SUMMARY

Traveltime inversion focuses on the geometrical features of the waveform (traveltimes), which is generally smooth, and thus, tends to provide averaged (smoothed) information of the model. On other hand, general waveform inversion uses additional elements of the wavefield including amplitudes to extract higher resolution information, but this comes at the cost of introducing non-linearity to the inversion operator, complicating the convergence process. We use unwrapped phase-based objective functions in waveform inversion as a link between the two general types of inversions in a domain in which such contributions to the inversion process can be easily identified and controlled. The instantaneous traveltime is a measure of the average traveltime of the energy in a trace as a function of frequency. It unwraps the phase of wavefields yielding far less non-linearity in the objective function than that experienced with conventional wavefields, yet it still holds most of the critical wavefield information in its frequency dependency. However, it suffers from non-linearity introduced by the model (or reflectivity), as reflections from independent events in our model interact with each other. Unwrapping the phase of such a model can mitigate this non-linearity as well. Specifically, a simple modification to the inverted domain (or model), can reduce the effect of the model-induced non-linearity and, thus, make the inversion more convergent. Simple numerical examples demonstrate these assertions.


Abstract. Location Intelligence is an emerging application of geospatial industry. It allows professionals from different business domains (finance, disaster management, retail, health) and with minimum expertise in GIS technologies to use efficiently many spatial analysis tools and algorithms to solve their day-to-day problems. One of the major characteristics of Location Intelligence is the use of multisource and alternative data either user ingested or directly available in the platform (by geo-enrichment).In this contribution we investigate the architectural challenges raised by the development of this kind of platforms, particularly in term of functionalities, use of open-source components, management practices, deployment on the Cloud and source code control. To validate our assumptions, we built a new platform, named "Geoweba", based on the GeoNode Project and having as objective to disrupt the Algerian consulting market. The resulting platform is deployed on the internet and freely available for users. In this contribution we demonstrate that our development approach based on Agile principles and open-source components gives a good result, mainly in the early stages when just a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is needed for market validation of the idea.


This work presents the researcher's experience of a field work on Idoma masquerade tradition. This paper examines the probable difficulties as well as procedures of data collection in masquerade studies. The work states that masquerade performance is the cradle of Idoma civilization. This validates the important place of systemic methodological strategies in researches of this nature. The research shows that Idoma masquerades are conceived as spiritual contraptions which are personified in bodily forms. These play functional roles in the peoples' lives. As a result they are guarded jealously. Findings show that people's understanding of the world around them is sustained by the peculiarities of their cultures and traditions. The paper concludes that tools like oral interviews, participation observation, case studies, holism and behind the scene involvement are important instruments in conducting successful researches in Idoma masquerades. Thus presents that using the qualitative approach to methodology achieves better outcomes.


The Amazon rain forest is the most diverse ecosystem on Earth, harbouring more than ten thousand tree species. In this project, I used ecological and molecular information to explore how ecological factors and historical events have determined the species distributions and population genetic structure of tree species and the phylogenetic diversity of tree communities in the Amazon rain forest.

Chapter 2 indicates that seasonally dry vegetation in northern South America represents a barrier to migration for Ficus insipida (Moraceae) and other wet-adapted Amazonian tree species as they have different plastid haplotypes restricted to Mesoamerica and Amazonia. Conversely, the ability of some pioneer species to survive seasonal drought may explain the weakly differentiated phylogeographic structure within these species, with some haplotypes occurring on both sides of this barrier. Chapter 3 explores whether patterns of population genetic structure in five widespread western Amazonian tree species are consistent with historical explanations. My results show that the genetic patterns among species are not entirely congruent suggesting that tropical rain forest species respond differently to long-term geological and climatic changes. Despite this, some tentative generalisations emerge, notably high genetic diversity and a strong geographic structure for plastid sequences suggesting long-term population stability across western Amazonia, and recent population expansions in the south-western Amazon. Chapter 4 uses 283 floristic inventories from the RAINFOR plot network to explore patterns of phylogenetic diversity across Amazonia. This study reveals that the species-rich communities of central Amazonia are dominated by phylogenetic close relatives compared to the equally species-rich communities of the north-west that tend to contain more distantly related species. Across Amazonia, an east-west gradient of the abundance of early divergent angiosperm clades was found, with the greatest percentage of tree species of Magnoliids and Monocots in the west. As these early diverging clades are also characteristic of pre-montane habitats, these results suggest that migration events from cooler environments at different geological times has played an important role in the assemblage of the most phylogenetically diverse communities in Amazonia.

The findings from these three chapters corroborate the notion that both ecological factors and historical events have been important in determining species distributions and the phylogenetic diversity of tropical tree communities in Amazonia. Regional differences in genetic structure among populations, and phylogenetic diversity among communities, should both be taken into account in forest conservation planning and management.


BACKGROUND
Eradication of Helicobacter pylori with antimicrobials was recommended by a recent NIH consensus panel for all infected patients with peptic ulcer disease. The precise regimen that should be used for eradication of the infection remains uncertain because of the variety of regimens described, variable results with the regimens, and difficulties in predicting drug compliance outside clinical trials.

METHODS
A decision analysis tree was developed with three regimens that are widely used regimens for the eradication of H. pylori: 1) 2-wk triple drug therapy (metronidazole, bismuth, tetracycline with H2 receptor antagonist), 2) 2-wk omeprazole and amoxicillin, and 3) 2-wk omeprazole and clarithromycin. Traditional H2 receptor antagonist therapy was used for comparison. A 2-yr time period was chosen for study to allow sufficient time for relapse and to evaluate its effect on the treatment strategy. Probabilities for eradication, compliance, and metronidazole resistance were determined from published data, and assumptions were tested by sensitivity analysis.

RESULTS
Standard 2-wk triple drug therapy was the least expensive strategy ($720), and conventional H2 receptor antagonist therapy was the most expensive ($1791). Costs with 2-wk therapy with omeprazole and clarithromycin ($768) were lower than with omeprazole and amoxicillin ($1028).

CONCLUSIONS
Treatment to eradicate H. pylori in infected patients with duodenal ulcer is a less expensive strategy than traditional therapy with H2 receptor antagonists. Triple drug therapy is the optimal regimen in areas where metronidazole resistance rates are < 36% and compliance is > 53%. Omeprazole and amoxicillin is not cost-effective unless eradication rates are greater than 74%. Dual drug therapy with omeprazole and clarithromycin is effective in regions where metronidazole resistance is high or where it is anticipated that there would be poor compliance with the more complicated triple drug therapy regimen.


Biochar application to soil has been proposed as a means to sequester carbon and mitigate anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, biochar directly influences soil GHG emissions in a complex-interactive manner that remains poorly understood, and hence further understanding of biochar-soil interactions is needed to evaluate biochar's efficacy as a tool for greenhouse gas mitigation. The goals of this dissertation are to (1) quantify the organic and inorganic alkalis of several biochars, (2) quantify the impact of biochar properties on GHG emissions from diverse soils, and (3) identify mechanisms by which biochar properties influence GHG emissions from soils. To achieve these goals, biochar alkalis and thermochemical properties were analyzed, and three laboratory incubations as well as two field studies and one greenhouse study were conducted, employing eight biochars, two field sites, and four cropping systems. It was found that biochar properties are highly diverse, and effects on GHG emissions varied with respect to biochar properties and soil properties. Both carbonates and bicarbonate-extractable organic carbon in biochar contributed directly to very short term CO2 emissions but did not influence N2O emissions. Effects of biochar on N2O emissions were found to be more complex, with biochar increasing, decreasing or not affecting emissions depending on the context. Results highlight perturbation of N transformations, direct sorption of N, and enhanced water retention as potential mechanisms of biochar's influence on N2O emissions and suggest that multiple mechanisms likely operate simultaneously.


Background: Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers in women worldwide. In India, cervical cancer is the most common woman-related cancer, followed by breast cancer. 80% of the new cervical cancer cases occur in developing countries, like India, which reports approximately one fourth of the world's cases of cervical cancer each year. Objective: The primary objective is to find out the prevalence of awareness amongst women living in rural and urban areas, about the utility of Pap smear in early diagnosis of cervical cancer. Methodology: This cross sectional study includes 200 women attending the OPD of Gynecology Department of Government Medical College, Bhavnagar, Gujarat from April 2015 to May 2016of age group of 15 to 60 yrs. Among them 100 women were from rural area and 100 were from urban area. Written consent was taken from each participant, after explaining the aims and objectives of the study. Data was collected using a questionnaire including demographic characteristics, knowledge about cervical cancer and knowledge about Pap smear screening and completed by an interview with these participants. Result: This study has shown that women in our region lack knowledge of cervical cancer and its prevention by early detection by Pap smear both in the rural as well as the urban areas. This study clearly conveys the message that the rural women's educational status need to be strengthened at all levels. Conclusion: In conclusion, our results show that there was inadequate knowledge and practice among certain women groups, especially those above 30 years old, married at young age, and those with low education level. Some women also had a positive attitude, although they needed to have reassurances that could reduce the barriers. A well-organized cervical cancer screening programme providing the Pap-smear test through primary health care services is recommended: this should include raising awareness of women regarding risk factors, and overcoming barriers to having the test such as fear and embarrassment.


We propose a simple method for the design of lapped transforms with nonuniform frequency resolution and good time localization. The method is a generalization of an approach previously proposed by Princen, where the nonuniform filter bank is obtained by joining uniform cosine-modulated filter banks (CMFBs) using a transition filter. We use several transition filters to obtain a near perfect-reconstruction (PR) nonuniform lapped transform with significantly reduced overall distortion. The main advantage of the proposed method is in reducing the length of the transition filters, which leads to a reduction in processing delay that can be useful for applications such as real-time audio coding


Bitcoin volatility is known to be high, as is shown by comparing Bitcoin volatility to several currencies and to assets like stock, gold etc. This work attempts to extend this work by comparing Bitcoin volatility to volatility of currencies of least developed countries and other cryptocurrencies. Exchange rate and return data drawn from Bloomberg and covering March 2014 to March 2017 was analysed. It was found that Bitcoin volatility is still considerably higher than volatilities of currencies of least developed countries. Only five currencies were more volatile for more than 10% of the time span analysed.


linear programming and contains no chapter on integer, quadratic, or other nonlinear programming topics. The book is quite adequate for graduate students attending an intermediate to advanced LP course. A good mix of theoretical and practical exercises can be found at the end of each chapter (including the appendix) and some applications of relatively large size are also presented. This should perhaps have been an incentive for the authors to include a chapter on computer and software considerations linked with large-scale linear programs; it would be very desirable indeed that a textbook on linear programming appearing this late in the game contain more information on 'open questions' and recent developments of the simplex method, concerning numerical stability or sparseness, for instance. By Claude-Alain Burdet, Carnegie-Mellon University.


This study attempts to examine the operational efficiency of thirty-two microfinance institutions in India. Operational efficiency in microfinance institutions refers to how well microfinance institutions allocate the input resources. Since the study is an exploratory nature, therefore, the data are collected from mix market on annual basis. It covers the seven-year period ranging from 2005-06 to 2012-13. A panel data technique is employed as the key analytical framework. From the statistical analysis, it may be observed that portfolio at risk and borrower per staff member has positive impact on the operational efficiency of microfinance institutions in India. The cost per borrower of MFIs has negative impact on its operational efficiency. The results of study put forward that cost efficient managers of MFIs are superior in managing their loan borrowers and appropriately monitoring MFIs operational costs. Moreover, operational efficiency level of microfinance institutions is supportive in achieving the economies of scale and reduces costs. On the other hand, the future directions may offer an opportunity of public private partnership in augmenting MFIs in India.


There's an age-old Catch 22--you can't get experience without experience. Mr. Nowak argues that first-time employees lack, not technical skills, but an understanding of the work ethic and the workplace culture. He proposes a curriculum for addressing this need.


Receptor Tyrosine Kinases (RTK) are transmembrane receptors specifically found in metazoans. They represent an excellent model for studying evolution of cellular processes in metazoans because they encompass large families of modular proteins and belong to a major family of contingency generating molecules in eukaryotic cells: the protein kinases. Because tyrosine kinases have been under close scrutiny for many years in various species, they are associated with a wealth of information, mainly in mammals. Presently, most categories of RTK were identified in mammals, but in a near future other model species will be sequenced, and will bring us RTKs from other metazoan clades. Thus, collecting RTK sequences would provide a good starting point as a new model for comparative and evolutionary studies applying to multigene families. In this context, we are developing the Receptor Tyrosine Kinase database (RTKdb), which is the only database on tyrosine kinase receptors presently available. In this database, protein sequences from eight model metazoan species are organized under the format previously used for the HOVERGEN, HOBACGEN and NUREBASE systems. RTKdb can be accessed through the PBIL (Pôle Bioinformatique Lyonnais) World Wide Web server at http://pbil.univ-lyon1.fr/RTKdb/, or through the FamFetch graphical user interface available at the same address.


Abstract The article provides an overview of published scientific data about toxic chemical compounds formed during thermal degradation of various materials. In case of fire the complex of physical and chemical factors affect the human, along with injuries, thermal burns of the skin and respiratory tract there is a lack of oxygen in the inspired air and the impact of thermal degradation products. The greatest number of deaths in.a fire due to the inhalation by the victims smoke and toxic gases. The impact of the combination of toxic substances leads to the development of various forms of toxic process. The main causes of poisoning at the fires due to the effects of toxic substances and substances which can cause structural and functional disorders of the respiratory organ. Intoxication manifestations by some of them appear already in the fire zone, in other cases, in cases of poisoning by the compounds of the slow motion, there is the latent period of of intoxication. Knowledge of the spectrum of toxic products thermal destruction on the human during the fire, it is necessary to develop approaches to improve medical care and creation of tools of medical protection.


This paper explores the change in the concentration of poor individuals in the neighborhoods of a city, taking into account neighborhood locations on urban map. Urban poverty concentration is measured and the change over time in urban poverty concentration is broken down into different components. Each of these components is further split into spatial components explaining the extent to which spatial dependence affects the change in urban poverty concentration.


&NA; Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) signaling regulates mesenchymal proliferation and differentiation during embryonic lung development. In the adult lung, Shh signaling maintains mesenchymal quiescence and is dysregulated in diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Our previous data implicated a role for Shh in postnatal lung development. Here, we report a detailed analysis of Shh signaling during murine postnatal lung development. We show that Shh pathway expression and activity during alveolarization (postnatal day [P] 0‐P14) are distinct from those during maturation (P14‐P24). This biphasic pattern is paralleled by the transient presence of Gli1+;&agr;‐smooth muscle actin (&agr;‐SMA)+ myofibroblasts in the growing alveolar septal tips. Carefully timed inhibition of Hedgehog (Hh) signaling during alveolarization defined mechanisms by which Shh influences the mesenchymal compartment. First, interruption of Hh signaling at earlier time points results in increased lung compliance and wall structure defects of increasing severity, ranging from moderately enlarged alveolar airspaces to markedly enlarged airspaces and fewer secondary septa. Second, Shh signaling is required for myofibroblast differentiation: Hh inhibition during early alveolarization almost completely eliminates Gli1+;&agr;‐SMA+ cells at the septal tips, and Gli1‐lineage tracing revealed that Gli1+ cells do not undergo apoptosis after Hh inhibition but remain in the alveolar septa and are unable to express &agr;‐SMA. Third, Shh signaling is vital to mesenchymal proliferation during alveolarization, as Hh inhibition decreased proliferation of Gli1+ cells and their progeny. Our study establishes Shh as a new alveolarization‐promoting factor that might be affected in perinatal lung diseases that are associated with impaired alveolarization.


ISSN: 2395-1303 http://www.ijetjournal.org Page 55 Abstract: An electronic health (e-health) record system is a novel application that will bring great convenience in healthcare. The privacy and security of the sensitive personal information are the major concerns of the users, which could hinder further development and widely adoption of the systems. The searchable encryption (SE) scheme is a technology to incorporate security protection and favourable operability functions together, which can play an important role in the e-health record system. In this paper, we introduce a novel cryptographic primitive named as conjunctive keyword search with designated tester and timing enabled proxy re-encryption function (Re-dtPECK), which is a kind of a time-dependent SE scheme. It could enable patients to delegate partial access rights to others to operate search functions over their records in a limited time period. The length of the time period for the delegate to search and decrypt the delegator's encrypted documents can be controlled. Moreover, the delegate could be automatically deprived of the access and search authority after a specified period of effective time. It can also support the conjunctive keywords search and resist the keyword guessing attacks. By the solution, only the designated tester is able to test the existence of certain keywords. We formulate a system model and a security model for the proposed Re-dtPECK scheme to show that it is an efficient scheme proved secure in the standard model. The comparison and extensive simulations demonstrate that it has a low computation and storage overhead.


We introduce a new method to analyse populations of near-threshold sources in gamma-ray data. The method is based on a wavelet transform of the gamma-ray sky, using Mexican hat wavelets. The statistics of peak significances in the wavelet transform provides information about the spatial distribution and luminosity function of near-threshold sources. We apply this method to gamma-ray data from the inner Galaxy, in order to test the millisecond pulsar interpretation of the Fermi Galactic center excess. We find evidence for the unresolved point sources causing the excess emission at the > 4 σ level. For plausible luminosity functions, this new component explains 100% of the observed excess emission.


Pediatric Critical Care Medicine www.pccmjournal.org 477 Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a physician-led rapid response team program on morbidity and mortality following unplanned admission to the PICU. Design: Before-after study. Setting: Single-center quaternary-referral PICU. Patients: All unplanned PICU admissions from the ward from 2005 to 2011. Interventions: The dataset was divided into preand post-rapid response team groups for comparison. Measurements and Main Results: A Cox proportional hazards model was used to identify the patient characteristics associated with mortality following unplanned PICU admission. Following rapid response team implementation, Pediatric Risk of Mortality, version 3, illness severity was reduced (28.7%), PICU length of stay was less (19.0%), and mortality declined (22%). Relative risk of death following unplanned admission to the PICU after rapid response team implementation was 0.685. Conclusions: For children requiring unplanned admission to the PICU, rapid response team implementation is associated with reduced mortality, admission severity of illness, and length of stay. Rapid response team implementation led to more proximal capture and aggressive intervention in the trajectory of a decompensating pediatric ward patient. (Pediatr Crit Care Med 2018; 19:477–482)


KEYWORDS: Ethnicity, race, leisure theory Jupiter's moons are invisible to the naked eye and therefore can have no influence on the earth, and therefore would be useless, and therefore do not exist. Francisco Sizzi Professor of Astronomy, 1610 During the last decade, work on the leisure of ethnic and racial minorities has attracted renewed interest and has gained a certain degree of recognition as a legitimate area of research in our field. Besides the sheer number of new studies devoted to the subject, the literature has significantly expanded its scope both by turning to previously overlooked ethnic and racial groups and by shifting its general focus toward aspects of the leisure experience other than mere participation. Readers may refer to the excellent reviews of research on the leisure of minorities by Floyd (1998) and by Gramann and Allison (1999) for in-depth information about recent trends in the area. On a somewhat more symbolic side, the recent publication of a special issue of the Journal of Leisure Research devoted to research on ethnicity and race as well as the incorporation of chapters on the subject into mainstream leisure studies textbooks (e.g. Jackson & Burton, 1999) may be interpreted as signs of a growing recognition of this strand of research. While many have recognized research on ethnic and racial minorities as significant and useful, some still question the rationale behind studying groups whose very name seems to imply obscurity and marginal social standing. One may argue that these sentiments within the field are merely a reflection of the feelings toward minority groups that persevere in the society at large. After all, some members of the white Anglo-Saxon mainstream do not perceive minorities to play any significant role in shaping the "American" way of life or in defining the social and cultural norms by which they live, work and play. We still appear to live in an era of de facto segregation, maybe in a more subtle form than institutional segregation of the pre Civil Rights Movement period, but perhaps just as effective. The white Anglo-Saxon mainstream continues to enjoy its privileged position in terms of wealth, political power and education. Particularly in leisure, mainstream whites are still relatively free to limit their interactions to those of their own kind. Thus, it might in fact be quite natural to question the rationale behind research whose significance is limited to those who are few, inconspicuous and perhaps ultimately unimportant. A common response to such criticism is based on the notion that the popular understanding of the term "minority" is based on misunderstanding of the actual status of ethnic and racial groups in contemporary American society. Currently more than a quarter of the population of the United States is accounted for by racial minorities and by Hispanics and approximately 10 per cent of the population is foreign born (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994). In Canada, almost half of the population growth is due to immigration (Statistics Canada, 1997). Given the spatial concentration of some minorities combined with their relatively high population growth rates, it is projected that in as little as two decades Caucasians will be forced to concede minority status in certain American states (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994). However, it is not only the sheer numbers of ethnic and racial minorities that should attract attention. Demographic changes occur simultaneously with a certain degree of political and economic emancipation of these marginalized groups, which in turn creates a pressure for action (Gramann and Allison, 1999). Consequently, provision of leisure-related services tailored to the needs of minorities is likely to become one of the more evident reactions to the changing role of racial and ethnic groups in the North American society in decades to come. Even though it is appropriate to acknowledge the potential for practical applicability of work on leisure behavior of ethnic and racial minorities by pointing out current demographic and economic trends, we should be cautious not to overemphasize the utilitarian aspect of this research. …


In this article we propose a new framework for capturing light transport data of a real scene, based on the recently developed theory of compressive sensing. Compressive sensing offers a solid mathematical framework to infer a sparse signal from a limited number of nonadaptive measurements. Besides introducing compressive sensing for fast acquisition of light transport to computer graphics, we develop several innovations that address specific challenges for image-based relighting, and which may have broader implications. We develop a novel hierarchical decoding algorithm that improves reconstruction quality by exploiting interpixel coherency relations. Additionally, we design new nonadaptive illumination patterns that minimize measurement noise and further improve reconstruction quality. We illustrate our framework by capturing detailed high-resolution reflectance fields for image-based relighting.


Introduction Previously, we developed a database of 693 patients with NSCLC and uncommon EGFR mutations treated with afatinib. Here, we provide an update of >1000 patients, with more data on specific mutations. Methods Patients were identified from a prospective database developed by Boehringer Ingelheim and via literature review. Mutations were categorized as T790M-positive, exon 20 insertions, major uncommon (G719X, L861Q, S768I) and 'others'. Patients with compound mutations (≥2 EGFR mutations) were analyzed separately. Key endpoints were time to treatment failure (TTF) and objective response rate (ORR). Results Of 1023 patients included, 587 patients were EGFR TKI-naïve and 425 were EGFR TKI-pretreated. The distribution of mutation categories was: major uncommon (41.4%); exon 20 insertions (22.3%); T790M (20.3%); and 'others' (15.9%); 38.6% had compound mutations. Overall, median TTF (TKI naïve/pretreated) was 10.7 and 4.5 months. ORR was 49.8% and 26.8%, respectively. In TKI-naïve patients, afatinib demonstrated activity against major uncommon mutations (median TTF: 12.6 months; ORR: 59.0%), 'other' mutations (median TTF: 10.7 months; ORR: 63.9%) including strong activity against E709X (11.4 months; 84.6%) and L747X (14.7 months; 80.0%), and compound mutations (11.5 months; 63.9%). Although sample sizes were small, notable activity was observed against specific exon 20 insertions at residues A763, M766, N771, and V769, and against osimertinib resistance mutations (G724S, L718X, C797S). Conclusion Afatinib should be considered as a first-line treatment option for NSCLC patients with major uncommon, compound, 'other' (including E709X and L747X) and some specific exon 20 insertion mutations. Moderate activity was seen against osimertinib resistance EGFR mutations.


Caring for preschool children suffering from cancer pain presents a major challenge for paediatric oncology nurses. These children have limited language and behavioural competencies. They are also constantly experiencing cancer pain originating from various sources. Their needs hence have to be interpreted by their parents. Besides other complex factors, the parental beliefs strongly influence the child's pain perception, expression and response. In most paediatric oncological nursing settings, every encounter between the nurse, the child's parents and the child constitutes a cultural encounter. In a dyadic relationship with the parents, the nurse needs to act as a culture broker bridging the cultural gap between the parents, the child and self, as well as between the parents, child and other health professionals. In this article, the pain assessment and management of a preschool child with cancer, using the concept of culture brokering as a nursing strategy, is discussed.


This paper presents the results of an in-body propagation study for abdominal implant communication using a bio-matched mini-horn antenna. The wireless signal coverage in the abdomen area at various ISM and UWB frequency bands are measured using electromagnetic simulations with a 3D anatomical voxel model. Power flow analysis is conducted to visualize propagation within the abdominal tissues at several frequencies. As an example, S-Parameters of the channel between a capsule endoscopy pill and an on-body receiver has been studied and channel attenuations at different frequencies are compared. Using the directional bio-matched antenna, it is observed that at 915 MHz the signal coverage in a horizontal plane is sufficient to almost include the whole small intestine. However, the depth of the coverage reduces substantially at higher frequency bands. This comparative analysis can provide some insight on the applicability of these frequencies for various abdominal monitoring applications. It can also provide some information about the required number and placement of the on-body receivers in order to ensure adequate signal reception.


Description Contents Resources Courses About the Authors
The life and career of George Frideric Handel, one of the most frequently performed composers from the Baroque period, are copiously and intricately documented through a huge variety of contemporary sources. This multi-volume major publication is the most up-to-date and comprehensive collection of these documents. Presented chronologically in their original languages with English translations and with commentaries incorporating the results of recent research, the documents provide an essential and accessible resource for anyone interested in Handel and his music. In charting Handel's activities and the performance and reception of his music during his lifetime, the documents also offer valuable insights into broader eighteenth-century topics such as court life, theatrical history, public concerts and music publishing. Volume Four begins with the re-establishment of Handel's career in London following his return from Dublin in 1742, and covers the period to 1750 which saw the composition of a succession of his greatest English works for his oratorio seasons, including Samson, Semele, Belshazzar, Juda Maccabaeus and Solomon.


This paper presents a comprehensive formulation of a finite element for the modelling of borehole heat exchangers. This work focuses on the accurate modelling of the grouting and the field of temperature near a single borehole. Therefore the grouting of the BHE is explicitly modelled. The purpose of this work is to provide tools necessary to the further modelling of thermo-mechanical couplings. The finite element discretises the classical governing equation of advectiondiffusion of heat within a 1D pipe connected to ground nodes. Petrov-Galerkin weighting functions are used to avoid numerical disturbances. The formulation is able to capture highly transient and steady-state phenomena. The proposed finite element is validated with respect to analytical solutions. An example consisting of a 100m depth U-pipe is finally simulated. A first continuous heating simulation highlights the non-symmetric distribution of temperature inside and near the borehole. An estimation of the error on the results as a function of the resolution parameters is also carried out. Finally simulations of cyclic thermal loading exhibit the need to take into account all daily variations if the grouting behaviour must be modelled. This is true especially in case of freeze-thaw damaging risk.


Proteinuria, the spillage of serum proteins into the urine, is a feature of glomerulonephritides, podocyte disorders and diabetic nephropathy. However, the response of tubular epithelial cells to serum protein exposure has not been systematically characterized. Using transcriptomic profiling we studied serum-induced changes in primary human tubular epithelial cells cultured in 3D microphysiological devices. Serum proteins induced cellular proliferation, cytokine secretion and activated a coordinated stress response. We orthogonally confirmed our findings by comparing the transcriptomic and epigenomic landscapes of intact human kidney cortex and isolated tubular epithelial cells cultured in fetal bovine serum. Importantly, key transcriptomic programs in response to either type of serum exposure remained consistent, including comparisons to an established mouse model of kidney injury. This serum-induced transcriptional response was dominated by switching off of nuclear receptor-driven programs and activation of AP-1 and NF-κB signatures in the tubular epigenomic landscape. These features of active regulation were seen at canonical kidney injury genes (HAVCR1) and genes associated with COVID-19 (ACE2, IL6). Our data provide a reference map for dissecting the regulatory and transcriptional response of kidney tubular epithelial cells injury induced by serum.


The authors advocate the use of agnostic allocation for the construction of long-only portfolios of stocks. Agnostic allocation portfolios (AAPs) are a special member of a family of risk-based portfolios that are able to mitigate certain extreme features (excess concentration, high turnover, strong exposure to low-risk factors) of classic portfolio construction methods, while achieving similar performance. AAPs thus represent a very attractive alternative risk-based portfolio construction framework that can be implemented in different situations, with or without an active trading signal. TOPICS: Portfolio theory, portfolio construction, risk management Key Findings • Long-only risk-based portfolio construction methods that rely on the inverse covariance matrix, such as minimum variance and maximum diversification, are plagued by overconcentration, excess turnover, and exposure to the low-risk factor. • Agnostic allocation portfolios (AAPs) deliver a compromise between risk-based portfolios that are structurally blind to the correlation structure and those that invert the covariance matrix of returns. They significantly reduce turnover and concentration and achieve performance similar to or better than that of traditional methods. • AAPs are supplemented with a pruning technique that discards unnecessary exposures to low-significance statistical factors. This technique, combined with the use of adequately cleaned covariance matrices, improves the outcome of AAPs by further reducing excess trading and concentration.


Purpose of review Tracking patient outcomes using cystic fibrosis (CF) national data registries, we have seen a dramatic improvement in patient survival. As there are multiple ways to measure survival, it is important for readers to understand these different metrics in order to clearly translate this information to patients and their families. The aims of this review were to describe measures of survival and to review the recent literature pertaining to survival in CF to capture the changing epidemiology. Recent findings Although survival has improved on a population level, several individual factors continue to impact survival such as sex, age of diagnosis, ethnic background and lung function. Survival estimates, conditional on surviving to a specified age, are more relevant to individuals living with CF today and are higher than the reported overall median age of survival. There is some evidence to suggest that newborn screening (NBS) has resulted in prolonged survival in CF. Summary Prognosis in CF is often described by reporting the median age of survival, the median age of death, the median survival conditional on living to a certain age and the survival by birth cohort. Each of these metrics provide useful information depending on an individual's personal disease trajectory. The median age of survival continues to increase in CF in many countries while mortality rates are decreasing. Several factors have been associated with worse survival such as female sex, ethnicity, worse nutritional status, lower lung function and microbiology. When comparing survival between countries, one needs to ensure that similar data collection and processing techniques are used to ensure valid and robust comparisons.


This paper explores the impacts of the amendment to the 1956 Hindu Succession Act on Hindu females' intergenerational transfers of physical and human capital. Information on the timing of three generations' key life events helps isolate the causal effects. Our primary estimation strategy is a difference-in-difference estimator in which we compare the share of total assets received by male and female siblings in the same household between households whose heads died before and after the amendment. In the case of human capital investment, we compare primary education attainment of young cohorts who were potentially benefit from the reform and the older cohorts who were unlikely to benefit from the reform. In light of the fact that the amendment applies only to Hindus but not to Muslims, we compare the results between Hindus and Muslims for a robustness check. The results suggest that the amendment increased the share of total physical assets received by Hindu females who were single before the reform by 0.216. They also point towards an increase in the share of gifts transferred to Hindu females by 0.147. Hindu girls gained 0.594 years of more primary education than boys relative to the old cohort after the amendment.


Breast cancer is the most prevalent malignant disease in women worldwide. Traditionally, surgical tumour resection was the primary step within the treatment algorithm of early stage disease; systemic therapy in order to reduce the rate of systemic recurrences followed. National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) trial B-18 found that pre- and postoperative administration of chemotherapy was equally effective. This study therefore established neoadjuvant chemotherapy as a valid treatment option, as the breast conservation rate is increased. Modern neoadjuvant regimens encompassing anthracyclines and taxanes yield pathological complete response (pCR) rates of around 20%, with higher efficacy observed in triple-negative tumours. The antibody trastuzumab is the first targeted agent established in neoadjuvant regimens for the treatment of Her2-positive breast cancer, as it raised pCR rates up to 50%. Novel approaches are aiming to increase the efficacy of neoadjuvant therapy. Inclusion of capecitabine might further increase pCR rates in selected patients, although data are not unanimous throughout the respective clinical trials. In patients harbouring BRCA-1 germline mutations, platinum derivatives are apparently promising. Novel Her2-targeted agents such as lapatinib and pertuzumab are currently under investigation in several clinical trials, while the role of bevacizumab, a monoclonal antibody inhibiting angiogenesis, awaits future clarification.


In this paper, we propose an accelerated quasi-Newton proximal extragradient (A-QPNE) method for solving unconstrained smooth convex optimization problems. With access only to the gradients of the objective, we prove that our method can achieve a convergence rate of ${O}\bigl(\min\{\frac{1}{k^2}, \frac{\sqrt{d\log k}}{k^{2.5}}\}\bigr)$, where $d$ is the problem dimension and $k$ is the number of iterations. In particular, in the regime where $k = {O}(d)$, our method matches the optimal rate of ${O}(\frac{1}{k^2})$ by Nesterov's accelerated gradient (NAG). Moreover, in the the regime where $k = \Omega(d \log d)$, it outperforms NAG and converges at a faster rate of ${O}\bigl(\frac{\sqrt{d\log k}}{k^{2.5}}\bigr)$. To the best of our knowledge, this result is the first to demonstrate a provable gain of a quasi-Newton-type method over NAG in the convex setting. To achieve such results, we build our method on a recent variant of the Monteiro-Svaiter acceleration framework and adopt an online learning perspective to update the Hessian approximation matrices, in which we relate the convergence rate of our method to the dynamic regret of a specific online convex optimization problem in the space of matrices.


The physiological inflammatory response can provide an effective mechanism for delivering the baby at the time of parturition. We characterized the mechanisms by which hyaluronic acid (HA) regulates interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin-8 (IL-8) production in human uterine fibroblasts. A dose-dependent increase in cytokine release was observed over an HA concentration range of 10 μg/ml to 1 mg/ml. The action of HA on the cytokine production is mediated by CD44. Under serum-free conditions, HA-induced cytokine generation was significantly less compared with production in the presence of serum, suggesting involvement of serum proteins. Addition of inter-α-trypsin inhibitor (ITI) under serum-free conditions enhanced the HA-induced synthesis of TNF-α, which stimulated the temporary release of IL-8. In addition, HA and IL-1β stimulated the release of hyaluronidase by the fibroblasts. These results indicate that cytokine production in human uterine fibroblasts is regulated in a CD44-HA-ITI-specific fashion. HA may be involved in the regulation of delivery in part through the selective release of cytokines that contribute to uterine cervical ripening.


I nfrared (IR) gas detection is a well-developed measurement technology. Infrared gas analyzers have a reputation for being complicated, cumbersome , and expensive. However, recent technical advancements , including the availability of powerful amplifiers and associated electronic components, have opened a new frontier for infrared gas analysis. These advancements have resulted from an increase in demand in the commercial sector, and these demands will likely continue to nourish the advancement of this technology. Gases to be detected are often corrosive and reac-tive. With most sensor types, the sensor itself is directly exposed to the gas, often causing the sensor to drift or die prematurely. The main advantage of IR instruments is that the detector does not directly interact with the gas (or gases) to be detected. The major functional components of the analyzer are protected with optical parts. In other words, gas molecules interact only with a light beam. Only the sample cell and related components are directly exposed to the gas sample stream. These components can be treated, making them resistant to corrosion, and can be designed such that they are easily removable for maintenance or replacement. Today, many IR instruments are available for a wide variety of applications. Many of them offer simple, Fig. 1 An example of an IR gas monitor with the gas cell assembly exposed.


The knowledge of the preconsolidation pressure, p' c , of an overconsolidated clay is of vital importance in the settlement analysis of structures. It has been found that the semigraphical methods to determine p' c proposed by Casagrande, Burmister, and Schmertmann are not completely satisfactory for sensitive clays. Also, the standard oedometer test is not adequate to fully describe the strain-effective stress behavior of such clays. Renewed interest in this topic by several investigators has shown that the magnitude of the preconsolidation pressure is greatly affected by the rate of loading, type of loading, specimen size, and type of testing apparatus used. This paper reports on the results of a comparative study of consolidation behavior using two types of clays and four different testing techniques. The first series of tests was carried out on undisturbed specimens of soft Leda (Champlain Sea) clay cut from block samples and the second series was performed on prepared and consolidated kaolin specimens. For each series, four different consolidation apparatuses were used: a standard oedometer, a modified Rowe cell, an Anteus apparatus, and triaxial K 0 tests. Both Leda clay and kaolin specimens were tested in parallel. Several sizes (diameters) of specimens and different loading techniques were used. Based on these test results, it was shown that the controlled gradient consolidation test using the Rowe cell with a softer membrane was the most suitable technique to establish a well-defined effective stress-strain curve. The controlled gradient test using the Anteus apparatus also gave a well-defined stress-strain relationship, but the operational procedures were found quite cumbersome. The K 0 -triaxial test was quite time-consuming and an elaborate recording of data was required. The results from standard oedometer tests, even using a modified loading, did not yield continuous effective stress-strain plots and p' c was difficult to determine. Also, a comparison of the coefficients of consolidation was made for the two clays and the various testing techniques employed.


The study deals with the effect of different fixatives, such as absolute methanol, 96% ethanol, 10% buffered neutral formalin, as well as mixtures: methanol-formalin-acetic acid and ethanol-formalin-acetic acid (Tellesnitsky's solution) on preservation of iron in isolated hepatocytes of rats on a diet with addition of 2% carbonyl iron. The iron preservation in cells, on application of different fixatives and performance of Perls' reaction, was evaluated by the intensity of cell staining that was measured using cytospectrophotometer. The best preservation of iron in cells has been achieved when using alcohol fixatives only. Fixation of preparations with the methanol-formalin-aceticacid mixture also produced no decrease in the iron content in hepatocytes, however, morphology of the stained cells was much worse than after methanol and ethanol fixation. Fixation with Tellesnitsky's solution resulted in a 36% reduction of the cellular iron content, whereas fixation with 10% neutral formalin reduced iron content by 58%, as compared with methanol fixation. A prolongation formalin fixation from 10 min to 24 hr had no effect on the intensity of Perls' reaction.


The 19th century is often described as a period when sexual differences were strongly accentuated in medical interpretations. While this is not an inaccurate description, it is in need of greater nuance. For one thing, notions of the male are usually forgotten in the process. As the female body by the shift to the 18th hundreds, to a greater extent than before, became associated with reproduction and biological constraints of various kinds, representations of the male body also changed. According to medical texts published in Sweden in the 19th century, men's blood, bones, breath and digestion bore witness to their "freedom" from a forced sexual body. Physically, the male constituted an abstract, cultivated and highly differentiated individual, focused on his own development and wellbeing. The male body was described as clearly fit for public and political life, which legitimized male claims to a monopoly on power as well as the doctrine of "the separate spheres" in 19th century bourgeois society. But there is more to this story. A closer examination of more limited discussions in medical texts and advice literature reveal that representations of the male and female body were remarkably unstable and marked by tensions and contradictions. During the Romantic era of medicine in Sweden during the 1830's and 40's, the way sex and individuality in the body were valued were totally different from the description above. Reproduction and physical desires were characteristic, according to a number of medical men, of highly developed creatures, connected to God, society, and culture, whereas sexless species, immature children and "lower" peoples were seen as materialistic and focused only on their own individual development. Discussions regarding female puberty and single men further reveal the unstable polarization between sex and individuality as well as culturally constructed differences, not only between men and women, but also between classes, age groups, single and married persons, cultivated and non-cultivated peoples. Notions about nature/culture, tradition/progress, female/male, sex/individuality were not organized into stable dichotomies—rather they constituted an unstable body of representations.


Cleft lip ± cleft palate (CL/P) is a common birth defect and public health concern, with significant, long-term health impacts, which require many healthcare resources and increase costs of care. The majority (>70%) of cases are isolated and non-syndromic (NSCL/P). Single-gene syndromes, chromosome anomalies, or teratogens account for the remainder. There is a strong genetic component in NSCL/P; individuals with a positive family history are more likely to have an affected child. The complex, multifactorial nature of NSCL/P complicates recurrence risk assessment. Currently, genetic counseling for NSCL/P is based on empiric recurrence risk figures from large cohort studies. Thus, risk assessment cannot be personalized. Developing predictive models based on established risk factors could refine estimates. Several subtle phenotypic differences have been identified among unaffected relatives of an individual with NSCL/P, compared to individuals with no family history. Phenotypes consistently associated with NSCL/P may be useful as markers of recurrence risk. The present study investigated the effect of seven such traits, on the odds of participants' case versus control family status. Three models were built using logistic regression. Model 1 included orbicularis oris muscle defects and velopharyngeal dysfunction, and achieved an area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) of 0.63. Model 2 included maximum facial and intercanthal width, upper and lower facial height, and midface depth measurements, and achieved an AUC of 0.64. Model 3 included all variables from Models 1 and 2, and achieved an AUC of 0.72. AUC values below 0.7 indicate poor model discrimination. Models 1 and 2 had poor predictive performance, while Model 3 had fair performance. The public health significance of this work is that it adds to the body of research on risk factors and recurrence risk assessment in NSCL/P. It also works towards creating risk models. Reliable risk models allow for the identification of high-risk individuals, therefore making it possible to design and/or implement primary and secondary prevention interventions.


Background: Exposure to antineoplastic drugs confers health risks to workers, yet little is known about the exposure after a drug spill, nor has the relationship between exposure and organizational factors such as staffing and work environment been studied. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate drug spills prospectively using biological measures and correlate drug spills with organizational factors. Methods: Prospective questionnaires with 8-hour timed urine samples were collected from nursing and pharmacy personnel who reported drug spill events in 1 academic health center's infusion center. Urine was collected similarly from workers who did not report a spill. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry techniques identified detectable drug levels. After the prospective sampling period, workers were surveyed on workloads, practice environment, and safety behaviors. Results: From 81 eligible individuals, 40 participated in the prospective study and 19 completed retrospective questionnaires. Four spills were reported by 9 personnel, as multiple employees were exposed to drug spills. Four participants who reported a spill showed detectable levels of antineoplastic drugs. Four participants who did not report a spill had detectable levels of docetaxel. Compared with respondents who did not report a spill, collegial relations with physicians were significantly poorer for workers who reported spills. Conclusions: The study protocol successfully captured drug spill reports and biological samples. Workers have detectable levels of antineoplastic drugs through both drug spills and environmental contamination. Implications for Practice: Multisite research studies and practice-based quality improvement approaches are needed to improve adherence to personal protective equipment use and safe handling procedures.


ACCESS TO EDUCATION AND AGE IN GRADE IN BANGLADESH This policy brief highlights findings from CREATE research in Bangladesh regarding age in grade. These reveal a huge problem with over age pupils in schools in Bangladesh affecting access and attainment. Many children enrol late and/or fail to progress though the grades. These problems are associated with poverty and poor health. This policy brief summarises CREATE Research from Bangladesh and suggests policy recommendations to help solve problems of age in grade incongruence. In is based on the CREATE Pathways to Access monograph: Age in Grade Congruence and Progression in Basic Education in Bangladesh (Hossain, A., 2010)


BACKGROUND
Nuts appear to have cardiovascular benefits but their effect in diabetic patients is unclear.

OBJECTIVE
The objective was to assess effects of almond-enriched diets on insulin sensitivity and lipids in patients with normoglycemia or type 2 diabetes.

DESIGN
Study 1 assessed the effect of almonds on insulin sensitivity in 20 free-living healthy volunteers who received 100 g almonds/d for 4 wk. Study 2 was a randomized crossover study that compared 4 diets in 30 volunteers with type 2 diabetes: 1) high-fat, high-almond (HFA; 37% total fat, 10% from almonds); 2) low-fat, high-almond (LFA; 25% total fat, 10% from almonds); 3) high-fat control (HFC; 37% total fat, 10% from olive or canola oil); and 4) low-fat control (LFC; 25% total fat, 10% from olive or canola oil). After each 4-wk diet, serum lipids and oral glucose tolerance were measured.

RESULTS
In study 1, almond consumption did not change insulin sensitivity significantly, although body weight increased and total and LDL cholesterol decreased by 21% and 29%, respectively (P < 0.05). In study 2, total cholesterol was lowest with the HFA diet (4.46 +/- 0.14, 4.52 +/- 0.14, 4.63 +/- 0.14, and 4.63 +/- 0.14 mmol/L with the HFA, HFC, LFA, and LFC diets, respectively; P = 0.0004 for fat level). HDL cholesterol was significantly lower with the almond diets (P = 0.002); however, no significant effect of fat source on LDL:HDL was observed. Glycemia was unaffected.

CONCLUSIONS
Almond-enriched diets do not alter insulin sensitivity in healthy adults or glycemia in patients with diabetes. Almonds had beneficial effects on serum lipids in healthy adults and produced changes similar to high monounsaturated fat oils in diabetic patients.


The development of next generation manufacturing systems is currently an active area of
research worldwide. Globalisation is placing new demands on the manufacturing industry
with products having shorter lifecycles and being required in more variants. Manufacturing systems must therefore be agile to support frequent manufacturing system reconfiguration
involving globally distributed engineering partners. The research described in this thesis
addresses one aspect within this research area, the Human Machine Interface (HMI) system
that support the personnel involved in the monitoring, diagnostics and reconfiguration of
automated manufacturing production machinery.
Current HMI systems are monolithic in their design, generally offer poor connectivity to
other manufacturing systems and require highly skilled personnel to develop and maintain
them.
The new approach established in the research and presented in this thesis provides a
specification capture technique (using a novel storyboarding modelling notation) that enables
the end users HMI functionality to be specified and rapidly developed into fully functional
End User HMI's via automated generation tools.
A novel feature in this HMI system architecture that all machine information is stored in a common unified machine data model which ensures consistent accurate machine data is
available to all machine lifecycle engineering tools including the HMI.
The system's run-time architecture enables remote monitoring and diagnostics capabilities to
be available to geographically distributed engineering partners using standard internet technologies. The implementation of this novel HMI approach has been prototyped and evaluated using the industrial collaborators full scale demonstrator machines within cylinder head machining and engine assembly applications.


What is the impact of patent citations on patent renewal behaviour? Patent citations are commonly used as an indicator of technology spillovers. For cited patents therefore, patent citations have a potentially ambiguous impact. On the one hand, patent citations may indicate a scientific breakthrough, a high value of the cited patent and therefore a long survival period. On the other hand, patent citations may indicate competing innovations that render the cited patent obsolete. By discriminating patents by technology field, it is demonstrated that patents that receive citations across technology fields survive longer than other patents. Patents that receive citations within the same technology field lapse earlier. JEL Classification Numbers: 030, 034, C41


Seroprevalence of leptospirosis was investigated in animals and human beings using sera collected from various states of the country during a period of 10 years beginning 1990. Most of these animals were reported to have suffered with fever, jaundice, abortions, repeat breeding etc. A total of 4992 sera collected from domestic animal (4348), wild animals (112) and human beings (532) were subjected to microscopic agglutination test, using a panel of 18 Leptospira antigens. Of the domestic animals sera tested, 2601 belonged to cattle and 15.8% of these were positive to various Leptospira serovars. Maximum positivity was detected in sera received from A.P. and Gujarat. A total of 414 buffalo sera from A.P. were subjected to the study and of these only 2.8% were positive, whereas none from TN (19) was positive. Similarly, a total of 271 goat, 551 sheep, 756 equine, 204 dog and 166 swine sera received from various states were tested and 14.3%, 15.2%, 9.9% and 9.0%, respectively, were positive. Most of the sheep, dog and swine sera belonged to A.P. Wild animal sera belonged to Sambhar, Cheetal, Tiger and Elephant and 14 (12.5%) were positive. A total of 78 (14.6%) human sera mostly belonging to Maharastra possessed diagnostic antibody levels. Leptospira serovars responsible for sero-positivity among most of the animals and man were identified as Icterohaemorrhagiae, Hardjo, Patoc, Australis, Canicola, Grippotyphosa, Pyrogenes, Pomona, Tarasovi and Ballum. The study indicated a high level of the prevalence of leptospirosis in animals and man warranting continuous investigations in order to suggest control strategies in the future.


Details:
The CD contains the first recordings of pieces by John Ward, including vocal pieces 'apt for viols'. Professor Bryan selected the
pieces, made corrected editions, directed the ensemble and wrote the liner notes (2,000 words).

Portfolio:
1)The Rose Consort of Viols has given three performances of this repertory, at Spitalfields Festival; Dartington International
Summer School; Lancaster International Concert Series, Lancaster University; and it has been broadcast on WDR Koln.
2)Copies of programmes.

Context:
This CD results from ongoing research into the relationship between voices and viols in the performance of Elizabethan and
Jacobean repertory undertaken with the Rose Consort of Viols. This research has led to the Consort being the only such
ensemble to utilise accurate reproductions of English instruments surviving from the period, strung throughout in gut and with
'clip in' fixed frog bows. The Consort has developed a distinctive performance vocabulary, in which it imitates vocal inflections in
phrasing and timbre closely related to the texts set, but not always sung, or similar musical gestures implied by specific melodic,
rhythmic or harmonic idioms in purely instrumental music.
The specific research questions investigated in this CD concern the styles of performance appropriate to the different
repertories: English madrigals (performed untexted), pieces with Italian titles (possibly conceived to lost Italian madrigal texts),
and the purely instrumental fantasias. The CD also contends that the pieces preserved in F-Pc MS Res. F770 are indeed by the
same composer as those found in numerous English sources rather than by another. It also suggests that the anonymous
Fantasia in GB-Och Mus MSS 459-62 that follows six by Ward is also his, as it contains similar stylistic features that become
clear through performance.


This is a report on the development and validation of an ELISA method to determine fecal testosterone levels, and on their evaluation as a biomarker for adverse effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals on reproductive health using male rodents of the Peromyscus maniculatus and Mus musculus species as an animal model. The ELISA antibody had the highest specificity for testosterone (100%), followed by dihydrotestosterone (57.4%) and androstenediol (0.27%). Radiolabeled testosterone was injected i.p. into three mice. Fecal samples were collected, extracted, and analyzed by liquid scintillation counting. The ELISA was performed to characterize the excretion kinetics and metabolic fate of circulating testosterone. Solubilization of feces with 10% methanol overnight provided an extraction efficiency of 87% for all metabolites; an ethyl ether extraction was more selective for testosterone. The fecal excretion of the testosterone was a biphasic process with a majority of the radioactivity recovered in the first 24 hours. HPLC analysis revealed at least five testosterone metabolites in feces, with most metabolites being less polar than testosterone. This study forms the initial evaluation of what will become a field monitoring tool.


Access to external finance is a key determinant of a firm's ability to develop, operate and expand. To date, the literature has examined a variety of macroeconomic and microeconomic factors that influence firm financing. In this paper, we examine access by Spanish firms to external financing, both from bank and non-bank sources. We use dynamic panel data estimation techniques to estimate our models over a sample of 60,000 firms during the period from 1992 to 2002. We find that Spanish firms are quite dependent on short-term non-bank financing (such as trade credit), which makes up about 65 percent of total firm debt. Our results indicate that this type of financing is less sensitive to firm characteristics than short-term bank financing. However, we also find that short-term bank debt seems to be accessed more during economic expansions, which may suggest a substitution away from non-bank financing as firm conditions improve. Short-term bank debt also seems to be accessed more as funding rates rise, possibly again suggesting a substitution away from higher-priced non-bank alternatives. Using data from the Spanish Credit Register maintained by the Banco de Espana, we find that the impact of funding costs on access to external financing, whether from banks or non-banks, is affected by the nature of borrowing firms' bank relationships and collateral. In particular, we provide evidence of a potential hold-up problem in loan markets. Moreover, collateral plays a key role in making long-term finance available to firms.


Purpose Identification of biomarkers to predict recurrence risk is essential to improve adjuvant treatment strategies in stage II/III gastric cancer patients. This study evaluated biomarkers for predicting survival after surgical resection. Materials and Methods This post-hoc analysis evaluated patients from the CLASSIC trial who underwent D2 gastrectomywith orwithout adjuvant chemotherapy (capecitabine plus oxaliplatin) at the Yonsei Cancer Center. Tumor expressions of thymidylate synthase (TS), excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1), and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) were evaluated by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining to determine their predictive values. Results Among 139 patients, IHC analysis revealed high tumor expression of TS (n=22, 15.8%), ERCC1 (n=23, 16.5%), and PD-L1 (n=42, 30.2%) in the subset of patients. Among all patients, high TS expression tended to predict poor disease-free survival (DFS; hazard ratio [HR], 1.80; p=0.053), whereas PD-L1 positivity was associated with favorable DFS (HR, 0.33; p=0.001) and overall survival (OS; HR, 0.38; p=0.009) in multivariate Cox analysis. In the subgroup analysis, poor DFS was independently predicted by high TS expression (HR, 2.51; p=0.022) in the adjuvant chemotherapy subgroup (n=66). High PD-L1 expression was associated with favorable DFS (HR, 0.25; p=0.011) and OS (HR, 0.22; p=0.015) only in the surgery-alone subgroup (n=73). The prognostic impact of high ERCC1 expression was not significant in the multivariate Cox analysis. Conclusion This study shows that high TS expression is a predictive factor for worse outcomes on capecitabine plus oxaliplatin adjuvant chemotherapy, whereas PD-L1 expression is a favorable prognostic factor in locally advanced gastric cancer patients.


Webinars are frequently used for synchronous online meetings with up to several hundred participants, using popular platforms such as Adobe Connect, Webex and Blackboard Collaborate. All too often the tendency is that with more participants the level of interaction decreases and many webinars become simply one-way communication in the same way as the traditional academic lecture in a large lecture hall. However, gathering a large number of interested parties in one online meeting is an excellent opportunity to discuss, exchange experience and build networks.


For a cloud service provider, the goal is to proactively identify signals that can help reduce outages and/or reduce the mean-time-to-detect and mean-time-to-resolve. After an incident is reported, the Site Reliability Engineers diagnose the fault and search for a resolution by formulating a textual query to find similar historical incidents - this approach is called text-based retrieval. However, it has been observed that the formulated queries are inadequate and short. An alternate approach, presented in this paper, integrates information spread across heterogeneous and siloed datasets, as a ready-to-use knowledge base for metadata-based resolution retrieval. Additionally, it exploits historical problem context for building metadata prediction models which are used at run-time for automatically formulating queries from log anomalies detected by the Log Anomaly Detection module. The query, thus formed, is run against the metadata-based index, unlike the text-based index in text retrieval, resulting in superior performance, in terms of relevancy of the resolution documents retrieved. Through experiments on web application server applications deployed on the cloud, we show the efficacy of metadata-based retrieval, which not only returns targeted results as compared to text-based retrieval but also the relevant resolution document appear amongst the top 3 positions for 60% of the queries.


(Your abstract must use Normal style and must fit into the box. Do not enter author details) Background GH insensitivity (GHI) encompasses growth failure, low serum IGF-1 and normal/elevated serum growth hormone (GH) (basal level >5μg/L and/or peak on provocation testing >10μg/L). In a significant number of children the molecular cause is unknown. Objective To investigate the genetic etiology of GHI in a cohort of children by candidate gene (CGS) and whole exome (WES) sequencing. Methods 109 patients (61 M, median age 6.5 yr [range 0.4-17.0]) with a phenotype consistent with GHI (mean height SDS -4.8; mean IGF-1 SDS -2.7) were accepted for genetic investigation since 2008. CGS was undertaken for GH-IGF1 axis [GHR, STAT5B, IGFALS, IGF1] and 3M [CUL7, CCDC8, OBSL1] genes and WES was performed in unsolved cases (to date, 53 patients). A bioinformatic pipeline was developed to interrogate the WES data and identify potential causative genetic variants. Results CGS identified homozygous mutations in the following genes in 36 patients: GHR [26], IGFALS [3], OBSL1 [6] and CUL7 [1]. WES identified changes in 13 patients: compound heterozygous IGFALS [1], homozygous GHR [5], heterozygous PTPN11 [2], homozygous CCDC8 [3], homozygous CUL7 [1], and heterozygous SOS1 [1]. 14 of these genetic variants are novel. In 2 subjects who were small for gestational age (birth weight SDS -2.3 and -1.8) hypomethylation in the imprinting control region 11p15 or mUPD7 was demonstrated confirming Silver Russell Syndrome (SRS). Mining the WES data of patients without a genetic diagnosis identified 24 candidate genes having deleterious variants in more than one GHI patient. Conclusions A genetic diagnosis was obtained in 51 (47%) patients. These included 14 novel variants. Importantly, WES identified 13 mutations in known genes, which had not been detected on CGS. Diagnoses with phenotypes overlapping with GHI included SRS, 3M and Noonan syndrome. Variants in novel genes with potential impact on growth have been identified and are under further investigation.


Large-offset seismic data processing, imaging, and velocity estimation require an accurate traveltime approximation over a wide range of offsets. In layered transversely isotropic media with a vertical symmetry axis, the accuracy of traditional traveltime approximations is limited to near offsets. We have developed a new traveltime approximation that maintains the accuracy of classic equations around the zero offset and exhibits the correct curvilinear asymptote at infinitely large offsets. Our approximation is based on the conventional acoustic assumption. Its equation incorporates six parameters. To define them, we use the Taylor series expansion of the exact traveltime around the zero offset and a new asymptotic series for the infinite offset. Our asymptotic equation indicates that the traveltime behavior at infinitely large offsets is dominated by the properties of the layer with the maximum horizontal velocity in the sequence. The parameters of our approximation depend on the effective zero-offset traveltime, the normal moveout velocity, the anellipticity, a new large-offset heterogeneity parameter, and the properties of the layer with the maximum horizontal velocity in the sequence. We have applied our traveltime approximation (1) to directly calculate traveltime and ray parameter at given offsets, as analytical forward modeling, and (2) to estimate the first four of the aforementioned parameters for the layers beneath a known high-velocity layer. Our large-offset heterogeneity parameter includes the layering effect on the reflections' traveltime.


Crowdfunding as a new form of financing culture is a relatively new phenomenon, but it is becoming more and more popular. The spectacular financial success of projects such as Veronica Mars, however, opens a discussion about the situation of the investing audience — the fans. The crowdfunding model is based on the active participation of fans not only at the level of funding, but also at the level of decision-making (this refers to the discussion of the cast, storyline, track list, etc.). As such, crowdfunding should lead to the dissolution of the boundaries between artists and their fans, but there are still certain doubts about who is the real beneficiary of big budget projects, and therefore it is unclear whether fans are becoming the objects of manipulation and exploitation. The paper aims to outline a framework for the discussion on the crowdfunding model and to show the ambiguity of the new situation of fans within this model.


Many bioactive molecules, such as lycopene, resveratrol, lignan, tannins,
indoles, fatty acids, etc., found in small amounts in plants, animals, and micro-organisms have
been extensively investigated for their diverse preventive, therapeutic, immune-modulating and toxicological
effects. Currently, the growing interest of the consumers is shifted towards a novel bioinspired
strategy of cocktailing two or more bioactives at a lower concentration to reduce both side
and cost effects, and to enhance positive effects for the development of novel compounds by the
food, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries.

Even though there are several regularly updated and published reports showing the importance
of beneficial effects of bioactives individually, no systematic reviews are outlining how
the bioactives have combinatorially acted together to provide such health benefits and disease preventive
effects. Hence, various electronic scientific databases, such as Pub Med, Science Direct,
Google scholar, Sci-Finder were searched to collect the data of the present review.

One hundred and sixty-two research and review papers collected from peer-reviewed journals are cited in the present review covering the broad spectrum of many bioactives and their importance in the field of food, feed and drug industries.

 The present systematic review discusses and highlights the current knowledge on the
concept of synergistic and combinatorial effects of various bioactives from the plant, animal, micro-
organism sources, and synthetic drugs in disease prevention and health promotion. These findings
may pave a way for the discovery of new bioactive products and process development, which
could add to economic importance.


Abstract. Conventional cross validation schemes for assessing transfer-function performance assume that observations are independent. In spatially structured environments this assumption is violated, resulting in over-optimistic estimates of transfer-function performance. H-block cross validation, where all samples within h kilometres of the test samples are omitted, is a method for obtaining unbiased transfer-function performance estimates. In this study, we assess three methods for determining the optimal h. Using simulated data, we find that all three methods result in comparable values of h. Applying the three methods to published transfer functions, we find they yield similar values for h. Some transfer functions perform notably worse when h-block cross validation is used.


Criteria and indicators (C&I) for sustainable forest management are important tools to improve the quality of forest management. In most cases they have been developed by experts, but the participation of stakeholders is essential if the C&I are to be locally relevant and practicable. We asked four stakeholder groups to apply a set of C&I to a forest management unit in the eastern Amazon basin. The study confirmed the importance of involving stakeholders and demonstrated that effective efforts begin with well-defined and clearly understandable C&I. Stakeholders were better able to apply and adapt measurable verifiers than the more abstract indicators and criteria. Intensive communication about personal experiences and subjective interpretations is necessary to prevent misunderstandings and misinterpretations. Our study also confirmed the general practical applicability of C&I and revealed their potential as instruments of communication and learning.


The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine youth American football coaches and their knowledge of, and attitudes toward, sport concussions. Coaches (n = 103) were recruited from a randomized sample of Pop Warner leagues within a large Western state to complete the Rosenbaum Concussion Knowledge and Attitudes Survey. Coaches ranged from 25–75 years of age and were coaching youth athletes ranging from 6–14 years of age. Coaches scored in the 80th percentile on concussion knowledge, and in the 85th percentile on concussion attitudes. However, coaches were lacking in some areas of concussion knowledge such as concussion symptomology. There was also a statistically significant positive correlation between coaches' scores on the Concussion Knowledge Index and the Concussion Attitudes Index, r = .43, p < .01. The results of this research indicate that while youth sport coaches report basic knowledge of concussions, there remain gaps in their education. This highlights the need for research to review current coaching curriculum, observe actual coaching behaviors, and to determine best practices for teaching coaches.


The successful application of optical interconnects to electronic processing systems requires careful consideration of the: electronic system in which it will be used; optical system and electro-optical device performance; electrical-electro optic interface characteristics; packaging of micro optic components and electro-optic devices with electronic substrates; and the reliability of optical interconnects. In addition, the optical system must be performance and cost competitive with advanced electrical connection methods. We consider several of the above issues at the board packaging level, and the design of relevant optical components for these systems.<<ETX>>


Oxidative stress has been shown to induce either apoptosis or stress-induced premature senescence (SIPS) in different cell types. At present, it is generally accepted that stem cells have high resistance to oxidative stress; however data reported by various authors are controversial. In this study, we investigated stress responses of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and human mesenchymal stem cells (hMESC) derived from desquamated endometrium to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Cell viability was evaluated by MTT assay. LD50 were determined as 300-350, 350-400 and 600-700 μM for hESC, human embryonic fibroblasts and hMESC, respectively. Thus, among the cell lines studied, hMESC demonstrated the most resistance to increased H2O2 concentration. We have found for the first time that sub-lethal doses of H2O2 induce premature senescence phenotype in hMESC, like in HEF, which is characterized by increased expression of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21(Waf1/Cip1), an irreversible cell cycle arrest, the permanent loss of proliferative potential, cell hypertrophy and SA-β-Gal staining. While a sub-lethal H2O2 dose (200 μM) promoted in hMESC only SIPS, the higher H2O2 doses induced also apoptosis in the part of the cell population. On the contrary, in hESC, H2O2 regardless of the doses tested (from 50 to 500 μM) triggered apoptosis, that was the only pronounced response of these cells to oxidative damage. The data obtained demonstrate that stem cells of various origins under oxidative stress utilize the different defense mechanisms: hESC rapidly eliminate damaged cells through apoptosis, whereas hMESC may enter SIPS.


Panosteitis, an idiopathic bone disease of young dogs, was investigated in the light of a new, empirically based hypothesis governing its pathogenesis. Extensive clinical observations suggest a close relationship between the incidence of this disease and the commercialization of various protein-rich, high-calorie dog foods. The theory of an "osseous compartment syndrome" provides a hypothetical pathogenesis, which corroborates this findings. An excessive accumulation of protein causes intraosseous edema due to its osmotic effects. Because bone is a rigid compartment, this leads to an increase in intramedullary pressure and compression of blood vessels. Subsequent osseous ischemia leads to a deficient metabolic state (decreased oxygenation, inadequate influx of nutritive substances, local acidosis, decreased removal of metabolites, disruption of local biochemical processes, etc.), and a vicious circle is created due to the resulting local inflammation. The disease is aggravated by increased metabolism due to excessive physical activity. Within the context of a pilot study, clinical, radiographic, scintigraphic and thermographic examinations and a therapeutic trial with benzopyron were carried out. In addition, more modern investigative tools, including osteomyelography, magnetic resonance tomography and intraosseous pressure measurements were used to provide objective data concerning the pathogenesis of panosteitis. In most cases, clinical remission was seen within days of monotherapy with the proteolytic substance, benzopyron (Cumartrin). This finding appears to corroborate our hypothesis.


Membrane proteins constitute approximately 30% of all genes in the human genome and two large families of membrane proteins are G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and Solute Carriers (SLCs) with about 800 and 380 human genes, respectively.In Papers I, II and IV, we report 16 novel human Adhesion GPCRs found by searches in NCBI and Celera databases. In Paper I, we report eight novel human GPCRs, and six in Paper II. We identified two new human Adhesion GPCRs and 17 mouse orthologs in Paper IV. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrates that the 16 novel human genes are additional members of the Adhesion GPCR family and can be divided into eight phylogenetic groups. EST expression charts for the entire repertoire of Adhesions in human and mouse were established, showing widespread distribution in both central and peripheral tissues. Different domains were found in their N-terminus, some, such as pentraxin in GPR112, indicates that they take part in immunological processes.In Paper III, we discovered seven new human Rhodopsin GPCRs.In Paper V, we present the identification of two new human genes, termed SLC6A17 and SLC6A18 from the Solute Carriers family 6 (SLC6). We also identified the corresponding orthologs and additional genes from the mouse and rat genomes. We analysed, in total, 430 unique SLC6 proteins from 10 animal, one plant, two fungi and 196 bacterial genomes.In Paper VI, we provide the first systematic analysis of the evolutionary history of the different SLC families in Eukaryotes. In all, we analysed 2403 sequences in eight species and we delineate the evolutionary history of each of the 46 SLC families.


This paper presents a set of techniques for classification of audiosegments in a system for automatic transcription of broadcast programs. The task consists in deciding a) whether the segment is to be labeled as speech or a non-speech one, and in the former case, b) whether the talking person is one of the speakers in the database, and if not, c) which gender the speaker belongs to. The result of the classification is used to extend the information provided by the transcription system and also to enhance the performance of the speech recognition module. Like the most of the state-of-the-art speaker recognition systems, the proposed one is based on Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM). As the number of the database speakers can be large, we introduce a technique that speeds up the identification process in significant way. Furthermore, we compare several approaches to the estimation of GMM parameters. Finally, we present the results achieved in classification of 230 minutes of real broadcast data.


Calcined petroleum coke (CPC) is one of major constituent used for making graphite electrodes. Increasing demand of graphite electrodes requires more and more quantity of high quality-low sulphur calcined petroleum coke. The sulphur content of the petroleum coke strongly depends on the nature of the coking feed stock (crude oil) and its sulphur content. High sulphur coke (>1%) is not desirable for making graphite electrodes because evolution of sulphur causes puffing in the temperature range of 1,400-2,200 °C during graphitization. In this study, attempt has been made to reduce the sulphur of calcined petroleum coke by heat treatment to the acceptable level for making graphite electrodes. A high sulphur coke (approx. 2%) was heat treated up to 1,800 °C in inert atmosphere in order to reduce the sulphur content. It was observed that most of the sulphur goes off up to 1,800 °C. A sample of size 12x80 mm was prepared (by extrusion method) from desulphurized petroleum coke using coal tar binder pitch as binder at 125 °C. The extruded samples were carbonized at 900 °C, followed by graphitization at 2,900 °C. The graphitized rods were characterized for various properties such as apparent density (AD), electrical resistivity (ER), flexural strength (FS) and compared with the properties of samples made from electrode grade CPC.


Chlorophyll data from the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor(SeaWiFS) is assimilated into the three-dimensional global NASA OceanBiogeochemical Model (NOBM) for the period 1998-2004. The assimilationis performed by a multivariate configuration of the SEIK filter whichis an ensemble-based Kalman filter scheme. The filter is simplified bythe use of a static error covariance matrix. It operates with alocalized analysis and is amended by an online bias correction scheme.The multivariate assimilation is applied to update the fourphytoplankton groups of the model as well as the simulated nutrientfields. The chlorophyll estimates of the model can be improved by theassimilation such that they outperform the assimilated SeaWiFS data.However, the results are less clear for the nutrients where the biasestimation is required for stability but reduces the assimilationimprovements.


An ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) multiplexer with an input buffered architecture that uses a priority scheduling scheme is evaluated and compared with one without priority scheduling. The objective is to find some quantitative measurement that will help one better understand whether sufficiently more statistical gain can be realized with the added priority scheduling, i.e. by using delay priorities. A simulation model is developed to examine the delay performance and buffer occupancy statistics of an ATM multiplexer where the load generated from constant bit rate sources is held fixed, but the load generated by variable bit rate sources is varied. It is concluded that, if one envisions that the delay requirements of services supported in B-ISDN (broadband integrated services digital network) cover a range of 1 ms to a few tens of milliseconds per node, then priority scheduling can increase the utilization efficiency significantly.<<ETX>>


It sounds straightforward. As the Earth warms due to the increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, global temperatures rise and so heatwaves become warmer as well. This means that a fixed temperature threshold is passed more often: the probability of extreme heat increases. However, land use changes, vegetation change, irrigation, air pollution, and other changes also drive local and regional trends in heatwaves. Sometimes they enhance heatwave intensity, but they can also counteract the effects of climate change, and in some regions, the mechanisms that impact on trends in heatwaves have not yet been fully identified. Climate models simulate heatwaves and the increased intensity and probability of extreme heat reasonably well on large scales. However, changes in annual daily maximum temperatures do not follow global warming over some regions, including the Eastern United States and parts of Asia, reflecting the influence of local drivers as well as natural variability. Also, temperature variability is unrealistic in many models, and can fail standard quality checks. Therefore, reliable attribution and projection of change in heatwaves remain a major scientific challenge in many regions, particularly where the moisture budget is not well simulated, and where land surface changes, changes in short‐lived forcers, and soil moisture interactions are important.


On behavioural theory basis, this article analyses whether religion influences married women in Germany in their decision to supply labour. Gender roles and accompanying attitudes toward the appropriate division of labour among spouses might differ across religious groups depending on the groups ́ strictness. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) and applying both cross-sectional and longitudinal data analysis techniques the findings from the estimated reduced form participation equations suggest that denominational affiliation itself only weakly influences a woman ́s decision whether to work or not. However, women who attach importance to faith in their lives tend to work less than women without a strong conviction. Furthermore, taking into account the family background of individuals and supposing that employment decisions are bargained over among household members, there is evidence that the existence of a spouse with a strong conviction also affects a woman ́s supply of labour negatively.


Monetary and fiscal policies are designed and implemented by different government agencies, each with its own objectives, resources, constraints, and incentives. The actions of monetary authority may affect the fiscal authority's public debt management and fiscal deficit. On the other side, the fiscal authority's action also may affect the stance of monetary policy and its results. This paper aims to find the level of fiscal or monetary dominance by evaluating the interaction of monetary and fiscal policies in Turkey for relevant period. For this purpose, it was examined the relationship between inflation rate, monetary policy interest rate, fiscal deficit, public debt in Turkey for 2000 to 2018 by using VAR and ARDL model. According to the results obtained from VAR analysis monetary variables significantly affect fiscal variables. However, there is no evidence of fiscal dominancy on monetary policy. The evidence acquired via ARDL bound test supports these findings. Hereunder, it can be concluded that monetary policy is dominating fiscal policy in the relevant period.


The phytoplankton lake community model PROTECH (Phytoplankton RespOnses To Environmental CHange) was applied to the eutrophic lake, Esthwaite Water (United Kingdom). It was validated against monitoring data from 2003 and simulated well the seasonal pattern of total chlorophyll, diatom chlorophyll and Cyanobacteria chlorophyll with respective R2‐values calculated between observed and simulated of 0.68, 0.72 and 0.77 (all P<0.01). This simulation was then rerun through various combinations of factorized changes covering a range of half to double the flushing rate and from −1 to +4 °C changes in water temperature. Their effect on the phytoplankton was measured as annual, spring, summer and autumn means of the total and species chlorophyll concentrations. In addition, Cyanobacteria mean percentage abundance (%Cb) and maximum percentage abundance (Max %Cb) was recorded, as were the number of days that Cyanobacteria chlorophyll concentration exceed two World Health Organization (WHO) derived risk thresholds (10 and 50 mg m−3). The phytoplankton community was dominated in the year by three of the eight phytoplankton simulated. The vernal bloom of the diatom Asterionella showed little annual or seasonal response to the changing drivers but this was not the case for the two Cyanobacteria that also dominated, Anabaena and Aphanizomenon. These Cyanobacteria showed enhanced abundance, community dominance and increased duration above the highest WHO risk threshold with increasing water temperature and decreasing flushing rate: this effect was greatest in the summer period. However, the response was ultimately controlled by the availability of nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, with occasional declines in the latter's concentration helping the dominance of these nitrogen‐fixing phytoplankton.


Background Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) mismatch was suggested to identify stroke patients with unknown time of symptom onset likely to be within the time window for thrombolysis. Aims We aimed to study clinical characteristics associated with DWI-FLAIR mismatch in patients with unknown onset stroke. Methods We analyzed baseline MRI and clinical data from patients with acute ischemic stroke proven by DWI from WAKE-UP, an investigator-initiated, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of MRI-based thrombolysis in stroke patients with unknown time of symptom onset. Clinical characteristics were compared between patients with and without DWI-FLAIR mismatch. Results Of 699 patients included, 418 (59.8%) presented with DWI-FLAIR mismatch. A shorter delay between last seen well and symptom recognition (p = 0.0063), a shorter delay between symptom recognition and arrival at hospital (p = 0.0025), and history of atrial fibrillation (p = 0.19) were predictors of DWI-FLAIR mismatch in multivariate analysis. All other characteristics were comparable between groups. Conclusions There are only minor differences in measured clinical characteristics between unknown symptom onset stroke patients with and without DWI-FLAIR mismatch. DWI-FLAIR mismatch as an indicator of stroke onset within 4.5 h shows no relevant association with commonly collected clinical characteristics of stroke patients. Clinical Trial Registration URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01525290; URL: https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu. Unique identifier: 2011-005906-32.


The challenges associated with (back-) migration of people to rural communities in the 1990s are examined. It is argued that reducing the "brain drain" from rural areas through the creation of job opportunities for college-educated individuals, is central to an effective rural(community) development strategy. To survive, rural communities must increasingly provide incentives, services and opportunities to economic agents operating outside the agricultural sector.


Abstract. We explore how job demands and job resources are related to job crafting, and how this, in turn, is related to performance in two samples of American (US; N = 70) and Dutch (NL; N = 144) health care professionals (HCP). A cross-sectional, cross-cultural design revealed that US HCP have higher job demands and reduce them more than NL HCP, who have higher and seek more job resources. Specifically, job demands positively related to seeking resources; job resources positively related to seeking challenges and seeking resources but negatively to reducing demands. While reducing demands negatively related to task and contextual performance, seeking resources positively related to task and creative performance. This study expands scientific and practical knowledge on employee proactive organizational behavior.