was comparable to that of LY294002, a specific inhibitor of the PI3K/Akt pathway. We demonstrated that MI-induced cardiac hypertrophy, myocardial fibrosis, and cardiac dysfunction might be attributed to the upregulation of CIB1 in MI mice. Downregulation of CIB1 alleviated myocardial fibrosis and cardiac dysfunction by decreasing the expression of α-SMA, vimentin, Collagen I, and Collagen III via inhibiting the PI3K/Akt pathway. Therefore, CIB1 may be a potential target for MI treatment.


Recently, it has been recognized that organic materials have a very large nonlinear optical constant compared with non-organic materials (e.g., KDP and LiNbO3). It has been known that 2-methyl-4-nitroaniline (MNA), among them, has an extremely large SHG tensor, although this has a disadvantage in that the d11 component cannot be matched in phase in the bulk crystal state. When an MNA single-crystal made by using the vapor-phase method and shaped in a thin parallelogram, is set on a tapered slab-type thin-film waveguide appropriately, and the fundamental wave is applied as a TE wave, it is possible to match the phase of the fundamental wave and the phase of the second harmonic wave at a certain waveguide thickness. Since the refractive index of the MNA is greater than that of the slab-type waveguide film, an SHG is observed at the resonating film thickness when the high-refractive-index top layer is used. The observation of the second harmonic (0.532 μm) was made by using an Nd:YAG pulse laser (1.064 μm) for the fundamental wave. The phase matching point was examined from the dispersion curves which was calculated from the waveguide structure parameter. The results show that this phenomenon is the conversion from the TE first of the fundamental wave to the TE second of the secondary harmonic. The efficiency of the MNA observed was not great since the overlapping of the two wave types is not large.


A major obstacle to wider adoption of the newsvendor model is the difficulty of obtaining its key input---the demand distribution forecast, specifically when the products are new and no historical data are available. In such cases, judgmental forecasting methods are a commonly suggested solution, in particular, the Sport Obermeyer approach which collects point forecasts of demand quantity from a panel of experts and uses the degree of disagreement between experts as a proxy for demand uncertainty. However, our attempt to implement this approach at fashion retailer Moods of Norway was a failure. We were not able to recruit a sufficiently large and diverse crowd because many potential experts found it difficult to provide quantity inputs. In response to this issue, we started asking the experts to rank the products within their respective categories. While this new type of input boosted participation, its conversion to quantities requires additional data and new methodology. To that end, we propose to use category-wise historical data, and we constructed a framework for this conversion based on a tripartite decomposition of the demand vector into total demand, ordered proportions, and ranking. We also propose several new evaluation metrics and test our framework on a dataset from Moods of Norway.


Objective To understand the iodine deficiency disorders in Xunhua county Qinghai province, and to provide reference values for setting up prevention and control strategy. Methods According to historical data of Xunhua county, 1 township center elementary school and 1 village elementary school were sampled in Qingshui, Baizhuang, Hongqi, Jiezi and Galeng townships. A total of 9 elementary schools were investigated (Caleng has only 1 elementary school). Fourty children aged 8-10 years were checked thyroid size by palpation in every school. Twenty children were chosen to assay their urinary iodine and edible salt iodine in every school. Thirty 5-grade students were surveyed by questionnaire on health education in every school. Ten housewives were inquired prevention knowledge on iodine deficiency disorders and salt iodine level was tested in every village. Results Goiter rate was 7.9%(30/378) in children aged 8-10 years, with Baizhuang and Galeng the highest (11.9%,5/42), and Qingshui the lowest (2.4%, 1/42). The median was 196.5 μg/L in children aged 8-10 years, and urinary iodine level lower than 50 μg/L was accounted for 5.3% (11/208), but that value was 25.0% (5/20)in Galeng. The average qualified rate of using edible salt was 91.4%(159/174), and that rates were 79.0%(15/19), 83.3%(15/18) and 89.5%(17/19) in Chajia, Tuanjie and Minzhu villages, respectively. The average score were 2.8, 2.1 in health education survey of the 5-grade students and housewives. Conclusions After years effort in prevention and control of iodine deficiency disorders, remarkable progress has been made in Xunhua County. The monitoring of iodized salt and the knowledge spreading are still need to be strengthened.

Key words:
Iodine; Salts; Data collection; Questionnaires


In this work, we demonstrate a Chinese classical poetry generation system called Deep Poetry. Existing systems for Chinese classical poetry generation are mostly template-based and very few of them can accept multi-modal input. Unlike previous systems, Deep Poetry uses neural networks that are trained on over 200 thousand poems and 3 million ancient Chinese prose. Our system can accept plain text, images or artistic conceptions as inputs to generate Chinese classical poetry. More importantly, users are allowed to participate in the process of writing poetry by our system. For the user's convenience, we deploy the system at the WeChat applet platform, users can use the system on the mobile device whenever and wherever possible. The demo video of this paper is available at this https URL.


SIR,-Dr Ian W B Grant's leading article (2 August, p 286) was an excellent survey of the potential problems of what has become a routine procedure in most hospitals. We would, however, like to make two comments. Firstly, although it is well known that arterial Po2 falls during bronchoscopy, the assumption that this is due to the physical presence of the bronchoscope in the major airways may not be correct. We have studied changes in airflow during bronchoscopy and found that in patients with airflow obstruction the bronchoscope has little effect on airflow, the major effect being due to the topical local anaesthetic (PeacockA J et al, British Thoracic Society meeting, 1986). It is not widely appreciated that the lignocaine solution that is injected down the bronchoscope to anaesthetise the bronchial tree is made up in distilled water at a pH of about 6-6 and is rarely warmed for injection. Not surprisingly, this has a pronounced effect on airflow, and insertion of the bronchoscope has little additional effect. Since the bronchoconstrictor action of lignocaine solution can be largely prevented by anticholinergic drugs given by nebuliser, it is our practice to give ipratropium by nebuliser with the premedication if the patient has poor respiratory function. Secondly, although the incidence of pneumothorax with transbronchial therapy is low, the problem is very important, particularly if patients are being studied as day cases and may be sent home with a pneumothorax. Unfortunately the pneumothorax does not usually develop immediately and we think that the chest radiograph should not be taken immediately after bronchoscopy as suggested br Dr Grant, but one to two hours later. We perform fluoroscopy of the appropriate lung at the time of transbronchial biopsy and then a departmental chest radiograph is arranged one hour after the procedure. This is seen by the endoscopist before the patient is allowed home.


We report a patient having a non-diagnosed small cell lung cancer, presenting with a clinical picture comprising emaciation, hepatomegaly, progressive jaundice, bilirubinuria and clay-colored stools. Computed tomography showed intrahepatic and extrahepatic biliary duct dilatation. The cause was compression of the common bile duct by metastatic enlarged lymph nodes in the porta hepatis. Clinical suspicion arose because of a mass found on the chest X-ray film and a positive cytologic sputum examination. The definitive diagnosis was obtained by bronchoscopy and biopsy.


Clinical Presentation A 29-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with right upper quadrant pain, nause. Laboratory tests indicated a mildy increase in transaminases and total bilurubin. On physical examination, murphy's sign was positive. Transabdominal sonography showed complete and incomplete longutinal a transverse septas in the gallbladder body (Figure A). Contrastenhanced computed tomography and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) revealed mutiple septas giving a honeycomb appearance (Figures B and C). The patient received a diagnosis of multiseptate gallbladder. The patient underwent laparoscopic surgical excision of gall bladder.

A radiological diagnosis of multiseptate gall bladder was confirmed on pathology. Gross pathology gallbladder material showed chronic cholecystitis with multiple septas. Multiseptate gallbladder is a rare congenital malformation of gallbladder that characterised by the presence of bridging multiple septas like honeycomb [1]. Multiple septas may cause stasis of bile and effect motility [1,2]. As a result of this, cholecystitis and cholelithiasis may occur.
Multiseptate gallbladder are also related with hepatobiliary and pancreatic ductal anomalies and increased risk of cancer [3]. Ultrasound is an important diagnostic tool for multiseptate gall bladder, on the other hand MRCP and other imaging modalities can be used for diagnosis [4]. It is crucial to follow up and investigate cases with multiseptate gallbladder. Symptomatic cases can be treated with cholecystectomy.


Under certain experimental conditions, the formed coke with hollow and cricoid stria. Through the perfect supposition about briquette carbonization process, the formation mechanism of the hollow and cricoid stria in formed coke is analyzed and the property of physical and chemical change and their conditionality relationship during briquette carbonated are demonstrated by use of the rules of heat conduction, the chemical reaction in the melting stage of colloid matter in coal and hydrodynamics. The conclusions from above analysis has an important instruction for the preparation mechanism of other allied carbon stuff.


Morphing attacks are a threat to biometric systems where the biometric reference in an identity document can be altered. This form of attack presents an important issue in applications relying on identity documents such as border security or access control. Research in generation of face morphs and their detection is developing rapidly, however very few datasets with morphing attacks and open-source detection toolkits are publicly available. This paper bridges this gap by providing two datasets and the corresponding code for four types of morphing attacks: two that rely on facial landmarks based on OpenCV and FaceMorpher, and two that use StyleGAN 2 to generate synthetic morphs. We also conduct extensive experiments to assess the vulnerability of four state-of-the-art face recognition systems, including FaceNet, VGG-Face, ArcFace, and ISV. Surprisingly, the experiments demonstrate that, although visually more appealing, morphs based on StyleGAN 2 do not pose a significant threat to the state to face recognition systems, as these morphs were outmatched by the simple morphs that are based facial landmarks.