Natural sausage casings are produced from the intestines of various species and used as edible containers for many different types of sausage around the world. Casings must therefore be fit for human consumption and must meet all food safety and hygiene requirements that apply to food of animal origin. As a hazard analysis of sausages would either focus on the final product or on the meat batter inside the casing, it becomes clear that many studies were done on sausages and only a handful on casings. Salt has been in use for centuries as the main preservative agent of casings and a study was done to determine whether this technique can meet the current microbiological criteria. Results indicate that the antimicrobial properties of salt used for the preservation of casings are sufficient to reduce the bacterial contamination (except for Clostridium spores) well below acceptable levels at a water activity level of 0.85 or lower during a 30-day storage period. To prevent the outgrowth of bacterial spores, additional preservation measures should be implemented. In the experiments described the use of the bacteriocin nisin was evaluated to reduce outgrowth of spores in desalinated casings. Additionally, the binding of nisin to casings, using 14C-labeled nisin Z and subsequent bioavailability of nisin were evaluated. Results demonstrate that nisin is bound to casings but if sufficient nisin was present the outgrowth of Clostridium spores in this model was reduced. Neural and lymphoid tissue can be regarded as marker tissues for the potential presence of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) disease-specific prion protein (PrPPScP). These tissue types can also be present in cleaned beef casings. Based on the results from a quantitative histological analysis it was calculated that a standard 200 g sausage produced in beef casings contains 0.09 g lymphoid and 0.02 g neural tissue originating from the casing. Using these quantitative histological results a BSE infectivity risk - consumer exposure assessment was made, indicating that the potential risk when consuming a sausage produced in beef casings is far less than consuming a T-bone steak from the same animal. Casings are produced and shipped all over the world and this trans-global movement of casings means that restrictive measures, implemented to prevent the spread of contagious animal diseases, are also applicable. Two studies describe the efficacy of FMD and CSF virus inactivation in cleaned casings, either by salt (NaCl) or by using phosphate supplemented salt. After storage at about 20 C for 30 days, no remaining FMDV infectivity was found after either treatment, whereas casings stored at 4 oC still contained infectivity. CSFV infectivity was no longer present after treatment with phosphate supplemented salt and storage for 30 days at either 4 oC or 20 oC. To verify that phosphate supplemented salt was used, a commercially available phosphate assay kit was validated for the qualitative determination of phosphate present in treated casings without interference of naturally occurring phosphate in salt used for brines in which casings are preserved.


The structural and electronic properties of a g-C3N4/graphene/g-C3N4 (g-C3N4/SLG/g-C3N4) sandwich heterostructure have been systematically investigated using density functional theory with van der Waals corrections. The results indicate that the band gap of the g-C3N4/SLG/g-C3N4 sandwich heterostructure can be opened to 106 meV without strain. Applying strain is a promising way to tune the electronic properties of a sandwich heterostructure. After applying uniaxial strain, the heterostructure can withstand larger tensile strain than compression strain without damaging the structure and the band gap is more easily increased by the X-direction strain. When the 5% X-direction strain is applied, the band gap could be opened to 525 meV and meanwhile maintain a high carrier mobility. These electronic properties may provide a potential application in nanodevices.


There is considerable evidence that dorsolateral prefrontal cortex subserves critical cognitive abilities even during early infancy and that improvement in these abilities is evident over roughly the next 10 years. We also know that (a) in adult monkeys these cognitive abilities depend critically on the dopaminergic projection to prefrontal cortex and (b) the distribution of dopamine axons within dorsolateral prefrontal cortex changes, and the level of dopamine increases, during the period that infant monkeys are improving on tasks that require the cognitive abilities dependent on prefrontal cortex. To begin to look at whether these cognitive abilities depend critically on the prefrontal dopamine projection in humans even during infancy and early childhood we have been studying children who we hypothesized might have a selective reduction in the dopaminergic innervation of prefrontal cortex and a selective impairment in the cognitive functions subserved by dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These are children treated early and continuously for the genetic disorder, phenylketonuria (PKU). In PKU the ability to convert the amino acid, phenylalanine (Phe), into another amino acid, tyrosine (Tyr), is impaired. This causes Phe to accumulate in the bloodstream to dangerously high levels and the plasma level of Tyr to fall. Widespread brain damage and severe mental retardation result. When PKU is moderately well controlled by a diet low in Phe (thus keeping the imbalance between Phe and Tyr in plasma within moderate limits) severe mental retardation is averted, but deficits remain in higher cognitive functions. In a four-year longitudinal study we have found these deficits to be in the working memory and inhibitory control functions dependent upon dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in PKU children with plasma Phe levels 3-5 times normal. The fact that even infants showed these impairments suggests that dopaminergic innervation to prefrontal cortex is critical for the proper expression of these abilities even during the first year of life. To test the hypothesis about the underlying biological mechanism we have created the first animal model of early and continuously treated PKU. As predicted, the experimental animals had reduced levels of dopamine and the dopamine metabolite, homovanillic acid (HVA), in prefrontal cortex and showed impaired performance on delayed alternation, a task dependent on prefrontal cortex function. Noradrenaline levels were unaffected; however some reduction in serotonin levels and in dopamine levels outside the prefrontal cortex was found. If prefrontal cortex functions are vulnerable in children with a moderate plasma Phe:Tyr imbalance because of the special properties of the dopamine neurons that project to prefrontal cortex, then other dopamine neurons that share those same properties should also be vulnerable in these children. The dopamine neurons in the retina share these properties (i.e. unusually high firing and dopamine turnover rates), and we have found that PKU children with plasma Phe levels 3-5 times normal are impaired in their contrast sensitivity, a behavioural measure sensitive to retinal dopamine levels.


RNA from a Chinese cabbage plant (Brassica campestris ssp. pekinensis) showing leaf malformation and mottling was labeled and hybridized to a DNA chip capable of detecting plant viruses and viroids. Probes specific for beet mild yellowing virus (BMYV) and beet western yellows virus (BWYV) yielded positive results, suggesting that the plant was infected by a polerovirus. Primers designed from the sequences of the positive probes were used to amplify and sequence one portion of the viral genome. This sequence showed a 90 % or greater identity to several poleroviruses, including BMYV, BWYV, beet chlorosis virus (BChV) and turnip yellows virus (TuYV). The complete genome sequence of the Chinese cabbage- infecting polerovirus consisted of 5,666 nt and was most closely related to brassica yellows virus (BrYV; 94 % identity). The virus was named BrYV-Cheongsong (BrYV- CS). However, ORF3, ORF4 and the 5 0 half of ORF5 of BrYV-CS were more closely related to those of TuYV, BWYV, BChV and BMYV than to those of BrYV. Inter- estingly, a recombination event (positions 3531-4819 in BrYV-CS) was detected when this sequence was aligned with those of BrYV and TuYV. This region showed the highest sequence identity to that of TuYV (94 % identity) and had greater than 93 % identity to those of BWYV, BChV and BMYV, but it shared only 81 % identity with that of BrYV. Taken together, the genomes of BrYV-CS and BrYV are closely related. However, the structural genes in the 3 0 half of the genome of BrYV-CS are more closely related to those of other poleroviruses.


Introduction: This study, the first of its kind in Iran, was to assess Iranian patients' preferences for receiving information and participating in decision-making and to evaluate their satisfaction with how medical information is given to them and with their participation in decision-making at present. Method and materials: 299 of 312 eligible patients admitted to general internal medicine or surgery wards from May to December 2006 were interviewed according to a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire contained questions about patients' preferences regarding four domains of information and their participation in decision-making. Patients' responses were measured on a visual analogue scale graded from 1 to 10. Results: The mean (SD) score for desire to receive information was 8.88 out of 10 (1.5) and for participation in medical decision-making was 7.75 out of 10 (3). The desire to receive information was greater in women than men (9.0 (1.5) vs 7.8 (1.4), p = 0.025). It was also correlated with their education (r = 0.2, p = 0.001) and their estimation of the severity of their own disease (r = 0.13, p = 0.027). The score for preference to participate in decision-making was higher in women than in men (7.95 (2.8) and 7.0 (3.2), respectively; β = 0.8, p = 0.022) and was negatively correlated with education (r = −0.14, p = 0.015). Discussion: This study shows that Iranian patients are highly interested in receiving information about their condition and participating in clinical decision-making. No predictive variable for such attitudes was found; therefore, the only way for the physician to recognise patients' desire is to ask them explicitly.


: Chemotactic responses of isolated peripheral blood neutrophils from rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) were studied, using a micropore filter method. Cell migration toward zymosan-activated serum was similar to that of human cells, whereas the response to N-formyl methionyl leucyl phenylalanine (FMLP) was weaker than was that in human cells, requiring higher concentrations of FMLP for maximal migration. Optimal FMLP concentrations for attraction of rhesus neutrophils and human neutrophils were 5.0 X 10(-7)M and 1.0 X 10(-8)M, respectively. The chemotactic responses of the 2 neutrophils to complement (zymosan-activated serum) were similar. However, rhesus neutrophils required a higher concentration of the formyl peptide, FMLP, for maximal migratory response.


End users can ask themselves about the User Interface (UI). Questions arise because users are not designers so both designers and users, have different perceptions of the same UI. Help Systems have naturally emerged to tackle this problem. Most of these Help Systems are predefined, so at design time designers need to anticipate the problems users may find at runtime, which limits the scope of the support. This paper explores Model-Driven Engineering to overcome this limitation: models created at design time are exploited at runtime for providing end users with explanations. Based on Norman's Theory of Action this paper introduces the Gulf of Quality as the distance between the models the designer creates at design time and the mental models the end user elaborates. This concept sets the basis of a Model-Driven method and a supporting architecture for computing explanations for the end user. The method deals uniformly with the UI of the help system and the UI of the application. They can be weaved or not, depending on the model transformations the designer selects. A software architecture is devised and implemented in a running IDE. The feasibility of the approach is shown through two use cases.


Doctors who seem hurried and uninterested are at risk of being sued even if they practise good quality medicine, said researchers in the US last week. A team led by researchers from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, examined the malpractice records of obstetricians in Florida during 1987 and found that those who had higher levels of satisfaction among their patients also had lower rates of malpractice claims filed against them.

The study, published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association (1994;272:1583-7), was done …


SUMMARY: The growth-promoting action of β-alanine on Saccharomyces carls-bergensis and two strains of S. cerevisiae is stimulated or inhibited to different extents by the optical enantiomorphs of methionine, glutamic acid, asparagine and a-alanine. This behaviour can be considered as due, in each individual case, to one or more of three separate effects: (a) stimulatory, (b) inhibitory, and (c) antagonistic. In general, the l-forms of the amino-acids have a more pronounced action than the d-isomers. Racemic mixtures have intermediate effects. Similar but less striking results are observed when β-alanine is replaced by pantothenic acid. Atypical effects are obtained with d-alanine and d-glutamic acid.


The idea of an utopian city is almost as old as human thinking. It consists in a society theoretically perfect and transparent where everything is under control, so that citizens could achieve happiness. In this article, using a historical perspective, we pretend to reflect, with practical examples such as cloning, stem cells and eugenics, on a genetic society which is blossoming and in spite of presenting itself as a strong tool to achieve the utopian city, this would not be possible due to the warning for many risks and dangers. Therefore we believe it is important to carry out an analysis on bioethics and progress, before moving on.


We performed dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations to investigate the structure and cross-link formation dynamics of a thermoset polymer while interacting with a metal-oxide surface. For characterizing the polymer–surface interactions we used the surface excess, quantifying the surface selectivity of different functional groups. Mesoscopic polymer–surface interactions are determined by matching the surface excess, as computed with atomistic molecular dynamics (MD), with those for DPD, thus realizing a coupling between the mesoscopic and atomistic scales. In the structure prior to cross-linking, we observe that some functional groups prefer to be located at the interface while others are repelled. This largely determines the final cross-linked structure near the metal-oxide interface. The initial preference for cross-links to form is in the bulk region. However, at longer times toward the equilibrium structure, the trade-off between the epoxy–alumina interactions causes migration of reacted group...


The article criticises the recent Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Report arguing that the suggestion of developing a series of indicators that would complement the traditional GDP will in fact end up in confirming the centrality of the GDP, which would remain the central theoretical reference point as well as the main policy target. What is needed is a new conceptual framework of which the GDP is only a part, that has the potential to lead to a new synthetical index, replacing the GDP altogether. The article sketches the main characteristics of such a new index.  JEL: E01, C43, I30


Melanoma-derived small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) participate in tumor pathogenesis. Tumor pathogenesis is highly dependent on inflammatory processes. Given the potential for melanoma sEVs to carry tumor biomarkers, we explored the hypothesis that they may contain inflammation-related mRNA content. Biophysical characterization showed that human primary melanocyte-derived sEVs trended toward being smaller and having less negative (more neutral) zeta potential than human melanoma sEVs (A-375, SKMEL-28, and C-32). Using primary melanocyte sEVs as the control population, RT-qPCR array results demonstrated similarities and differences in gene expression between melanoma sEV types. Upregulation of pro-angiogenic chemokine ligand CXCL1, CXCL2, and CXCL8 mRNAs in A-375 and SKMEL-28 melanoma sEVs was the most consistent finding. This paralleled increased production of CXCL1, CXCL2, and CXCL8 proteins by A-375 and SKMEL-28 sEV source cells. Overall, the use of primary melanocyte sEVs as a control sEV reference population facilitated the detection of inflammation-related melanoma sEV mRNA content.


a) General Summary
This report was funded by the Yorkshire & Humber Strategic Health Authority and is an
evaluation of a 6-month preceptorship scheme involving a collaboration between the
University of Huddersfield & Kirklees Primary Care Trust. The report presents findings
from both the preceptee's and mentor's involved in this scheme. It presents the findings,
limitations and conclusions of the scheme.
b) Preceptee Summary
The preceptorship scheme was particularly beneficial to the band 5's who had been out
of employment for a significant period of time. The facilitated preceptorship sessions had
provided the band 5's with opportunities to develop a peer support network, enhance
their knowledge base to apply to clinical work and develop their portfolios in line with the
Knowledge & Skills Framework (KSF).
The community settings where the bands 5's were placed provided challenging
environments. They had the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge outside the
boundaries of secondary care settings. However they concluded their preference was to
work initially post qualification in secondary care settings; where they perceived greater
professional security was provided alongside the opportunity to develop essential core
skills and a wider knowledge base for future practice.
c) Mentor Summary
The mentors identified the preceptorship scheme as a positive initiative but it was not
without its challenges. The term 'preceptorship' was not a familiar phrase for several
mentors and the expectations of the scheme were not entirely clear to all mentors. The
speed in which the scheme was implemented threw up its own challenges, however the
mentors were able to absorb this and largely take it in their stride.
It was identified that some areas were more difficult than others for band 5's to work
within and left them potentially at more risk. To facilitate the presence of band 5's within
the community the mentors advised that specific formal training for both mentors and
preceptee's would be needed. To ensure the right skill mix and aid selection and
retention, the mentors thought that a cross-rotational system sampling equally from
secondary and primary care would be extremely beneficial. All mentors were in
agreement that the preceptorship had certainly improved the confidence of the
preceptee's. Finally a number of concerns ranging from restructuring of banding levels,
fears around quality and delivery of care and the burden that additional training may
bring were raised.


PURPOSE
This study evaluated the results of high-dose therapy followed by autologous bone marrow or peripheral-blood stem-cell transplantation for patients with follicular low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
We performed a retrospective review of 100 patients undergoing autologous transplantation for follicular low-grade lymphoma between April 22, 1983 and December 31, 1993.

RESULTS
Sixty-seven patients remained alive and 48 were failure-free. The median follow-up duration of surviving patients was 2.6 years (range, 1.0 to 11.7). There were eight (8%) deaths within 100 days of transplantation. Six additional patients died of nonrelapse causes up to 912 days after transplantation. Overall survival at 4 years was estimated to be 65% (95% confidence interval [CI], 54% to 75%) and failure-free survival was estimated to be 44% (95% CI, 33% to 55%). There was no definite evidence of a plateau in the failure-free survival curve. The only factor significantly associated with overall survival and failure-free survival was the number of chemotherapy regimen received before transplantation. No significant differences in outcome were observed between patients with follicular small cleaved-cell lymphoma and follicular mixed lymphoma, or between patients who received peripheral-blood stem-cell transplants and unpurged autologous bone marrow transplants.

CONCLUSION
Prolonged failure-free survival is possible following high-dose therapy and autologous hematopoietic rescue for follicular low-grade lymphoma. It is unclear whether patients are cured with this therapy or if survival is prolonged.


This chapter is intended to help primary care physicians and other providers of health care to adolescents to become more knowledgeable about the management of soft tissue injuries. Discussion includes the pathophysiology of injury, the assessment of the degree of injury, and the rationale for the RICE (rest, ice, compression, and elevation) method of acute treatment. Principles of rehabilitation are also discussed along with objective criteria that can be used to make return-to-play decisions following a soft tissue injury.


A new, selective and accurate direct ultraviolet spectrophotometric method was developed for the determination of L-ascorbic acid in pharmaceuticals. The oxidation of L-ascorbic acid by iodate in an acidic medium was used as a means of correcting for background absorption. The molar absorptivity of the proposed method was found to be 8.71x103 dm3 mol-1 cm-1 at 250 nm. Beer's law was obeyed in the concentration range of 0.46 – 16.00 μg cm-3 for L-ascorbic acid. The relative standard deviation was 0.67 % for a concentration of 8.00 μg cm-3 of ascorbic acid (n = 7). The ingredients commonly found in vitamin C and multivitamin products did not interfere. The proposed procedure was successfully applied to assays of L-ascorbic acid in pharmaceutical preparations. The results obtained with the proposed method showed good agreement with those given by the titrimetric method using iodine.


The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Centre for International Governance Innovation or its Board of Directors.


This study examined farmers' perception and adoption of yam minisett technology. The study was carried out in Anambra State, Nigeria. A sample size of 120 yam farmers was used for the study. Data were collected using a structured and validated interview schedule. Data generated for the study were summarized using descriptive statistics such as frequency count, percentage and mean scores while the Sigma method was used for calculating adoption scores to ascertain the level of adoption for the various yam minisett technology items. Results of the study revealed that there were more male yam farmers (82 percent) than females. The mean age of respondents was 45years and the mean household size was 11 persons. Also, a mean farming experience of 12 years was found for the respondents. Results on perception of yam minisett technology reveal that respondents had favourable perception on four statements out of the thirteen statements used to investigate their perception. These were statements 5,6,11 and 12. The remaining 9 statements were not favourably perceived. They include statements 1-4; 7-10 and 13. There was a low adoption of 7 and an average adoption of 2 yam minisett technology items with an overall adoption score of 3.38, which indicates a low utilization of yam minisett technology by the yam farmers. The study recommends that more awareness should be created about the benefits of the technology and farmers should be trained on how to effectively use the technology.


We would like to thank Batu et al for the interest in our work and for evaluating the performance of SLE Risk Probability Index (SLERPI) in paediatric SLE patients. In their analysis using the simple scoring version of the index as a binary outcome, the sensitivity and specificity was 90.0% and 81.2%, respectively. Applying a more stringent cutoff of >8 resulted in a sensitivity of 81.2% and a specificity of 89.4%. Notably, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the scoring version of SLERPI was 0.94 (95% CI 0.919 to 0.968), suggesting a good discriminating capacity. To put these results into context, one should consider the fact that the SLERPI was developed based on features derived from exclusively adult patients, the index performs optimally as a continuous probabilistic (rather than binary) model (https://www.rheumatologyuoc.gr/en/slerpi) to produce diagnostic certainty levels and finally, features should be counted only if there is no better explanation according to the attribution rule of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR)/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 2019 classification criteria. In this regard, previous studies have indicated a tendency for lower overall performance of the SLE classification criteria, especially the ACR 1997 and EULAR/ACR 2019, in childhoodonset/juvenile patients with early disease, although there is scantiness of direct adult–paediatric comparative analyses. Interestingly, and in line with the suggestion by Batu et al for using a higher SLERPI cutoff point (>8), increasing the classification threshold of the EULAR/ACR 2019 criteria resulted in enhanced specificity to detect paediatric cases of SLE versus mimicking disorders. 9 On another point, Batu et al reported haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) as the two diseases most frequently misclassified as SLE by the SLERPI. Although we acknowledge that neither disorder was included in the SLERPI derivation or validation datasets, HUS is rarely encountered during adult life. MCTD can indeed be challenging to differentiate from lupus, which may contribute to reduced specificity of the existing SLE classification criteria. 10 Intriguingly, a significant proportion of patients initially diagnosed as MCTD may evolve into another defined connective tissue disease including SLE; therefore, it would be tempting to evaluate SLERPI as a prognostic index in such cases. To this end, we welcome the initiative of Batu et al to evaluate SLERPI in paediatric cases, as well as any future efforts to further validate and calibrate the utility of this tool in different clinical settings and populations.


Present study consists spatial patterns in biomass, abundance and composition of mesozooplankton in Bay of Bengal. Surface samples were collected from a central open ocean transect along 88oE and western coastal transect during the 2005 winter monsoon. During the sampling period, both sea level- and sea surface temperature anomalies inferred from satellite imagery were the lowest at the southern stations of the western Bay transect. These anomalies coincided with the highest biomass and abundance of zooplankton, of copepods in particular. Western region was richer in biomass and abundance compared to the central waters. Zooplankton community comprised 28 taxonomic groups. Predominant copepod community exhibited low species richness with just 46 identified species. They were evenly distributed over stations and their diversity did not vary much between oceanic and coastal transects . Copepod Undinula vulgaris was common in the oceanic waters and Temora stylifera in the coastal. This study highlights the occurrence of pockets of dense zooplankton biomass in the moderately productive (primary) bay.


Aiming at the wide application of technological design in three-dimensional CAD software, while the technological dimension chain's calculation is completed in the two-dimensional process sketch still. A sort of method of calculating technological dimension chain was put forward, which is based on three-dimensional process model. Three-dimensional process model is created through the process of technological design by introducing the concept of three-dimensional process model, and then, the information of process dimension is extracted from the three-dimensional process model and a tree oriented process dimension structure is established. On the basis of the above, we can proceed with technological dimension chain's integrated calculation and analysis, redistributing the process dimension and its corresponding allowance dimension and tolerance. It will offer more reasonable and reliable process parameters to the technologists in the design of process route, and also effectively solve the problems of the technological dimension chain's calculation involving to CAPP system in the environment of three-dimensional CAD software.


Abstract Purpose Obesity has been studied in relation to perioperative medical and surgical complications, as well as clinical outcomes following reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (rTSA), with often inconsistent conclusions reached. The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize the reported correlations between elevated body mass index (BMI) and both the complications and clinical outcomes following rTSA. Methods An extensive literature search of the PubMed, Embase, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar databases was conducted through March 2020. Clinical studies that specifically examined the relationship between BMI and perioperative complications and functional outcomes following rTSA were included. Public databases (NIS, ACS-NSQIP, PearlDiver, and statewide databases) were largely excluded from the analysis unless procedural codes allowed for differentiation between rTSA, anatomic total shoulder arthroplasty (aTSA) and humeral head replacement (HHR). Results Nineteen studies were included in this systematic review - 11 reported solely on perioperative complications, 2 solely on functional outcomes, and 6 on both complications and outcomes following rTSA. There was no association found between obesity and an increased risk for periprosthetic fracture, scapular stress fracture, periprosthetic infection, instability, overall complications, perioperative medical and surgical complications, mortality, extended length of stay (LOS), increased need for transfusion and likelihood of 90-day readmission. Obesity was associated with prolonged operative time, increased absolute hospital LOS, increased blood loss, higher hospital costs, lower risk for scapular notching, higher likelihood of discharge to a rehabilitation facility, and higher risk for revision surgery. Range of motion of the operative shoulder, pain, and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) have generally demonstrated significant improvement following rTSA. Conclusion Despite some conflicting results in the existing literature regarding the effect of BMI and complications following rTSA, obesity is not universally associated with increased perioperative complications. Range of motion and patient-reported functional outcomes can be expected to improve, even amongst patients with morbid obesity.


Author(s): Young, Courtney | Advisor(s): Spencer, Melissa J | Abstract: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive muscle wasting disorder with no cure. Patients with DMD typically have out-of-frame mutations in the DMD gene, which leads to lack of dystrophin protein. However, there is an allelic, milder disease, Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD), where in-frame mutations allow for some production of an internally deleted dystrophin, which is at least somewhat functional. Thus, a therapeutic strategy is to restore the DMD reading frame, thereby making a DMD mutation into a BMD mutation and likely leading to a milder clinical phenotype. Gene editing tools such as the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR associated protein (Cas) 9 system would allow for permanent gene reframing. Here we describe development of a CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing platform which deletes DMD exons 45-55, creating an in-frame mutation associated with a very mild disease course in BMD patients. This region also encompasses a hotspot of approximately half of all DMD patient mutations, meaning this single platform would be therapeutically relevant for a large percentage of patients.We first demonstrate in vitro applicability of our CRISPR/Cas9 platform in DMD human induced pluripotent stem cells where we show restored dystrophin protein and function in cardiac and skeletal muscle cells in vitro and after engraftment in vivo. An alternative route of delivery besides cell therapy is direct delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 to muscle in vivo. To that end, we created a novel humanized dystrophic mouse model containing an out-of-frame DMD gene that we can target with our CRISPR/Cas9 platform, which is human sequence specific. We demonstrate restored dystrophin protein after application of our CRISPR/Cas9 platform through electroporation, viral delivery, and nanoparticle delivery in vivo. Although we have achieved highest efficiency of dystrophin generation using adeno-associated virus (AAV) as a delivery vehicle, this work also provides proof-of-principle development of novel nanoparticles as an alternative means to AAV to deliver gene editing platforms to muscle in vivo. Non-viral delivery strategies may be advantageous due to their potential to evade an immune response and achieve stem cell targeting. Future work will continue to improve both approaches for effective direct delivery of our CRISPR platform, which reframes the DMD gene for a large percentage of Duchenne patients.


After final installation in the LHC tunnel, the MQM and MQY quadrupole magnets of the LHC insertions are now being commissioned to their nominal currents. These two types of magnets operate at 1.9 K and 4.5 K and with nominal currents ranging from 3600 A to 5390 A. From the very first acceptance tests of the bare magnets coming from the manufacturers, they have been powered using different cycles, in different configurations, at different temperatures and in different tests facilities. In this paper we present the global results of these powering tests. We aim at separating common from individual features of these groups of magnets. Temperature dependence of the training, temperature margin, and ultimate current can be extracted from these tests. As these magnets are used to match the optics and the dispersion in the machine, the projected ultimate current at which they can be operated is critical in view of operation of LHC.


Nanoparticles are of current interest because of their emerging understanding effects on human health. Many developed nanoparticles were created based upon the current application. The application of nanoparticles in drug delivery of pharmaceuticals offers many advantages on the treatment strategies and therapy outcomes. Poly-beta-hydroxyl-butyrate (PHB) nanoparticles are very versatile and its design could be tailored to the needs of individual drug. Biodegradable polymeric PHB are able to provide controlled release of the encapsulated drug and it could be prolonged or enhanced. The emergence of PHB group of polymers as a potential cheap biomaterial may also become an interesting alternative in the production and controlled release manner. The Global Tuberculosis Report published by WHO revealed an increasing incidence of drug resistance and patients need to be treated for the period of 18 to 24 months using second line, anti- tuberculosis (TB) drug. Rifampicin, an anti tuberculosis drug, was chosen to incorporate in both types of nanoparticle production and it is delivered to the patients for wound healing (Tuberculosis patients) by microencapsulation. The nanoparticles were developed using single emulsion evaporation formed into the microspheres with regular or irregular morphology and the varying size efficiencies and particle size distributions. The microencapsulation of drug with PHB was coated onto the cotton gauze for wound healing. Physical and chemical analysis for he developed cotton gauze for wound healing.

 Key words: Poly-beta-hydroxyl-butyrate (PHB) nanoparticles, cotton gauze, drug, tuberculosis.


This study aimed to evaluate the effects of partially replacing corn silage (CS) with whole-plant soybean silage (SS) or black oat silage (OS) on nutrient intake and digestibility, in vitro neutral detergent fiber degradability of silages, feeding behavior, rumen fermentation, and performance of dairy cows. Twenty-four lactating Holstein cows (6 of which were rumen-cannulated) with 32.5 ± 4.92 kg/d milk yield, 150 ± 84.8 days in milk, and 644 ± 79.0 kg of body weight were used in a 3 × 3 Latin square design to evaluate the following treatments: (1) corn silage diet (CSD): using corn silage as the only forage source in the diet [48% dietary dry matter (DM)]; (2) whole-plant soybean silage diet (SSD): SS replacing 16% of corn silage from CSD; and (3) black oat silage diet (OSD): OS replacing 16% of corn silage from CSD. The inclusion of OS and SS decreased intakes of DM, organic matter, and crude protein. Corn silage had the greatest in vivo effective degradability of DM, and SS had the least effective degradability of neutral detergent fiber. The OSD treatment decreased milk and protein yields, whereas SSD increased rumen ammonia nitrogen concentration compared with the other diets. Cows fed OSD exhibited a greater preference for feed with small particles (<4 mm) compared with those fed SSD. Cows fed treatments containing either SS or OS at the expense of CS had increased rumination and chewing activities. Although replacing CS with OS and SS reduced feed intake, SS had no effect on productive performance of dairy cows.


TNF-like cytokine (TL1A) is a newly identified member of the TNF superfamily of ligands that is important for T cell costimulation and Th1 polarization. However, despite increasing information about its functions, very little is known about expression of TL1A in normal or pathological states. In this study, we report that mononuclear phagocytes appear to be a major source of TL1A in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as revealed by their strong TL1A expression in either synovial fluids or synovial tissue of rheumatoid factor (RF)-seropositive RA patients, but not RF−/RA patients. Accordingly, in vitro experiments revealed that human monocytes express and release significant amounts of soluble TL1A when stimulated with insoluble immune complexes (IC), polyethylene glycol precipitates from the serum of RF+/RA patients, or with insoluble ICs purified from RA synovial fluids. Monocyte-derived soluble TL1A was biologically active as determined by its capacity to induce apoptosis of the human erythroleukemic cell line TF-1, as well as to cooperate with IL-12 and IL-18 in inducing the production of IFN-γ by CD4+ T cells. Because RA is a chronic inflammatory disease with autoimmune etiology, in which ICs, autoantibodies (including RF), and various cytokines contribute to its pathology, our data suggest that TL1A could be involved in its pathogenesis and contribute to the severity of RA disease that is typical of RF+/RA patients.


Objectives: First, to explore the utility of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) in routine primary care through a large community screening program. Next, to compare administration of a second EPDS versus the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) in identifying postnatal depression in the prescreened population. Method: Screening with the EPDS through Maternal and Child Health Centres at 4 months post-partum. Women scoring ≥12 were assessed against DSM-IV criteria and completed a BDI and a second EPDS. These data were subjected to receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses. Results: Of 4148 screened, 533 (12.8%) scored ≥12. Of these, 344 were assessed against DSM-IV criteria: 193 (56%) – major depressive disorder; 67 (20%) – other diagnoses that incorporated depression. Positive predictive value at screening was therefore 76%. Another 45 (13%) had non-depressive disorders and 39 (11%) were psychiatric non-cases. The BDI was the better diagnostic instrument in the prescreened population, having a significantly higher efficiency as quantified by ROC curve analysis, though the absolute difference in efficiency was small (approximately 6%). Conclusions: Screening with the EPDS integrated well into routine primary care. Twostep screening offers one way of achieving acceptable balances of operational simplicity and diagnostic accuracy.


With the continuous expansion of data availability in many large-scale, complex, and networked systems, such as surveillance, security, the Internet, and finance, it becomes critical to advance the fundamental understanding of knowledge discovery and analysis from raw data to support decision-making processes. Existing knowledge discovery and data analyzing techniques have shown great success in many real-world applications such as applying Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) methods to detect targets of interest in imagery, drug activity prediction, computer vision recognition, and so on. Among these techniques, Multiple-Instance (MI) learning is different from standard classification since it uses a set of bags containing many instances as input. The instances in each bag are not labeled — instead the bags themselves are labeled. In this area many researchers have accomplished a lot of work and made a lot of progress. However, there still exist some areas which are not covered. In this thesis, we focus on two topics of MI learning: (1) Investigating the relationship between MI learning and other multiple pattern learning methods, which include multi-view learning, data fusion method and multi-kernel SVM. (2) Dealing with the class imbalance problem of MI learning. In the first topic, three different learning frameworks will be presented for general MI learning. The first uses multiple view approaches to deal with MI problem, the second is a data fusion framework, and the third framework, which is an extension of the first framework, uses multi-kernel SVM. Experimental results show that the approaches presented work well on solving MI problem. The second topic is concerned with the imbalanced MI problem. Here we investigate the performance of learning algorithms in the presence of underrepresented data and severe class distribution skews. For this problem, we propose three solution frameworks: a data re-sampling framework, a cost-sensitive boosting framework and an adaptive instanceweighted boosting SVM (with the name IB SVM) for MI learning. Experimental results — on both benchmark datasets and application datasets — show that the proposed frameworks are proved to be effective solutions for the imbalanced problem of MI learning.


High reliability is the key to performance of electrical control equipment. PLC combines computer technology, automatic control technology and communication technology and becomes widely used for automation of industrial processes. Some requirements of complex PLC systems cannot be satisfied by the traditional verification methods. In this paper, an efficient method for the PLC systems modeling and verification is proposed. To ensure the high-speed property of PLC, we proposed a technique of "Time interval model" and "notice-waiting". It could reduce the state space and make it possible to verify some complex PLC systems. Also, the conversion from the built PLC model to the Promela language is obtained and a tool PLC-Checker for modeling and checking PLC systems are designed. Using PLC-Checker to check a classical PLC example, a counter-example is found. Although the probability of this logic error occurs very small, it could result in system crash fatally.


This thesis reports on a Critical Stylistic analysis of representations of men in a corpus of women's magazines, with the aid of corpus linguistic methods. Focusing on four 'textualconceptual' (Jeffries, forthcoming) functions of text; Naming and Describing, Equating and Contrasting, Representing Processes/Events/States, and Assuming and Implying, it shows how the texts construct ideologies of masculinity that constitute the magazines' performances of masculinity for a female audience.

I identify five central ideologies of masculinity, and gender more broadly, that occur across all four of the tools:
• Men are either 'good' or 'bad'
• Men are driven by their carnal instincts
• Men are naturally aggressive
• Men and women are essentially different
• Heterosexuality is normative
These unifying themes are shown to be consistent with the forms of masculinity associated with the New Lad figure, linked to representations of masculinity in the 'lads' mags' of the men's magazine market.

Alongside these unifying themes, I also show how different kinds of masculine identity are emphasised depending on the kind of text they appear in, and in which genre of women's magazine they feature. These differing representations are interpreted in terms of the flexibility of gender performance. This thesis argues that Butler's theory of performativity can be applied to texts such as women's magazines in two ways: women's magazines form part of the "rigid, regulatory frame" (Butler, 1990: 33) which determines what constitutes acceptable performances of gender for society, and that they are also in themselves
performances of gender. They are also "a set of repeated acts [...] that congeal over time to produce the appearance of substance of a natural sort of being" (Butler, 1990: 33). The linguistic images of men inscribed in the pages of women's magazines are repetitions that have become part of the naturalized, accepted performances of masculinity.

The ideologies of masculinity discussed here are potentially harmful from a feminist perspective, because if men are consistently shown to be aggressive or sexually driven, women may come to expect men to behave in this way.


Abstract:This article examines the tensions surrounding the opening of Seoul to foreign trade and residence and how mixed residence and extraterritoriality played a decisive role in the boundaries of residence in Seoul as well as the boundaries of jurisdiction and citizenship in Korea from 1876 to 1910. Different from most capital cities in East Asia, Seoul opened in 1882 as a city of mixed residence with no foreign settlements established exclusively for foreign residents. As a result, the entire space inside the walls became an arena where multiple extraterritorialities directly challenged the sovereignty of the Korean state. It was against this backdrop of imperial powers' growing presences and their attempts to make Seoul into an extraterritorial space that the newly established Taehan Empire strove to refashion Seoul into the imperial capital Hwangsŏng, as a means to reinsert its power into the capital's space and residents. Despite its efforts, however, this article shows that the Korean government was losing its grip on both the capital's space and residents, as a growing number of opportunistic Koreans evaded Korean jurisdiction by taking advantage of extraterritoriality or obtaining foreign citizenship.


To reduce large motion responses of a turret-moored Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit in harsh environment in deep waters, a thruster-assisted position mooring (POSMOOR) system can be applied. By applying the system, global dynamic responses can be improved in terms of the mooring line/riser top tensions, operational radius of the FPSO, and the top and bottom angle of the production risers. Kalman filtering as an optimum observer and estimator for stochastic disturbances is implemented in the developed control algorithm to filter out wave frequency components. Investigation of the performance of a thruster-assisted turret-moored FPSO was conducted in terms of surge, sway, yaw motions, and tension time series by using a fully coupled hull/mooring/riser dynamic analysis program in time domain. The two cases, motion analysis of an FPSO with thrusters and without thrusters, are extensively compared. The numerical examples illustrate that a thruster-assisted turret-moored FPSO can be an effective solution compared to a conventional turret-moored FPSO for deepwater production.


While debate rages around the changing world of work in the era of robots and artificial intelligence, profound shifts in working practices and the way work is organised rarely make the headlines. Yet working from home has seen unprecedented growth in our societies and extends far beyond the legal framework of remote working. A team of French sociologists offer their reflections – with extracts from their field surveys – on how our relationship to work, time, and the home has changed in the past 50 years


Abstract
Smallpox was probably introduced into Guinea as well as into the rest of West and Central Africa after 700 A.D. when Islamic invaders began their western and southern penetrations. Specific references to the disease along the "Guinea coast" are found in documents published as early as 1664. Periodic epidemics of smallpox occurred in Guinea at 10-year intervals since records began being kept in 1925 by the League of Nations. The epidemic interval decreased to 5 to 7 years in the 1950's. An annual attack rate of 19.4 reported cases per 100,000 persons occurred in Guinea throughout this century before the beginning of the regional West and Central African Smallpox Eradication and Measles Control Program in December 1967. The overall case fatality rate was 9.4%. The real annual incidence was at least 20 times the reported incidence. The cases occurred mainly in dry season months. From December 1967 to January 1969, persons less than 15 comprised 57.3% of the cases. Females with smallpox predominated over males, 56.9% to 43.1%. Ninety-six percent of those affected lived in villages of less than 1,000. Sierra Leone and Guinea had the two highest variola attack rates in the world in 1967. The most severely affected areas were in the northern districts of Sierra Leone and the southwestern regions of Guinea. These countries have close geographic and cultural ties, and several importations of smallpox from Sierra Leone into Guinea were identified.


The rheological characteristics of mixed kaolinite-montmorillonite suspensions as a function of adsorbed ion (Na⁺ or Ca²⁺), montmorillonite concentration and suspension pH were studied in aqueous medium at a total clay concentration of 50 g kg⁻¹ and 25 °C. The suspensions of kaolinite showed a Newtonian rheology regardless of the adsorbed ion and pH, indicating that neither structural breakdown nor orientation occurs during the flow. Non-Newtonian rheology was observed when small amounts of montmorillonite (saturated by Na⁺ or CA²⁺ ions) were introduced into the kaolinite suspensions at pH values of 4.0 and 7.0. An association between kaolinite and montmorillonite platelets appears to take place, with the intensity (as inferred from the extrapolated shear stress and viscosity) higher at pH 4.0 than at pH 7.0. This association is probably due to the attraction between the positive charge on the pH-dependent charge surfaces of kaolinite and the negative charge associated with the planar surfaces of montmorillonite. When the pH increases well above the point of zero charge of the pH-dependent charge surfaces, the association between kaolinite and montmorillonite platelets is negligible.


known of the possible role of H pylori in duodenal ulcer disease and theH pylon state of those patients cannot be determined retrospectively. It is possible that most subjects in our series were H pylori negative, which would explain the higher healing rates compared with Bianchi Porro's experience. It is more probable that our patients were either a mixture of H pylon positive and negative with ulcers or mostly H pylon positive, which does not help to explain the reasons for this discrepancy. By far the most intriguing question raised by Bianchi Porro's study is whether resistance to standard anti-ulcer treatment can be related to the presence of H pylon. In Wagner's study with bismuth subsalicylate, 14% of duodenal ulcers did not heal despite H pylon clearance and 65% of healed ulcers had persistent H pylon infection,5 suggesting that this might not be the case. Eradication by means of a more complete treatment regimen rather than mere clearance of the micro-organism may have a bearing on the subsequent relapse rate but can hardly account for the superior effects in the short term. A role for H pylon in some cases of refractory duodenal ulcers remains, however, an attractive hypothesis to which Professor Bianchi Porro's data certainly give support. At the present time omeprazole is the antiulcer drug that provides the most striking results in the treatment of resistant duodenal ulcers.6 Its efficacy has generally been related to sustained and powerful acid inhibition, but the drug is also known to exert a clearing effect on H pylon, if not to eradicate the microorganism.7 Further studies are needed to discriminate between the roles of acid suppression and H pylon inhibition in the successful use of omeprazole for refractory duodenal ulcers.


ABSTRACT Research Findings: Many young children spend crucial developmental years in informal, home-based child care (HBCC) settings, but parents and others share concerns about HBCC quality. We applied the ecomap method in a descriptive study of racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse informal caregivers and parents to capture their informal caregiving arrangements, social networks, and social supports. For the parents in our study, informal child care was a flexible, affordable, and readily accessible child care option. For caregivers, informal care provided opportunities to help family and friends and to earn extra income. Social networks were characterized largely by relationships with family and friends, and social supports tended to be strong and mutually beneficial. Practice or Policy: We found that ecomapping is an engaging and flexible method of capturing and understanding complex child care arrangements and social networks in HBCC settings. As a research tool, ecomapping can help improve the quality of care in informal settings by identifying and meeting the needs of parents and HBCC providers and informing program development and delivery strategies.


Through the seismic behavior of 4 pieces of concrete grill wall by pseudo- static test, the test sample destruction shape, the skeleton curves under to the different wall material and the different axial compression ratio, consuming energy ability, the ductility coefficient were conducted the contrast research. The experiment indicates the test sample under the level reciprocation load and the axial action of force, destruction shape main perform for cutting destruction; After wall dehiscence, the rigidity rate of descent is quick, after achieving the ultimate load, the rigidity drop flatten out, the wall has the good ductility. By enhancing the axial compression ratio, it may enhance the wall the ductility, to consume energy the coefficient; the walls contained recycled concrete aggregate has good energy dissipation and seismic performance;


Abstract In this study, an ordered non-overlapping block bootstrap procedure has been proposed to obtain multi-step forecast regions for unrestricted vector autoregressive models. The proposed method is not based on either backward or forward representations, so it can be implemented to VARMA or VAR-GARCH models. Also, it is computationally more efficient than the existing techniques. Its finite sample performance is investigated by Monte Carlo experiments and two-real world examples. Our findings show that the proposed method is a good alternative to the available resampling methods and produces better results for long-term forecasting when the model is near non-stationary or near-cointegrated.


Abstract. The accuracy of space-based nitrogen dioxide (NO2) retrievals from solar backscatter radiances critically depends on a priori knowledge of the vertical profiles of NO2 and aerosol optical properties. This information is used to calculate an air mass factor (AMF), which accounts for atmospheric scattering and is used to convert the measured line-of-sight "slant" columns into vertical columns. In this study we investigate the impact of biomass burning emissions on the AMF in order to quantify NO2 retrieval errors in the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) products over these sources. Sensitivity analyses are conducted using the Linearized Discrete Ordinate Radiative Transfer (LIDORT) model. The NO2 and aerosol profiles are obtained from a 3-D chemistry-transport model (GEOS-Chem), which uses the Fire Locating and Monitoring of Burning Emissions (FLAMBE) daily biomass burning emission inventory. Aircraft in situ data collected during two field campaigns, the Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) and the Dust and Biomass-burning Experiment (DABEX), are used to evaluate the modeled aerosol optical properties and NO2 profiles over Canadian boreal fires and West African savanna fires, respectively. Over both domains, the effect of biomass burning emissions on the AMF through the modified NO2 shape factor can be as high as −60%. A sensitivity analysis also revealed that the effect of aerosol and shape factor perturbations on the AMF is very sensitive to surface reflectance and clouds. As an illustration, the aerosol correction can range from −20 to +100% for different surface reflectances, while the shape factor correction varies from −70 to −20%. Although previous studies have shown that in clear-sky conditions the effect of aerosols on the AMF was in part implicitly accounted for by the modified cloud parameters, here it is suggested that when clouds are present above a surface layer of scattering aerosols, an explicit aerosol correction would be beneficial to the NO2 retrieval. Finally, a new method that uses slant column information to correct for shape-factor-related AMF error over NOx emission sources is proposed, with possible application to near-real-time OMI retrievals.


For many years, malicious cyber-attackers have been targeting the industrial control systems (ICSs) that manage the critical infrastructure. Industries become vulnerable to cyberattacks, following the introduction of new technologies in their production processes. Cyber-security becomes a critical subject that treatment can be improved: it is a little taken into consideration in humans and environmental risk analysis, despite the common points with the risks related to cyber-security. In this article the approaches that combined the security and safety in risk analysis are presented and applied to a case study to evaluate and compare them, this evaluation allows us to find the best way to propose our future risk analysis approach.


Abstract:This article challenges the notion that Kangxi-era policies (1661–1722) toward the southwest were laissez-faire. In June 1681, the Kangxi emperor extended the Qing state's land reclamation program to recently pacified areas of Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou. Programmatic incentives encouraged government officials to recruit Han settlers from China's interior to reclaim land in these southwestern provinces, and officials profited enormously from this state-sponsored campaign. Since the southwest was populated almost exclusively by non-Han peoples at the time, the land reclamation program amounted to nothing less than the outright seizure of non-Han lands. This program of settler colonialism was accompanied by an equally aggressive state campaign to undermine the independence of non-Han leaders by increasing the number of tusi titles and offices bestowed specifically upon non-Han elites. Indeed, many features integral to colonization of the southwest during the Yongzheng emperor's reign (1723–1735) originated under Kangxi's rule.摘要:本文對康熙皇帝在西南邊疆採取自由放任政策的普遍看法提出異議。作者認為,清朝在 1681 年吳三桂叛亂後,用土地開墾計劃,鼓勵內地漢人遷移、定居西南邊境。直到 1713 年,康熙對漢人入迁、聚居西南的速度和範圍感到滿意為止,才呼籲官員縮減規劃,不再對新開墾土地徵稅。


The aim of this research was to investigate whether teaching and learning strategies that encourage students to adopt a deep approach to learning can improve their learning outcomes on a written task. This research was conducted within a first year business course offered at a major Australian university. Staff teaching the course were concerned about students' written communication abilities and observed that academic performance on written tasks did not necessarily reflect their level of knowledge articulated through other methods. The study was conducted across two phases. In the first phase, students completed and discussed the results of the Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ) which identified their approach to learning in the particular context. The second phase involved implementing a teaching and learning activity that aimed to improve student learning outcomes on a written task by developing a shared understanding of the expectations of the task. This activity was based on the Structure of Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy (Biggs, 1991). Self peer and teacher feedback was integrated throughout this process. The results indicated that the majority of the participants made considerable gains. Student success, however, was not uniform. The general pattern of results indicated that students with an expressed desire to learning made greater improvement across the course of the study. These results are consistent with other studies. The analysis of the results also revealed that students who did not demonstrate a strong preference to either surface or deep approaches to learning (as measured by the SPQ) in this context also made considerable gains. The overall results of this study were very encouraging and have given valuable feedback about the process of developing and embedding teaching and learning strategies in the curriculum. Further, this study provided impetus for policy development and restructuring of the entire first year of the undergraduate degree program.


The following article explores the process of Adlerian Therapy and how this theory can be applied to international collectivist cultures. The authors offer an overview of the Individual Psychology perspective and its concepts and discuss the gap in the lack of understanding among counselors and other mental health professionals in the applicability of Adlerian techniques with collectivist clients. In addition, the authors highlight the importance of cultural understanding by mental health professionals by giving clear examples and connections to real life therapeutic situations.


Several algorithms on the immune network information model, which can be applied to sensor fault diagnosis of process plants, is proposed, and they are evaluated by simulations. The sensor network can eliminate the information of abnormal sensors by mutual recognition.In cement processes, the reliabilities of sensors, on which the diagnostic system is based, are often far from perfection. The proposed sensor network can be used in such situation that the diagnosis of the diagnostic system itself becomes critical. The usefulness of the sensor network is confirmed by the simulation for the firing section of a cement plant.


Lactobacillus isolates from healthy Estonian and Swedish children were characterised by a lectin typing technique; 56 isolates from six species (L. acidophilus, L. paracasei, L. plantarum, L. fermentum, L. brevis and L. buchneri) were tested. The typing system was based on an agglutination assay with a panel of six commercially available lectins, which were chosen on the basis of their carbohydrate specificities. The isolates were also subjected to proteolytic degradation before lectin typing to decrease auto-agglutination of whole cells in the assay. The 56 isolates were divided into 15 different lectin types by their lectin agglutination patterns. Proteolytic treatment reduced auto-agglutination for the majority of species, apart from L. acidophilus, which remained predominantly auto-agglutinating (eight of nine strains). The system produced stable and reproducible results under standardised culture conditions. Lactobacilli are important bacteria for use as probiotics and this system may supplement current molecular typing techniques and may help in identification of strains that could be useful in this role.


Strategic planning of health tourism development in Kurdistan province with emphasis on attracting health tourists in Kurdistan Region of IraqIntroductionKurdistan province is one of the provinces of the country that can become an important center of health tourism in Iran due to its proximity to Iraq and Kurdistan of Iraq. Existence of numerous resources, such as the large number of patients in Kurdistan of Iraq, tourist attractions and climate of Kurdistan, low cost of medical services, equipping a number of medical centers in the province with modern medical equipment, the province's capacity for medicinal plants and the province's pristine nature. Nature therapy, cultural and linguistic homogeneity with Kurdistan of Iraq, and the training of physicians by Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences have enhanced the province's capabilities in the field of health tourism. Kurdistan, with 227 km of border with Iraq, as well as the three border cities of Baneh, Marivan and Sarvabad, has a good potential for the development of medical tourism, but nevertheless, the revenues of this province from the health tourism sector are still low and in fact despite the potential. Many of these types of tourism have not been able to play an effective role in the economic and social sustainability of the province. In this regard, the two main research questions that must be asked during the strategic planning process as follows: 1- What are the most important internal and external factors and processes affecting the development of health tourism in Kurdistan province by attracting health tourists to the Iraqi Kurdistan region? 2- What are the most effective strategies and favorable perspectives for the development of health tourism in Kurdistan province by attracting health tourists to the Kurdistan region? MethodologyThe present research is applied in terms of purpose, descriptive-analytical in terms of type and a combination of documentary-survey method in terms of data collection. In order to achieve the objectives of the research and, in fact, to plan the development of health tourism in Kurdistan province by attracting health tourists from the Kurdistan of Iraq, it was necessary to form a specialized or Delphi team in the present study. In this regard, an attempt was made to form a team consisting of experts, managers and officials, local experts. In quantitative method, in the present study in the form of using Hierarchical analysis process (AHP) to determine the most desirable strategies for the development of health tourism in Kurdistan province by attracting tourists to the Kurdistan region in combination with SWOT technique in the process of strategic planning.Results and discussion Findings indicate that the low cost of treatment in the province, ethnic and cultural affinity, extensive socio-economic ties, the existence of ancient traditional medicine and numerous medicinal plants with healing properties and having pristine nature and numerous mineral water springs, capability Unique to other trans-provincial competitors, such as the cities of Tehran, Kermanshah, Tabriz, Urmia and even Turkey are among the strengths of tourism in the region, which if the necessary conditions and infrastructure are provided, can Help the sustainable attraction of health tourists from Iraq.Also, the study of the weaknesses identified as the main obstacles to the development of health tourism in Kurdistan province in order to attract health tourists from the Kurdistan region of Iraq shows that the health tourism system in Kurdistan province to attract tourists from the Iraqi Kurdistan region with several challenges. In both main dimensions of supply and demand and in various components, which are necessary to develop health tourism in the province. On the other hand, opportunities and threats affecting the health tourism status of Kurdistan province, had a range of performance and impact from local to national and transnational level to understand the importance of the impact of the tourism situation of destinations from trans-regional conditions and its consideration and management .In order to determine the most important strategies for the development of health tourism in Kurdistan province, it was determined that among the opportunities; The reason for the persistence of the exchange rate difference, among the forces, is the presence of Kowsar Hospital and private hospitals and clinics (completion of Aria Private Hospital), among the threats; The reason for the existence and emergence of powerful competitors active in the health tourism market of Kurdistan of Iraq (Tehran, Kermanshah, Tabriz, Orumieh) and among the weaknesses, the cause of weakness in management, planning and monitoring in the development of health tourism in Kurdistan, with Having the highest relative weight has the greatest impact on the four strategies adopted. These identified cases had the greatest impact and importance among their factors so that they can be confidently mentioned as key drivers or very influential factors in the development and expansion of health tourism in Kurdistan province.Conclusion:The final result of the research as a future perspective for the development of health tourism in Kurdistan province By attracting tourists from the Kurdistan region of Iraq in the future, it should become a reliable and privileged center in the field of health tourism for the market of Iraq Kurdistan in the next 10 years.A center that has the power to compete with other competitors outside the province in attracting health tourists from the Iraqi Kurdistan region. The current communication with the rival centers is coordinated and the health tourists of Kurdistan region are purposefully directed from this province to other neighboring centers if the tourist needs and interests. In this perspective, the basic principle of diversification of health tourism products was laid in order to increase the length of stay and spending of tourists. This perspective emphasizes the use of rural areas with tourism potential and health tourism in the province, and in order to achieve the principle of balance to distribute the benefits of tourism for comprehensive support, these rural areas, as a support And sub-centers that support the main centers were considered


Abstract Public education in Alberta is undergoing
substantive change and there is renewed interest in how school
superintendents make decisions. My inquiry came from a
practitioner's perspective looking into superintendent's
decision-making processes. Eight serving school superintendents
were interviewed to determine the influences on their
decision-making around governance, human resource and
accountability issues. I sought insights to inform superintendent
practice in the province and uncover further questions for study.
The research question used to identify the expectations, influences
and understandings of public school superintendents regarding
decision-making within their respective school jurisdictions was:
What factors impact decisions related to jurisdiction governance,
human resource management and accountability in the
superintendency? A multiple case-study model was utilized to review
responses from the purposive sample. The sample was balanced for
gender and geographic and demographic diversity. Transcripts,
government documents and research journals were utilized in the
analysis as understandings were revealed and explanations built in
response to the research question. The effect of time, role
identification, relationship building, capacity building, and
community expectations were identified as common factors affecting
the decisions of school superintendents. Roles and responsibilities
within school jurisdictions and whether an authoritative or
participative approach to decision-making was utilized varied
across genders and jurisdiction size and location. Perceived
self-efficacy of superintendents in their role and perceived
organizational efficacy of school jurisdictions in the public
education system emerged as influences on the process.
Superintendents indicated a clear preference for processes
rendering decisions from understanding rather than decisions
designed to compel understanding. Responses from superintendents in
this study indicated they valued a collaborative approach to
decision-making and a desire to transform decision-making from a
process focused on individual roles and responsibilities to one
supporting broader stakeholder values. Participants sought
decisions that ultimately met the academic, social and emotional
needs of the students. Changes to the landscape of public education
in Alberta created by a new Education Act (2012) and the evolving
expectations of society will require superintendents to make
critical decisions in the months to come. The findings of this
study support them in that work.


Bacon belonged to a cultural milieu that, between the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, proved to be especially receptive to influences coming from such continental authors as Machiavelli, Bodin, Duplessis-Mornay, Hotman, and, through Lipsius, a particular brand of Stoicism tinged with Tacitean motifs. Within the broader question of Tacitus' influence on Tudor and Stuart culture, this article focuses on the issue of how Bacon's characteristic insistence on the powers of the imagination (fingere) and of belief (credere) in shaping human history may have influenced his view that human beings suffer from an innate tendency to self-delusion.


This report discusses the Budget Control Act, which sets limits on defense spending between FY2012 and FY2021. The current debate in Congress has centered on whether to adjust the BCA defense caps upward; move base budget spending to accounts designated for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) that are not subject to spending limits; reduce the defense spending in the Administration's request to comply with BCA revised caps; or use some combination of these approaches, all in order to avoid a sequester.


Acknowledges Deerwester's letter of Mar. 17 with enclosure from Congressional Record; understands [William D.] Pawley, Ambassador to Brazil, now in Washington; he has good understanding of hemisphere problems and will express his views frankly; question of hemisphere defense becomes imperative, but any arrangement without Argentina would be incomplete and inadequate; incredible that there should be opposition to defense pact; can find no valid reason against it; Argentina has already complied with her inter-American commitments in matter of alien institutions and alien property and is well on way to compliance in matter of enemy aliens; U.S. must soon reach decision for Argentines are becoming frustrated as well as other American republics; nothing will be done until Secretary Marshall returns [from Russia], but is confident he will understand situation when he has examined facts; those opposed to composition of situation with Argentina will no doubt raise other questions; has been concerned recently over steps taken to annoy La Prensa, leading Buenos Aires newspaper; posters attacking paper put up by information service of Government and by Peronista Party, both ill advised; President, in impromptu speech before Labor group, said way to deal with opposition newspapers was not by violence, but by not buying them or advertising in them; no one understands better than he the importance of a free press, but his unfortunate statement and these posters give impression abroad that there is no free press in Argentina; AP dispatch on Mar. 16 with regard to action taken by News Vendors' Union against La Prensa cause U.S. papers to carry headlines that President Peron and Government were trying to destroy La Prensa; dispatch was entirely incorrect; read with interest what Deerwester said about [Alfred ?] Schindler; glad to know he was instructed to call at Embassy before he does anything; no reason Argentine should not have press service of its own, so much distortion of news from Argentina in U.S. press, but thinks the time inopportune for setting up press service because it would be misunderstood; was astounded recently to read of new group [Americans for Democratic Action] Mrs. [Franklin D.] Roosevelt, Leon Henderson, and [Wilson W.] Wyatt are organizing and their pronouncement of combating "Peronism and Communism"; calls to Deerwester's attention excellent article by Richard Pattee in Review of Politics, entitled "The Argentine Question, the War Stage"; article should have wider circulation.


Immunity to respiratory virus infection is governed by complex biological networks that influence disease progression and pathogenesis. Systems biology provides an opportunity to explore and understand these multifaceted interactions based on integration and modeling of multiple biological parameters. In this review, we describe new and refined systems‐based approaches used to model, identify, and validate novel targets within complex networks following influenza and coronavirus infection. In addition, we propose avenues for extension and expansion that can revolutionize our understanding of infectious disease processes. Together, we hope to provide a window into the unique and expansive opportunity presented by systems biology to understand complex disease processes within the context of infectious diseases.


Annotation as a (Meta)Cognitive Aid in Western Art Music Performance Linda T. Kaastra MAGIC, University of British Columbia Abstract: This paper examines the role of annotation in coordinating Western Art Music (WAM) performance. Annotations were obtained from a performance score drawn from an instrumental case study of ensemble performance. The case study consisted of nine videotaped rehearsals and a performance of Torˆ u Takemitsu's Masque for Two Flutes (1959-1960). A prior analysis of the conversation, body motion, and instrumental play revealed four domains of coordination. This paper presents a detailed exploration of one of those domains, annotation, using theory drawn from the field of distributed cognition. The annotations were classified by their function in supporting cognitive and meta-cognitive processes of performance in relation to the printed score (visual salience, repair/correction, and anchoring). The classification supports theory in distributed cognition by demonstrating a clear functional relation between the annotated score and both internal and external performance processes.


The stomach and small intestine are common sites for gut lymphomas, but oesophageal lymphomas are very rare. In mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), although multifocal gut involvement is seen, oesophageal involvement is uncommon. Gut involvement may be primary or secondary to systemic involvement. Multiple lymphomatous polyposis (MLP) is the intestinal form of MCL. Most cases of MLP occur in the elderly, usually over 50 years of age, and the presenting symptoms are abdominal pain, melaena, haematochezia and fatigue. In MCL, tumour cells typically express CD5 and cyclin D1 markers. Our patient presented with generalised lymphadenopathy, dysphagia and rapid weight loss. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed submucosal polypoid lesions in the oesophagus, stomach and duodenum. Histopathology and immunophenotyping confirmed MCL. Although MLP presenting as a primary MCL of the intestine has been described in the literature, our patient also had multiple intestinal polyposis (including the oesophagus) due to secondary involvement from systemic MCL.


by JEREMY KYLE JENNINGS (Under the Direction of Jennifer J. Kaplan) ABSTRACT Each fall and spring semester approximately 1300 students take the Introductory Statistics course (STAT 2000) at the University of Georgia. The course coordinator maintains a repository of test questions from which he selects questions for each test. Having an item bank from which to pull items raises the question, "Are all of these items properly assessing students' statistical achievement?" An IRT analysis to calibrate the items used on the third test of the semester will be performed. Each semester the third test assesses student knowledge and understanding of statistical inference for one sample. The best fit model for each item will be determined. The items that are not functioning properly will be reviewed to see if there are any common factors in these questions to give us an idea of what might be problem areas for students and recommendations based on the analysis will be made.


The case of a 11 year old boy with medullary sponge Kidney and nephrolithiasis discovered because of abdominal pain is described. Functional tubular impairment (concentrating defect, distal tubular acidosis) was present. No hypercalciuria nor hyperparathyroidism was detected. The diagnosis of medullary sponge Kidney was confirmed histopathologically. The pediatric cases described in the literature are characterized by a higher incidence of concentrating defect and acidosis, while the adults subjects often show hypercalciuria and or hyperparathyroidism. The careful study of tubular functions in the pediatric cases appears to be very useful to understand which are primary tubular disturbances and which are only secondary.


In the denoising literature, research based on the nonlocal means (NLM) filter has been done and there have been many variations and improvements regarding weight function and parameter optimization. Here, a NLM filter with patch-based difference (PBD) refinement is presented. PBD refinement, which is the weighted average of the PBD values, is performed with respect to the difference images of all the locations in a refinement kernel. With refined and denoised PBD values, pattern adaptive smoothing threshold and noise suppressed NLM filter weights are calculated. Owing to the refinement of the PBD values, the patterns are divided into flat regions and texture regions by comparing the sorted values in the PBD domain to the threshold value including the noise standard deviation. Then, two different smoothing thresholds are utilized for each region denoising, respectively, and the NLM filter is applied finally. Experimental results of the proposed scheme are shown in comparison with several state-of-the-arts NLM based denoising methods.


Cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) is a key enzyme in the mammalian metabolism of several low molecular weight volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as trichloroethylene (TCE), vinyl chloride (VC), carbon tetrachloride (CT), benzene, chloroform, and bromodichloromethane (BDCM), which are all common environmental pollutants that pose risks to human health. We have developed a transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthii) that expresses CYP2E1 with increased activity toward TCE and ethylene dibromide. In experiments with tobacco plant cuttings exposed to VOCs in small hydroponic vessels, the transgenic tobacco had greatly increased rates of removal of TCE, VC, CT, benzene, toluene, chloroform, and BDCM, compared to wild-type or vector control tobacco, but not of perchloroethylene or 1,1,1-trichloroethane.


Background Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is a cardiac disease characterized by the presence of fibrofatty replacement of the right ventricular myocardium, which may cause ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Pathogenic mutations in several genes encoding mainly desmosomal proteins have been reported. Our aim is to perform genotype-phenotype correlations to establish the diagnostic value of genetics and to assess the role of mutation type in age-related penetrance in ARVC. Methods and Results Thirty unrelated Spanish patients underwent a complete clinical evaluation. They all were screened for PKP2, DSG2, DSC2, DSP, JUP and TMEM43 genes. A total of 70 relatives of four families were also studied. The 30 patients fulfilled definite disease diagnostic criteria. Genetic analysis revealed a pathogenic mutation in 19 patients (13 in PKP2, 3 in DSG2, 2 in DSP, and 1 in DSC2). Nine of these mutations created a truncated protein due to the generation of a stop codon. Familial assessment revealed 28 genetic carriers among family members. Stop-gain mutations were associated to a later age of onset of ARVC, without differences in the severity of the pathology. Conclusions Familial genetic analysis helps to identify the cause responsible for the pathology. In discrepancy with previous studies, the presence of a truncating protein does not confer a worse severity. This information could suggest that truncating proteins may be compensated by the normal allele and that missense mutations may act as poison peptides.


A tandem Multi-Effect Warhead (MEW) was developed. The warhead comprised a Shaped Precursor-Charge (SPC) having two tasks: perforating structural wall targets for a follow through penetrator and clearing explosive reactive armor (ERA) targets. Two concepts for this SPC were pursued: a classical Cu-liner shaped charge (MILAN) and a nonconventional Al/Mg-liner shaped charge (STABO). The investigations for these two SCs covered both the initiation behavior of an ERA and its SC jet performance degradation effects. Two generic ERA targets were used in this study one with faster and one with slower flying plates. The inclination angle was varied between 0° and 70°. Also the effects of inert ERAs were considered.


Dogs infected naturally or experimentally with Dirofilaria immitis were given levamisole resinate at the rate of 5.5 or 11 mg/kg of body weight/day for 10 days. All dogs had been treated with thiacetarsamide sodium approximately 6 weeks earlier. When given at the dosage of 5.5 mg/kg for 10 days, levamisole resinate was not effective as a microfilaricide in either naturally or experimentally infected dogs. Microfilaria counts were reduced in all dogs at this dosage, but never to zero. In all cases where the higher dosage (11 mg/kg) was used, microfilaria counts were reduced to zero within 10 days. Signs of toxicosis were noticed in only 2 experimentally infected dogs, both of which were found to be harboring live adult male D immitis at necropsy.


Years of teaching experience have been found to increase student achievement more than advanced degrees, formal training, and in-service professional development. Additionally, teachers with high pedagogical competence levels have achieved excellent academic results and have also taught and led students to be well-rounded. It has been competent teachers who have lain at the heart of the educational process, as a bridge between the curriculum and the learner. The purpose of this correlational study was to determine whether a statistically significant relationship exists between years of teaching experience and elementary teachers' self-perceived effective pedagogical competence. A convenience sample of 159 elementary teachers from three school districts in northwest Alabama participated in the study. Pearson correlations were utilized to test three null hypotheses to describe the strength and direction of the relationship between years of teaching experience and three factors of teachers' self-perceived pedagogical competence as measured with the Elementary Teachers Instructional Auto-perceived Competence Evaluation Scale. It was discovered that no significant relationships were found between years of teaching experience and the socio-emotional, communicative-relational, or instructional factors of the participants' pedagogical competence. It was concluded that teachers need quality professional development opportunities to maintain and upgrade their pedagogical competence throughout their teaching career. Since professional development was considered the next logical step in the process of building teachers' pedagogical competence, it would be helpful to conduct a study that seeks to determine the types of professional development opportunities teachers want and need.


The previously described hybrid smart-antenna system solves the transmitter receiver alignment problem of 60-GHz wireless systems when high gain antennas are used. Utilizing multiple highly directional array elements and coherently combining the outputs of a few elements adaptively, the hybrid smart antenna achieves the desired performance and results in significant hardware cost and computational complexity savings. For optimal alignment, however, the output power of the hybrid smart antenna should stay constant over the scanning range. This minimizes the so-called scalloping effects and necessitates a careful selection of the array elements being used in beamforming. In this letter, a genetic-algorithm solution to optimally adjust the beam pattern overlaps the array elements to minimize the output-power fluctuations in a given scan range. It is shown that while the hybrid algorithm may perform satisfactorily with less than one-third of the total number of the array elements (e.g., two or three elements in an array of ten antennas), there is an optimal number of elements for a given array that provides minimal power fluctuation in a specified scan range. A tradeoff between the acceptable level of power fluctuation and the total received power is identified.


We demonstrate a strategy for synthesizing halogen-bonded metal–organic cocrystals by utilizing metal complexes whose pendant chloride group enables halogen bonding. A series of 12 cocrystals involving octahedral CoCl2L2 complexes (L = 2,2′-bipyridine or 1,10 phenantroline) as halogen bond acceptors were prepared by both liquid-assisted grinding and conventional solution-based methods. The efficacy of this strategy is evident by the assembly of a large family of cocrystals involving six perfluorinated halogen bond donors: 1,4-diiodotetrafluorobenzene, 1,3-diiodotetrafluorobenzene, 1,2-diiodotetrafluorobenzene, 1,3,5-triiodotrifluorobenzene, iodopentafluorobenzene and octafluoro-1,4-diiodobutane. Single crystal X-ray diffraction experiments have shown that cocrystals display different crystal packing governed by Cl⋯I halogen bonds between halogen bond donor iodine atoms and metal complex chlorine atoms (varying from 3.061 to 3.471 A) based on zero-, one-, two- and three- dimensional halogen-bonded architectures.


In Nepal, the red panda (Ailurus fulgens) has been sparsely studied, although its range covers a wide area. The present study was carried out in the previously untapped Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape (CHAL) situated in central Nepal with an aim to explore current distributional status and identify key habitat use. Extensive field surveys conducted in 10 red panda range districts were used to estimate species distribution by presence-absence occupancy modeling and to predict distribution by presence-only modeling. The presence of red pandas was recorded in five districts: Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Myagdi, Baglung and Dhading. The predictive distribution model indicated that 1,904.44 km2 of potential red panda habitat is available in CHAL with the protected area covering nearly 41% of the total habitat. The habitat suitability analysis based on the probability of occurrence showed only 16.58% (A = 315.81 km2) of the total potential habitat is highly suitable. Red Panda occupancy was estimated to be around 0.0667, indicating nearly 7% (218 km2) of the total habitat is occupied with an average detection probability of 0.4482±0.377. Based on the habitat use analysis, altogether eight variables including elevation, slope, aspect, proximity to water sources, bamboo abundance, height, cover, and seasonal precipitation were observed to have significant roles in the distribution of red pandas. In addition, 25 tree species were documented from red panda sign plots out of 165 species recorded in the survey area. Most common was Betula utilis followed by Rhododendron spp. and Abies spectabilis. The extirpation of red pandas in previously reported areas indicates a need for immediate action for the long-term conservation of this species in CHAL.


To investigate the possible involvement of tyrosine phosphorylation in the process of store-regulated Ca2+ entry, ionomycin (in the presence of EGTA) was used to deplete the intracellular Ca2+ stores of fura-2-loaded human platelets, and the effect of refilling with Ca2+, Ba2+ or Sr2+ evaluated. Depletion of the intracellular Ca2+ stores resulted in an increase in protein tyrosine phosporylation. This increase is reversed when the stores were refilled in Ca2+ or Sr2+, but not Ba2+. Refilling of the stores with Ca2+ or Sr2+, but not Ba2+, suppressed Mn2+ entry. These findings support the hypothesis that tyrosine phosphorylation plays a role in mediating store-regulated Ca2+ entry in human platelets and provides evidence for tyrosine phosphatase activity regulated by the Ca2+ content of the intracellular stores.


The after-effects of fatigue or stress on the performance of cognitive tests have been particularly difficult to demonstrate, In this study we examined whether salivary cortisol, used as an index of stress evoked by the continuous performance of mental tasks, reflected individual differences in cognitive performance. In a within-subject experiment in which 24 subjects were exposed to 4 hours of continuous mental activity and to a control session, significantly higher cortisol levels were found during the continuous task session. Cognitive performance was assessed before and after each session. The reievant test parameters involved aspects of verbal memory, concept shifting and divided attention. When subjects were divided into two groups based on the magnitude of individual cortisol responses to the continuous tasks, it was found that the subgroup with higher cortisol responses decreased in attention compared with their attention after the control session. In contrast, the performance of the subgroup with no or lower cortisol responses did not differ between the two sessions. There was no evidence of similar effects on verbal memory or concept shifting.


Until recently, a steadily rising clock rate and other uniprocessor micro architectural improvements could be relied upon to consistently deliver increasing performance for a wide range of applications. Current difficulties in maintaining this trend have lead microprocessor manufacturers to add value by incorporating multiple processors on a chip. Unfortunately, since decades of compiler research have not succeeded in delivering automatic threading for prevalent code properties, this approach demonstrates no improvement for a large class of existing codes. To find useful work for chip multiprocessors, we propose an automatic approach to thread extraction, called decoupled software pipelining (DSWP). DSWP exploits the finegrained pipeline parallelism lurking in most applications to extract long-running, concurrently executing threads. Use of the nonspeculative and truly decoupled threads produced by DSWP can increase execution efficiency and provide significant latency tolerance, mitigating design complexity by reducing intercore communication and per-core resource requirements. Using our initial fully automatic compiler implementation and a validated processor model, we prove the concept by demonstrating significant gains for dual-core chip multiprocessor models running a variety of codes. We then explore simple opportunities missed by our initial compiler implementation which suggest a promising future for this approach.


ZSM-5 `is a porous zeolite material that reveals good activity for the adsorption of heavy metals and other contaminants for effluent purification. In this scientific research, we synthesized the novel CaO-CdO/ZSM-5 zeolite nanocomposite adsorbent and studied the effects of different parameters on the adsorption of Pb2+ ions from water media for the first time. About 99.2% adsorption removal efficiency was obtained after a contact time of 60 min and an adsorbent amount of 0.1g/L for an initial Pb2+ concentration of 200mg/L at pH 8 and temperature of 60oC. The adsorption kinetic fit well via the pseudo-second-order model. Furthermore, the adsorption results were reproduced using the Langmuir isotherm with a maximum adsorption capacity of mg/g. The thermodynamic data displayed that the adsorption of Pb2+ ions over the CaO-CdO/ZSM-5 nanocomposite was endothermic and spontaneous.


In this paper we examine the build order problem in real-time strategy (RTS) games in which the objective is to optimize execution of a strategy by scheduling actions with respect to a set of subgoals. We model the build order problem as a multi-objective problem (MOP), and solutions are generated utilizing a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA). A three dimensional solution space is presented providing a depiction of a Pareto front for the build order MOP. Results of the online strategic planning tool are provided which demonstrate that our planner out-performs an expert scripted player. This is demonstrated for an AI agent in the Spring Engine Balanced Annihilation RTS game.