"Walking Railroads" is a novella I wrote that begins as sixteen-year-old Alana learns that she is biracial. The narrative follows her as she travels through the southeast of the United States in search of her biological father. Alana deals with the emotional issues she has been hiding after her birth father is revealed. She travels from her hometown in Alabama to Tennessee where her paternal grandmother lives, then to Florida where her father is working on a U.S. Navy base. Alana is accompanied by her longtime neighbor and friend Robert. Together Alana and Robert face the unknown of Alana's family history. Alana answers the question of understanding identity through the lens of a biracial individual. She also brings light to what might happen to a sixteen-year-old female who learns she is biracial. One often needs to find closure when there is an absence of information involving identity. Oftentimes there are adjustments to be made when trying to identify with all racial groups of one's heritage. Alana learns to cope with the challenges in hair texture, skin tone, and facial features from the combined genes of an African-American and Caucasian ancestry. Her character is comparable to biracial characters from such novels as "The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond" and "The Girl Who Fell from the Sky".  I traveled to Clarksville, TN, and Pensacola, FL, to gather further research to produce the setting. I invented the character to hopefully inspire real young people to learn about their heritage.


Alchemilla viridiflora Rothm., Rosaceae is a herbaceous plant widespread in central Greece, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Serbia with Kosovo. LC-MS analysis leads to the identification of 20 compounds in methanol extract, mainly ellagitannins and flavonoid glycosides. Considering that different plant extracts were traditionally used for treatment of hypertension and that some of the analyzed methanol extract constituents possess beneficial cardiovascular effects, we hypothesized that some of these effects are achieved through inhibition of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE). The dose-dependent activities ACE inhibitory activity of A. viridiflora and miquelianin were observed with an IC50 of 2.51 ± 0.00 µg/ml of A. viridiflora compared to IC50 of 2.59 ± 0.00 µg/mL for miquelianin. Contribution of the single compounds to the tested activity was further analyzed through the in silico experimental approach. Computational docking results showed that tiliroside, ellagic acid pentose and galloyl-HHDP-glucose exhibited even better binding affinity for ACE active site than miquelianin, which ACE activity was confirmed by an in vitro assay.


BACKGROUND
In patients with acromegaly, abnormalities of systolic and diastolic left ventricular (LV) performance, mostly associated with hypertension or LV hypertrophy, have been reported. We used 2-dimensional/Doppler echocardiographic methods and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) to elucidate the impact of disease activity on LV function in patients with acromegaly.

METHODS
In a prospective study design, 15 patients with active acromegaly (AA group; mean age-adjusted serum insuline-like growth factor-I [IGF-I] level, 420 +/- 170 ng/mL, mean growth hormone nadir during 75-g oral glucose load, 12.3 +/- 30.1 microg/L), 18 patients with cured (n = 14, mean IGF-I level 205 +/- 115 ng/mL, mean growth hormone nadir during glucose load 0.72 +/- 0.34 microg/L) or well-controlled (n = 4, normal age-adjusted ranges of IGF-I levels with medication with somatostatin analogues 354 +/- 88 ng/mL) acromegaly (CA group), and 24 control subjects (control group) underwent 2-dimensional/Doppler echocardiographic measurements, including assessment of the Tei index (isovolumic contraction time and isovolumic relaxation time divided by ejection time). Systolic and diastolic mitral annular velocities (peak systolic velocity, peak early diastolic velocity [E'], peak late diastolic velocity [A'], E'/A' ratio) were derived from pulsed TDI.

RESULTS
No significant differences between study groups were observed with respect to muscle mass and systolic parameters, such as ejection fraction, fractional shortening, and peak systolic velocity. In patients with AA, E' and the E'/A' ratio were lower than in control and CA subjects (AA 6.8 +/- 1.7 cm/s, control 10.0 +/- 1.7 cm/s, CA 9.1+/- 3.0 cm/s, P <.01 AA vs control, P <.05 AA versus CA, AA 0.68 +/- 0.22, control 0.98 +/- 0.16, CA 0.89 +/- 0.37, P <.01 AA vs control and CA, respectively). In comparison with control subjects and patients with CA, patients with AA had a reduced mitral peak velocity of early/late filling ratio (AA 0.78 +/- 0.22 m/s, control 1.12 +/- 0.33 m/s, CA 1.11 +/- 0.36 m/s, P <.05 AA vs control and CA) and a prolonged deceleration time (AA 223 +/- 41 ms, control 188 +/- 26 ms, CA 185 +/- 25 ms, P <.05 AA vs control and CA). The Tei index was significantly elevated in patients with AA in comparison with control subjects and patients with CA (AA 0.54 +/- 0.13, control 0.40 +/- 0.09, CA 0.44 +/- 0.10, P <.05 AA vs control and CA). No significant differences were observed between control subjects and patients with CA with respect to mitral flow-derived variables, TDI parameters, and the Tei index.

CONCLUSION
Disease activity has a significant impact on LV performance in patients with acromegaly. In subjects with active disease, diastolic dysfunction and beginning impairment of overall LV performance are present. In patients with cured/well-controlled disease, systolic and diastolic function appear normal.


Background and aims Treatment of LN requires an accurate assessment of disease activity. This study aims to assess the correlation of urinary biomarkers MCP1 and NGAL with the disease activity in LN. Methods Materials and Methods: Prospective study conducted in a tertiary care centre. 60 patients with SLE were recruited and divided into 3 groups: one with Active LN (n=22), another with Inactive LN (n=20) and third formed of SLE patients with no renal involvement (n=18). Active LN patients underwent renal biopsy. For comparison another group of age and sex matched controls was taken (n=20). Disease activity was correlated with biopsy and baseline characteristics. Urinary MCP1 and NGAL were measured and its correlation with disease activity was analysed. Results In patients with active LN, both UMCP1/Cr and UNGAL/Cr were significantly elevated (92.78, 76.11 pg/ml, p<0.001). In both control group and SLE without renal involvement the values of UMCP1/Cr and UNGAL/Cr were normal (24.44, 22.22 pg/ml in control and 24.3, 22.80 pg/ml in SLE without renal involvement). In patients with inactive LN the values of UMCP1/Cr and UNGAL/Cr were observed to be significantly higher than control (44.18, 38.45 pg/ml, p<0.005) and lower than those of active LN. Values of UMCP1/Cr and UNGAL/Cr were found to be in close correlation with mean rSLEDAI scores of active LN (10) and inactive LN(3.6) and disease activity as per histopathology. Conclusions Levels of urinary biomarkers UMCP1 and UNGAL were significantly elevated in active LN and found to have excellent correlation with histopathological disease activity index and rSLEDAI scores.


Active cytoskeletal materials in vitro demonstrate self-organising properties similar to those observed in their counterparts in cells. However, the search to emulate phenomena observed in the living matter has fallen short of producing a cytoskeletal network that would be structurally stable yet possessing adaptive plasticity. Here, we address this challenge by combining cytoskeletal polymers in a composite, where self-assembling microtubules and actin filaments collectively self-organise due to the activity of microtubules-percolating molecular motors. We demonstrate that microtubules spatially organise actin filaments that in turn guide microtubules. The two networks align in an ordered fashion using this feedback loop. In this composite, actin filaments can act as structural memory and, depending on the concentration of the components, microtubules either write this memory or get guided by it. The system is sensitive to external stimuli suggesting possible autoregulatory behaviour in changing mechanochemical environment. We thus establish artificial active actin-microtubule composite as a system demonstrating architectural stability and plasticity.


We examined four evolution paths of the biofuel sector using a partial equilibrium world agricultural sector model in CARD that includes the new RFS in the 2007 EISA, a two-way relationship between fossil energy and biofuel markets, and a new trend toward corn oil extraction in ethanol plants. At one extreme, one scenario eliminates all support to the biofuel sector when the energy price is low, while the other extreme assumes no distribution bottleneck in ethanol demand growth when the energy price is high. The third scenario considers a pure market force driving ethanol demand growth because of the high energy price, while the last is a policy-induced shock with removal of the biofuel tax credit when the energy price is high. Standard results hold where the biofuel sector expands with higher energy price, raising the prices of most agricultural commodities through demand side adjustment channels for primary feedstocks and supply side adjustment channels for substitute crops and livestock. On the other hand, the biofuel sector shrinks coupled with opposite impacts on agricultural commodities with the removal of all support including the tax credit. Also, we find that given distribution bottlenecks, cellulosic ethanol crowds marketing channels resulting in a corn-based ethanol price that is discounted. The blenders' credit and consumption mandates provide a price floor for ethanol and for corn. Finally, the tight linkage between the energy and agricultural sectors resulting from the expanding biofuel sector may raise the possibility of spillover effects of OPEC's market power on the agricultural sector.


Follow-up of 114 patients with bronchiectasis has demonstrated that immunomodulation agents levamisole and splenin included in combined treatment augment their therapeutic effect and normalize the immune status of patients. This is manifested by normalization of the amount and functional activity to T-lymphocytes, the content of IgG, IgM and IgA and the autoimmune shifts. A favourable effect was encountered significantly more often than that in patient who were treated by the traditional methods without the use of the immunomodulation agents and in those who were given only levamisole and splenin together with anti-bacterial and hygienic therapy.


Performance of dye-sensitized solar cells can be improved by treating the nanoporous TiO2 films with titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) aqueous solution. We explore the reason why the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells is enhanced by this method. It is found that the effect of TiCl4 treatment not only reduces the films surface area and improves the electronic contact, but also enhances the binding of N719 with the TiO2 films surface.


Studies suggest that dysthyroidism is associated with disturbances in female menstruation with hypothyroidism being associated with abnormal uterine bleeding. We report a case of excessive uterine bleeding due to severe hypothyroidism. The patient was a 35-year-old female with a history of papillary thyroid cancer, status post total thyroidectomy and subsequent two times of radioactive iodine treatment for residual thyroid cancer. She presented to emergency room two times in 4 days for persistent heavy vaginal bleeding. Her complete blood count (CBC) upon admission showed hemoglobulin (HgB) of 7.0 g/dL and hematocrit (HCT) of 20.0%. The patient admitted that she had not taken levothyroxine (LT4) for at least 4 weeks. The thyroid function test showed elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level of 74.71 mIU/L and decreased free T4 level of 0.55 ng/dL (reference range is 0.34 - 5.60 mIU/L and 0.58 - 1.64 ng/dL, respectively). The patient was given two units of packed red blood cell transfusion to correct the hemorrhagic anemia and then was given 25 mg of conjugated estrogen (Premarin) intravenously (IV) to control the bleeding. She was discharged on oral medroxyprogesterone acetate (Provera) and LT4 and was asked for regular follow-ups. This is an uncommon but representative case of acute menstrual blood loss anemia caused by profound hypothyroidism. The disturbance of hypothalamus-pituitary-ovarian axis due to the severe hypothyroidism is likely the major etiology for the excessive dysfunctional uterine bleeding. J Med Cases. 2016;7(6):234-238 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jmc2502w


It has been reported that spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) show ventricular dilation, changes in CSF proteins and variations in the circumventricular organs (CVO) such as: the subcommissural organ (SCO), the subfornical organ (SFO) and the area postrema (AP) which are located in the walls of the third and fourth ventricles. On the other hand, p73 proteins are present in cells of the central nervous system (CNS) such as circumventricular structures and the neuroepithelium which are altered in ventricular dilation. The purpose of the present work is to study the TAp73 isoform expression in the circumventricular organs (CVO) and their variations in ventricular dilatation and arterial hypertension. Brains and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from control Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) and SHR were used. The paraffin sections containing the CVO were immunohistochemically processed with anti-TAp73 and by western blot, p73 bands in the CSF and circumventricular organ extract were also identified. The western blot study showed bands marked with p73 in the CSF and CVO, the p73 band expression was bigger in the SHR than in the WKY rats. We also found stronger markings in the SFO, SCO and AP of the hypertensive rats than in the WKY rats. It could be concluded that hypertension in the SHR produces alterations in the relationship between the p73 protein, circumventricular structures and CSF.


The Amharic version of the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36) was used to measure quality of life among patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) at selected governmental hospitals in central and southern Ethiopia. The study was cross-sectional and used SF-36-specific software for automatic scoring of the form's scales and dimensions. Pearson bivariate correlations showed moderate correlation between the SF-36 scales, ranging from 0.2673 between 'general health' and 'vitality,' to 0.8583 between 'role physical' and 'role emotional.' Cronbach's-αwas >0.70 for six out of eight multi-item scales, with values ranging from 0.6500 to 0.8860 for all scales, thus indicating good internal reliability of the Amharic version of the SF-36. The independent variables shown to positively affect mean scores were: duration of treatment, CD4 cell count, and adherence to doses of antiretrovirals. Participants treated for >12 months had higher mean scores for all domains than those who had been treated for ≤12 months. Likewise, those with a CD4 cell count >200 cells/mm3 had better mean scores for all scales except 'social functioning' and 'mental health' than those with counts ≤200. Participants adhering to treatment (in the last 15 days, according to self-report) had better mean scores for all scales except 'role physical,' 'bodily pain' and 'vitality' in comparison to those who were not adherent. The findings suggest that the Amharic version of the SF-36 is a valid and reliable health survey instrument for use in Ethiopia to assess the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS on HAART.


To examine disparity in race for hip fracture treatment, we identified femoral neck fractures and pertrochanteric fractures from a 20% sample of 1999-2003 Medicare part B claims data and stratified patients by treatment: total hip arthroplasty (THA), hemiarthroplasty (HA), open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF), and nonoperative management (NM). Covariables included patient race, age, sex, and Charlson Comorbidity Index score. The geographic variable was the hospital referral region (306 such US regions are defined in The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care). Logistic regression was performed to evaluate the independent effect of each variable on treatment received. There were 49,755 femoral neck fractures (94% white patients) and 90,440 pertrochanteric fractures (94% white). For femoral neck fractures, no significant differences were found by race (P=.16) in adjusted mean rates for THA (2.73%), HA (77.8%), ORIF (26.9%), or NM (2.95%). For pertrochanteric fractures, no significant differences were found (P=.09) in adjusted mean rates for THA (0.47%), HA (8.24%), ORIF (94.8%), or NM (2.11%). There were no significant disparities by race across hospital referral regions with regard to type of fracture treatment.


ABSTRACT
Trees are an important part of the compilation of forest ecosystems blocks of collections of plants and/or animals, Wan Abdul Rachman Forest Park, Lampung Province. Block collection of plants and or animals serves as a place for collecting, protecting and preserving biodiversity. The problems that occur in this block are changes in forest areas; initially primary forests become mixed forests due to land clearing. Land clearing causes various types of tree damage which causes a decrease in tree health and forest health, so it is necessary to identify tree damage conditions. The purpose of the study was to determine the condition of tree damage based on the location of tree damage, type of tree damage and severity. Identification is carried out using the Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) method, the measurement parameter is the condition of tree damage. The study was conducted in June 2018 in a collection block of plants and / or animals Tahura WAR Kelurahan Sumber Agung, Kemiling, Bandar Lampung covering 141.18 ha. The sampling intensity used was 2.30%, data collection was carried out in eight FHM cluster clusters. Based on the results of the study, 144 individual trees were damaged. The location of damage occurs mostly in the roots and the lower part of the stem is 29%, the lower stem is 18% and the branches are 15%. There were 11 types of damage observed with the largest type of damage, namely open wounds by 46%, broken or dead branches by 17%, cancer by 9% and leaves, shoots or shoots damaged by 9%. The most severe severity is found in the severity of 20% with a percentage of 39%, the severity of 30% with a percentage of 35% and severity of 40% with a percentage of 7%.
Key words: fhm, tree damage, Tahura WAR.


This study compared profitability and efficiency of cassava production among government and nongovernment assisted farmers association in Osun State, Nigeria. Data were collected using a multistage sampling procedure and analyzed with the aid of descriptive statistics, stochastic frontier and budgetary analyses. The results showed that members of government-assisted farmers' associations had better access (100%) to credit (e.g. production credit) compared to their counterparts (35.8%) who were not members of government-assisted farmers' associations. Average yield (2,370.15 kg/ha) and farm revenue (₦514, 600.00) were higher among cassava farmers that were members of government-assisted farmers' associations and significantly different from those that were non-members. Results further revealed that members of government-assisted farmers' association were more efficient (72.4%) than farmers that were non-members in the associations in the study area. Socioeconomic factors such as age of the farmers, access to extension service and membership in government-assisted farmers' associations were the major factors determining farm level efficiency among the cassava farmers. On average, the profitability ratio (Return on Investment-ROI) for members of government-assisted farmers' association was ₦2.32 per naira invested and ₦1.16 per naira invested for farmers who were not members. The study concluded that cassava farmers that belonged to government-assisted association were more efficient and were making more profit than their counterparts who did not belong to government-assisted associations. Therefore, it is recommended that government should take steps to ensure that these advantages are extended to all farmers in order to significantly increase cassava production, agricultural GDP, food security and equity.


This paper presents a sensitivity analysis on the reliability of a hydroelectric plant with reservoir with respect to its storage capacity level. The comparison is made in probabilistic terms, using the sequential Monte Carlo simulation, which takes into account equipment failures, hydrological inflow scenarios and a load curve. The reliability evaluation was carried out for a generation system composed of just one hydro power plant supplying its respective load, considering five hypotheses of its storage capacity. In addition to the traditional reliability indices, it was also computed a reliability indicator, denoted by P95, which can be used as the "capacity value" to be issued to the hydro plant for commercial purposes. The analysis of the resulting annual reliability indexes shows the impact of reducing the storage capacity not only on the plant's "firm energy" but also on its capacity value attribute. Moreover, for all storage levels considered, the monthly values of P95 presented significant seasonal variation, which further confirms the importance of storage capacity or "regulating capacity" to ensure system reliability all over the year.


The surge in mobile broadband data demands is expected to surpass the available spectrum capacity below 6 GHz. This expectation has prompted the exploration of millimeter wave (mm-wave) frequency bands as a candidate technology for next generation wireless networks. However, numerous challenges to deploying mm-wave communication systems, including channel estimation, need to be met before practical deployments are possible. This paper addresses the mm-wave channel estimation problem and treats it as a beam discovery problem in which locating beams with strong path reflectors is analogous to locating errors in linear block codes. We show that a significantly small number of measurements (compared to the original dimensions of the channel matrix) is sufficient to reliably estimate the channel. We also show that this can be achieved using a simple and energy-efficient transceiver architecture.


A robust strategy for recognition and prediction of gait events using wearable sensors is presented in this paper. The strategy adopted here uses a combination of two computational intelligence approaches: Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy and Bayesian methods. Recognition of gait events is performed by a Bayesian method which iteratively accumulates evidence to reduce uncertainty from sensor measurements. Prediction of gait events is based on the observation of decisions and actions made over time by our perception system. An Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy system evaluates the reliability of predictions, learns a weighting parameter and controls the amount of predicted information to be used by our Bayesian method. Thus, this strategy ensures the achievement of better recognition and prediction performance in both accuracy and speed. The methods are validated with experiments for recognition and prediction of gait events with different walking activities, using data from wearable sensors attached to lower limbs of participants. Overall, results show the benefits of our combined Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy and Bayesian strategy to achieve fast and accurate decisions, but also to evaluate and adapt its own performance, making it suitable for the development of intelligent assistive and rehabilitation robots.


Our ability to evaluate long-term goals over immediate rewards is manifested in the brain's decision circuit. Simplistically, it can be divided into a fast, impulsive, reward "system 1" and a slow, deliberate, control "system 2." In a noisy eating environment, our cognitive resources may get depleted, potentially leading to cognitive overload, emotional arousal, and consequently more rash decisions, such as unhealthy food choices. Here, we investigated the combined impact of cognitive regulation and ambient noise on food cravings through neurophysiological activity. Thirty-seven participants were recruited for an adapted version of the Regulation of Craving (ROC) task. All participants underwent two sessions of the ROC task; once with soft ambient restaurant noise (∼50 dB) and once with loud ambient restaurant noise (∼70 dB), while data from electroencephalography (EEG), electrodermal activity (EDA), and self-reported craving were collected for all palatable food images presented in the task. The results indicated that thinking about future ("later") consequences vs. immediate ("now") sensations associated with the food decreased cravings, which were mediated by frontal EEG alpha power. Likewise, "later" trials also increased frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) —an index for emotional motivation. Furthermore, loud (vs. soft) noise increased alpha, beta, and theta activity, but for theta activity, this was solely occurring during "later" trials. Similarly, EDA signal peak probability was also higher during loud noise. Collectively, our findings suggest that the presence of loud ambient noise in conjunction with prospective thinking can lead to the highest emotional arousal and cognitive load as measured by EDA and EEG, respectively, both of which are important in regulating cravings and decisions. Thus, exploring the combined effects of interoceptive regulation and exteroceptive cues on food-related decision-making could be methodologically advantageous in consumer neuroscience and entail theoretical, commercial, and managerial implications.


The study intends to determine the factors that influence millennial investors' attitudes and behavioral intention to invest in the stock market in a developing nation. We extended the "Theory of Planned Behavior" (TPB) by including two motivating factors, namely, financial knowledge and parental influence, and one inhibiting factor, hassle, to measure intention of millennial investors in India. The study used cross-sectional and quantitative approaches using a questionnaire-based survey process to collect the responses of 196 millennials. We used PLS-SEM to determine the proposed relationship between constructs. We also created the importance-performance matrix to further refine the results. The study found TPB variables to be most significant in influencing behavioral intention. In addition, parents' influence was found positively impactful on financial self-efficacy, which leads to high behavioral intention. The study contributes by identifying different elements in order to enhance education and awareness related to financial products, risk and return, and types of investments that can increase millennials' intention to invest in the long term. TOPICS: Wealth management, emerging markets, quantitative methods, statistical methods, legal/regulatory/public policy Key Findings ▪ Theory of Planned Behavior explains millennial investors' intention to invest in the stock market. ▪ In a developing country like India, parents' influence positively impacts investor's financial self-efficacy and intention to invest. ▪ Financial knowledge enhances the financial attitude and reduces the hassle factor for millennial investors'.


The emergence of social media has largely eased the way people receive information and participate in public discussions. However, in countries with strict regulations on discussions in the public space, social media is no exception. To limit the degree of dissent or inhibit the spread of "harmful" information, a common approach is to impose information operations such as censorship/suspension on social media. In this paper, we focus on a study of censorship on Weibo, the counterpart of Twitter in China. Specifically, we 1) create a web-scraping pipeline and collect a large dataset solely focus on the reposts from Weibo; 2) discover the characteristics of users whose reposts contain censored information, in terms of gender, device, and account type; and 3) conduct a thematic analysis by extracting and analyzing topic information. Note that although the original posts are no longer visible, we can use comments users wrote when reposting the original post to infer the topic of the original content. We find that such efforts can recover the discussions around social events that triggered massive discussions but were later muted. Further, we show the variations of inferred topics across different user groups and time frames.


This study aims to analyze some hate speech phenomenon reviews in Indonesia. It compares how these two reviews are carried out to indicate how each source contributes and integrates the topic. The research uses a qualitative method with a systematic review. They were analyzed using a literature review matrix with the abstract data, such as author, years published, topic, and effects and findings. The PRISMA checklist (reporting guide for systematic review) is also applied to validate the observed systemic review. The research findings demonstrate that the clarity and transparency of the observed literature reviews need to be improved.


Transmembrane voltage and intracellular calcium concentration are coupled parameters essential to the function of neurons, cardiomyocytes, and other excitable cells. Here we introduce the Firefly-HR microscope for simultaneous optogenetic stimulation and voltage and calcium imaging with fluorescent proteins using three spectrally distinct visible color bands. Firefly-HR combines patterned stimulation, near-total internal reflection laser excitation through a prism located between the sample and a water-immersion objective, and concurrent imaging of three color channels. The microscope has efficient light collection, low fluorescent background, and a large field of view (0.24 x 1.2 mm @ 1000 frames/sec). We characterize optical crosstalk and demonstrate capabilities with three applications: (1) probing synaptically connected neuronal microcircuits, (2) examining the coupling between neuronal action potentials and calcium influx, and (3) studying the pharmacology of paced human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) via simultaneous recordings of voltage, calcium, and contraction.


We demonstrated the coating of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with compound ultrathin films towards functional SPM tips. Conductive, ferromagnetic, and uperconducing materials were uniformly coated around isolated multi-walled CNTs (MWNTs). As a conductive probe, the CNT glued on a W tip was wholly coated with a thin PtIr layer 6 nm thick. The current-voltage characteristics of the resultant PtIr-coated CNT tips indicated that the PtIr coating stably reduced the resistance between the CNT tip end and the W supporting tip. Our method will facilitate the development of family of novel functional scanning probe microscopies (SPMs) using CNT tips. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2005.417]


: The active compounds which have been isolated from plants and tested in the chemotherapy program of the National Cancer Institute since the inception of the plant program (as part of the Cancer Chemotherapy National Service Center) are listed, classified into types, and discussed in terms of their activity in experimental tumor systems. The tumor systems include the most important ones comprising the regular screen at different times and also the slow-growing tumors, B16 melanoma and Lewis lung carcinoma (new). The structure-antitumor activity relationships bring out the desirability for further investigation of certain types of compounds as possibilities for clinical trial. Notes on the current pharmacologic anc clinical status of certain compounds are also presented.


This report represents a summary and analysis of work that has been carried out over the past decade or so, to assess and implement the environmental flow requirements of four river basins in Tanzania. These basins are the Pangani, Great Ruaha, Wami and the Mara (shared with Kenya). The review of each basin is organized based on the "classical" environmental flow process used to determine and implement environmental flow management, providing a detailed assessment of the work that has been done and an assessment of the limitations of each study.


PURPOSE
To assess the value of screening enhanced head CT before esophagectomy for carcinoma, identify increased risk factor(s) for brain metastases, and determine metastasis incidence.

METHODS
Thoracic surgery files of patients undergoing esophagectomies for squamous carcinomas, adenocarcinomas, and undifferentiated carcinomas between January 1984 and March 1993 were reviewed regarding sex, size (length) of neoplasm, and brain metastases. Surgical pathology and tumor registry files also were reviewed. Records of patients with brain metastases were reviewed in detail.

RESULTS
Three hundred thirty-four esophagectomies were performed for 230 adenocarcinomas (202 male, 28 female) and 104 squamous carcinomas (61 male, 43 female). In 9 males and 1 female with adenocarcinomas and 1 male and 1 female with squamous carcinomas, brain metastases developed. Surgical pathology files identified 293 additional esophageal carcinomas, including 2 males with adenocarcinomas metastatic to brain. Tumor registry files identified I additional male with brain metastasis from an undifferentiated esophageal neoplasm. No statistically significant preoperative characteristic of esophageal carcinomas with proneness to brain metastases was found, except large size of primary neoplasm. Preoperative screening head CT done on approximately 240 patients who underwent esophagectomies showed no metastases.

CONCLUSIONS
Brain metastases from carcinomas of the esophagus are relatively uncommon (3.6% in the esophagectomy cohort). They tend to occur in patients with large primary neoplasm, probably especially adenocarcinomas involving the esophagogastric junction, and with findings of local invasion and lymph node metastases by CT and/or microscopically. It may be reasonable to obtain head CT as a last preoperative staging procedure in such patients. Routine preoperative head CT for staging is not cost effective.


Due to its inherent stability, ease of handling and availability, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) will continue to be used more extensively in analytical and industrial situations. It is often used as a model for other peroxidases.

Developments in the fields of protein stabilisation and biosensor construction are discussed in Chapter one; also, various enzymatic methods for treating phenolic effluents are reviewed. The effects of chemical modifiers on native HRP were investigated (Chapter two). Homobifunctional crosslinkers specific for lysine residues were employed. No loss of enzyme activity occured on reaction with such Nhydroxysuccinimide (NHS) compounds. Derivative forms of HRP displayed greater thermostability and a greater tolerance of water-miscible organic solvents. Enhanced resistance towards denaturants was noted. Structural changes in the vicinity of the heme of HRP derivatives were studied by UV/Visible spectrophotometry and fluorimetry. The extent of modification on HRP's six lysines has been determined.

The NHS derivatives of HRP have also been employed in the removal of phenols from aqueous solution (Chapter three). HRP catalyses the oxidation of toxic aromatic compounds in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Reaction products polymerise to form high molecular weight materials which can be easily separated from aqueous solution. Modified peroxidases displayed greater removal efficiencies of phenols compared to the native enzyme over a wide range of reaction conditions, including high temperatures. For some pollutants, the efficiency of removal is high.

Native HRP has also been used in the development of a biosensor for the selective determination of uric acid (Chapter four). The sensor was found to function efficiently without the necessity for an electron transfer mediator. The mechanism of the sensor's response was thought to be due to direct electron transfer from the electrode to HRP. A monomer, o-aminophenol, which was electrodeposited at the working surface of the electrode, was found to protect the biocomponents from interferences and fouling. The sensor was incorporated into a flow injection system for the quantification of uric acid in human serum. Recoveries compared favourably with a standard spectrophotometric method.


Object skeleton detection is a challenging problem with wide application. Recently, deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have substantially improved the performance of the state-of-the-art in this task. However, most of the existing CNN-Based methods are based on a skip-layer structure where low-level and high-level features are combined and learned so as to gather multi-level contextual information. As shallow features are too messy and lack semantic knowledge, they may cause errors and inaccuracy. Therefore, we propose a novel network architecture, Multi-Scale Bidirectional Fully Convolutional Network (MSB-FCN), to better capture and consolidate multi-scale high-level context information for object skeleton detection. Our network uses only deep features to build multi-scale feature representations, and employs a bidirectional structure to collect contextual knowledge. Hence the proposed MSB-FCN has the ability to learn the semantic-level information from different sub-regions. Furthermore, we introduce dense connections into the bidirectional structure of our MSB-FCN to ensure that the learning process at each scale can directly encode information from all other scales. Extensive experiments on various commonly used benchmarks demonstrate that the proposed MSB-FCN has achieved significant improvements over the state-of-the-art algorithms.


Results of clinical studies are often contradictory in real time, and in other instances therapies may be adopted due to information from clinical studies where the data may be premature or resulting from small studies. Much of the data may have inherent selection biases, and their interpretation may be confusing and difficult. The hematological literature is full of such examples, and this review will describe some such instances in the hope of introducing both a cautionary note and encouraging more precise description of study conditions as well as an appreciation of the importance of allowing data from clinical studies to mature. Several examples will be drawn from clinical studies in lymphomas, leukemia, and bone marrow transplantation.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of hyperbaric oxygen preconditioning (HBO-PC) on neuronal apoptosis, Ca2+ concentration, and Caspases expression after spinal cord injury (SCI) in rats.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 36 rats were randomly divided into control group (CON group), hyperbaric oxygen preconditioning group (HBO-PC group) and spinal cord injury group (SCI group), with 12 rats in each group. Rats in group HBO-PC were given HBO-PC intervention before modeling. SCI model was established by modified Allen method in group HBO-PC and group SCI. Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor rating scale and motor evoked potential (MEP) examination were used to assess the neurological function. The expression of apoptosis gene caspase (3, 7, 8, 12) mRNA was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The concentration of Ca2+ in spinal cord tissue of each group was detected.

RESULTS
CON group, HBO-PC group, and SCI group were gradually diminishing in BBB score and potential value and amplitude of MEP, respectively. The differences between groups were statistically significant (p<0.05). The expressions of Caspase-3 and 7, 8 and 12 mRNA in SCI group were significantly higher than those in CON group and HBO-PC group, respectively (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between CON group and HBO-PC group (p>0.05). The concentrations of Ca2+ in the CON group, HBO-PC group and SCI group were gradually increased; differences between groups were statistically significant (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
HBO-PC can reduce the loss of motor function of SCI rats, which may inhibit the activation of endoplasmic reticulum pathway of neural apoptosis, and reduce the calcium overload through inhibiting the expressions of pro-apoptotic proteins (Caspase-3/7/8/12), thus reducing the cell apoptosis and protecting neurons.


Strength and conditioning (S&C) is implemented across various sports and levels, but there is limited understanding of the personnel responsible for this, including their S&C practices and perspectives. Whereas recent evidence has shown that coaches and players are often tasked with the responsibility. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate: 1) the personnel responsible for delivering S&C across different levels of soccer, 2) the practices and perspectives of soccer coaches and players, and 3) to ascertain whether the practices employed align with contemporary evidence and guidelines. Forty-two soccer coaches and 30 soccer players completed an online survey with six sections: (a) informed consent, (b) background information, (c) education, qualifications, and prescription, (d) views on S&C, (e) exercise selection and preferences, and (f) issues and improvements. Frequency analysis was used to report responses to fixed-response questions and thematic analysis for open-ended questions. Most respondents reported S&C to be 'important' to 'very important' for all soccer, physical fitness, and injury parameters, with perspectives being predominantly aligned with S&C guidelines and research in soccer. Although S&C coaches were mostly responsible for delivering S&C sessions, over 60% of respondents disclosed S&C sessions were delivered independently or by support staff. This is problematic given only four coaches held S&C qualifications, and issues and improvements were mostly regarding a lack of S&C expertise and education. This study provides valuable information for S&C and soccer organizations. Particularly regarding the additional support required to ensure those responsible for delivering S&C in soccer have the appropriate knowledge and qualifications.


This study was attempted in order to offer basic data, which are useful for understanding and guiding middle school students' behavior in the school field, to teachers and counselors by closely examining which influence the application of aromatherapy intervention targeting middle school students has upon academic stress, academic self-efficacy, suicidal ideation, and salivary cortisol. As this is a study in the randomized control group pre-post test design that applied with making aroma essential oil in the form of aroma stick so that continuous management can be easy, it proved the effective intervention method available for being used in alleviating academic stress and enhancing academic self-efficacy in middle school students by objectively verifying an effect of aroma essential oil. Also, a useful method was suggested that even the middle school students as the stressful youths can easily use with having an interest in own health promotion. The intervention of aromatherapy using aroma essential oil has significance in corresponding to a flow of stress and health management in modern times of pointing to a natural healing method focusing on a concept of wellbeing, and in offering a scientific basic of a complementary and alternative therapy.


Abstract. The probabilistic fault displacement hazard analysis is one of the new methods in estimating the amount of possible displacement in the area at the hazard of causal fault rupture. In this study, using the probabilistic approach and earthquake method introduced by Youngs et al., 2003, the surface displacement of the North Tabriz fault has been investigated, and the possible displacement in different scenarios has been estimated. By considering the strike-slip mechanism of the North Tabriz fault and using the earthquake method, the probability of displacement due to surface ruptures caused by 1721 and 1780 North Tabriz fault earthquakes has been explored. These events were associated with 50 and 60 km of surface rupture, respectively. The 50–60 km long section of the North Tabriz fault was selected as the source of possible surface rupture. We considered two scenarios according to possible displacements, return periods, and magnitudes which are reported in paleoseismic studies of the North Tabriz fault. As the first scenario, possible displacement, return period, and magnitude was selected between zero to 4.5; 645 years and Mw~7.7, respectively. In the second scenario, possible displacement, return period and magnitude were selected between zero to 7.1, 300 years, and Mw~7.3, respectively. For both mentioned scenarios, the probabilistic displacements for the rate of exceedance 5 % in 50, 475, and 2475 years for the principle possible displacements (on fault) of the North Tabriz fault have been estimated. For the first and second scenarios, the maximum probabilistic displacement of the North Tabriz fault at a rate of 5 % in 50 years is estimated to be 186 and 230 cm. Also, mentioned displacements for 5 % exceedance in 475 years and 2475 years in both return periods of 645 and 300 years, are estimated at 469 and 655 cm.


This paper examines how public conflict and private attack became interfused for Pietro Aretino in 1525, when he sought to intervene in the outcome of the Battle of Pavia – which saw Emperor Charles V take Francis I prisoner – and was the victim of an assassination attempt ordered by the papal datary Gian Matteo Giberti. The outcome of both events was dislocation: Francis I was taken to Madrid, where he was held until he capitulated to the punitive Treaty of Madrid the following year; Aretino fled Rome for Venice, where he was to achieve unrivalled success as the most significant figure in vernacular print culture. Before he was taken to Madrid Francis was held at Pizzighettone (Cremona), where he penned his famous letter to his mother Louise de Savoy lamenting his misfortune. It is exactly this topic of fortune that Aretino treats in his letter to Francis I (proposing patience and fortitude) and his simultaneous letter to Charles V (proposing clemency). This paper argues that Aretino's opportunistic public letters to Charles and Francis (published 1538) were triggered by Francis's own public letter to his mother, and respond to the latter's rhetorical strategies in a manner designed to further Aretino's own ambitions as a non-official public diplomat. This form of political intervention is strikingly different from the vicious pasquinades of Aretino's Roman period, which resulted in his being repeatedly stabbed and left for dead. Both again are public forms: satirical conflict and epistolary diplomacy. It was not until the flight to Venice that Aretino could begin to engage on the international political stage in a way that was more substantial than lampoon. In both the macro-and micro-instances conflict begets travel begets a reflective textual culture.


To develop a geometric atlas that can predict tumor shrinkage and guide treatment planning for non-small-cell lung cancer. To evaluate the impact of the shrinkage atlas on the ability of tumor dose escalation. The creation of a geometric atlas included twelve patients with lung cancer who underwent both planning CT and weekly CBCT for radiotherapy planning and delivery. The shrinkage pattern from the original pretreatment to the residual posttreatment tumor was modeled using a principal component analysis, and used for predicting the spatial distribution of the residual tumor. A predictive map was generated by unifying predictions from each individual patient in the atlas, followed by correction for the tumor's surrounding tissue distribution. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the predictive model for classifying voxels inside the original gross tumor volume were evaluated. In addition, a retrospective study of predictive treatment planning (PTP) escalated dose to the predicted residual tumor while maintaining the same level of predicted complication rates for a clinical plan delivering uniform dose to the entire tumor. The effect of uncertainty on the predictive model's ability to escalate dose was also evaluated. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the predictive model were 0.73, 0.76, and 0.74, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for voxel classification was 0.87. The Dice coefficient and mean surface distance between the predicted and actual residual tumor averaged 0.75, and 1.6 mm, respectively. The PTP approach allowed elevation of PTV D95 and mean dose to the actual residual tumor by 6.5 Gy and 10.4 Gy, respectively, relative to the clinical uniform dose approach. A geometric atlas can provide useful information on the distribution of resistant tumors and effectively guide dose escalation to the tumor without compromising the organs at risk complications. The atlas can be further refined by using more patient data sets.


Northern Ireland Neighbourhood Watch (NINW) was formally introduced to Northern Ireland in 2004 by the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Policing Board and Northern Ireland Office. However, there has been little research to data as to participation in, or success of, the schemes. This research report provides one of the few empirical examinations of NINW. Using GIS mapping and socio-demographic data from the Northern Ireland Neighbourhood Information Service (NINIS), the research explores participation in NINW schemes set against religion, deprivation and crime levels at the Census Output Area (COA) level across Northern Ireland. While the research largely confirms the limited impact of neighbourhood schemes as noted in international literature, at a local level in Northern Ireland the findings evidence a distinct pattern of uptake, with the vast majority of participants in the schemes residing in affluent, low-crime, mainly Protestant areas of the country.


The localization of secretory component (SG) and IgA was immunohisto‐chemically studied in 6 normal endometrium and 55 endometrial adenocarcinomas including 34 well, 11 moderately and 10 poorly differentiated ones. In normal endometrium, SC localization was found in the cytoplasm of epithelial cells and luminal contents of the gland. IgA showed similar localization of SC. Secretory phase endometrium contained proportionally larger numbers of positive cells for SC and IgA than proliferative phase endometrium. SC localization was found in all cases of well and moderately differentiated carcinomas, while it was found only in 4 cases out of 10 poorly differentiated carcinomas. IgA localization was similar to that of SC and this condition was thought to reveal the binding of IgA to SC existing in the tumor cells. The present immunohistochemical study revealed that the staining intensity of SC well correlated with the histological grade of differentiation of the tumors.


Abstract In recent years, there is a constantly increasing interest in the application of nanoparticles for cancer diagnosis and cancer therapy. In this respect, the most promising nano-objects at present are the gold nanoparticles. A very convenient and powerful property of these objects is their ability to increase their temperature under electro-magnetic irradiation with certain wavelength. In our research we have directed our efforts toward particular nano-objects specifically sensitive to electromagnetic radiation in the near-infrared region (NIR). In order to study the photothermic properties of the solutions of gold nanoparticles in the NIR we constructed a specific electronic setup consisting of a laser system with interchangeable laser diodes with different wavelength NIR light, a thermally-insulated cuvette-holder compartment with temperature measuring probes and a NIR spectrometer to control the stimulated fluorescence emission of the nanoparticles' solutions. The temperature measurement compartment with the thermal-insulated cuvette holder was designed to maintain the solutions' temperature at a fixed value right before the moment of laser irradiation. To maintain the measurement setup at a fixed temperature before the irradiation we used a thermal stabilized system based on two Peltier cells with electronic temperature control. The temperatures of the ambient air and the temperature of the cuvette walls were continuously measured in order to make corrections about the temperature dissipation during the irradiation.


Rip currents at Pensacola Beach in northwest Florida are associated with a transverse bar and rip morphology that develops as the nearshore bars migrate landward and weld to the beachface. As shown in a number of recent studies, the nearshore bar morphology at Pensacola Beach varies alongshore in response to a ridge and swale bathymetry on the inner-shelf, creating "hotspots" of rip current activity. However, it remains unclear whether these recently identified "hotspots" were present before Hurricane Ivan and if the development of the rip system is a response to the bar cycle. Wavelet analysis of aerial and satellite imagery from 1951 to 2004 was used to quantify the alongshore variation in bar morphology and identify when and where transverse bar and rip morphology develops in response to the storm-driven bar cycle. The innermost bar varies alongshore at a scale (of ~1000 m) that is consistent with the ridge and swale bathymetry, being closest to the beachface immediately landward of the deeper swales. As the bar migrates landward in the swales, it develops a variation with a length scale (of ~200 m) that is consistent with the spacing between rip currents. The transverse bar and rip morphology is found to preferentially develop at the primary beach access points where most drownings and rescues have historically taken place. The lack of a transverse bar and rip morphology landward of the ridges suggests that the bar cycle is rarely completed (with bar welding to the beachface) at those locations before the next hurricane or tropical storm moves it offshore.


Implication of serum atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and endothelin-1 (ET1) in the central nervous system (CNS)-induced natriuresis and hypertension respectively, was investigated in healthy and cirrhotic rats. Both healthy and nonascitic CCl(4)-induced cirrhotic rats under pentobarbital anesthesia received either normotonic (140 mmol/L) or hypertonic (320 mmol/L) NaCl artificial cerebrospinal fluid into the CNS lateral ventricle at a rate of 8.3 microl/min for 120 min. A sham operated group, but not centrally infused, served as matched control. Hypertonic NaCl solution significantly increased mean arterial pressure (MAP) similarly in both healthy (n = 5) ((MAP: 16 mm Hg, 13%) and cirrhotic rats (n = 6) ((MAP: 20 mm Hg, 15%) (ANOVA, p <.001) although the latter showed a slower increment. Under hypertonic NaCl infusion, natriuresis was also significantly increased in a similar manner in both healthy (U (Na) V: baseline: 0.38 +/- 0.22 micromol/min x 100 g; experiment: 2.36 +/- 0.90 micromol/min x 100 g; mean +/- SD) and cirrhotic rats (0.69 +/- 0.48 vs. 3.16 +/- 0.87; p <.001). By contrast, central hypertonic NaCl solutions did not show a significant modification of serum ANP in neither healthy (62 +/- 18 fmol/ml vs. 51 +/- 17 fmol/ml) nor cirrhotic rats (126 +/- 61 vs. 115 +/- 30). Likewise, ET-1 was not significantly modified under central hypertonic NaCl infusion in neither healthy (352 +/- 46 pg/ml vs. 344 +/- 39 pg/ml) nor cirrhotic rats (287 +/- 58 vs. 277 +/- 61). Despite no modification in serum ANP, there was a significant increment in urinary excretion of cGMP under central hypertonic NaCl infusions in bo th healthy (6.8 +/- 4.1 pmol/min x 100 g vs. 13.0 +/- 6.5 pmol/min x 100 g; p <.05) and cirrhotic rats (8.6 +/- 1.7 vs. 11.1 +/- 1.3; p <.05). Our data indicate the preservation of the mechanisms of central natriuresis in a model of non-ascitic CCl(4 )-induced cirrhosis in rats. An increment in urinary cGMP could potentially be implicated in the natriuretic response obtained by intracerebroventricular hypertonic NaCl stimulus in both healthy and cirrhotic rats. The lack of modification of serum ANP and ET-1 does not appear to support a systemic implication of these peptides in the natriuretic and hypertensive responses respectively induced by this manoeuvre.


We were very interested to hear of the views of Hogberg et al regarding our paper recently published in ADC .1 We note that they are not criticising our study, but compare data from our paper with theirs on metabolic bone disease (MBD) in infants that was published in PLOS ONE in 2018.2 They argue that if there is a sevenfold difference in the identification of physical abuse as the cause of fractures in infants between the East Anglia region of the UK and Sweden, then perhaps MBD is being mistaken for physical abuse in the UK. If found to be true, this is clearly very important. There are two main areas we should discuss:

1. Can we safely compare the figure of 2.3% of infants in Sweden with a fracture being due to physical abuse, with the 18.9% figure we noted for the UK? Please note our incidence of abuse in infants with a fracture was 18.9%, not 21.2% as …


BsrE/SR5 is a new type I toxin/antitoxin system located on the prophage-like region P6 of the Bacillus subtilis chromosome. The bsrE gene encoding a 30-amino acid hydrophobic toxin and the antitoxin gene sr5 overlap at their 3′ ends by 112 bp. Overexpression of bsrE causes cell lysis on agar plates. Here, we present a detailed in vitro analysis of bsrE/SR5. The secondary structures of SR5, bsrE mRNA, and the SR5/bsrE RNA complex were determined. Apparent binding rate constants (kapp) of wild-type and mutated SR5 species with wild-type bsrE mRNA were calculated, and SR5 regions required for efficient inhibition of bsrE mRNA narrowed down. In vivo studies confirmed the in vitro data but indicated that a so far unknown RNA binding protein might exist in B. subtilis that can promote antitoxin/toxin RNA interaction. Using time course experiments, the binding pathway of SR5 and bsrE RNA was elucidated. A comparison with the previously well characterized type I TA system from the B. subtilis chromosome, bsrG/SR4, reveals similarities but also significant differences.


Molecular genetic technologies used in forensic medical expert evaluations help quantitatively evaluate the significance of coincidence or non-coincidence of signs in personality identification and in expert evaluation of kinship identification (disputable paternity or maternity). The level of validity of evidences, which can be considered necessary and sufficient, is the principal problem in such cases. Analyzing a complex case with disputable maternity, the authors discuss problems illustrating the necessity of attaining a high level of validity of the results for drawing a justified expert conclusion. Only high validity standard can rule out errors in interpretation of the results, otherwise the significance of the detected complex of signs can be insufficient for an unambiguous solution of an expert task.


Aim. To explore (1) general practitioners' (GPs') motivations to refer to lifestyle interventions and to investigate the association between GPs' own lifestyle behaviors and their referral behavior and (2) patient indicators in the decisionmaking process of the GPs' referral to lifestyle interventions. Method. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 99 Dutch primary care GPs. Their motivation to refer was assessed by beliefs regarding lifestyle interventions. GPs' referral behaviors were assessed—considering referral and self-reported actual referral—as well as their own lifestyle behaviors (physical activity, dieting, being overweight). Decision making regarding referring patients to lifestyle interventions was assessed by imposed patient indicators, spontaneously suggested decisive patient indicators, and case-based referring (vignettes). Results. A substantial group of GPs was not motivated for referral to lifestyle interventions. GPs' referral behavior was significantly associated with their perceived subjective norm, behavioral control, and their own physical activity and diet. Most important, patient indicators in referral to lifestyle interventions were somatic indicators and patients' motivation for lifestyle interventions. Conclusions. GPs' motivation and referral behavior might be improved by providing them with tailored resources about evidencebased lifestyle interventions, with support from allied health professionals and with official guidelines for a more objective and systematic screening of patients.


Total Flow Analysis (TFA) is a method for conducting the worst-case analysis of time sensitive networks without cyclic dependencies. In networks with cyclic dependencies, Fixed-Point TFA introduces artificial cuts, analyses the resulting cycle-free network with TFA, and iterates. If it converges, it does provide valid performance bounds. We show that the choice of the specific cuts used by Fixed-Point TFA does not affect its convergence nor the obtained performance bounds, and that it can be replaced by an alternative algorithm that does not use any cut at all, while still applying to cyclic dependencies.


Geostatistical design and analysis methods are increasingly used in disease mapping, particularly in resource-limited settings where uniformly precise mapping may be unrealistically costly and the priority is often to identify critical areas where interventions can have the most health impact. In this thesis, which is based on four papers, we address the problem of geostatistical sampling design. In the first paper, we consider the problem of sampling design for efficient spatial prediction taking account of uncertain covariance structure, in the context of nonadaptive designs. We propose two classes of designs, namely: simple inhibitory and inhibitory plus close pairs. We evaluate the performance of these designs using an average prediction variance criterion and show how the findings are applied to the design of a rolling Malaria Indicator Survey (rMIS) in an ongoing large-scale, five-year malaria transmission reduction project in Malawi. In the second paper, we address the problem of efficient spatial prediction in the context of adaptive geostatistical designs (AGD). We propose two classes of designs based on singleton and batch sampling. We show how our findings inform an AGD of rMIS, in the perimeter of Majete Wildlife Reserve (MWR) in Chikwawa, southern Malawi. The third paper is a commentary on a paper by Ferreira and Gamerman (2015), which addressed the effect of preferential sampling of the locations at which to measure a spatial process. In the fourth paper, we present the first epidemiological field application of AGD sampling in a malaria prevalence survey. We give an in-depth description of the project, the study area and practical implementation of our adaptive sampling strategy. We present prevalence maps for children 6–59 months in MWR perimeter, showing high malaria transmission areas, often called "hotspots", that could be targeted with interventions.


We developed a moderated mediation model to investigate both the mediating role of self-esteem in the relationship between extraversion and emotional expression, and the moderating effect of emotional intelligence on this mediating role, in a moderated mediation model. We used personality and emotional expression questionnaires, and self-esteem and emotional intelligence scales to survey 2,644 Chinese college students. Results showed that there was a significant positive correlation between extraversion and emotional expression and a partial mediating role of self-esteem between extraversion and emotional expression, and that the mediating role of self-esteem was moderated by emotional intelligence. Indirect effects were more significant in participants with high versus low emotional intelligence. Thus, the influence of extraversion on emotional expression was a moderated mediation effect. Theoretical guidance and practical implications for the cultivation of emotional expression in college students are discussed.


Long series of simulated rainfall are required at point locations for a range of applications, including hydrological studies. Clustered point-process based rainfall models have been used for generating such simulations for many decades. One of their main advantages is the fact that they generate simulations in continuous time, allowing aggregation to different timescales in a consistent way, and such models generally perform well in representing rainfall at hourly to daily timescales. An important disadvantage, however, is their stationarity. Although seasonality can be allowed for by fitting separate models for each calendar month or season, the models are unsuitable in their basic form for climate impact studies. In this thesis we develop new methodology to address this limitation. We extend the current fitting approach by replacing the discrete covariate, calendar month, with continuous covariates which are more directly related to the incidence and nature of rainfall. The covariate-dependent model parameters are estimated for each time interval using a kernel-based nonparametric approach within a Generalised Method of Moments framework. An empirical study using the new methodology is undertaken using a time series of five-minute rainfall data. In addition to addressing the need for temporal non-stationarity, which is our main focus, we also carry out a systematic comparison of a number of key variants of the basic model, in order to identify which features are required for an optimal fit at sub-hourly resolution. This generates some new insights into the models, leading to the development of a new model extension, which introduces dependence between rainfall intensity and duration in a simple way. The new model retains the "rectangular pulses" (i.e. rain cells with a constant intensity) of the original clustered point-process model, which had previously been considered inappropriate for fine-scale data, obviating the need for a computationally more intensive "instantaneous pulse" model.


Interpretation of seismic data is still a process that involves manual work. By applying clustering algorithms to seismic attribute data, it is possible to automate interpretation to a certain degree.
The first applications of clustering for seismic interpretation date from the early 1980s (Seber, 1984). In this work Seber applied K-means clustering, which remains one of the main clustering algorithms applied to seismic data. Sabeti and Javaherian (2009) applied K-means clustering to synthetic and real seismic data in an attempt to determine facies changes. Self-organizing maps (SOM) are another important clustering algorithm that has been applied to seismic data (Kohonen, 1990; 2001). Taner (2001) used SOM clustering to subdivide a seismic data set into four lithology classes. Strecker and Uden (2002) and Roy and Marfurt (2010) used SOM–based clustering to describe channel systems. Both Taner (2001) and Strecker (2002) emphasized the importance of well information for calibrating the results. Barnes and Laughlin (2002) applied both K-means and SOM clustering to seismic sections and to a 3D seismic data set. In their work they found a good correlation between the results of K-means and SOM clustering. Although almost no other clustering methods have been applied to seismic data, Paasche and Tronicke (2007) used Fuzzy K-means on 3D GPR data and assumed this method might also be applicable to 3D seismic data.
In this work we test various clustering methods for their applicability to the segmentation of seismic data. The project is structured in two phases: firstly on synthetic data and secondly on real seismic. In the first phase we created synthetic structural models of reef bodies, salt structures, channels, karst features, fault zones, and volcanic structures. These models were then forward modelled to generate synthetic seismic data that were used as input for testing of clustering algorithms.


Researchers have identified several threats to the validity of the use of the lineup as a test
of true recognition. One concern is related to the structure of the simultaneous lineup. It is argued here that a simultaneous presentation of an array nonetheless requires the viewer to undertake sequential processing of the items in the array. This sequential pattern is unlikely to be random and therefore the position of a culprit in a lineup may have a significant effect on the accuracy of witness selection. A simulated crime (snatching of a handbag) was shown to a convenience sample of 84 undergraduates aged between 18–23 years. In 84 subsequent live lineups, the offender was placed with four foils. He was positioned on the far left (position 1) in 42 cases (50%), and in 14 cases respectively in positions 3 (centre), 4 (centre right) and 5 (extreme right). A very strong association was found between position and correct identification with position 1 placement leading to a
significantly lower proportion of correct identification (7.1%) compared to position 3 (50.0%), position 4 (64.3%), and position 5 (21.4%). Steps to remedy possible positional biases are considered.


Introduction:The frequency, causes and prognostic implications of pulmonary hypertension (PHT) in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) are not well defined. The objectives of this study were to determine the frequency of PHT [pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) >50 mm Hg] in patients with severe AS, identify the factors associated with PHT and assess the relationship between PHT and clinical outcome. Methods:Patients with severe AS (aortic valve area ⩽1.0 cm2) and an echocardiographic estimate of PASP were identified by using the institutional echocardiography laboratory database. Patients with atrial fibrillation, mitral valve stenosis or a mitral prosthesis were excluded from analysis. The associations between clinical and echocardiographic parameters and PHT and the relationship between PHT and outcome were examined. Results:During the study period, 216 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria (age: 75 ± 11 years; 43% men), and PHT was present in 64 patients (29.6%). By multivariate analysis, reduced left ventricular (LV) systolic function (LV ejection fraction ⩽45% and lower stroke volume) and impaired LV diastolic function (mitral inflow E/A ratio ≥1.5 and greater left atrium size) were independent predictors of PHT. Mortality was higher among patients with PHT managed medically (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.87; 95% confidence interval, 1.06–3.30; P = 0.011), whereas patients with PHT who underwent aortic valve replacement had an excellent outcome. Conclusions:PHT is common in patients with AS and is related to the severity of LV systolic and diastolic dysfunction. PHT is associated with poorer outcome in medically treated patients.


We propose a method to combine several image processing methods with Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to perform palm tree detection and counting. This paper focuses on drone imaging, which has a high image resolution and is widely deployed in the plantation industry. Analyzing drone images is challenging due to variable drone flying altitudes, resulting in inconsistent tree sizes in images captured. Counting by template matching or fixed sliding window size method often produces an inaccurate count. Instead, our method employs frequency domain analysis to estimate tree size before CNN. The method is evaluated using two images, ranging from a few thousand trees to a few hundred thousand trees per image. We have summarized the accuracy of the proposed method by comparing the results with manually labelled ground truth.


The world is changing in new and profound ways. These shifts will substantially alter how the cybersecurity workforce will do its job in the future and will require innovative, shared thinking and decisions. Today, efforts to understand the future cybersecurity environment are focused on exercising known technological threats at the sector or organizational level. This is limiting and could too narrowly focus planning and decisions, as it is not reflective of broader, macro-level global shifts across social, economic, environmental, and political changes. An organizing construct is needed to understand how this broader risk environment may impact the future of cybersecurity. 'Alternate Futures' is a method within the broader discipline of foresight to consider a range of futures (e.g., probable, possible, preferable) twenty to thirty years from now across an organizational, cross-discipline, or global domain, and to create or alter our strategies, goals, plans, and actions to achieve desired outcomes. Alternate Futures is a method by which we: identify macro-level factors that will impact our world (e.g., social, technological, economic, environmental, political, legal), create scenarios for changes brought about by these factors (e.g., how will our world benefit or be worse off?), identify key drivers of change that could invoke these scenarios (e.g., changes in global interdependencies, government budgets, access to information, demographic shifts), and identify strategic needs that will ensure we are successful if any of these alternate futures unfold. Results from a small study we conducted of cybersecurity professionals across a range of roles aligned to NIST's Cybersecurity Workforce Framework indicated that they saw significant value in thinking more broadly and over a longer timeframe, as it would help to identify areas of risk convergence across multiple business functions, support CSO/CTO/CISO and governance board decision making processes, provide the cybersecurity community with a shared sense of direction and urgency to drive action toward meeting future needs, and ultimately to prepare the cybersecurity community for whatever challenges and opportunities the future holds. To achieve these outcomes, we recommend creating cross-sector and cross-business line communities to facilitate thinking around Alternate Futures.


This paper examines several promising throughput enhancements to the Lempel-Ziv-Oberhumer (LZO) 1x-1-15 data compression algorithm. Of many algorithm variants present in the current library version, 2.06, LZO 1x-1-15 is considered to be the fastest, geared toward speed rather than compression ratio. We present several algorithm modifications tailored to modern multi-core architectures in this paper that are intended to increase compression speed while minimizing any loss in compression ratio. On average, the experimental results show that on a modern quad core system, a 3.9x speedup in compression time is achieved over the baseline algorithm with no loss to compression ratio. Allowing for a 25% loss in compression ratio, up to a 5.4x speedup in compression time was observed.


As Voice-over-IP becomes a commonly used technology, the need to keep it secure and reliable has grown. Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is most often used to deploy VoIP and therefore SIP servers, the base components of SIP, are the most obvious targets of potential attacks. It has been demonstrated, that SIP servers are highly prone to DDoS flood attacks, yet no generally accepted defense solution mitigating these attacks is available. We propose a novel defense architecture against SIP DDoS floods, based upon a redirection mechanism and a combination of source and destination traffic filtering, exploiting the combined advantage of all the three techniques. We show that the proposed solution effectively mitigates various types of SIP DDoS flood attacks, discuss its strengths and weaknesses and propose its potential usability for other protocols. We also provide results of performance evaluation of the defense solution deployed in a SIP testbed.


This article explores the legacy of three decades of neoliberal reforms on New Zealand's university system. By tracing the different government policies during this period, it seeks to contribute to wider debates about the trajectory of contemporary universities in an age of globalisation. Since Lyotard's influential report on The Postmodern Condition (1994), critics have frequently claimed that commercialisation and managerialism have undermined and supplanted the social mission of the university as governments throughout the developed world have sought to transform the university 'from an ideological arm of the state into a bureaucratically organised and relatively autonomous consumer-oriented corporation' (Readings 1996: 457). Against this I argue that the new model of the entrepreneurial and corporate university has not so much replaced the traditional functions and meaning of the university as added a new layer of complexity to the university's already diverse and multifaceted roles in society. Drawing on an ethnography of one university and personal observations, I explore the effects of that reform process on the culture and character of the university and, more specifically, its impact on academic identities and the everyday practices of academics and students. As in other OECD countries, New Zealand's universities are now required to deliver a bewildering plethora of government priorities and strategic economic and social objectives whilst simultaneously carrying out their traditional roles in teaching, research and scholarship. The challenge for the modern university, as reflected in the case of New Zealand, is how to negotiate these diverse and often contradictory missions.


This article is a reflection on a journey of transdisciplinary partners from two different and unusually paired "sets" of disciplines: photography art (Silvio Wolf, SW) and cross-pollinated research in the fields of applied clinical neuroscience and psychoanalysis (Inna Rozentsvit, IR). This relationship originated in examining the "beholder's share" phenomenon and moved on to further collaboration on the topics of "thresholds" and "visible/invisible," as they relate to these two individuals' personal and professional beings.


Abstract This research examines maternal smoking during pregnancy and risk for poorer executive function in siblings discordant for exposure. Data (N = 173 families) were drawn from the Missouri Mothers and Their Children study, a sample, identified using birth records (years 1998–2005), in which mothers changed smoking behavior between two pregnancies (Child 1 [older sibling]: Mage = 12.99; Child 2 [younger sibling]: Mage = 10.19). A sibling comparison approach was used, providing a robust test for the association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and different aspects of executive function in early-mid adolescence. Results suggested within-family (i.e., potentially causal) associations between maternal smoking during pregnancy and one working memory task (visual working memory) and one response inhibition task (color-word interference), with increased exposure associated with decreased performance. Maternal smoking during pregnancy was not associated with stop-signal reaction time, cognitive flexibility/set-shifting, or auditory working memory. Initial within-family associations between maternal smoking during pregnancy and visual working memory as well as color-word interference were fully attenuated in a model including child and familial covariates. These findings indicate that exposure to maternal smoking during pregnancy may be associated with poorer performance on some, but not all skills assessed; however, familial transmission of risk for low executive function appears more important.


OBJECTIVE
To comprehensively phenotype parents identified with nonclassic congenital adrenal hyperplasia (NCCAH) by family genetic studies, termed here as cryptic NCCAH and to define the incidence of cryptic NCCAH in the parents of a large cohort of patients with 21-hydroxylase deficiency.

DESIGN
Genotyping was performed on 249 parents of 145 unrelated congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) patients. Parents with two CYP21A2 mutations underwent extensive evaluation.

RESULTS
Of the 249 parents, ten (4%; seven females and three males) were identified as having cryptic NCCAH. The majority was of ethnicities previously reported to have a higher incidence of NCCAH. Cosyntropin stimulation performed in eight parents provided biochemical confirmation (17-hydroxyprogesterone range 56-364 nmol/l) and cortisol response was ≤500 nmol/l in three parents (38%). Of the seven women (27-54 years) with cryptic NCCAH, four had prior infertility, two reported irregular menses, two had treatment for hirsutism, one had androgenic alopecia. Men were asymptomatic. All cryptic NCCAH parents reported normal puberty and had normal height. Adrenal hypertrophy and a small adrenal myelolipoma were observed in two parents; testicular adrenal rest tissue was not found.

CONCLUSIONS
Parents diagnosed with NCCAH by genetic testing are mostly asymptomatic. Temporary female infertility and suboptimal cortisol response were commonly observed. Ongoing glucocorticoid therapy is not indicated in adults with CAH identified by family genotype studies unless symptomatic, but glucocorticoid stress coverage should be considered in select cases. Parents of a child with CAH have a 1:25 risk of having NCCAH; if the mother of a child with CAH has infertility, evaluation for NCCAH is indicated.


Abstract The mineralogy and crystal chemistry of a new talc ore deposit situated at Thu Ngac commune, Thanh Son district, Phu Tho province, Vietnam, was investigated using X-ray fluorescence, electron microprobe, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (29Si and 1H) and colorimetry. Both chemical and crystal-chemical analyses showed that the talcs from the Phu Tho province are very pure because they contain few accessory minerals (chlorite, amphibole and goethite) and few substitutions of Si by Fe and Al in their crystal structure. The talc ore may well meet the standards required for a wide range of industrial applications.


Signal occlusion by building blockages is a double-edged sword for the performance of millimeter-wave (mmW) communication networks. Buildings may dominantly attenuate the useful signals, especially when mmW base stations (BSs) are sparsely deployed compared with the building density. In the opposite BS deployment, buildings can block the undesired interference. To enjoy only the benefit, we propose a building-aware association scheme that adjusts the directional BS association bias of the user equipments (UEs), based on a given building density and the concentration of UE locations around the buildings. The association of each BS can thereby be biased: 1) toward the UEs located against buildings for avoiding interference to other UEs or 2) toward the UEs providing their maximum reference signal received powers. The proposed association scheme is optimized to maximize the downlink average data rate derived by stochastic geometry. Its effectiveness is validated by simulation using real building statistics.


It is probably wise to define at the outset exactly what material this paper intends to discuss and, perhaps more importantly, what it will not discuss. At the very least, this practice should save the time of readers who already know (or don't care about) what is offered, and of those who search for information which is absent here. This paper does cover the origins, development, and present status of handwriting evidence in courts of the United States. What is not discussed includes the historical English precedents (except insofar as the English common law doctrines were adopted and explicated in U.S. court decisions), nor is there any discussion of developments in courts of the various states, nor is there any specific discussion of questioned document problems other than handwriting. These are all deserving topics, and let us hope they will be subjects of future research, but for now the topic will be limited strictly to the law of handwriting evidence applicable in the federal court system. Historical discussions, collections of citations, and surveys can be found in Refs 1 through 5.


Remote sensing is a method of monitoring the natural heterogeneity of vegetation. Although satellite based remote sensing has been a popular method for monitoring the earth's surface, it has several drawbacks, such as the orbital period, unattended capture, and investment cost. On the other hand, an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) is more flexible in terms of deployment, monitoring a small area, and being easy to obtain at a low cost. From this point of view, the goal of this research was to develop a low cost and easy to implement technical solution for mapping spatial heterogeneity and research its relationship with plant conditions. The intention was to develop a cycling process starting with a UAV-based image-capturing tool for an easy and reasonable production of a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the resulting prescription maps, especially of vineyards. The main parts of this image acquisition system were the UAV and modified digital cameras purchased from the store. Two different fixed-winged UAVs were built for this study based on commercial airplane models and used open source autopilot. Two small digital cameras (Nikon and Canon) were tested for capturing the images. These were modified to capture electromagnetic energy ranging from 380 nm to 1100 nm. Camera calibration tests were conducted and a UAV-based image acquisition system was successfully developed. In the next step, future field tests will be conducted to assess the practical usage of running the cycling process.


The problems arising in the modeling and coding of digital Chinese character patterns for noiseless compression purposes are discussed. The modeling is intended to capture the maximum redundancies of the source under the consideration of relevant parameters. In this study, a redundancy-gathering algorithm is proposed in which a 2-D parsing tree is used, and the nodes to extend the tree are ranked according to the maximum redundancy gathered. Hence, the modeling represented by the tree can achieve great performance in the small number of nodes. The algorithm is then applied to evaluate the performance of arithmetic coding for digital Chinese character patterns. The results are compared to those of the traditional compression methods. In the same complexity, we find that our algorithm can improve the coding efficiency as high as 25.54%, 30.23%, 32.17%, 15.90%, and 27.58%, for five Chinese fonts, respectively.


The essays in this book discuss human behavior and the institutions of capitalism. The essays are non-technical and are written so as to be accessible to students of all disciplines and to all other persons interested in capitalism and in economic behavior. They often present unconventional views of the topics they discuss. Those containing unconventional views discuss self-interested behavior, selfish gene theory, the meaning and social function of private ownership, the externality problem, the nature of the firm and the rise of capitalism. The essays are not meant to be a textbook, but they offer a useful supplementary reading source for courses in business, economics and law that deal with human behavior in the marketplace and with capitalism, ownership, markets and firms.


The binding specificity of (+)-[3H]N-allylnormetazocine, the dextrorotatory isomer of the prototypical sigma opiate SKF10,047, was determined in rat and mouse brain and the neuroanatomical distribution of its binding sites elucidated by quantitative autoradiography in sections of rat brain. Computer-assisted Scatchard analysis revealed an apparent two-site fit of the binding data in both species and in all rat brain regions examined. In whole rat brain, the Kd values were 3.6 and 153 nM and the maximum binding values were 40 fmol and 1.6 pmol/mg of protein for the apparent high- and low-affinity binding sites, respectively. (+)-SKF10,047, haloperidol and pentazocine were among the most potent inhibitors of 7 nM (+)-[3H]SKF10,047 binding to the higher affinity sites; rank orders of ligand potencies at these sites differ sharply from those that have been reported for the [3H]phencyclidine (PCP) site, or for eliciting PCP-like or SKF10,047-like behaviors. By contrast, rank orders of potency of sigma opiods, PCP derivatives and dioxolanes for displacement of 100 nM (+)-[3H]SKF10,047 from the more numerous lower affinity sites in the presence of 100 nM haloperidol agreed closely with their potencies in the [3H]PCP binding assay as well as their potencies in exerting PCP- or SKF10,047-like behavioral effects. In order to compare directly the anatomical localizations of PCP and (+)-SKF10,047 binding sites, quantitative light microscopy autoradiography utilizing tritium-labeled PCP and (+)-SKF10,047 was carried out in rat brain sections. (+)-[3H]SKF10,047 binding was observed to follow the regional pattern of [3H]PCP binding but also to bind in other regions not associated with PCP receptors.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Prior attempts to screen for lung cancer using chest radiography and sputum cytology have proved unsuccessful. Recent reports have investigated the role of spiral CT in early lung cancer detection and have suggested that screening would be of value. Prior to the introduction of a national lung cancer screening programme, it would be essential to demonstrate that this would reduce mortality and would be cost effective.


Background Disgusting symptoms are common in healthcare settings. Previous research has identified that healthcare professionals systematically avoid contact with patients with disgusting symptoms (Kray, 2004) potentially compromising patient care. Furthermore, Whitby and Gracias (2013) highlighted disgust in healthcare professionals as a possible contributory factor to dehumanization, and the abuses documented in the recent Francis report (Francis, 2013). Disgust may also have a detrimental effect on the wellbeing of healthcare professionals. Given that showing disgust is thought to be unprofessional (Holmes, Perron and O'Byrne, 2006) healthcare professionals may feel unable to express or process disgust in their work. The suppression of emotions, such as disgust, has been associated with poorer emotional health (Gross and Oliver, 2003). Therefore, healthcare professionals may be at risk of developing long-term emotional difficulties, or burning out. Aim Given the ubiquity of disgust in palliative care (MacLeod, 2011), we investigated how palliative healthcare professionals' experience and cope with disgust in their work, and how they are supported in doing so. Methods We interviewed six palliative healthcare professionals and analysed their transcripts using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, 1996) Analysis Fifteen themes were identified and explored. These included the importance of being an empathetic professional, that disgust damages relationships with patients, and that staff talk about 'difficulties', not disgust. Conclusions Three key findings emerged. Firstly, participants were uncomfortable talking about disgust at work, and were unable to access support for disgust. Secondly, in focusing on their patient's needs, participants often neglected their own emotional needs. As a result, it appeared that some participants projected their own emotions onto their patients, or else linked their own emotional wellbeing to the wellbeing of their patients. Finally, participants were at risk of reducing vital socio-emotional support for patients with disgusting symptoms. Based on our analysis, we suggest interventions to counteract these effects.


May is National Stroke Awareness Month. Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States (1). National Stroke Awareness Month aims to save lives by increasing awareness and educating the public about cardiovascular health. On average, one stroke-related death occurs every 4 minutes, or nearly 130,000 deaths each year (1). Approximately 800,000 persons a year will experience a stroke (2). Anyone can have a stroke at any age. A person's chances of having a stroke increase with certain risk factors, including high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, a family history of stroke, age, and ethnicity. Risk for having a first stroke is nearly twice as high for blacks as for whites, and blacks are more likely to die after a stroke (2). Hispanics and American Indians/Alaska Natives also have a greater chance of having a stroke than do non-Hispanic whites or Asians (2). During a stroke, every minute counts. Fast treatment can reduce the brain damage that stroke can cause. Signs of stroke include 1) sudden numbness or weakness in the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body; 2) sudden confusion, trouble speaking, or difficulty understanding speech; 3) sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes; 4) sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance, or lack of coordination; and 5) sudden severe headache with no known cause. Persons should seek emergency care immediately if they or someone else has any of these symptoms (e.g., persons in the United States should immediately dial 9-1-1). Stroke risk can be decreased by making healthy choices and managing health conditions. These behaviors include 1) eating a healthy diet; 2) maintaining a healthy weight; 3) getting enough physical activity; 4) not smoking; 5) limiting alcohol use; 6) getting blood pressure and cholesterol under control; and 7) taking medications as prescribed and working with a health-care team to prevent or treat the medical conditions that lead to stroke. CDC's Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention focuses on promoting cardiovascular health, improving quality of care for all, and eliminating disparities associated with heart disease and stroke. More information is available at http:// www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure and http://www.cdc.gov/stroke.


Nearest Neighbour (NN) is one of the important queries and analyses for spatial application. In normal practice, spatial access method structure is used during the Nearest Neighbour query execution to retrieve information from the database. However, most of the spatial access method structures are still facing with unresolved issues such as overlapping among nodes and repetitive data entry. This situation will perform an excessive Input/Output (IO) operation which is inefficient for data retrieval. The situation will become more crucial while dealing with 3D data. The size of 3D data is usually large due to its detail geometry and other attached information. In this research, a clustered 3D hierarchical structure is introduced as a 3D spatial access method structure. The structure is expected to improve the retrieval of Nearest Neighbour information for 3D objects. Several tests are performed in answering Single Nearest Neighbour search and k Nearest Neighbour (kNN) search. The tests indicate that clustered hierarchical structure is efficient in handling Nearest Neighbour query compared to its competitor. From the results, clustered hierarchical structure reduced the repetitive data entry and the accessed page. The proposed structure also produced minimal Input/Output operation. The query response time is also outperformed compared to the other competitor. For future outlook of this research several possible applications are discussed and summarized.


This paper concerns the use of technology to support students through "neardistance learning"; that is, informal moments and modes of study which happen at a distance from campus. Our case study concerns a small cohort of students, several of whom took up their final job offers before the completion of their studies. This created a number of issues around group work, the development of lesson content and the provision of useful support, feedback and tutorials for students. These problems occurred during the course and thus required an immediate response; Web 2.0 technologies and the institutional Virtual Learning Environment seemed to afford solutions. Students were allowed the opportunity to develop their own processes to manage the issues, leading to innovative uses of social media services such as Twitter, Google Wave, Skype and email.


Surface glandular trichomes distributed throughout the aerial parts of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) produce and store monoterpene, sesquiterpene, and phenylpropene volatiles. Three distinct basil chemotypes were used to examine the molecular mechanisms underlying the divergence in their monoterpene and sesquiterpene content. The relative levels of specific terpenes in the glandular trichomes of each cultivar were correlated with the levels of transcripts for eight genes encoding distinct terpene synthases. In a cultivar that produces mostly (R)-linalool, transcripts of (R)-linalool synthase (LIS) were the most abundant of these eight. In a cultivar that synthesizes mostly geraniol, transcripts of geraniol synthase were the most abundant, but the glands of this cultivar also contained a transcript of an (R)-LIS gene with a 1-base insertion that caused a frameshift mutation. A geraniol synthase-LIS hybrid gene was constructed and expressed in Escherichia coli, and the protein catalyzed the formation of both geraniol and (R)-linalool from geranyl diphosphate. The total amounts of terpenes were correlated with total levels of terpene synthase activities, and negatively correlated with levels of phenylpropanoids and phenylalanine ammonia lyase activity. The relative levels of geranyl diphosphate synthase and farnesyl diphosphate synthase activities did not correlate with the total amount of terpenes produced, but showed some correlation with the ratio of monoterpenes to sesquiterpenes.


The structural damages, which result from the inadequate bearing capacity or the asymmetric support of foundation, are one of the crucial works in the conservation of historical masonry constructions. Firstly ,the box girders are slowly and evenly jacked by the manual pipe jacking technique ,and then casting the core beam to form a whole, so the construction is gradually situated on a "tray" with sufficient rigidity. Consequently, the structural damages caused by the inadequate bearing capacity or the asymmetric support of foundation is thoroughly treated. Based on the field test, the principle of the underpinning by manual pipe-jacking , the mutual effect mechanism between box girders and soil, the calculation of jacking force and its influence factors are investigated in detail, and the empirical formula of calculating jacking force is also presented.