In this paper, an overview about nanoparticles (NPs), their synthesis, characterizations, thermal properties and applications is discussed. Specific morphology, size and
magnetic properties of NPs can be controlled by NP synthetic techniques. NPs have a size range of between 1-100 nm. This tiny structure will cause NPs to have a large
surface area that correlates with their physical and chemical properties. They can be classified into different classes based on their properties, shapes or sizes. The different groups include fullerenes, metal NPs, ceramic NPs and polymeric NPs. The physicochemical properties of NPs are the main characteristics used in determining the
specific functions among the various applications of NPs. Due to their characteristics; they are widely used in various applications including the energy technology industry, medical, imaging and environmental applications. However, some NPs have disadvantages such as environmental toxicities which will be taken into account for
further improvements.


Cytogenetic analysis of human tumors is rapidly coming of age as a useful tool in the diagnosis and prognosis of cancer. With the use of chromosome-banding analysis, an increasing display of tumors containing cytologically recognizable nonrandom chromosome change is accumulating. Additionally, with avenues of assessing drug resistance and sensitivity, current cytogenetic analyses are yielding clinically relevant information. Finally, the blending of cytogenetics with biochemistry and cell biology is yielding an impressive array of research tools for the subcellular study of cancer. DNA hybridization, gene cloning, autoradiography of various drug and hormonal chromosomal binding sites, gene mapping, and numerous other related techniques are providing fresh insights into the genetic basis of cancer. It seems clear that during the next decade substantial progress in understanding chromosome structure and function in normal cells as well as tumor cells will occur. Technical advances in the methodology for growing and harvesting tumor cells for detailed cytogenetic analysis will undoubtedly be important in this effort. Application of the described soft agar colony technique may provide a useful tool for study of the genetics of human solid tumors.


Two twisted singly linked perylene bisimide (PBI) dimers with chalcogen bridges in the PBI cores, named C4,4-SdiPBI-S and C4,4-SdiPBI-Se, were synthesized as acceptors for nonfullerene all-small-molecule organic solar cells (NF all-SMSCs). A moderate-band-gap small-molecule DR3TBDTT used as the electron donor displayed complementary absorption with C4,4-SdiPBI-S and C4,4-SdiPBI-Se. It was found that solvent-vapor annealing (SVA) played a critical role in the photovoltaic performance in NF all-SMSCs, which improves the crystallinity of the donor and acceptors, promotes the proper phase segregation domain size, and therefore enhances charge transport. The power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of NF all-SMSC devices based on DR3TBDTT/C4,4-SdiPBI-S and DR3TBDTT/C4,4-SdiPBI-Se increased from 2.52% to 5.81% (JSC = 11.12 mA cm-2, VOC = 0.91 V, and FF = 57.32%) and from 2.65% to 6.22% (JSC = 11.55 mA cm-2, VOC = 0.92 V, and FF = 58.72%), respectively, after exposure to chloroform vapor. The best efficiency of 6.22% is one of the highest PCEs for NF all-SMSC-based PBI acceptors so far. The studies illustrate that highly efficient NF all-SMSCs can be achieved by using a PBI acceptor with a suitable SVA process.


Amplification of the receptor tyrosine kinase AXL correlates with resistance to ErbB inhibitors in cancer cells. This Podcast features an interview with Douglas Lauffenburger, author of a Research Article that appears in the 6 August 2013 issue of Science Signaling. In many types of cancers, cell growth is driven by changes in the activities of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). Drugs that target RTKs are used to treat various cancers, but tumor cells often become resistant to the drugs and resume growth. By analyzing a public collection of data on cancer cell lines, Meyer et al. found that increased signaling by the receptor tyrosine kinase AXL predicts the development of resistance to inhibitors of the RTK ErbB. ErbB and AXL cooperated to promote cell migration in triple-negative breast cancer cells, suggesting that simultaneously inhibiting AXL and ErbB may be more effective than treating with ErbB inhibitors alone.


When people are confronted with health proposals during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, it has been suggested that fear of COVID-19 can serve protective functions and ensure public health compliance. However, health proposal repetition and its perceived efficacy also influence the behavior intention toward the proposal, which has not yet been confirmed in the COVID-19 context. The present study aims to examine whether the extended parallel process model (EPPM) can be generalized to a naturalistic context like the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, we will explore how repetition of a health proposal is involved with the EPPM. In this study, two groups of participants are exposed to the same health proposal related to COVID-19, where one group is exposed once and another group twice. They then fill out a questionnaire consisting of items concerning behavior intention and adapted from the Risk Behavior Diagnosis Scale. Structural equation modeling will be used to determine the multivariate associations between the variables. We predict that repetition of the health proposal will associate with response efficacy (i.e., a belief about the effectiveness of the health proposal in deterring the threat) and perceived susceptibility (i.e., a belief about the risk of experiencing the threat). It is also predicted that following the EPPM, behavior intention will associate with both perceived efficacy of the health proposal, which will underlie response efficacy, and perceived threat of COVID-19, which will underlie perceived susceptibility. We will discuss the process, based on the model, where health message repetition affects behavior intention during the COVID-19 pandemic.


The present article demonstrates the complexity of musico-textual relationships in Ave miles celestis curie, a fourteenth-century polyphonic song whose generic markers relate it to both English troped chant settings and to the motet. Ave miles celestis curie was written in honour of the St Edmund, King and Martyr, whose cult flourished in England, particularly in East Anglia. Through a fresh analysis of the tenor parts, lyrics, and structural elements, I argue that previous discussions of Ave miles celestis curie have overlooked some of the musical and textual troping on which it is based. Furthermore, Ave miles celestis curie is used to interrogate assumptions about the limitations of analysing English music in comparison with contemporary French motets; rather than being only generic in sentiment, I argue for fresh investigation into individual pieces to reconsider the presence subtle relationships between music and text.


The subject reservoir is a geologically complex Lower Cretaceous carbonate system, which is on water flood recovery scheme. Due to extreme diagenesis and associated geologic heterogeneity (which include faults, fractures, burrows and algal floatstone), water breakthrough occurred early and oil recovery is low due to water channeling and by-pass of huge volumes of un-swept hydrocarbon. The low recovery performance is compounded by the relative thinness of the reservoir as well as unfavorable mobility characteristics due to disparity in oil and injected water viscosity. The unique interplay of geology and fluid properties confer special displacement characteristics to the reservoir, which despite extensive literature review for similar architectures in a wide range of geologic settings yielded limited results. Despite previous recovery enhancement efforts through workovers, well spacing optimization, and horizontalization, water production has steadily increased. As a key growth contributor in a massive Brownfield re-development project, the reservoir is currently undergoing intensive drill campaign been executed from artificial islands. The strategy underpinning the redevelopment effort involves holistic evaluation, optimization and selective application of innovative well completion technologies, including MRC (Maximum Reservoir Contact), EMRC (Extended Maximum Reservoir Contact), Trilateral, Fishbone, ICV (Inflow Control Valves) and Infill for low-drawdown depletion concept. For Fishbone, the considered design parameters include branch angle, length and numbers. Branch displacement from the mainbore was a key design assessment for Trilateral in view of the potential for injection support buffering by the flank branches. For the Infill, optimizations include spacing and timing. A new ICV logic was implemented on a full field basis to assess incremental opportunity capture through flow restrictions in high water flux intervals. Layer placement sensitivities assessed which zone placement configuration maximizes targeted sweep of bypassed oil. The life cycle production forecast of various completion scenarios per drainage pattern were compared among themselves utilizing technical and economic criteria for identification of the completion that generates maximum value leading to the generation of a hybrid full field, life cycle optimized development plan consisting of MRC/EMRC, Trilaterals, ICVs and infill wells which are currently been executed.


In this paper, we describe a model of the human visual system (HVS) based on the wavelet transform. This model is largely based on a previously proposed model, but has a number of modifications that make it more amenable to potential integration into a wavelet based image compression scheme. These modifications include the use of a separable wavelet transform instead of the cortex transform, the application of a wavelet contrast sensitivity function (CSF), and a simplified definition of subband contrast that allows one to predict the noise visibility directly from the wavelet coefficients. Initially, we outline the luminance, frequency, and masking sensitivities of the HVS and discuss how these can be incorporated into the wavelet transform. We then outline a number of limitations of the wavelet transform as a model of the HVS, namely the lack of translational invariance and poor orientation sensitivity. In order to investigate the efficacy of this wavelet based model, a wavelet visible difference predictor (WVDP) is described. The WVDP is then used to predict visible differences between an original and compressed (or noisy) image. Results are presented to emphasize the limitations of commonly used measures of image quality and to demonstrate the performance of the WVDP. The paper concludes with suggestions on how the WVDP can be used to determine a visually optimal quantization strategy for wavelet coefficients and produce a quantitative measure of image quality.


This study presents the synthesis of a series of methoxybenzoylthiourea amino acid derivatives. The compounds were obtained from the reactions between 2/3/4-methoxybenzoyl isothiocyanate with threonine. All of the compounds were characterized via mass spectrometry, 1H and 13C NMR spectrometry, UV-Vis spectrophotometer and FT-IR spectroscopy. Mass spectra for all of the compounds showed the presence of molecular ion [M]+ peaks at m/z 312, which are in agreement to the calculated molecular weight. For 1H NMR spectra, the presence of OCH3, C=S-NH and C=O-NH protons were observed within range of δH 3.8-4.0 ppm, 11.1-11.5 ppm and 10.0-11.5 ppm, respectively. 13C NMR spectra in all compounds displayed the presence of OCH3, C=O-NH, C=O-OH and C=S carbon resonances within range of δC 55.0-57.0 ppm, 165.0168.0 ppm, 170.0-171.0 ppm and 180.0-182.0 ppm, respectively. In UV spectra, two absorption bands have been observed and both were assigned to the n-π* and π-π* transitions. Six vibrational modes of v(N-H), v(O-H), v(C=O-OH), v(C=O-NH), v(C=C) aromatic and v(C=S) appeared in the FT-IR spectra within the range of 3241-3467 cm-1, 2976-3302 cm-1, 1720-1768 cm-1, 1655-1672 cm-1, 1519-1525 cm-1 and 754-763 cm-1, respectively. The antibacterial activity for all of the compounds was screened against Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli. However, no activity was observed. Keywords—Methoxybenzoyl isothiocyanate, amino acid, threonine, antibacterial.


This paper presents optimization of the hot air welding process parameters for the formation of textile transmission lines and the electro-conductive properties of these manufactured transmission lines. A dedicated manufacturing set-up has been developed to allow a reliable and flexible textile signal transmission line at adequate conductivity. In order to manufacture textile transmission lines, different welding parameters with different conductive yarns and welding tapes were considered. Layered fabric structures consisting of textile transmission lines and fabrication tolerances were determined, as well as electro-conductive properties for welded samples. It was found that the choice of welding parameters, depending on the materials used for the formation of textile transmission lines, is extremely important for obtaining good electro-conductive properties. In addition, welding tapes and thermoplastic materials play an important role during the set-up of welding process parameters. Results statistically confirmed that welding tapes with conductive yarns can significantly cause a variety of changes in the signal qualities of welded textile transmission lines. The obtained results based on conductivity and signal-to-noise ratios are really promising for the manufacturing of e-textile transmission lines via hot air welding technology.


Background
Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) is one of the most important bacteria causing nosocomial infections worldwide. Over the past few years, several strains of A. baumannii have shown antibiotic resistance, which may be due to the activity of efflux pumps. This study was aimed to detect AdeFG efflux pump genes and their contribution to antibiotic resistance in A. baumannii clinical isolates.

Methods
A total of 200 A. baumannii clinical isolates were collected from clinical specimens of ulcers, pus, sputum, and blood. All isolates were identified using standard biochemical tests. After identifying and cleaving the genome by boiling, PCR was performed on samples using specific primers. The antimicrobial susceptibility patterns were determined by disk diffusion, with and without CCCP efflux pump inhibitor were determined according to CLSI guidelines.

Results
We identified 60 clinical isolates of A. baumannii using biochemical differential tests. Identification of all A. baumannii isolates was confirmed by blaOXA-51-like PCR. According to the results of our study, 98.37% of A. baumannii isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, and levofloxacin. PCR results indicated that all 60 A. baumannii isolates contained the AdeF and 76.66% contained AdeG.

Conclusion
the results of this study demonstrated that most of the A. baumannii isolates contained AdeF and AdeG efflux pump genes, and more than 98% of the isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, and levofloxacin. This reflected the significant contribution of efflux pumps to the development of resistance to these antibiotics.


Philosophical reflections on the environment began with early philosophers' invocation of a cosmology that mixed natural and supernatural phenomena. Today, the central philosophical problem posed by the environment involves not what it can teach us about ourselves and our place in the cosmic order but rather how we can understand its workings in order to make better decisions about our own conduct regarding it. The resulting inquiry spans different areas of contemporary philosophy, many of which are represented by the fifteen original essays in this volume. The contributors first consider conceptual problems generated by rapid advances in biology and ecology, examining such topics as ecological communities, adaptation, and scientific consensus. The contributors then turn to epistemic and axiological issues, first considering philosophical aspects of environmental decision making and then assessing particular environmental policies (largely relating to climate change), including reparations, remediation, and nuclear power, from a normative perspective.


Abstract. Humans abstract water from various sources to sustain their livelihood and society. Some global hydrological models (GHMs) include explicit schemes of human water abstraction, but the representation and performance of these schemes remain limited. We substantially enhanced the water abstraction schemes of the H08 GHM. This enabled us to estimate water abstraction from six major water sources, namely, river flow regulated by global reservoirs (i.e., reservoirs regulating the flow of the world's major rivers), aqueduct water transfer, local reservoirs, seawater desalination, renewable groundwater, and nonrenewable groundwater. In its standard setup, the model covers the whole globe at a spatial resolution of 0.5° × 0.5°, and the calculation interval is 1 day. All the interactions were simulated in a single computer program, and all water fluxes and storage were strictly traceable at any place and time during the simulation period. A global hydrological simulation was conducted to validate the performance of the model for the period of 1979–2013 (land use was fixed for the year 2000). The simulated water fluxes for water abstraction were validated against those reported in earlier publications and showed a reasonable agreement at the global and country level. The simulated monthly river discharge and terrestrial water storage (TWS) for six of the world's most significantly human-affected river basins were compared with gauge observations and the data derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission. It is found that the simulation including the newly added schemes outperformed the simulation without human activities. The simulated results indicated that, in 2000, of the 3628±75 km3 yr−1 global freshwater requirement, 2839±50 km3 yr−1 was taken from surface water and 789±30 km3 yr−1 from groundwater. Streamflow, aqueduct water transfer, local reservoirs, and seawater desalination accounted for 1786±23, 199±10, 106±5, and 1.8±0 km3 yr−1 of the surface water, respectively. The remaining 747±45 km3 yr−1 freshwater requirement was unmet, or surface water was not available when and where it was needed in our simulation. Renewable and nonrenewable groundwater accounted for 607±11 and 182±26 km3 yr−1 of the groundwater total, respectively. Each source differed in its renewability, economic costs for development, and environmental consequences of usage. The model is useful for performing global water resource assessments by considering the aspects of sustainability, economy, and environment.


Directly compressible tablets of pioglitazone hydrochloride from spherical agglomerates were effectively prepared with improved drug release and bioavailability. Agglomerates were prepared by emulsion solvent diffusion method using methanol, chloroform and water as good solvent, bridging liquid and poor solvent, respectively. Tablets from the agglomerates were prepared by mixing with directly compressible excipient, disintegrant and lubricant and compressed by rotary tablet press using 6 mm standard concave punch. Tablets have shown appropriate hardness, friability, weight and disintegration time. Also remarkable improvement in drug release for tablets prepared from agglomerates was observed as compared to that of conventional marketed tablets. Pharmacokinetic study indicated rapid absorption and higher bioavailability of drug from tablets prepared from agglomerates in comparison to marketed tablet of pioglitazone hydrochloride. Furthermore, this improvement in bioavailability pioglitazone hydrochloride may be valuable in dose reduction consequently for cost effectiveness and improved patient compliance.


Phosphorus (P) is one of the essential elements for life due to its central role in biochemical processes. Recent searches have shown that P-bearing molecules (in particular PN and PO) are present in star-forming regions, although their formation routes remain poorly understood. In this letter, we report observations of PN and PO towards seven molecular clouds located in the Galactic Center, which are characterized by different types of chemistry. PN is detected in five out of seven sources, whose chemistry is thought to be shock-dominated. The two sources with PN non-detections correspond to clouds exposed to intense UV/X-rays/cosmic ray (CR) radiation. PO is detected only towards the cloud G+0.693−0.03, with a PO/PN abundance ratio of ∼1.5. We conclude that P-bearing molecules likely form in shocked gas as a result of dust grain sputtering, while are destroyed by intense UV/X-ray/CR radiation.


To model the melt-spinning process of biodegradable as-spun linear aliphatic–aromatic copolyester fibers, a fraction factorial experimental design and appropriate statistical analysis for the 32 screening trials involving five control parameters were used. Because of their central role in the production processes and end use textiles, it is important to simulate the mechanical and thermal shrinkage properties of AAC fibers. Concise statistical models of fiber behavior are based on factorial experimental design data. Process's data are collected, analyzed, and mathematical models created to predict the diameter, tenacity, elongation at break, modulus, and thermal shrinkage of the spun fiber in terms of random variables and their associated probability distributions. The theoretical regression models obtained form the main source code in the enhanced forecasting program, which presents the melt-spinning process of aromatic–aliphatic copolyester fibers. Factorial statistical approaches, based on over indicated region levels of melt-spinning process parameters, are given in terms of assumptions and theory to produce biodegradable, environmentally friendly fibers for different applications. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011


In a one-sided twin-wire model gap former, the KTH-former, the behaviour of pulp fibre flocs in the presence of blade forming pressure pulses has been studied at different blade loads and wire permeabilities. Pulp fibre flocs were injected into the headbox and recorded with a high speed video camera when passing a forming blade in the forming zone. With a visual evaluation method the fibre flocs were found to be elongated and some of them ruptured during the acceleration when the flocs passed the forming blade. Floc strain and floc breaking ratio increased with blade load because of a higher acceleration. Flocs partially pinned to the permeable wire will elongate and tend to rupture more due to the mix-to-wire speed difference upstream of the forming blade. Some differences for rupture using different pulp qualities are quantified.


The European XFEL will generate extremely short and intense X-ray laser pulses of high coherence and nearly diffraction-limited divergence. Guiding these X-rays beams over a distance of more than 1 km to the experiments requires an extreme precision in pointing stability of beamline components like mirrors and gratings and also a control of the divergence of the beam. The specifications of the X-ray mirrors that will be able to transport, distribute and focus the beam are quite challenging. The European XFEL mirrors for the beam transport are 950 mm long and the optical surface specifications are 2 nm Peak-To-Valley. Some of the mirrors will have bending capabilities in order to focus the beam in the right position and with nanometer accuracy. This is implemented using a mechanical bender that will ensure stability of the optics in the nanometer range and will also offer the possibility to correct for mechanical or temperature drifts. We present here the characterization of a mechanical bender that was done using two instruments, a Large Aperture Fizeau interferometer and a system of three capacitive sensors. The bender is designed in a way that the mirror is hold with clamps on both ends and a symmetric torque is applied on the clamps, inducing a cylindrical shape on the mirror surface. Several long-term stability measurements were done, as well as the characterization of bending capabilities. The parameters retrieved from the measurements are the sagitta and therefore the radius of curvature for different bending positions. The behavior of the variation of the shape of the mirror was also studied. The information gathered from our measurements will be used to optimize the final design of the bender.


Summary

1. Facilitating adaptive responses of organisms in modified landscape will be essential to overcome the negative effects of climate change and its interaction with land use change. Without such action, many organisms will be prevented from achieving the predicted range shifts they need to survive.

2. Scattered trees are a prominent feature of many modified landscapes, and could play an important role in facilitating climate change adaptation. They are keystone structures because of the disproportionally large ecological values and ecosystem services that they provide relative to the area they occupy in these landscapes. The provision of habitat and connectivity will be particularly relevant.

3. Scattered trees are declining in modified landscapes due to elevated tree mortality and poor recruitment often associated with intensive land use. The continuing global decline of scattered trees will undermine the capacity of many organisms to adapt to climate change.

4. Synthesis and applications. The sustainable management of scattered trees in modified landscapes could complement other strategies for facilitating climate change adaptation. They create continuous, though sparse, vegetation cover that permits multi-directional movements of biota across landscapes and ecological networks. They have the capacity to span ecosystems and climatic gradients that cannot be captured in formal reserves alone. The management of scattered trees should be an integral part of conservation objectives and agricultural activities in modified landscapes. Public investment, through mechanisms such as agri-environmental schemes, in rotational grazing, temporary set-asides, tree-planting and regulations that reduce clearing and early mortality among standing trees will improve the capacity of biota to adapt to climate change.


Many worldwide economies have moved away from manufacturing and became service-oriented. As a consequence, research on Internet-based Self-Services (ISS) will foster the uptake of service exports and trading since they can replace many face-to-face interactions and make service transactions more accurate, convenient and faster. Currently, ISS are poorly supported since they are created using generic software techniques and development methods. Systematic methods are needed and must go beyond service design, a well established research area, to account also for service analysis, implementation, and deployment. In this paper, we explore a systematic development approach, called SEASIDE, based on four scientific advances: enterprise architectures (EA), model-driven developments (MDD), model-view-controller pattern (MVC), and platform as a service (PaaS). By selecting the Incident Management service from the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, we have evaluated our approach. Our research indicates that the proposed method enables to focus on the business and design side of services, and reduce development time and costs.


Random projections are random linear maps, sampled from appropriate distributions, which approximately preserve certain geometrical invariants so that the approximation improves as the dimension of the space grows. The well known Johnson-Lindenstrauss lemma states that there are random matrices with surprisingly few rows which approximately preserve pairwise Euclidean distances among a set of points. This is commonly used to speed up algorithms based on Euclidean distances. We prove that these matrices also preserve other quantities, such as the distance to a cone. We exploit this result to devise a probabilistic algorithm to approximately solve linear programs. We show that this algorithm can approximately solve very large randomly generated LP instances. We also showcase its application to an error correction coding problem.


Sealant application is a technic in which a rapid transfer of technology occurred from the research community, abetted by industry, to individual practitioners and public health personnel. Less than five years after publication of the results of the first clinical trial, sealant systems were commercially available. Since the first published report of the effectiveness of sealants in inhibiting occlusal caries, many other investigators have substantiated the dramatic caries-inhibiting potential and degree of retention that can be obtained with sealants. Despite the high degree of success and the universality of positive reports, there is a significant lag in the utilization of sealants both by dental practitioners and public health programs. One reason appears to be the perception that sealants are not cost-effective. This is a concept that the dental research community may have unwittingly fostered by conducting cost analyses on a technic that was still in its initial stages of development. It behooves the dental profession, both the public and private sectors, to accord sealants recognition for their proven effectiveness and retentive characteristics. At the same time, the dental profession should suspend judgment on their costs until reports of studies conducted specifically for this purpose appear.


BACKGROUND
Oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC) is the most common oral infection in HIV(+) persons. Previous studies suggest a role for CD8(+) T cells against OPC when CD4(+) T cells are lost, but enhanced susceptibility to infection occurs when CD8(+) T-cell migration is inhibited by reduced tissue E-cadherin.

OBJECTIVE
  To conduct a longitudinal study of tissue CD8(+) T-cells and E-cadherin expression before, during, and after the episodes of OPC.

METHODS
Oral fungal burden was monitored and tissue was evaluated for CD8(+) T cells and E-cadherin over a 1-year period in HIV(+) persons with a history of, or an acute episode of, OPC.

RESULTS
While longitudinal analyses precluded formal interpretations, point prevalence analyses of the data set revealed that when patients experiencing OPC were successfully treated, tissue E-cadherin expression was similar to that in patients who had not experienced OPC, and higher numbers of CD8(+) T cells were distributed throughout OPC(-) tissue under normal expression of E-cadherin.

CONCLUSION
These results suggest that (1) reduction in tissue E-cadherin expression in patients with OPC(+) is not permanent, and (2) high numbers of CD8(+) T cells can be distributed throughout OPC(-) tissue under normal E-cadherin expression. Together, these results extend our previous studies and continue to support a role for CD8(+) T cells in host defense against OPC.


This paper presents a method for the reliability evaluation of distribution system, including the influence of the weather on the components and the photovoltaic (PV) generations. Unlike the generators of transmission system, those of distribution system have complexities in analyzing and determining the operation. Particularly, PV generation cannot carry out constant electric power and it has changeable output characteristics according to radiation and ambient temperature. In the process of evaluation reliability, it could be shown that many accidents occur mainly in adverse weather than in normal weather. It also increases the failure rate of PV system and reduces power output rapidly. Due to these characteristics, new approach methods that different from the previous are needed. Therefore, modeling technique of PV system to analysis distribution system reliability considering weather effects is proposed in this paper, and is compared with the other modeling method as a result of the distribution system reliability evaluation.


Field buses are used to network sensors, actuators, and control devices inside automation systems. The Internet integration of field bus systems enables information from these devices to be exchanged across enterprises and businesses. An essential prerequisite to this aim is the interoperability of field bus systems with external systems and applications. Therefore, many efforts are made to establish a common information exchange standard which all field bus systems are supposed to support. However, the longer these efforts are ongoing the less it seems that they will ever yield the expected breakthrough. The present paper introduces an substantially different approach to interoperability. Field bus systems may keep their individual application interfaces and data exchange formats. All the same, external infrastructures do not have to be redesigned to match the specific needs of certain field bus systems. Rather, field bus systems become capable of adapting the information exchange flexibly according to the needs of the outside environment


(below/above 34 weeks), and 83 controls paired by maternal age and gestational age at scan with cases. Longitudinal clips of the far wall of both carotid arteries were obtained approximately 1 cm proximal to the bifurcation with a 13-MHz linear-array transducer and cIMT was measured offline using a trace method (Siemens Syngo Arterial Health Package) by averaging maximum IMT for both carotids. Results: Carotid IMT was significantly increased in both earlyand late-onset PE as compared to controls (controls: mean 0.518 mm (SD 0.06); early PE: 0.546 mm (0.07); late PE: 0.565 mm (0.06); P = 0.026) with a tendency to worse results in late-onset cases. All measurements remained significant even after adjustment by maternal age and ethnicity. Conclusions: Our results are consistent with mothers with PE presenting an increased cardiovascular risk. Future studies are warranted to assess the potential utility of cIMT assessment to select to mothers at higher risk that may benefit from preventive strategies.


Metal–organic frameworks constructed from lanthanides and organic linkers with oxygen or/and nitrogen donors (LnMOFs) are a very promising class of materials for various luminescence applications. However, the utilization of sulphur-donor ligands for sensitizing the luminescence of lanthanide ions is still hampered. Herein, a series of three-dimensional (3D) isostructural open frameworks: (H3O)[Ln(pipzdtc)2]·1.5(H2O)·2.5(CH3NO) (Ln3+ = Ce3+, Nd3+, Sm3+, Eu3+, Gd3+, and Tb3+, pipzdtc = piperazine-1,4-dicarbodithiolate) (Ln-S-MOFs) are synthesized. The Sm-S-MOF shows emission bands that range from the visible to the near-infrared (NIR) regions. The characteristic emission bands of Ln-S-MOFs (Ln = Ce3+, Eu3+, Gd3+ and Tb3+) cannot be observed. The isomorphous mixed-Sm-S-MOFs: Sm1−xEux-S-MOFs, Sm1−yTby-S-MOFs, Sm1−x−yEuxTby-S-MOFs, and Sm1−zNdz-S-MOFs are synthesized via in situ doping. In the visible region, the color of the luminescence can be systematically modulated, and white light emission can be successfully achieved. Significantly, the Sm1−zNdz-S-MOFs show sharp NIR signals of both Sm3+ and Nd3+ centers. The NIR emission intensity ratios of Sm3+ and Nd3+ are almost linearly related to their atomic ratios. This work is a significant step forward towards versatile, easily prepared luminescent Ln-S-MOFs suitable for practical applications including white light emission, and especially for NIR luminescent barcodes obtained from a single framework.


Mutations in the eIF4E homolog encoded at the pvr1 locus in Capsicum result in broad-spectrum potyvirus resistance attributed to the pvr1 resistance allele, a gene widely deployed in agriculture for more than 50 years. We show that two other resistance genes, previously known to be eIF4E with narrower resistance spectra, pvr2(1) and pvr2(2), are alleles at the pvr1 locus. Based on these data and current nomenclature guidelines, we have re-designated these alleles, pvr1(1) and pvr1(2), respectively. Point mutations in pvr1, pvr1(1), and pvr1(2) grouped to similar regions of eIF4E and were predicted by protein homology models to cause conformational shifts in the encoded proteins. The avirulence determinant in this potyvirus system has previously been identified as VPg, therefore yeast two-hybrid and GST pull-down assays were carried out with proteins encoded by the pvr1 alleles and VPg from two different strains of Tobacco etch virus (TEV) that differentially infected Capsicum lines carrying these genes. While the protein encoded by the susceptible allele pvr1+ interacted strongly, proteins translated from all three resistance alleles (pvr1, pvr1(1), and pvr1(2)) failed to bind VPg from either strain of TEV. This failure to bind correlated with resistance or reduced susceptibility, suggesting that interruption of the interaction between VPg and this eIF4E paralog may be necessary, but is not sufficient for potyvirus resistance in vivo. Among the three resistance alleles, only the pvr1 gene product failed to bind m7-GTP cap-analog columns, suggesting that disrupted cap binding is not required for potyvirus resistance.


State-of-the-art methods for counting people in crowded scenes rely on deep networks to estimate crowd density. While effective, these data-driven approaches rely on large amount of data annotation to achieve good performance, which stops these models from being deployed in emergencies during which data annotation is either too costly or cannot be obtained fast enough. One popular solution is to use synthetic data for training. Unfortunately, due to domain shift, the resulting models generalize poorly on real imagery. We remedy this shortcoming by training with both synthetic images, along with their associated labels, and unlabeled real images. To this end, we force our network to learn perspective-aware features by training it to recognize upside-down real images from regular ones and incorporate into it the ability to predict its own uncertainty so that it can generate useful pseudo labels for fine-tuning purposes. This yields an algorithm that consistently outperforms state-of-the-art cross-domain crowd counting ones without any extra computation at inference time. Code is publicly available at https://github.com/weizheliu/Cross-Domain-Crowd-Counting.


Little is known of the molecular basis for the diversity of microtubule structure and function found within the eukaryotic flagellum. Antibodies that discriminate between tyrosinated alpha tubulin and post-translationally detyrosinated alpha tubulin were used to localize these complementary tubulin isoforms in flagella of the single-celled green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Immunofluorescence analysis of intact axonemes detected both isoforms along most of the lengths of flagella; however, each had a short distal zone rich in tyrosinated tubulin. Localizations on splayed axonemes revealed that the microtubules of the central-pair apparatus were rich in tyrosinated tubulin, while outer doublets contained a mixture of both isoforms. Immunoelectron analysis of individual outer doublets revealed that while tyrosinated tubulin was present in both A and B tubules, detyrosinated tubulin was largely confined to the wall of the B hemi-tubules. The absence of detyrosinated tubulin from the A tubules of the outer doublets and the microtubules of the central pair, both of which extend past the B hemi-tubules of the outer doublets in the flagellar tip, explained the appearance of a tyrosinated tubulin-rich distal zone on intact axonemes. Localizations performed on cells regenerating flagella revealed that flagellar assembly used tyrosinated tubulin; detyrosination of the B tubule occurred during later stages of regeneration, well after microtubule polymerization. The developmental timing of detyrosination, which occurs over a period during which the regrowing flagella begin to beat more effectively, suggests that post-translational modification of the B tubule surface may enhance dynein/B tubule interactions that power flagellar beating.


This paper considers the ideals and activism of the fin de siècle feminist organisation, the Women's Emancipation Union (WEU). Active between 1891 and 1899, the WEU held a prophetic vision of the future and an appraisal of women's subjection more comprehensive than any contemporary feminist group. Members were the first to link the possession by women of their bodily autonomy directly to the acquisition of the parliamentary vote, and thus redefined the terms upon which citizenship was constructed. One member raised the matter of armed insurrection in support of the women's franchise, an issue which would have serious implications for the future of suffragist campaigns. The political roots of WEU members lay chiefly within the utopian‐socialist and Radical‐liberal traditions, but it was an organisation which resisted party‐political allegiance to become anchored in the Progressive movement. Adopting what has been defined as the 'muckraking' tradition associated with Progressive authorship, the WEU suffragists constructed a rhetoric of resistance to women's subjection from social, sexual, economic and political standpoints. Many points they raised, including for a woman's right to consent to maternity to be enshrined in law, were to become the bedrock of the philosophy of the militant suffragette movement.


Rural tourism is the tourism development in rural areas. Under the rural tourism means all tourism activities that take place in rural areas that require travel services in the same places. Therefore in order to develop rural tourism is necessary to create an offer that includes the involvement of the local population, to preserve the environment in the tourist areas and enable economic gain. All of the above suggests that this approach can talk about sustainable development of rural tourism. The paper presents Vrbas municipality and potential drawbacks for the development of sustainable rural tourism and proposed concrete measures.


Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a growing human health problem worldwide. Limited treatment and poor prognosis of this disease emphasize the importance in developing an effective chemoprevention. Overexpression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) has been associated with hepatocarcinogenesis. Although COX-2 inhibitors have been tested for chemoprevention of colon cancer, it remains unknown whether these agents possess anti-HCC effects as well. The present study assessed the effects of a selective COX-2 inhibitor, NS-398, on proliferation of human hepatoma cells in association with COX-2 expression, and the possible mechanisms. In four tested human hepatoma cell lines, overexpression of COX-2 was confirmed in HepG2, HuH7, and Chang liver cells, but not in PLC/PRF/5 cells. Addition of 50 micro M NS-398 resulted in both dose-dependent and time-course inhibition of HepG2 proliferation. In contrast, addition of 50 micro M NS-398 to COX-2 non-expressing PLC/PRF/5 cells resulted in only a mild reduction of cell proliferation. Consistent with this, a 48-h culture of HepG2 cells with 50 micro M NS-398 caused a significant decrease of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production. While, the same NS-398 treatment showed only a mild suppression of PGE2 production in COX-2 non-expressing PLC/PRF/5 cells. These findings indicate that NS-398-induced suppression of HepG2 proliferation appears mediated by decreased COX-2/prostaglandin (PG) production. We also found that NS-398-induced inhibition of HepG2 proliferation was associated with decreased 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) uptake, suggesting a reduced cell cycle progression in G1-S transition. NS-398 treatment also enhanced the apoptotic rate in COX-2 expressing HepG2 cells, but not in COX-2 non-expressing PLC/PRF/5 cells. Our findings confirmed an effective inhibitory effect of NS-398 on proliferation of COX-2 expressing human hepatoma cells through a decreased COX-2/PG activity that is associated with altered cell cycle progression and apoptotic rate.


Summary. We describe the use of different agricultural habitat types by little bustard females nesting and rearing young chicks, based on observations gathered over a five-year period (2001–2005) in central Spain. The frequency of occurrence of nest or family locations within male lekking territories is also evaluated, as well as their association to habitat types preferred by females for nesting or chick rearing. A total of 28 nesting or brood locations (19 nests plus 9 families) were recorded over the study period. Habitat use did not differ significantly between nesting females and families. Both for the total sample (nests plus families) and the only-nests sample, the frequency of recorded locations differed between agricultural habitat types, with long-term fallows (older than two years) being the most frequently used. Young fallows (1–2 years old) were significantly more frequently used than cultivated habitats and ploughed-fields together, but less than long-term fallows in both samples. Nest plus family locations were more frequently found within estimated male territories than outside. Both in the total and the only-nests samples, locations within territories were found only in long-term and young fallows, the former being the most frequently used habitat type. These results from a mosaic cereal landscape provide further support to the role of long-term fallows as a critical habitat for breeding female little bustards found in other, more extensive, study areas, and reinforce the role of young fallows as an alternative breeding habitat when the former are absent or unsuitable. The strong dependence of breeding little bustards on fallows highlights the need to maintain their vegetation structure suitable as nesting and chick rearing habitats in order to prevent the species' current population decline in Spain.


Non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a part of the metabolic syndrome which also comprises obesity, dyslipidaemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension. The importance of NAFLD is due to its high prevalence and its potential to evolve into cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. In recent years several molecular pathways have been shown to be involved in this syndrome. Moreover the role of many cytokines has been elucidated. In the present review we discuss the recent evidence regarding the role of metabolic and proinflammatory mediators in the pathogenesis of NAFLD.


Sleep is a physiological need that affects physical and mental performances. However, the number of individuals who experience problems related directly or indirectly with sleep is increasing in many countries. Therefore, it is important to have a short, reliable and valid measure to assess both sleep quality and sleep related variables in school-age children. This study aims to carry out the validity and reliability studies for the Sleep Quality Scale and Sleep Variables Questionnaire (SQS-SVQ) used to determine sleep quality, parental control, total sleep time, mid-point of sleep and sleep efficiency and to adapt it into Turkish. The SQS-SVQ consists of seven scale items to measure sleep quality and eight questionnaire items. The validity and reliability studies of the instrument were carried out on data acquired from 4th-8th graders. Factorial validity for SQS and criterion related validity analyses were carried out for the validity of the SQS-SVQ and correlations ranged from 0.51 to 0.73. These analysis results put forth that the scale is a valid measurement tool. Internal consistency coefficient of the SQS was 0.72 and test-retest correlations of the SQS-SVQ ranged from 0.67 to 0.88. These acquired results indicated that the scale is reliable. Meanwhile, gender measurement invariance was tested for SQS and results indicated that gender measurement invariance was established. These results have shown that the SQS-SVQ can be used in social researches and especially in educational studies.


Various factors, especially health status and income levels, have been viewed as the major factors impeding and/or promoting health service utilization. This research determined the extent to which a probability sample of Canadian senior citizens were correctly aware of the services provided by relevant health agencies and the extent to which income and health status factors were related to their use of those services. It was determined that awareness of health agencies influenced patterns of use more than other factors. Implications of the findings are discussed.


We previously reported evidence for a statistical association between the serologically determined HLA‐Bw54, DR4 and DRw53 alleles and the non‐immune responsiveness to hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) in the Japanese population. To identify the locus and allele within the HLA region associated with the nonresponsiveness to HBsAg, serological HLA typing, DNA typing of HLA‐DQ and DP alleles using amplified HLA genes and sequence‐specific oligonucleotide probes, and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the fourth component of complement (C4) genes were performed in healthy unrelated Japanese vaccinees who were immunized subcutaneously three times with plasma‐derived HBsAg vaccine. In nonresponders to HBsAg, the frequencies of HLA‐Bw54 cross‐reactive epitope group (CREG); (Bw54, Bw55, Bw56 and other Bw22), C4 RFLP (6.5 kb + 12.0 kb), DR4, DRw53 and DQw4 (DQA1*0301‐DQB1*0401) were increased and the frequencies of HLA‐DR1, DRw6 and DQw1 were decreased as compared with those in healthy unrelated controls. Further analysis revealed that the coexistence of HLA‐Bw54CREG and DR4‐DRw53‐DQw4 (DQA1*0301‐DQB1*0401) was associated with the nonresponder group, whereas, donors positive for exclusively either Bw54 CREG or DR4‐DRw53‐DQw4 (DQA1*0301‐DQB1*0401) were not associated with the nonresponder group. Because there is a strong linkage disequilibrium between HLA‐Bw54CREG, C4 RFLP (6.5 kb + 12.0 kb) and HLA‐DR4‐DRw53‐DQw4 (DQA1*0301‐DQB1*0401) in the Japanese population, the extended HLA‐Bw54CREG‐C4 RFLP (6.5 kb + 12.0 kb)‐DR4‐DRw53‐DQw4 (DQA1*0301‐DQB1*0401) haplotype may well control nonimmune responsiveness to HBsAg. This extended HLA haplotype controls nonresponsiveness as a dominant genetic trait because all ten heterozygotes and two of three probable homozygotes of this extended HLA haplotype were nonresponders.


Objective: In cardiac rehabilitation program (CRP), patients are supported to achieve and maintain optimal physical and psychosocial health following a recent cardiac event or procedure. In this study, we aimed to retrospectively assess the effects of CRP in our cardiopulmonary rehabilitation unit. Material and Methods: Records of 40 patients with a diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD) and 10 patients who had undergone coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) and who completed 30 sessions were evaluated. CRP comprised aerobic exercise with cycle ergometer and the upper and lower extremity strengthening exercises. The patients' vital signs were monitored during the cycle ergometer exercise. The quality of life of the patients were evaluated with the Short Form-36 (SF-36), aerobic exercise capacity and metabolic equivalent (MET) levels were assessed with the effort test using the Bruce protocol, their functional capacity was assessed with a 6-min walk test, and depression levels were assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory. Results: After CRP, there were statistically significant differences in all subunits of SF-36 except social function, emotional role, and mental component in patients with CAD (p≤0.05). In patients with CABG, physical function, physical role, social function, and mental health subunits of SF-36 significantly improved (p≤0.05). The patients' mean MET values significantly increased in both the groups (p≤0.05). The mean 6-MWT distances significantly increased from 455.3±66.4 to 522.7±68.5 m after CRP in patients with CAD (p<0.001). Furthermore, in patients with CABG, the mean 6-MWT distances significantly increased from 389.1±88.5 to 495.0±99.1 m (p≤0.05). There was significant decrease in BDI score from 4.3±7.1 to 2.9±4.3 in patients with CAD (p≤0.05). However, no significant change in mean BDI score was observed in patients with CABG. Conclusion: In our cardiopulmonary rehabilitation unit, CRP, comprising endurance exercise using cycle ergometer, improved the quality of life and functional capacity in patients with CAD and CABG. However, the improvement in depression level was observed only in patients with CAD.


Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular protozoan which causes toxoplasmosis. A serological test (ELISA) for detecting the presence of IgG and IgM antibodies against T.gondii is usually performed nowadays, however this serological test is not adequate. Therefore an accurate laboratory test is needed for diagnosing acute toxoplasmosis, and in this case the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the method of choice. The aim of this study is to assess the minimal concentration of the DNA of T.gondii which still can be detected by the PCR using B1 and P30 genes as targets. The PCR against B1 gene as target was performed by using the method described by Chang & Ho. Two methods described by Weiss et al and Chang & Ho were used against P30 gene as target. The B1 gene primers consisted of oligo 1 :5'GGAACTGCATCCGTTCAGA G3' and oligo 2 : 5'TCTTTAAAGCGTTCGTGGTC3', whereas the P30 gene primers consisted of oligo 1 : 5'CACACGGTTGTATGTCGGTTTCG CT3' and oligo 2 : 5'TCAAGG AGCTCAAT GTTACAGCCT3'. It was shown that no specific bands were observed in the PCR with P30 gene as target using the method by Weiss et al. With the method Chang & Ho the electrophoresis did not show any band when 30, 35, 40 and 45 cycles of PCR were used however, by using 50 cycles a specific band was observed. It was concluded that the assay using B1 gene as target was more sensitive than the one using P30 gene as target.


Veins of red dolomite occur extensively in the Dalradian rocks of Argyll, Scotland and adjacent areas. The veins represent brittle extensional deformation, preferentially reactivating Caledonian quartz veins. The dolomite is associated with reddening of the adjacent Dalradian country rock, which it partially replaced. Dolomite was also precipitated in overlying Old Red Sandstone, and probably dates to late Carboniferous–early Permian. Fluid inclusion studies show that the veining involved moderate- temperature (75 to 115 °C) fluids. Stable isotope data suggest that these fluids were basinal brines. Traces of chalcopyrite, paragenetically late in the veins, may reflect the mineralization which occurs more widely in the Dalradian rocks of Argyll. The red colour of the dolomite is due to abundant haematite crystallites that grew in the dolomite crystal fabric. Palaeomagnetic analysis yields a consistent late Permian–early Triassic age for the haematite growth in the dolomite veins and the reddened Dalradian country rocks. This age represents the time of haematite precipitation from iron-rich dolomite that may have been related to deep oxidizing weathering. Gold anomalies associated with reddened basement rock must be of this age or younger.


: The Hodgkin, Huxley, and Katz theories of resting and action potentials are based on the membrane theory, which holds that cell K+ and water exist in the free state. Reviewed here are these theories of cellular potential along with the results of experimental testings. Reviewed also is Ling's association-induction (AI) hypothesis, which holds that all K+ is absorbed selectively and singly on anionic protein sites and that cell water is absorbed in multilayers on extended chains of "matrix proteins." In the development of the AI model, molecular mechanisms of cell permeation and electric potentials were presented according to which the potentials are surface-adsorption phenomena. Thus they resemble those suggested by Baur rather than the membrane potentials proposed by Ostwald and Bernstein. In the present review it is shown that the AI version of the surface adsorption model can account for evidence supporting the Hodgkin, Huxley, Katz approach as well as evidence against it-including extensive recent confirmation of the absorbed state of K+ in muscle.


Abstract Eighteen years of clear day solar radiation data accumulated at Phoenix, Ariz., are analyzed to yield monthly averages of the transmittance of the atmosphere for solar radiation. These figures serve as a basis against which theoretical calculations of the atmospheric transmittance are compared. Calculations based upon the complete set of attenuation relations proposed by Houghton average 2% lower than the measurements. When Houghton's water vapor absorption curve is replaced by the McDonald water vapor absorption relation, however, the yearly averages of the measurements and calculations are essentially identical. A procedure for approximating the effects of dust variability is introduced which further improves even these calculations in terms of monthly comparisons.


Expression of most RNA polymerase II transcripts requires the coordinated execution of transcription, splicing, and 3′ processing. We have previously shown that upon transcriptional activation of a gene in vivo, pre-mRNA splicing factors are recruited from nuclear speckles, in which they are concentrated, to sites of transcription (Misteli, T., J.F. Cáceres, and D.L. Spector. 1997. Nature. 387:523–527). This recruitment process appears to spatially coordinate transcription and pre-mRNA splicing within the cell nucleus. Here we have investigated the molecular basis for recruitment by analyzing the recruitment properties of mutant splicing factors. We show that multiple protein domains are required for efficient recruitment of SR proteins from nuclear speckles to nascent RNA. The two types of modular domains found in the splicing factor SF2/ ASF exert distinct functions in this process. In living cells, the RS domain functions in the dissociation of the protein from speckles, and phosphorylation of serine residues in the RS domain is a prerequisite for this event. The RNA binding domains play a role in the association of splicing factors with the target RNA. These observations identify a novel in vivo role for the RS domain of SR proteins and suggest a model in which protein phosphorylation is instrumental for the recruitment of these proteins to active sites of transcription in vivo.


Cloud computing has emerged as a vibrant part of today's modern world, providing computer services such as data storage, managing and processing via the internet. For the most part, cloud applications emphasize a multi-tenant structure to provide support for several customers in a single instance. A multi-tenancy situation involving the allocation of resources in cloud storage and the risks associated with it, in which confidentiality or integrity may be compromised. Homomorphic encryption is one such technique which guarantees to franchise in safeguarding information under cryptographic domain. The proposed modified Algebra Homomorphic Encryption scheme based on updated ElGamal (AHEE) encryption scheme is designed in such a way that the cloud administrators do not obtain any information about the medical data. This scheme is quantitatively evaluated using metrics such as encryption time and decryption time. The experimental results using UCI Machine Learning Repository ECG data set show that the proposed scheme achieved shorter encryption time of 6.61 ms and decryption time of 5.94 ms and also analyze this secured datum using big data analytics.


This paper presents the studies and processes for implementing the pilot project of Transportation Demand Management (TDM) for the historical area of Istanbul, namely, Smart Parking System (SPS), which is a parking guide system using information devices, as well as the evaluation results. SPS made it easier to find a parking space by using smart phones and parking information boards without looking/waiting for parking space. This system should also help to reduce traffic congestion in the historical area because car drivers can find a reasonable and comfortable parking space before their destination. While the results from the SPS Pilot Project suggested that it had limited impact on drivers' choices, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and other relevant organizations are working out the future activities for SPS toward continuance or expansion based on the lessons learned from this pilot project.


Abstract. Heat transport in snowpacks is understood to occur through the two processes of heat conduction and latent heat transport carried by water vapor, which are generally treated as decoupled from one another. This paper investigates the coupling between both these processes in snow, with an emphasis on the impacts of the kinetics of the sublimation and deposition of water vapor onto ice. In the case when kinetics is fast, latent heat exchanges at ice surfaces modify their temperature and therefore the thermal gradient within ice crystals and the heat conduction through the entire microstructure. Furthermore, in this case, the effective thermal conductivity of snow can be expressed by a purely conductive term complemented by a term directly proportional to the effective diffusion coefficient of water vapor in snow, which illustrates the inextricable coupling between heat conduction and water vapor transport. Numerical simulations on measured three-dimensional snow microstructures reveal that the effective thermal conductivity of snow can be significantly larger, by up to about 50 % for low-density snow, than if water vapor transport is neglected. A comparison of our numerical simulations with literature data suggests that the fast kinetics hypothesis could be a reasonable assumption for modeling heat and mass transport in snow. Lastly, we demonstrate that under the fast kinetics hypothesis the effective diffusion coefficient of water vapor is related to the effective thermal conductivity by a simple linear relationship. Under such a condition, the effective diffusion coefficient of water vapor is expected to lie in the narrow 100 % to about 80 % range of the value of the diffusion coefficient of water vapor in air for most seasonal snows. This may greatly facilitate the parameterization of water vapor diffusion of snow in models.


This association study of Eucalyptus pilularis populations provides empirical evidence for the role of Pectin Methylesterase (PME) in influencing solid wood characteristics of Eucalyptus. PME6 was primarily associated with the shrinkage and collapse of drying timber, which are phenotypic traits consistent with the role of pectin as a hydrophilic polysaccharide. PME7 was primarily associated with cellulose and pulp yield traits and had an inverse correlation with lignin content. Selection of specific alleles in these genes may be important for improving trees as sources of high-quality wood products. A heterozygote advantage was postulated for the PME7 loci and, in combination with haplotype blocks, may explain the absence of a homozygous class at all single-nucleotide polymorphisms investigated in this gene.


This paper proposes the creation of an objectively acquired reference database to more accurately characterize the incidence and longterm risk of relatively infrequent, but serious, adverse events. Such a database would be maintained longitudinally to provide for ongoing comparison with new rheumatologic drug safety databases collecting the occurrences and treatments of rare events, We propose the establishment of product-specific registries to prospectively follow a cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who receive newly approved therapies. In addition, a database is required of a much larger cohort of RA patients treated with multiple second line agents of sufficient size to enable case-controlled determinations of the relative incidence of rare but serious events in the treated (registry) versus the larger disease population, The number of patients necessary for agent-specific registries and a larger patient population adequate to supply a matched case-control cohort will depend upon estimates of the detectability of an increased incidence over background. We suggest a system to carry out this proposal that will involve an umbrella organization. responsible for establishment of this large patient cohort, envisioned to be drawn from around the world.


We develop an enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus polymerase chain reaction (ERIC-PCR) DNA fingerprinting technique for genotyping enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli(ETEC) in calves. Using the ERIC-PCR, we detected 66 ETEC strains in calves isolated from 11 farms. The ETEC strains could be grouped into 17 types, with type D predominant. The ERIC-PCR system is an efficient method for identification, typing and tracking of ETEC. Serotyping using a specific O antigen revealed 15 serotypes, with serotype O111 most prevalent (21.2%). We were unable to serotype 21.5% of the ETEC strains we had previously identified by ERIC-PCR. Our results indicate that some ETEC strains had identical genotypes, however their serotype might differ and vice versa. The ERIC-PCR method is rapid, sensitive, repeatable and reliable, and we believe it should be applied for the genotyping of ETEC in calves.

 Key Words: Calf, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, ERIC-PCR, genotyping, serotyping.


Pseudarthria viscida is the preferred source of the raw drug Salaparni in Ayurvedic system of medicine, especially in the preparation of Dasamoolarishtam. Due to its scarcity, other trifoliate leguminous plants, particularly the species of Desmodium and Uraria are used as substitutes. The phytochemical and biological properties of these plants were analyzed to sort out the genuineness of the substitutes. Qualitative as well as quantitative chemical profiles obtained for P. viscida showed similarity to U. rufescens. In vitro antioxidant and in vivo gastroprotective assays carried out to determine the biological properties of the extracts revealed that the acetone extract of P. viscida inhibited the formation of hydroxyl, superoxide, nitric oxide radicals, and lipid peroxidation. The oral administration of P. viscida extract significantly reduced ethanol-induced gastric ulceration in mice. Even though more or less the same chemical profile was obtained for P. viscida and U. rufescens, only P. viscida exhibited significant biological properties.


Group communication in large-scale interactive applications such as real-time conferencing and collaboration, networked virtual environments (e.g. massively multi-player games) requires efficient, low-overhead group communication mechanisms. In this paper we consider the application-level (or end-system) multicast and propose a stateless group communication mechanism together with its tree building algorithms. Stateless multicast reduces the control signaling of dynamic multicast groups linearly with the group size. To support interactive applications involving a large number of dynamic multicast groups, the application level multicast uses stateless forwarding within clusters of network nodes and hierarchical aggregation of multicast group membership. We show that dynamic tree construction achieve low computation overhead with a controlled degradation of the end-to-end data path performance.


Alprazolam is the most consumed anxiolytic drug. Its adverse effects have roughly been examined. Here we studied its effects on ants used as biological models. Alprazolam reduced the ants food consumption, general activity, locomotion, precision of reaction, response to pheromones, audacity, brood caring, cognition, tactile perception, and middle term memory, though not impacting short term memory. It induced aggressiveness against nesmates. Habituation to alprazolam occurred for locomotion, but not for aggressiveness. Ants developed dependence on it. The effect of alprazolam on locomotion rapidly vanished after weaning. Its effect on aggressiveness rapidly decreased from 4h to 13h after weaning, then it slowly vanished in 60h. The rapid decrease of the drug effects may lead to dependence.


Small proline-rich (SPRR) proteins are markers frequently associated with squamous cell differentiation. They have been proposed to be a novel group of precursor polypeptides for the cornified envelope in epidermal keratinocytes. A plus/minus screening procedure was used to identify cDNA clones expressed in mature but not in neonatal sheep ruminal epithelium. Two clones encoding SPRR proteins were identified and are reported here. Clone 27 encodes an ovine SPRR protein corresponding to the human type-II SPRR protein. Clone 26 encodes an ovine SPRR protein similar to human type-II SPRR protein, but which also contains an N-terminal His-Pro repeat similar to the paired repeats found in the Drosophila paired proteins. The unique combination of a paired domain and an SPRR protein has not been reported prior to this study. The tissue distribution indicates that specific expression of the genes corresponding to these two clones occurs in the epithelium of the ruminant forestomach, and to a lesser extent in skin epithelium. In situ hybridization demonstrated that the SPRR mRNA for both clones were localized in the stratum granulosum, in support of their putative physiological function, i.e. formation of the cornified envelope. Based on Northern blot analysis, mRNA complementary to the two clones appears in the ruminal epithelium by 1 week of age, corresponding to the formation of the stratum granulosum during ruminal epithelial development. The different patterns of changes in amount of mRNA corresponding to these clones during rumen epithelial development indicate that they play different roles in rumen epithelial development.


Abstract Endocellular and exocellular ribonucleases were studied in Bacillus intermedius. Two fractions of ribonucleases (Rf 0.72 and 0.96) were found to be associated with the cellular surface and seven fractions (Rf 0.1, 0.17, 0.33, 0.45, 0.72, 0.82 and 0.96) were detected in the cytoplasm. RNAase with Rf 0,096 had the highest activity and was repressed by inorganic orthophosphate. This RNase accumulated in the cell during the stationary growth phase just as the free enzyme form did in the culture medium. The immunological characteristics of these enzymes were identical as was shown by immunochemical analysis.


The resource-based view (RBV) is an economic tool used to determine the strategic resources available to a firm. The existing competition due to the entry of new mobile telephone service providers, Orange, Econet and Yu, requires Safaricom limited to review its strategies. Kerama (2003) carried out a survey on the resource based view of competitiveness which was a survey of manufacturing firms listed in the NSE. Nderu, (2007) did a research on the use of resource based perspective as a competitive strategy at JKUAT. By the time of this study no study had ever focused on the resource based view at Safaricom limited. This is despite the fact that Safaricom limited is the main tax payer in the country owing to its strong resource base and its contribution to employment and hence economic growth. The general objective of this study was to determine the extent of application resource based view strategy in Safaricom limited. This was a case study since the unit of analysis was one organisation. This was a case study aimed at getting detailed information regarding the resource based view strategy in Safaricom limited. The researcher used both primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected using selfadministered interview guides while secondary data was collected by use of desk search techniques from published reports and other documents. Secondary data included the companies' publications, journals, periodicals and information obtained from the internet. The interview guides had open-ended questions. The open-ended questions enabled the researcher to collect qualitative data. This was used in order to gain a better understanding and possibly enable a better and more insightful interpretation of the results from the study. The interviewees of this study were the senior staff, who included top, middle and lower level managers across all departments working at Safaricom limited. This study targeted to interview 40 interviewees. A content analysis and descriptive analysis were employed. The data was then presented in a continuous prose as a qualitative report on the resource based view strategy in Safaricom limited. This study concludes that Safaricom limited enjoys competitive advantage in the mobile phone industry due to its strategic approach towards the competitive market by research and development/innovation. The study also concludes that the RBV contributes to advantages such as enhancing staff potential through involvement in strategic decision making, adopting people focused mechanisms which deliver the strategy including employee selection and communication. The study concludes that technological resources and human resources are the most important strategic resources in the resource based view strategy in Safaricom limited.


Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that afflicts more than 400,000 people in the US. Although the etiology of the disease is unknown, pathogenic T cells are thought to underlie MS immune pathology. In contrast to the current paradigm, we recently showed that MS patients harbor CNS-specific CD8+ T regulatory cells (CD8 Tregs) that are deficient during disease relapse. In the current study, we demonstrate that the neuroantigen-specific CD8 Tregs were cytolytic and eliminated pathogenic CD4+ T cells. Sorting of CD8+ T cells using an array of surface cellular markers revealed that the CD8 Tregs were terminally differentiated (CD27-, CD45RO-). The CD8 Treg-mediated suppression was perforin, granzyme B, and interferon-γ-dependent. Interestingly, we found that MS patients with acute disease exacerbation displayed a significant loss (averaging 25%) in the terminally differentiated CD8+ T cells, with a concurrent loss in perforin and granzyme B expression. In order to restore the regulatory potential of impaired CD8 Tregs during exacerbation, we pre-treated exacerbation-derived bulk CD8+ T cells with the cytokine IL-12 and significantly increased the suppressive capability of the cells by ~48% through upregulation of granzyme B and perforin. Our studies uncover the immune suppressive mechanism of neuroantigen-specific CD8 Tregs, and may contribute to the design of clinically relevant immune therapies for MS patients.


Input-queued switch (IQS) architectures are widely used in modern computer/communication networks. The optimal scheduling control of these high-speed, low-latency networks is critical for our understanding of fundamental design and performance issues related to internet routers, cloud computing data centers, and high-performance computing. A large and rich literature exists around optimal scheduling in these systems. This includes the extensive study of IQSs as an important mathematical model for a general class of optimal scheduling control problems of broad interest.


Abstract The mass suicide of 39 members of Heaven's Gate in March of 1997 led to public fears about the presence of 'spiritual predators' on the world wide web. This paper describes and examines the nature of these fears, as reported in the media. It then sets these fears against what we know about the use of the Internet by new religions, about who joins new religious movements and why, and the social profile of Internet users. It is argued that the emergence of the Internet has yet to significantly change the nature of religious recruitment in contemporary society. The Internet as a medium of communication, however, may be having other largely unanticipated effects on the form and functioning of religion, both old and new, in the future. Some of the potential perils of the Internet are discussed with reference to the impact of this new medium on questions of religious freedom, community, social pluralism, and social control.


Fund Description:CFAL Money Market Investment Fund, Ltd. (The Fund) seeks to provide investors with a return consistent with safety of principal and maintenance of liquidity, while simultaneously providing a return competitive to local commercial bank fixed deposit rates. The Fund will seek to achieve its objective by investing in fixed income securities with high total return without undue risk to principal. This strategy is designed for investors seeking attractive returns over a short horizon.


We organize a competition on hierarchical text detection and recognition. The competition is aimed to promote research into deep learning models and systems that can jointly perform text detection and recognition and geometric layout analysis. We present details of the proposed competition organization, including tasks, datasets, evaluations, and schedule. During the competition period (from January 2nd 2023 to April 1st 2023), at least 50 submissions from more than 20 teams were made in the 2 proposed tasks. Considering the number of teams and submissions, we conclude that the HierText competition has been successfully held. In this report, we will also present the competition results and insights from them.


For effective bone regeneration, various surface modifications have been tried. In an effort to improve osteogenic repair potential, we evaluated recombinant peptides containing the RGD domain as a bioactive molecule for tissue-engineered bone regeneration. The synthetic peptides slightly suppressed cellular proliferation in the in vitro culture system but induced favorable osteoblastic differentiation, which was determined by MTT and ALP activity staining, respectively. The synthetic peptide coated CMP granules, which were implanted into the mandibular bone defects showed more favorable bone repair compared to the non-coated CMP implantation. In addition, there were not any sign of inflammatory reaction. These findings suggest that synthesized peptides containing the RGD domain enhance cellular attachment and osteogenic activity in vivo condition and that the peptide-coated CMP granules can serve as a biocompatible bone substitute.


Developments in information technology are providing methods to improve current design practices, where uncertainties about various design elements can be simulated and studied from the design inception. Energy and thermal simulations, improved design representations and enhanced collaboration using digital media are increasingly being used. This paper discusses research on the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) for building performance simulations, integrated with the design process. Interoperability between BIM-based design and energy simulation tools can improve the workflow between design deliverables and analysis applications since the information contained in the BIM models can also be reused for analysis. However, it is essential to track what type of information is needed for a specific analysis and the appropriate modeling procedures. We demonstrate differences between BIM "design" and "analysis" models, and levels of detail that need to be incorporated during different design stages to streamline the integrated design and analysis process. We also review methods for data exchange between BIM and environmental analysis software. A case study from an architectural practice setting is discussed in order to illustrate types of questions, data exchange between design and analysis applications, analysis processes, and results that are obtained using BIMbased building performance simulation tools.


OBJECTIVE
Our aim was to study the relative impact of physical fitness, physical demands at work, and physical activity during leisure time on ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and all-cause mortality among employed men with pre-existing cardiovascular disease (CVD).

METHOD
We carried out a 30-year follow-up of the Copenhagen Male Study of 274 gainfully employed men, aged 40-59 years who had a history of CVD (ie, myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, and intermittent claudication). We estimated physical fitness [maximal oxygen consumption (VO (2)Max)] using the Astrand cycling test and determined physical work demands and leisure-time physical activity using a self-reported questionnaire. Results Among 274 men with a history of CVD, 93 men died from IHD. Using male employees with a history of CVD and a low level of fitness as the reference group, our Cox analyses - adjusted for age, blood pressure, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, diabetes, hypertension, physical work demands, leisure-time physical activity, and social class - showed a substantially reduced risk for IHD mortality among employees who were intermediately fit [VO (2)Max range 25-36; hazard ratio (HR) 0.54, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) CI 0.32-0.93] and highly fit (VO (2)Max range 37-50; HR 0.28, 95% CI 0.12-0.66). We found a positive, but statistically non-significant association between physical demands at work and all-cause mortality.

CONCLUSION
Among gainfully employed men with pre-existing CVD, a high physical fitness was associated with a substantially reduced risk for IHD and all-cause mortality.


This paper presents a new type of genetic algorithm of environment exploration artificial intelligence automata based on various elements of Extenics theory.


The key problem for this study was the need to get citizens and parish councils closer by making an innovation accelerator to bring smartness to parishes. During the research process on public administration, smart cities and a bit more on innovation and creativity, it was also understood that smartness inside a parish must include an improvement on the relationship with citizens, citizens who feel that their opinions count, citizens training to promote digital inclusion and also for parish employees to make sure that their processes are more citizen centered, and an improvement of citizens quality of living inside the parish. Those issues were addressed in the final model. The obtained conceptual framework was validated by a focus group and it was concluded that the implementation of the proposed framework in a Portuguese parish is aligned with what parishes want for them in the near future.


The properties of ceramic-metal (cermet) composites as tensile strength, hardness and resistance to corrosion are superior to individual ceramics and metals. Especially, high temperature mechanical property of a composite material and its stability are very important for specific usages. On the other hand, the use of a composite material is limited by inadequate mechanical properties at high temperatures, large thermal expansion and fast oxidation. Besides, thermal expansion obviously impairs thermal shock strength. In this study, a composite material with dimensional stability and high oxidation strength, which preserves main mechanical properties at high temperatures, was produced. Anhydrous boron oxide was chosen as reinforcement due to its light weight, high melting point, limited thermal expansion and fire retardant property. As a matrix, zinc was used owing to its low density, low melting point, low cost and high corrosion resistance. For this purpose, zinc and anhydrous boron oxide powders were mixed in an attritor at 600 rpm and sintered at temperatures determined from the TGA-DSC analyses. The obtained composites were characterized by mechanical, microstructural and thermal expansion tests.


This paper proposes a novel patch propagation inpainting algorithm based on Weighted Sparse Non-negative Matrix Factorization (WSNMF). Unlike existing methods, we cast the inpainting task as a sequential low-rank matrix recovery and completion problem, where the incomplete data matrix consists of the image patch to be inpainted and several similar intact candidate patches under the assumption that they can be described using a low-dimensional linear model. Besides, the non-negativity and sparsity constraints are enforced for the additive sparse linear combination. The WSNMF, based on the Expectation-Maximization (EM) procedure, is then introduced to predict missing values. Experimental results show that this approach exploits the available information from the source region more adequately and thus has capabilities to recover both structure and composite textures more effectively as well as preventing unwanted artifacts compared to current exemplar-based techniques.


280 Background: Pancreatic cancer is being increasingly associated with germline implications. Some large single-center studies have reported results ranging from 3.9% to 19.8% of patients found to have germline variants [Shindo, JCO 2017; Lowery, JNCI 2018]. Due to this wide range, we aim to further delineate prevalence of deleterious germline mutations in pancreatic cancer using a multi-institutional data set. We also aim to analyze predictive factors such as mutant allele frequency (MAF, in %) in germline versus somatic calls. Methods: We sequenced 23 genes in DNA prepared from clinical tissue and blood specimens submitted to Tempus Labs. Germline variants and somatic variants were processed separately. Germline variants were determined to be deleterious through the sum effect of a combination of in silico predictors, population databases, and internal evaluations. Tumor-normal comparisons were used to define somatic versus germline, and MAFs were calculated for each. Results: A total of 234 patient samples from 17 institutions were analyzed. Of these, 12 (5.1%) had predicted deleterious germline variants involving 8 different genes: BRCA1 (n = 3), CHEK2 (n = 3), ATM (n = 1), MLH1 (n = 1), MUTYH (n = 1), PALB2 (n = 1), SMAD4 (n = 1), TP53 (n = 1). For most somatic alterations, the MAFs were found to be greater than the germline deleterious alterations, with the latter approaching ~50% in most cases (Table). Conclusions: This multi-institutional study identifies 5% of patients with pancreatic cancer to have deleterious germline alterations. Somatic variant testing, particularly when paired with germline, can be used as a screening method for genetic counseling referrals, especially with MAF analyses of paired tumor-normal samples. [Table: see text]


This study represents the first limnological assessment of Cointzio Reservoir (Michoacan, Mexico). A full threedimensional scan of temperature, conductivity and turbidity was done for the reservoir during two field surveys at the end of the 2005 rainy season (December 2005), and before the beginning of the next season (May 2006). These parameters also were measured continuously during the 2006 rainy season. Analysis of data within the context of local climate trends at a multidecadal scale indicates the reservoir can amplify seasonal features because of its morphometric properties. Between June to December, the reservoir behaved as a fluvial system, exhibiting a rapid, efficient mixing of the water column. Between January to May, the reservoir developed substantial stratification, and exhibited typical lacustrine characteristics. These alternate phases of fluvial and lacustrine regimes, associated with a high water turbidity throughout the year (Secchi depth of ≈0.2 m) contributes to stress on this aquatic ecosystem.


We have determined the pharmacokinetics and duration of action of a bolus dose of mivacurium (0.15 mg kg-1) during isoflurane and nitrous oxide anaesthesia in nine patients with normal renal and liver function, nine patients undergoing cadaveric kidney transplantation and nine patients undergoing cadaveric liver transplantation. Total plasma concentrations of mivacurium were measured for 2.5 h after administration using a high-pressure liquid chromatographic assay. Plasma concentration vs time data for what were presumed to be the two active mivacurium isomers were analysed by a non-compartmental method based on statistical moments. Neuromuscular block was assessed by measuring the electromyographic evoked response of the adductor pollicis muscle to train-of-four stimulation of the ulnar nerve. The mean time to recovery of 25% neuromuscular transmission, T25, was greater in the patients with liver failure (57.2 min) than in control patients (18.7 min). The volume of distribution at steady rate (Vdss) was comparable in the three groups. Patients with impaired liver function had significantly longer mean residence time and smaller plasma clearance than did patients with renal failure or control patients. There were significant negative correlations between plasma cholinesterase activity and both T25 (r = 0.79) and mean residence time (r = 0.62).


Data security is very important in the field of Computer Science. In this paper, the encryption algorithm called RC6 will be analyzed and its standard and parallel implementation will be done. First, the field of Cryptology is discussed in general terms, and then the classification of encryption algorithms according to operation and techniques is explained. RC6 is a symmetric block algorithm derived from the RC5 algorithm. RC6 operates on 128-bit blocks and accepts 128, 192, 256-bit keys until 2040 bytes. In the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) competition, RC6 managed to rank among the five finalists. The structure of the RC6 algorithm will be analyzed also the encryption and decryption methods. A comparison between standard and parallel implementation will be made.


SUMMARY: When spores of Dictyostelium mucoroides or D. giganteum were added to sterilized soil containing a pure culture of an edible bacterium, the resulting myx-amoebae actively destroyed the bacteria in the soil. When spores of D. mucoroides were added to the centre of a Petri dish of sterilized soil containing bacterial food no fruiting bodies were formed at a moisture content of 15% or less. At 19% moisture fruiting bodies were formed at the centre only. At 33% moisture the central area over which fruiting bodies appeared steadily increased in size until it covered the whole soil surface. Species of Dictyostelium can also pass through the life cycle in fresh unsterilized soil. The nature of the bacterial food supply affects the growth of species of Dictyostelium in soil as measured by fruiting body formation. Normal fructification occurs on soil containing certain bacterial strains which induce abnormal fructification on agar.


BACKGROUND: In critically ill patients, induction with etomidate is hypothesized to be associated with an increased risk of mortality. Previous randomized studies suggest a modest trend toward an increased risk of death among etomidate recipients; however, this relationship has not been measured with great statistical precision. We aimed to test whether etomidate is associated with risk of hospital mortality and other clinical outcomes in critically ill patients. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study from January 1, 2001, to December 31, 2005, of 824 subjects requiring mechanical ventilation, who underwent adrenal function testing in the ICUs of 2 academic medical centers. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality, comparing subjects given etomidate (n = 452) to those given an alternative induction agent (n = 372). The secondary outcome was diagnosis of critical illness-related corticosteroid insufficiency following etomidate exposure. RESULTS: Overall mortality was 34.3%. After adjustment for age, sex, and baseline illness severity, the relative risk of death among the etomidate recipients was higher than that of subjects given an alternative agent (relative risk 1.20, 95% CI 0.99–1.45). Among subjects whose adrenal function was assessed within the 48 hours following intubation, the adjusted risk of meeting the criteria for critical illness-related corticosteroid insufficiency was 1.37 (95% CI 1.12–1.66), comparing etomidate recipients to subjects given another induction agent. CONCLUSIONS: In this study of critically ill patients requiring endotracheal intubation, etomidate administration was associated with a trend toward a relative increase in mortality, similar to the collective results of smaller randomized trials conducted to date. If a small relative increased risk is truly present, though previous trials have been underpowered to detect it, in absolute terms the number of deaths associated with etomidate in this high-risk population would be considerable. Large, prospective controlled trials are needed to finalize the role of etomidate in critically ill patients.


Introduction: Surgery followed by adjuvant therapy represents the most adequate treatment for advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Free flaps are considered the best reconstructive option after major oral surgery. In the last decades, OSCC has increased in the elderly due to an augmented life span. The aim of this work is to evaluate the feasibility of microvascular surgery in patients older than 75 years, focusing on clinical and surgical prognosticators. Methods: "Older old" (aged ≥ 75) and "oldest old" (>85) patients who underwent microvascular reconstruction for OSCC from 2002 to 2018 were retrospectively evaluated in three referral Head and Neck Departments. Demographic, clinical, and surgical data were collected and analyzed. Pre-operative assessment was performed by ASA and ACE-27 scores. Complications were grouped as medical or surgical, and major or minor according to the Clavien-Dindo scale. Results: Eighty-four patients (72 "older old" and 12 "oldest old") were treated with a free flap success rate of 94.1%. Thirty-seven (44.7%) and nine (10.7%) patients had minor and major medical complications, respectively; 18 (21.4%) and 17 (20.2%) had minor and major surgical complications, respectively. Twenty-one (25%) patients had both medical and surgical complications (with a statistically significant association, p = 0.018). Overall, 52 (61.9%) patients had at least one complication: ASA score, diabetes mellitus, and duration of general anesthesia (DGA) significantly impacted the complication rate at multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Our data confirm the feasibility of free flaps for OSCC reconstruction in appropriately selected elderly patients. Pre-operative assessment and aggressive management of glycemia in patients with diabetes is mandatory. DGA should be reduced as much as possible to prevent post-surgical complications. Comprehensive geriatric assessment is of paramount importance in this subset of patients.


Bo Ju Jiang applied Neilsen theory to the study of periodic orbits of a homeomorphism. His method employs a certain loop in the mapping torus of the homeomorphism. Our interest concerns the persistence of periodic orbits in parameterized families of homeomorphisms. This leads us to consider fibre bundles and equivariant maps, which gives us a nice point of view.


Strongyloides stercoralis (S. stercoralis) is an intestinal nematode mainly present in tropical areas of the world. Most infections with this parasite are asymptomatic, but in immunosuppressed patients S. stercoralis may disseminate throughout the body and cause gastrointestinal symptoms as well as shock, neurological malfunctions and septicemia. When patients are treated with immunosuppressive therapy, chronic infections may be reactivated. In some instances infection with S. stercoralis may be fatal. Entamoeba histolytica (E. histolytica) is a pathogenic amoeba that can induce both intestinal and extraintestinal infections. Infections with E. histolytica most commonly occur in developing countries. Differentiation between the pathogenic E. histolytica and the related apathogenic amoeba Entamoeba dispar (E.dispar) is not possible by microscopic examination. This master thesis, performed at the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control (SMI), aimed at establishing a qualitative method for the detection of S. stercoralis with real-time PCR as it is a fast, accurate and highly sensitive technique for qualitative or quantitative genomic analysis. This would provide an improved preparedness for the diagnostic unit when physicians suspect infection with S. stercoralis. Another aim of the thesis was to establish a qualitative real-time PCR method for differentiation between E. dispar and E. histolytica. The current method for differentiation between these two species at SMI is traditional gel-based PCR. A transfer from PCR to real-time PCR would contribute to a less time consuming and more efficient diagnostic procedure. A TaqMan probe and primers specific for the gene encoding 18S ribosomal RNA (18S rRNA) for S. stercoralis were acquired and tested for use with the same PCR program and reagents as other real-time PCR methods performed at SMI. Primer and probe concentrations were optimized. The test of analytical specificity indicated that the primer/probe system was specific for S. stercoralis. The amplification efficiency and analytical sensitivity was also determined. Two systems specific for E. histolytica and E. dispar respectively targeting the gene encoding 18S rRNA were acquired and tested in the same manner. All optimized systems of the real-time PCR methods proved to be compatible with the desired instrument, PCR program and reagents. Weak signals were obtained with the E. dispar specific system when template of E. histolytica was added. With the knowledge of how to correctly interpret the result data, accurate diagnosis could still be obtained despite this issue. If the result from an investigation of accuracy is satisfactory, validation and subsequent implementation of the method for differentiation between E. histolytica and E. dispar is recommended. The optimization of the S. stercoralis specific method indicates that validation can be initiated.