The purpose of this work to study, analyze and evaluate the patterns of spatial variability of long-term fluctuations in winter extreme low temperatures of the surface layer of atmospheric air in mountainous territories of Armenia (for example, the lake Sevan basin). To achieve this goal, the results of actual observations by Armhydromet and the available literary sources have been collected, processed and analyzed. As a result of the analysis of the values of extreme low temperatures, it can be noted that the genesis of winter extreme low temperatures is different in the territories under consideration. Winter extreme low temperatures stand out for their uneven distribution – they range from -26.3 to -38.1. For the calculation of winter extreme low air temperatures of unexplored or poorly studied territories, correlations were obtained between the value of extreme low temperatures and the altitude of the area above sea level. In the study area, a tendency towards an increase in winter extreme low temperatures is mainly observed. The scientific novelty of the obtained results lies in the fact that in modern observational materials, for the first time, the regularities of the variability of the spatio-temporal distribution of winter extreme low temperatures of the surface air layer in the lake Sevan basin are estimated. Findings • The study of the patterns of variability of the spatial-temporal distribution of winter extreme low temperatures of the surface air layer under conditions of regional and global climate change is an urgent task of modern geographical science; • Winter extreme low air temperatures are mainly due to the nature of the underlying surface and the features of the relief. The smallest values are observed not in high-altitude zones, but in those places where cold air accumulates (that is, in depressions). In winter, in the hollow valleys, an inversion is mainly observed- in parallel with the height, the air temperature rises. In valleys, as a result of the accumulation of cold air, low temperature conditions can be observed for quite a long time; • The study area is distinguished by a characteristic regime and an uneven spatial distribution of winter extreme low temperatures. They range from -26.3 (Semenovka) to -38.1(Masrik). • Winter extreme low temperatures rise up to 2000-2100m with altitude, and on the contrary, they decrease at altitudes above 2000-2100m. The vertical temperature gradient is -0.5C/100m and 0.8C/100m, respectively; • On the basis of the obtained correlation between winter extreme low temperatures and terrain heights, two regions were identified: 1) heights up to 2000-2100m and 2) 2000- 2100m and higher; • Temporal trends during perennial winter extreme low temperatures are mixed. In the study area, these is a predominance of positive trends. Negative trends are characteristic for the period 1935-1966 at the Sevan, Masrik and Martuni meteorological stations; • In the study area, winter conditions become thermally milder, which should be taken into account when developing strategic programs for the future development of this area.


As a kind of dangerous material, energetic materials have the characteristics of being thermally unstable and easily combustible or explode upon exposure to external stimuli. The design and synthesis of novel insensitive energetic materials with high performance, therefore, have attracted continuing interest from researchers around the world. Hydroxylammonium salts were reported to be the most promising energetic salts due to their high densities and good oxygen balance. Energetic compounds consisting of N–F bonds are also expected to be denser and have better oxygen balance than their precursors. Herein, three series of new N–F compounds were designed and their physicochemical properties such as densities, heats of formation, detonation properties, and impact sensitivities, were evaluated by using volume-based thermodynamic calculations and density functional theory. Their properties were also compared with those of the corresponding hydroxylammonium salts. Among the investigated compounds, tris(4,5-dinitro-imidazol-2-yl)amine (TA2) and tris(5-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)amine (TB2) displayed excellent integrated performance, that is, high density (>1.93 g cm−3), detonation velocity (>9000 m s−1), and detonation pressure (>37.0 GPa). These results are expected to facilitate the experimental synthesis of a new-generation of N–F based high explosives.


Abstract Fast neutral generation by charge exchange reaction in inertial electrostatic confinement plasmas is studied by solving the Poisson equation and the Boltzmann equation for fast neutrals. Fusion reactions carried by the charge exchange fast neutrals become appreciable compared with ion-background fusion reaction. It is shown that the fusion reaction between fast neutral and background gas is sensitively affected by experimental parameters (grid voltage, background gas pressure) and ion distribution function.


Although there is growing interest in the neural foundations of aesthetic experience, it remains unclear how particular mental sub-systems (e.g., perceptual, affective, cognitive) are involved in different types of aesthetic judgments. Here we use fMRI to investigate the involvement of different neural networks during aesthetic judgments of visual artworks with implied motion cues. First, a behavioural experiment (N=45) confirmed a preference for paintings with implied motion over static cues. Subsequently, in a pre-registered fMRI experiment (N=27), participants made aesthetic and motion judgments towards paintings representing human bodies in dynamic and static postures. Using functional region-of-interest and Bayesian multilevel modelling approaches, we show clear functional differences in the way motion, body-image and affective processing systems contribute to aesthetic judgments. Visual motion and body-selective regions were sensitive to implied motion cues, but only body-selective regions showed sensitivity to aesthetic judgments. In contrast, within the affective network, bilateral anterior cingulate cortex showed more sensitivity to the aesthetic than control task. In addition, we show suggestive evidence that motion and body-selective systems may integrate signals via functional connections with a separate neural network in dorsal parietal cortex, which may act as a relay or integration site. Our findings clarify the roles of basic visual and affective brain circuitry in evaluating a central aesthetic feature – implied motion – whilst also pointing towards promising future research directions, which involve modelling aesthetic preferences as hierarchical interplay between visual and affective circuits and integration processes in frontoparietal cortex.


INTRODUCTION AND AIMS
Many studies of alcohol policies examine the presence or absence of a single policy without considering policy strength or enforcement. We developed measures for the strength of 18 policies (from Alcohol Policy Information System) and levels of enforcement of those policies for the 50 US states, and examined their associations with alcohol consumption.

DESIGN AND METHODS
We grouped policies into four domains (underage alcohol use, provision of alcohol to underage, alcohol serving, general availability) and used latent class analysis to assign states to one of four classes based on the configuration of policies-weak except serving policies (6 states), average (29 states), strong for underage use (11 states) and strong policies overall (4 states). We surveyed 1082 local enforcement agencies regarding alcohol enforcement across five domains. We used multilevel latent class analysis to assign states to classes in each domain and assigned each state to an overall low (15 states), moderate (19 states) or high (16 states) enforcement group. Consumption outcomes (past month, binge and heavy) came from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

RESULTS
Regression models show inverse associations between alcohol consumption and policy class, with past month alcohol consumption at 54% in the weakest policy class and 34% in the strongest. In adjusted models, the strong underage use policy class was consistently associated with lower consumption. Enforcement group did not affect the policy class and consumption associations.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest strong alcohol policies, particularly underage use policies, may help to reduce alcohol consumption and related consequences. [Erickson DJ, Lenk KM, Toomey TL, Nelson TF, Jones-Webb R. The alcohol policy environment, enforcement, and consumption in the United States. Drug Alcohol Rev 2015;●●:●●-●●].


The mineral processing sector of industry is very fuel-intensive. For instance, aluminium making is one of the nine processes which together account for about 50% of the industrial energy used in the United States (Warshawsky,1976). In aluminium production, the first stage is alumina manufacture. In alumina processing, i e. bauxite refining, the final step is calcination. Calcination was defined and the evolution in the development of today's alumina calcination plants was reviewed. The whole processes (unit configuration and operation, equipment capabilities, energy consumption and efficiency, product quality, etc..,) were described. Operational difficulties and successive improvements were also analysed. In these units, the major component of the equipment is the furnace (rotary kiln or stationary furnace) wherein the water of constitution of precalcined alumina crystals is expelled at high temperature (900 to 1200°C). Overall aluminium trihydrate dehydroxylation is expressed by the following theoretical chemical reaction: Al2O3, 3H2O → AI2O3 + 3H2O(v) Special attention was given to five commercial stationary calciner furnaces which were detained and compared. However, the scope of this work was focused on the study of the Mark III Alcoa flash furnace : a cylindrical vertical vessel composed of three sections -the bottom and top section of smaller dimensions than the central main body- in which fuel oil or gas are introduced and burnt directly into the suspension of alumina particles. Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations---the best technique available to obtain a description of the flow of solid in the furnace since adequately reliable physical modelling experiment does not exist for two phases situations---were carried out to ascertain the media behaviour in the chamber. A description of the numerical tool, together with the various models used in the computations were given. Numerical models of the above existing furnace were built: Isothermal single (gaseous flow) and two phase flows, combustion reaction. Swirling flow field was tested in a partial model of equivalent dimension. Heat and mass transfer between the two phases have not been implemented. Predictive results were validated against physical tests and plant operating data. The models allowed the cause of the current operational inefficiencies to be addressed. Design changes were suggested and actually introduced in the new generations of calciner furnaces which combine an increased combustion efficiency and a better processing of particles.


This book is both an analysis of the Bastille as cultural paradigm and a case study on the history of French political culture. It examines in particular the storming and subsequent fall of the Bastille in Paris on July 14, 1789 and how it came to represent the cornerstone of the French Revolution, becoming a symbol of the repression of the Old Regime. Lusebrink and Reichardt use this semiotic reading of the Bastille to reveal how historical symbols are generated; what these symbols' functions are in the collective memory of societies; and how they are used by social, political, and ideological groups.

To facilitate the symbolic nature of the investigation, this analysis of the evolving signification of the Bastille moves from the French Revolution to the nineteenth century to contemporary history. The narrative also shifts from France to other cultural arenas, like the modern European colonial sphere, where the overthrow of the Bastille acquired radical new signification in the decolonization period of the 1940s and 1950s. The Bastille demonstrates the potency of the interdisciplinary historical research that has characterized the end of this century, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, and taking its methodological tools from history, sociology, linguistics, and cultural and literary studies.


The Indian Ocean has long been a cosmopolitan place and the circulation of people has, over the centuries, created a web of overlapping transnational networks based on religion, kinship and trade. In this article, I examine the similarities and the differences in diasporic practices and relationships with the homeland using two of these groups – Zanzibaris of Hadrami origin and Zanzibaris of Comorian origin – as case studies. In both cases, relationships with the homeland have differentially shaped practices and identities. These relationships are often ambiguous, since the homeland often wishes to encourage the maintenance of links in order to maintain both remittances and prospects for future emigration, which requires an encouragement of a sense of identity with the homeland on the part of the emigrant community. However, there is reluctance, too, for while emigrants may wish to maintain links with home as a safety mechanism, they may be reluctant to embrace what appear to them to be outdated social practices in the homeland; for those at home, too close an identification with the homeland on the part of the diaspora risks encouraging returns: the loss of remittances and attendant conflicts over resources, particularly land.


Poststarburst galaxies host a population of early-type stars (A or F) but simultaneously lack indicators of ongoing star formation such as [O ii] emission. Two distinct stellar populations have been identified in these systems: a young poststarburst population superimposed on an older host population. We present a study of nine poststarburst galaxies with the following objectives: (1) to investigate whether and how kinematical differences between the young and old populations of stars can be measured, and (2) to gain insight into the formation mechanism of the young population in these systems. We fit high signal-to-noise spectra with two independent populations in distinct spectral regions: the Balmer region, the Mg ib region, and the Ca triplet when available. We show that the kinematics of the two populations largely track one another if measured in the Balmer region with high signal-to-noise data. Results from examining the Faber–Jackson relation and the fundamental plane indicate that these objects are not kinematically disturbed relative to more evolved spheroids. A case study of the internal kinematics of one object in our sample shows it to be pressure supported and not rotationally dominated. Overall our results are consistent with merger-induced starburst scenarios where the young population is observed during the later stages of the merger.


AIM
To investigate the anticancer activity of honokiol on RKO, a human colorectal carcinoma cell line in vitro and in vivo, and to evaluate its possible use in clinic.

METHODS
In vitro anticancer activity of honokiol was demonstrated by its induction of apoptosis in tumor cells. We analyzed cell proliferation with MTT assay, cell cycle with flow cytosmeter, DNA fragment with electrophoresis on agarose gels. To test the mechanism of honokiol-induced apoptosis, Western blotting was used to investigate the factors involved in this process. The pharmacokinetics study of honokiol was tested by high phase liquid chromatography. In in vivo study, Balb/c nude mice were incubated with RKO cells. Honokiol was injected intraperitoneally every other day into tumor bearing Balb/c nude mice.

RESULTS
Our results showed that honokiol induced apoptosis of RKO cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. At 5-10 microg/mL for 48 h, honokiol induced apoptosis through activating Caspase cascades. Pharmacokinetics study demonstrated that, honokiol could be absorbed quickly by intraperitoneal injection, and maintained in plasma for more than 10 h. In nude mice bearing RKO-incubated tumor, honokiol displayed anticancer activity by inhibiting tumor growth and prolonging the lifespan of tumor bearing mice.

CONCLUSION
With its few toxicity to normal cells and potent anticancer activity in vitro and in vivo, honokiol might be a potential chemotherapy candidate in treating human colorectal carcinoma.


In density estimation task, Maximum Entropy (Maxent) model can effectively use reliable prior information via nonparametric constraints, that is, linear constraints without empirical parameters. However, reliable prior information is often insufficient, and parametric constraints becomes necessary but poses considerable implementation complexity. Improper setting of parametric constraints can result in overfitting or underfitting. To alleviate this problem, a generalization of Maxent, under Tsallis entropy framework, is proposed. The proposed method introduces a convex quadratic constraint for the correction of (expected) quadratic Tsallis Entropy Bias (TEB). Specifically, we demonstrate that the expected quadratic Tsallis entropy of sampling distributions is smaller than that of the underlying real distribution with regard to frequentist, Bayesian prior, and Bayesian posterior framework, respectively. This expected entropy reduction is exactly the (expected) TEB, which can be expressed by the closed‐form formula and acts as a consistent and unbiased correction with an appropriate convergence rate. TEB indicates that the entropy of a specific sampling distribution should be increased accordingly. This entails a quantitative reinterpretation of the Maxent principle. By compensating TEB and meanwhile forcing the resulting distribution to be close to the sampling distribution, our generalized quadratic Tsallis Entropy Bias Compensation (TEBC) Maxent can be expected to alleviate the overfitting and underfitting. We also present a connection between TEB and Lidstone estimator. As a result, TEB–Lidstone estimator is developed by analytically identifying the rate of probability correction in Lidstone. Extensive empirical evaluation shows promising performance of both TEBC Maxent and TEB‐Lidstone in comparison with various state‐of‐the‐art density estimation methods.


Polycrystalline Cu2ZnSnS4-XSeX (X=1, 2, 3) compounds were synthesized by conventional solid-state reactions. The samples were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDS), Raman spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance UV-vis and Photoluminescence. All of phases crystallize in the tetragonal kesterite-type structure. The powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns were indexed in the space group . No secondary phases were detected in XRD patterns. The results from diffuse reflectance show band gap between 1.26 - 1.17 eV, when S is gradually replaced by Se. The PL spectrum of Cu 2 ZnSnS 4-x Se x phases shows nearly symmetrical band, which shifted linearly to the lower energy with increasing Se content. The selenized (CZTSSe) phases are promising candidates to be used as absorbing material in solar cells.


GABAA receptor α5 subunits, which are heavily expressed in the hippocampus, are potential drug targets for improving cognitive function. They are found at synaptic and extrasynaptic sites and have been shown to mediate tonic inhibition in pyramidal neurons. We tested the hypothesis that α5 subunits also contribute to synaptic inhibition by measuring the effect of diazepam (DZ) on spontaneous and stimulus-evoked inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs) in genetically modified mice carrying a point mutation in the α5 subunit (α5-H105R) that renders those receptors insensitive to benzodiazepines. In wild type mice, DZ (1 μM) increased the amplitude of spontaneous IPSCs (sIPSCs) and stimulus-evoked GABAA,slow IPSCs (eIPSCs) and prolonged the decay of GABAA,fast sIPSCs. In α5-mutant mice, DZ increased the amplitude of a small-amplitude subset of sIPSCs (<50 pA) and eIPSCs (<300 pA) and prolonged the decay of GABAA,fast sIPSCs, but failed to increase the amplitude of larger sIPSCs and eIPSCs. These results indicate that α5 subunits contribute to a largeamplitude subset of GABAA,slow synapses, and implicate these synapses in modulation of cognitive function by drugs that target α5 subunits.


This thesis unites three papers discussing new strategies for matched pair designs using observational data, developed to balance the demands of various disparate design goals. The first chapter introduces a new matching algorithm for large-scale treated-control comparisons when many categorical covariates are present. The algorithm balances covariates and their interactions in a prioritized manner by solving a combinatorial optimization problem, and guarantees computational efficiency through the use of a sparse network representation. The second chapter defines a class of variables called prods which can be ignored when matching in order to strictly attenuate unmeasured bias, if it is present. These variables can be difficult to identify with confidence, so a multiple-control-group strategy is proposed in which investigators match once on all variables, and once ignoring prods; the two treated-control comparisons together give stronger evidence about treatment effects than either one individually. The final paper considers a new version of Fisher's classical lack-of-fit test for regression models, appropriate for data that lack replicated observations. The test uses matched pairs formed by optimal nonbipartite matching as near-replicates, and the model fit is used is used in constructing the matching distance in order to focus attention on variables that are predictive in the null model. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Statistics First Advisor Paul Rosenbaum


Liability to alcohol dependence is heritable, but little is known about its complex polygenic architecture. We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of self-reported alcohol consumption in 1798 of Russian individuals. No SNP reached genome-wide significance for any alcohol drinking patterns: never drinking, everyday drinking, once per week drinking and once per month drinking. Polymorphisms in previously reported genes of KLB and AUTS2 were significant associated with everyday drinking and once per week drinking patterns, respectively. We also found associations of genes involved in nervous system function and mental disorders with some alcohol drinking patterns. This study identifies novel gene associations that should be the focus of future studies investigating the neurobiology of alcohol consumption.


This paper examines the opportunities and challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry in moving to a primarily "continuous processing"-based supply chain. The current predominantly "large batch" and centralized manufacturing system designed for the "blockbuster" drug has driven a slow-paced, inventory heavy operating model that is increasingly regarded as inflexible and unsustainable. Indeed, new markets and the rapidly evolving technology landscape will drive more product variety, shorter product life-cycles, and smaller drug volumes, which will exacerbate an already unsustainable economic model. Future supply chains will be required to enhance affordability and availability for patients and healthcare providers alike despite the increased product complexity. In this more challenging supply scenario, we examine the potential for a more pull driven, near real-time demand-based supply chain, utilizing continuous processing where appropriate as a key element of a more "flow-through" operating model. In this discussion paper on future supply chain models underpinned by developments in the continuous manufacture of pharmaceuticals, we have set out; The significant opportunities to moving to a supply chain flow-through operating model, with substantial opportunities in inventory reduction, lead-time to patient, and radically different product assurance/stability regimes. Scenarios for decentralized production models producing a greater variety of products with enhanced volume flexibility. Production, supply, and value chain footprints that are radically different from today's monolithic and centralized batch manufacturing operations. Clinical trial and drug product development cost savings that support more rapid scale-up and market entry models with early involvement of SC designers within New Product Development. The major supply chain and industrial transformational challenges that need to be addressed. The paper recognizes that although current batch operational performance in pharma is far from optimal and not necessarily an appropriate end-state benchmark for batch technology, the adoption of continuous supply chain operating models underpinned by continuous production processing, as full or hybrid solutions in selected product supply chains, can support industry transformations to deliver right-first-time quality at substantially lower inventory profiles. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association J Pharm Sci 104:840–849, 2015


STUDY OBJECTIVE
To explore gender differences in morbidity and total health care utilization 5 years prior to diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

DESIGN
Case-control study; patients were recruited between January 2001 and April 2003.

SETTING
Two university-affiliated sleep laboratories.

PATIENTS
289 women (22-81 years) with OSA were matched with 289 men with OSA for age, body mass index (BMI), and apnea-hypopnea index (AHI). All OSA patients were matched 1:1 with healthy controls by age, geographic area, and primary physician.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS
Women with OSA compared to men with OSA have lower perceived health status and Functional Outcomes of Sleep Questionnaire score (54.5% vs. 28.4%, P <0.05 and 67.5+/-21.4 vs. 76+/-20.1, P <0.05, respectively). Compared to men with OSA, women with OSA have higher risk of hypothyroidism (OR 4.7; 95% CI, 2.3-10) and arthropathy (OR 1.6, 95% CI, 1.1-2.2) and lower risk for CVD (OR 0.7; 95% CI, 0.5-0.91). Compared to controls, both women and men with OSA had 1.8 times higher 5-year total costs (P <0.0001). Compared to men with OSA, expenditures for women with OSA are 1.3 times higher (P <0.0001). The multiple logistic regression (adjusting for BMI, AHI) revealed that age (OR 1.04; 95% CI, 1.01-1.07), antipsychotic and anxiolytic drugs (OR 2.3; 95% CI, 1.2-4.4), and asthma (OR 2.4; 95% CI, 1.1-5.6) are independent determinants for "most costly" OSA women.

CONCLUSION
Compared to men with similar OSA severity, women are heavier users of health care resources. Low FOSQ score and poor perceived health status in addition to overuse of psychoactive drugs are associated with high health care utilization among women with OSA.


Twenty-two fluorescent pseudomonad strains of clinical origin received as Pseudomonas fluorescens (10 strains), Pseudomonasputida (10 strains) and Pseudomonas sp. (2 strains), and 33 type strains of the genus Pseudomonas were studied by numerical analysis based on 280 phenotypic characters. Twelve of the 22 clinical isolates clustered within a specific group, cluster IV. The other strains clustered within groups containing well-characterized fluorescent Pseudomonas species or did not cluster. Strains belonging to cluster IV were phenotypically different from all other clusters and subclusters of fluorescent pseudomonads. DNA-DNA hybridization showed that cluster IV corresponded to a genomic group sharing 72-100% DNA relatedness. DNA-DNA hybridization values with 67 strains representing 30 species of the genus Pseudomonas sensu stricto, including six recently described species (Pseudomonas veronii, Pseudomonas rhodesiae, Pseudomonas libanensis, 'Pseudomonas orientalis', 'Pseudomonas cedrella' and Pseudomonas monteilii), were below 49%, the value found for P. monteilii. The DNA G+C content of the type strain was 63 mol%. Comparison of the 16S rRNA gene sequence of a representative strain of cluster IV (CFML 90-83T) with sequences of other strains of the genus Pseudomonas revealed that strain CFML 90-83T was part of the P. fluorescens intrageneric cluster. On the basis of phenotypic, DNA-DNA hybridization and phylogenetic analyses, a novel species, Pseudomonas mosselii sp. nov., is proposed for the 12 strains of cluster IV. The type strain is P. mosselii CFML 90-83T (= ATCC BAA-99T = CIP 105259T). The P. mosselii strains are phenotypically homogeneous and can be differentiated from other fluorescent species by several phenotypic features, including pyoverdine typing.


The increasing growth of automotive industry in Indonesia has not been matched by the number of local suppliers and makes the automotive industry too dependent on imported raw materials. Along with the needs of import activities, it is also required a greater logistics activities. However, with high logistics costs, the manufacturer must increase efficiency to be able to compete in the global market. This can be accomplished by planning inbound logistics activities that control the movement of materials from suppliers to the manufacture. In this research, an optimization methodology, based on Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) approach is developed and solved with branch and bound algorithm. The result of this research, which obtained the total cost of optimal inbound logistics include material cost, transportation cost, and administration cost. This model can also be used as a tool for the company in making decisions about the type and the number of container also with the total of the optimal material load in each container, therefore the optimal container space utilization value can be obtained.


It is well known that vegetables are good sources of natural antioxidants and dietary fiber. Vegetables in cabbage group have long been used in human nutrition due to their rich nutritional value, and also they are grown in relatively cold areas where other vegetables cannot be produced. The nutritional value of white cabbage stands out among other vegetables, due to its high levels of antioxidants, phenolic compounds, dietary fiber, minerals and low calorie content. The most important reason for increasing interest in cabbage and cabbage products in the recent years is due to their protective effects against cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of dehydrated white cabbage powder (DWCP) supplement on chemical, physical, nutritional and sensorial characteristics as well as the consumers' acceptance and purchase intent of the cookies. The studies indicated that dried white cabbage contained 20.65% of total dietary fiber and 846.53 mg GAE/g of polyphenols. Cookie samples were prepared with blends containing 0, 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5% of DWCP substituted for wheat flour. Total dietary fiber and mineral (calcium, potassium) contents of the cookies were improved with increased levels of DWCP. The total level of phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity, width, thickness, spread ratio, and surface cracking did not differ significantly among the cookies. Cookies with a 2.5% substitution level of DWCP showed the highest scores for sensory attributes, consumers' acceptance and purchase intent. Thus, white cabbage, particularly its outer leaves, which are a by-product of the cabbage processing industry, could be utilized for the preperation of cookies and other food products with improved functional and nutraceutical properties.


Neural activations produced by deep convolutional networks have recently become state-of-the-art representation for image retrieval. To obtain a global image representation, sum-pooling has been frequently used to aggregate activations of convolutional feature maps. This work first presents an understanding on the effectiveness of sum-pooling via probabilistic interpretation, by proving that sum-pooling is an upper bound of the probability that a visual pattern is present in an image. To further answer the optimality of sum-pooling, a quantitative analysis based on the Infomax principle in neural networks is provided. It shows that sum-pooling aligns well with the leading eigenvector of principal component analysis (PCA) applied to the activations of a feature map. Moreover, considering the 2D matrix structure of feature maps, a two-directional 2DPCA-based pooling scheme is proposed to aggregate the convolutional activations. Experiments on multiple benchmark image retrieval datasets demonstrate the above analysis and the superiority of the proposed pooling scheme.


OBJECTIVE To determine the expression of formyl peptide receptor 2 (FPRL2) and its drug resistance role in cancer colon cells, and its underlying mechanisms. PATIENTS AND METHODS The expression of FPRL2 and its legend (F2L) in colon cancer tissues or cancer cells was determined by immunohistochemistry assay and Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), respectively. Chemosensitivity of 5-Fu and MMC in colon cancer cells were tested by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) method. Expression of p-ERK was determined by Western blot assay. RESULTS The expression of FPRL2 and its legend was significantly higher in resistant colon cancer tissues than those in non-resistant colon cancer tissues. The FPRL2 positive cells were two-thirds in tested cell lines. All of cells were F2L positive. The IC50 (inhibitory concentration 50) by 5-Fu and MMC was significantly higher in FPRL2 positive cells than those negative cells. The expression of p-AKT was markedly increased in FPRL2 positive cells. Pretreatment with AKT inhibitor enhanced the drug-sensitivity of these cells to 5-Fu and MMC. CONCLUSIONS The FPRL2 played a significant role in colon cancer drug resistance and this effect was through AKT pathway.


A minimum Hamiltonian completion of a graph G is a minimum-size set of edges that, when added to G, guarantee a Hamiltonian path. Finding a Hamiltonian completion has applications to frequency assignment as well as distributed computing. If the new edges are deleted from the Hamiltonian path, one is left with a minimum path cover, a minimum-size set of vertex-disjoint paths that cover the vertices of G. For arbitrary graphs, constructing a minimum Hamiltonian completion or path cover is clearly NP-hard, but there exists a linear-time algorithm for trees. In this paper we first give a description and proof of correctness for this linear-time algorithm that is simpler and more intuitive than those given previously. We show that the algorithm extends also to unicyclic graphs. We then give a new method for finding an optimal path cover or Hamiltonian completion for a tree that uses a reduction to a maximum flow problem. In addition, we show how to extend the reduction to construct, if possible, a covering of the vertices of a bipartite graph with vertex-disjoint cycles, that is, a 2-factor.


Developing high-performance photocatalytic materials is of huge significance and highly desirable for fulfilling the pressing need in environmental remediation. In this work, we demonstrate the use of bismuth nitrate Bi2O2(OH)(NO3) as an absorbing photocatalyst, which integrates multiple superiorities, like a [Bi2O2]2+ layered configuration, a non-centrosymmetric (NCS) polar structure and highly reactive {001} facets. Bi2O2(OH)(NO3) nanosheets are obtained by a facile one-pot hydrothermal route using Bi(NO3)3·5H2O as the sole raw material. Photocatalysis assessment revealed that Bi2O2(OH)(NO3) holds an unprecedented photooxidation ability in contaminant decomposition, far out-performing the well-known photocatalysts BiPO4, Bi2O2CO3, BiOCl and P25 (commercial TiO2). Particularly, it displays a universally powerful catalytic activity against various stubborn industrial contaminants and pharmaceuticals, including phenol, bisphenol A, 2,4-dichlorophenol and tetracycline hydrochloride. In-depth experimental and density functional theory (DFT) investigations co-uncovered that the manifold advantages, such as large polarizability and rational band structure, as well as exposed {001} active facets, induced robust generation of strong oxidating superoxide radicals (˙O2−) in the conduction band and hydroxyl radicals (˙OH) in the valence band, thus enabling Bi2O2(OH)(NO3) to have a powerful and durable photooxidation capability. Bi2O2(OH)(NO3) also presents high photochemical stability. This work not only rendered a highly active and stable photocatalyst for practical applications, but also laid a solid foundation for future initiatives aimed at designing new photoelectronic materials by manipulating multiple advantageous factors.


This paper evaluates and compares different approaches to collecting judgments about pronunciation accuracy of nonnative speech. We compare the common approach, which requires expert linguists to provide a detailed phonetic transcription of non-native English speech, with word-level judgments collected from multiple naive listeners using a crowdsourcing platform. In both cases we found low agreement between annotators on what words should be marked as errors. We compare the error detection task to a simple transcription task in which the annotators were asked to transcribe the same fragments using standard English spelling. We argue that the transcription task is a simpler and more practical way of collecting annotations which also leads to more valid data for training an automatic scoring system.


Purpose: The purpose of the article was an attempt to create a new synthetic measurement of farm area changes and to identify farmers' attitiudes and knowledge in scope of land concentration processes. Design/Methodology/Approach: The Aggregated ratio of Farm Area Changes were introduced as a proposal for a new measurement of farm structures. Moreover 200 agricultural farms were investigated using survey on the area of selected polish region. Findings: The work focuses on valuable universal measurement for international comparisons in the range of land turnover. Tha reached informations and knowledge during surveying on the farms site conformed high level of consciousness within land market, plans for the futher and reasons and motives of land concetration. The farmers – active playesr on land market – see problems that the institutional environment cannot recognize. Practical Implications: Possibility of implementation of new universal measurement for international comparisions with coexistence with available statistical databases. Practical notices and remarks of experienced farmers for legal regulation proposals to avoid further land concentration processes excluded by European Green Deal rules. Originality/value: The value of the research is innovative research method – ARFACH – Aggregated Ratio of Land Area Changes. Moreover unique research based on survey results on farm site allows to create new legal regulations to limit land concentration processes in European agriculture.


We present unsupervised speaker indexing combined with automatic speech recognition (ASR) for speech archives such as discussions. Our proposed indexing method is based on anchor models, by which we define a feature vector based on the similarity with speakers of a large scale speech database, and we incorporate several techniques to improve discriminant ability. ASR is performed using the results of this indexing. No discussion corpus is available to train acoustic and language models. So we applied the speaker adaptation technique to the baseline acoustic model based on the indexing. We also constructed a language model by merging two models that cover different linguistic features. We achieved the speaker indexing accuracy of 93% and the word recognition accuracy of 57% for real discussion data.


We have fabricated a PCA (principal component analysis learning network in a FPGA (field programmable gate array) by using an asynchronous PDM (pulse density modulation) digital circuit. The generalized Hebbian algorithm is expressed in a set of ordinary differential equations and the circuits solve them in a fully parallel and continuous manner. The performance of the circuits was tested by a network with two microphone inputs and two speaker outputs. By moving a sound source right and left in front of the microphones, the first principal weight vector could continuously track the sound direction in real time.


The underutilization of mental health services by ethnic minorities has been a growing concern in research and clinical practice. This is of increasing importance for Hispanic/Latinos in the United Kingdom due to the rapid growth of this population. Further, there seems to be a paucity of research about the mental health needs and service utilization among Hispanic/Latinos in the U.K. In response to the dearth of literature for naturalistic studies of counselling/therapy with this population, this research adopted a qualitative approach using semistructured interviews with 10 Hispanic/Latino, Spanish-speaking participants, exploring their individual counselling experiences with English-speaking therapists. Interviews were analysed using the guiding theoretical framework of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2009). Four master themes emerged: a) "Emotional Expressiveness", b) "Cultural Competence or Encapsulation", c) "The Healing Presence", d) "Cultural Liberation or Formulation". Each master theme yielded super-ordinate themes illuminating different aspects of the participants' experiences. The findings were discussed in relation to participants' ability to communicate and emotionally express and overall experiences of their therapists' attitudes towards them, their problems and cultural differences, particularly, cultural awareness and sensitivity. The findings provided insight into how participants' cultural values impacted the development of rapport and overall counselling experiences with their English-speaking therapists. It is hoped that the findings will be considered within both counselling/therapy settings and potentially more broadly in educational contexts, to enhance awareness and practice of a culturally sensitive approach for these clients. Efforts to reach the Latino population, implications for clinical practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.


Study Design: Systematic review. Objectives: Spinal epidural abscesses (SEAs) are rare, but when missed or when diagnosis is delayed, SEA can lead to permanent neurological impairment or death. Limited information exists on the optimal treatment modalities for SEA, especially in the lumbar spine. We synthesize the current literature to identify the clinical features, diagnosis, management, and outcomes of lumbar SEA. Methods: Queries in 4 databases—EMBASE, MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science—were performed using comprehensive search terms to locate published literature on lumbar SEA. Results: Ten articles reporting results for 600 cases of lumbar SEA were included, published between 2000 and 2017. Negative prognostic factors included diabetes, older age, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, immune compromise, and more severe disease at presentation. Early first-line surgically treated patients responded better, specifically in terms of motor recovery, than those undergoing medical management or failing medical treatment, despite generally worse initial presentation. Elevated C-reactive protein, leukocytosis, and positive blood cultures predicted medical management failure. Conclusions: This systematic review provides guidance to neurological and orthopedic spine surgeons seeking the best treatment for lumbar-localized SEA. This study is limited by a dearth of high-quality publications to support evidenced-based management recommendations. Surgical treatment appears to provide better outcomes than medical treatment alone, especially in those who present with a motor deficit. Further investigation is needed to confirm this finding. What is clear is that early recognition and treatment remains crucial to minimizing morbidity and mortality of SEA.


Regression analyses indicated that age of respondent and gender were the most consistent predictors of salary within many of the high-level student affairs positions at both public and private institutions. Degree was determined to be a significant predictor of salary, but in a negative direction. Higher levels of education frequently translated into decreased mean salaries for various senior-level positions at both institutional types. Institutional classification was a modest predictor at both institutional types, while ethnicity, NASPA location, and years in the position were very infrequently found to be proficient predictors of salary at either public or private institutions.


Background : The burden of injuries and disabilities in Pakistan is significant. Our study attempted to describe the circumstances, risk groups, types and severity of injuries experienced by patients attending a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods : A retrospective study was conducted in the department of Emergency Medicine (ED) at Aga Khan University Hospital of Karachi, Pakistan. Past medical records from June 2006 till May 2007 of injured patients presented to ED were reviewed. Data were recorded regarding the basic epidemiological features, hospital stay, body parts injured and severity of injuries. Results : A total of 631 patients with injuries were identified. The majority of them were males (80%; n=502), aged 21-40 years (63%). Road traffic injuries (RTIs) 65% (n=411) followed by gunshots (14%, n=85) were the most common types of injuries. Upon arrival to hospital 82% (491/598) of patients had a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) ≥13. The mean hospital stay and Injury Severity Score (ISS) of patients were 3.5 days (SD ±6.4) and 4 (SD ±5.2) respectively. The head, neck and face were the most affected body parts (50%; n=276). Three percent (n=17) were pronounced dead on arrival to the ED. Among RTIs, multivariable logistic regression identified sex (aOR: 3.797; 95% CI: 1.066–13.528), and mode of travel (aOR: 2.883; 95%CI: 1.330–6.250) as independent predictors for severe GCS (GCS<8). Conclusions : RTIs were the most common type of injuries, common among young males. In RTIs, children were mostly pedestrians, and females and motor vehicle occupants were more likely to have severe GCS. This study may assist local authorities in Karachi to prioritize interventions to address common injuries in those who are high at risk.


The study was designed to assess the level of knowledge of sexually transmitted infections and possible factors associated with knowledge of patients attending outpatient clinic in University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. This is to enable appropriate advocacy targeted on at risk population so as to control sexually transmitted infections and prevent its complications in this environment. A cross sectional descriptive study was carried out on patients attending outpatient clinics of the hospital from February to July, 2010. All volunteered participants were given a self-administered structured questionnaire. Out of the 592 interviewed, 242 (40.9%) were males and 350 (59.1%) were females. Although, knowledge of sexually transmitted infections was high in the general population, especially  among those with postsecondary school education (85.4%) and the drivers (90.9%), it was relatively low among the adolescents and the youths who are the most vulnerable in this environment (χ2 = 14.343; p < 0.05). News media was the highest source of information about Sexually Transmitted Infections. Age, educational level and the type of occupation appear to be important factors affecting knowledge. Therefore, health education about Sexually transmitted infections targeted at this risk group may yield positive result.

 Key words: Sexually transmitted infections (STI), knowledge, Ekiti, Nigeria, youths and adolescents.


In human platelets, thrombin not only stimulates the phosphorylation of pleckstrin (P47) and of myosin P-light chains, but also induces the dephosphorylation of an 18-19 kDa phosphoprotein (P18) [Imaoka, Lynham and Haslam (1983) J. Biol. Chem. 258, 11404-11414]. We have now studied this protein in detail. The thrombin-induced dephosphorylation reaction did not begin until the phosphorylation of myosin P-light chains and the secretion of dense-granule 5-hydroxytryptamine were nearly complete, but did parallel the later stages of platelet aggregation. Experiments with ionophore A23187 and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate indicated that dephosphorylation of P18 was stimulated by Ca2+, but not by protein kinase C. Two-dimensional analysis of platelet proteins, using non-equilibrium pH gradient electrophoresis followed by SDS/PAGE, showed that thrombin decreased the amount of phosphorylated P18 in platelets by up to 70% and slightly increased the amount of a more basic unlabelled protein that was present in 3-fold excess of P18 in unstimulated platelets. These two proteins were identified as the phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated forms of the pH-sensitive actin-depolymerizing protein, cofilin, by sequencing of peptide fragments and immunoblotting with a monoclonal antibody specific for cofilin. The molar concentration of cofilin in platelets was approx. 10% that of actin. Platelet cofilin was phosphorylated exclusively on serine. Experiments with electropermeabilized platelets showed that dephosphorylation of cofilin could be stimulated by guanosine 5'-[gamma-thio]triphosphate (GTP[S]) in the absence of Ca2+ or by a free Ca2+ concentration of 10 microM. This GTP[S]-induced dephosphorylation reaction was inhibited by 1-naphthyl phosphate, but not by okadaic acid. Our results add cofilin to the actin-binding proteins that may regulate the platelet cytoskeleton, and suggest that platelet cofilin can be activated by dephosphorylation reactions initiated either by a GTP-binding protein or Ca2+.


ABSTRACT In the Netherlands, the central government, water authorities, provinces and municipalities are working together on a new Delta Program on Flood Risk Management and Fresh Water Supply (DP). Its primary goal is to protect the Netherlands against floods and ensure the availability of fresh water, now and for future generations. The DP has developed a new, adaptive management concept: the Adaptive Delta Management (ADM) approach. ADM is defined as 'a smart and intelligent way of taking account of uncertainties and dependencies in decision-making on Delta Management with a view to reducing the risk of overspending or underinvestment'. Important features of DP are: (i) involving multiple stakeholders in a joint decision-making process to enhance ownership, legitimacy and feasibility; (ii) taking a risk-based perspective; (iii) adopting a flexible approach in possible strategies by valuing flexibility with regard to the timing of implementation and (iv) interlinking various investment agendas and looking for opportunities for mainstreaming with planned investments. Along similar lines, a Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 (BDP 2100) is being devised to achieve long-term sustainable socio-economic development and provide safety in the face of disasters through adaptive water governance in Bangladesh. It embodies a holistic, integrated vision, adaptive strategies and a long-term investment agenda for the Bangladesh Delta. The Plan is scheduled to be finalized in 2017. ADM is not an approach that can be transferred easily from one country to another as it demands a fundamental change in institutional capacity at multiple levels including new knowledge and skills, relationships and policy frameworks, and, hence, depends on the local socio-economic characteristics, culture and governance. This paper explores the challenges and opportunities for successful formulation and implementation of BDP 2100.


During the last two decades Estonian higher education system has undergone great changes. It has been transformed from the rigid Soviet system to a modern European system that is guided by the Bologna process. Graduate (PhD) education system was rebuilt from scratch. These changes have had major implications and only recently Estonian graduate education system started to reach to these quality levels that are necessary to support the knowledge-based society. In this paper we will focus on one of the measures to increase quality of graduate education, namely graduate schools. We will describe Estonian Graduate School in Information and Communication Technologies, analyze the impact of this school to our graduate education and explain the problems and shortcomings.


Federal Reserve independence is a chimera. We derive and test predictions about when members of Congress will support legislation to curtail the Fed's powers and independence. We posit that members of Congress have partisan monetary policy preferences (Democrats like loose policy, Republicans like tight policy) and will support such legislation when the Fed pursues policies that are in tension with their own party preferences. We model the Fed as a strategic agent of Congress with hawkish preferences of its own that are closer to Republicans than to Democrats. We make predictions about the propensity of members of Congress to co-sponsor attacks on the Fed based on whether members are naive or sophisticated with respect to the Fed's partisan bias. If members of Congress are naive and do not anticipate that the Fed can adjust its policy to influence presidential electoral outcomes, then the propensity to threaten to audit the Fed should be based strictly on partisan identity: Naive Democrats (Republicans) should always respond to increases in the Federal Funds Rate by increasing (decreasing) their propensity to co-sponsor attacks. However, if members of Congress are sophisticated and understand that the Fed acts strategically to aid in the election or re-election of Republican presidential candidates, then the relationship between the Federal Funds rate and the tendency to threaten the Fed should be moderated by both the electoral calendar and the party of the president: Republicans (Democrats) won't attack (reward) the Fed when it loosens policy late in the term of a Republican president because they understand the Fed is actively engaged in aiding the electoral efforts of Republican presidential candidates. Our results suggest that House Democrats are sophisticated partisans, Senate Democrats are naive partisans, and the behavior of Republicans in both chambers is inconsistent with the partisan model.


Synthetic antisense oligoribonucleotides can be used to modulate gene splicing by masking key motifs on the pre-mRNA required for spliceosome assembly. Yet, intracellular expression of oligoribonucleotides generates only a transitory effect whereas stable delivery of antisense sequences can be achieved by linking them to chimeric small RNAs delivered and expressed by viral vectors. In the murine model of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy a chimeric U7 snRNA (U7Dtex23) induces skipping of the mutated exon 23 and restores the Dystrophin mRNA reading frame. The main limitation of this approach remains the large amount of snRNA vector needed to be produced and administered to patients. To optimize this system we used self-complementary AAV vectors (scAAV) to express the U7snRNA shuttles. ScAAV vectors were tested in mouse myoblast cultures and we observed an increase in U7Dtex23 expression and in dystrophin exon 23 skipping compared to single-stranded AAV, highlighting the potential for this strategy to reduce the vector dose. Alternatively, we have used a muscle and heart-specific enhancer (MHCK) to drive the expression of U7Dtex23 cassettes delivered with AAV vectors and our results showed that MHCK improves chimeric U7snRNA expression and increases dystrophin exon 23 skipping in vitro and in vivo. However, additional U7snRNA species were produced following gene transfer, pointing at a possible limitation of the cellular processing machinery capability with saturating levels of U7 shuttles. We have also explored the possibility of using small nucleolar (sno) RNAs as novel molecular platforms for antisense delivery. We replaced the original antisense of MBII-52 snoRNA with the Dtex23 sequence and observed low levels of exon 23 skipping in AAV-transduced myotubes. While our observation validates the approach, the efficiency of skipping is still considerably lower than with the U7snRNA cassette. As a last approach, we engineered the human C/D box U24snoRNA to specifically target the methylation of an adenosine branch point in a luciferase reporter pre-mRNA in order to induce the skipping of the downstream exon. We were not able to observe any modulation of splicing using this strategy.


Two experiments were conducted to determine the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of P and the concentration of DE and ME in enzyme-treated soybean meal (SBM) and in conventional soybean meal (SBM-CV). Phosphorus digestibility in 2 enzyme-treated SBM (HP-310 and HP-340) and in SBM-CV was measured using 36 barrows (initial BW: 21.9 ± 1.1 kg) that were housed in metabolism cages and randomly allotted to 6 diets with 6 replicates per diet. During production, HP-310 had been treated with an enzyme mixture containing no phytase, whereas HP-340 was treated with an enzyme mixture that contained exogenous phytase. Three diets containing HP-310, HP-340, or SBM-CV as the sole source of P were formulated. Three additional diets also contained HP-310, HP-340, and SBM-CV, but each of these diets was fortified with 500 units of microbial phytase. The ATTD of P in HP-310 and SBM-CV increased (P < 0.05) as phytase was included in the diet (from 59.8 to 77.7% for HP-310 and from 65.5 to 79.5% for SBM-CV), but the ATTD of P in HP-340 without and with phytase was not different (P > 0.05; 83.8 and 87.7%, respectively). There were no differences (P > 0.05) in the ATTD of P between HP-310 and SBM-CV, but the ATTD of P in HP-340 was greater (P < 0.05) than in the other 2 meals. The DE and ME in corn, 2 sources of enzyme-treated SBM (HP-200 and HP-310), and in SBM-CV were measured in the second experiment using 28 barrows housed in metabolism cages (initial BW: 16.8 ± 2.5 kg of BW). The process used to produce HP-200 is similar to that used to produce HP-310 except that HP-200 is exposed to the enzymes for a shorter period of time than HP-310. A corn-diet consisting of 96.45% corn and vitamins and minerals was formulated. Three additional diets were formulated by mixing corn and each source of SBM with vitamins and minerals. Pigs were randomly allotted to the 4 diets with 7 replicate pigs per diet, and urine and feces were collected quantitatively during the last 5 d of a 14-d feeding period. The concentration of DE in HP-200, HP-310, and SBM-CV was 4,333, 4,316, and 4,347 kcal/kg of DM, respectively. These values were not different (P > 0.05), but they were greater (P < 0.05) than the DE in corn (3,891 kcal/kg of DM). The concentration of ME was 3,780, 3,926, 3,914, and 3,980 kcal/kg of DM in corn, HP-200, HP-310, and SBM-CV, respectively. These values were not different (P > 0.05). It is concluded that enzyme treatment of SBM does not influence the digestibility of P or the concentration of DE and ME in the meals.


The results of recurrent inguinal hernia repair in a prospective cohort study were evaluated. From May 1986 to December 1990 75 patients with 150 hernias (24 primary, 126 recurrent) were operated using a technique based on Stoppa's proportional mesh repair (giant prosthetic reinforcement of the visceral sac; GPRVS). All patients were at high risk for recurrence: they all had bilateral hernias, mostly bilateral recurrent and often repeatedly recurrent. 411 patients had a physical examination 1 week, 6 weeks and 1 year after operation. Sixty patients (94 per cent of surviving patients) had a physical examination after a mean follow‐up of 5.7 (range 4–9) years. There were no major complications. There was one deep infection that healed without removing the mesh. One of the 75 patients (1 per cent) had a recurrence 2 months after the operation, due to a technical failure. Because of the excellent results, the ease of the procedure and the low complication rate, GPRVS is the authors' operation of choice for any recurrent inguinal hernia.


Abstract In 2012, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released the Location Affordability Index (LAI) as an online portal and downloadable data set. The LAI has elevated the U.S. conversation on affordability to include transportation and access to opportunities, and has been used in state and federal programming, by researchers, and by private households. However, although some researchers have noted concerns with and potential limitations of the data, none has provided practitioners and researchers with an under-the-hood view of the data, analysis of its reliability or validity, or its conceptual limitations. This article recommends methodological improvements dealing with issues of variable construction, aggregation, and modeling. A recreation of the LAI at the census-tract level suggests the LAI overestimates both costs and cost burden, but especially among renters, and especially in metropolitan areas. On the transportation side, model recreation requires partnership and resourcing to both gain access to restricted data and to develop a reliable database on transit supply and use.


The upper Albian Caniego carbonate platform consists of a 20-m-thick unit of rudist- and coral-bearing limestones that crops out at the northern margin of the Mena diapir in northern Spain. The limestones were deposited on top of a slowly subsiding area, the Mena paleohigh, a diapiric-induced horst bounded by synsedimentary faults. The Caniego limestones originated in shallow warm tropical waters following a widespread marine transgression at the base of the foraminifera Rotalipora appenninica zone (ammonite Stoliczkaia dispar zone). Around the middle part of the appenninica zone the Caniego limestones underwent subaerial exposure and karst development. Fibrous calcite cements filled the bulk of the fissure-dike and dissolution cavities. Field, petrological, and geochemical data indicate that the fibrous calcites are meteoric flowstones. δ 18 O values in these cements range from −3‰ to −4.5‰ and δ 13 C values range from −7‰ to −14‰ (relative to the Peedee belemnite [PDB] standard). Thick wedges of nearshore shallow-marine siliciclastic sediments were deposited in paleotrough areas surrounding the Caniego paleohigh while the platform was subaerially exposed. The carbonate platform was drowned in early Cenomanian time and hardground-condensed facies developed during this period ( Rotalipora brotzeni zone). Deeper water noncondensed marly sedimentation was reestablished in the mid-Cenomanian ( Rotalipora reicheli zone). Comparison of the Iberian Caniego limestones with worldwide successions suggests a coincidence in the timing of platform formation emergence and drowning in several basins of different lithospheric plates. Nevertheless, an overall lack of coordination of sea-level histories from different basins may be related to tectonic movements of the lithospheric plates. Plate rearrangement is invoked as the primary control on relative sea-level changes and sequence development.


Many heritage institutions would like their collections to be open and reusable but fail to achieve that situation because of organizational, legal and technological barriers. A set of guidelines and best practices is proposed to facilitate the process of making heritage collections reusable. These guidelines are based on the FAIR Principles for scholarly output (FAIR data principles [2014]), taking into account a number of other recent initiatives for making data findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. The resulting FAIR Principles for Heritage Library, Archive and Museum Collections focus on three levels: objects, metadata and metadata records. Clarifications and examples of these proposed principles are presented, as well as recommendations for the assessment of current situations and implementations of the principles.


TO THE EDITOR:The case report by Teefy et al. (2000;34:1265-8) describes a possible interaction of warfarin and sulfasalazine, which they state induced warfarin resistance. The authors considered some of the proper factors when assessing an unusual response during warfarin therapy, including patient compliance and inaccurate laboratory results. However, the assumption that the acquired warfarin resistance was attributable only to sulfasalazine overlooks several important points. Since an association between oral contraceptives and thromboembolic events has been well documented, it would have been prudent to have addressed the fact that the patient was taking Ovral. It is an especially important association in this case due to literature 1-3 that submits that oral contraceptives can result in acquired activated protein C resistance (APCR), subsequently resulting in a decrease in international normalized ratio (INR). The authors discounted the possibility that hereditary resistance could have been the cause of warfarin resistance due to therapeutic INRs achieved by the patient in the past. However, neither warfarin nor clotting factor concentrations were measured in a relatively young patient (37 y) who had a history of recurrent deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) with unexplained etiology. Although the prevalence of APCR in the general population has previously been perceived to be relatively low, 20–50% of the patients presenting with a second thrombotic event have been shown to have APCR. 3 This patient could have been tested for a hypercoagulable disorder due to recurrent thrombosis without any obvious precipitating factors, thrombosis at an early age, and thrombosis at an unusual site (history of a sagittal vein thrombosis). Furthermore, if the patient had had hereditary APCR, use of oral contraceptives as a second risk factor could have caused the decreased INR and subsequent DVT. In addition, part of the temporal sequence of events is suspect. The authors indicate that "the INR determined that day after the drug switch was 1.5." However, the patient's INR had not been determined directly prior to the medication change of 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) to sulfasalazine. Since almost three weeks had transpired between the two INRs and other explanations may be just as plausible (i.e., acquired APCR resulting from oral contraceptive use), doubt is cast on sulfasalazine causing warfarin resistance in this patient. Finally, the likelihood that the decrease in INR was the result of a drug interaction of sulfasalazine with warfarin is possible rather than probable, according to the Naranjo probability scale. 4


OBJECTIVE
To perform a randomized, double-blind, crossover clinical trial of diclofenac + misoprostol versus acetaminophen in ambulatory patients with osteoarthritis of the hip or knee.

METHODS
Patients in 12 ambulatory care settings were eligible if they were age >40 years and if they had Kellgren/Lawrence radiographic grade 2-4 osteoarthritis of the knee or hip and a score of > or =30 mm on a 100-mm visual analog pain scale. Patients were randomized to one of two groups, 75 mg diclofenac + 200 microg misoprostol twice daily or 1,000 mg acetaminophen 4 times daily (each for 6 weeks), and were then crossed over to the other treatment for 6 weeks. A placebo was included in each treatment regimen to enable double blinding. The primary outcome measures were the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index and the visual analog pain scale of the Multidimensional Health Assessment Questionnaire. Safety was assessed using a standard form to review adverse events.

RESULTS
We enrolled 227 patients, of whom 218 provided data for the first treatment period and 181 provided data for both treatment periods. Significantly higher levels of improvement in the primary outcomes were seen for diclofenac + misoprostol than for acetaminophen (P < 0.001). Adverse events were more common when patients took diclofenac + misoprostol (P = 0.046). Diclofenac + misoprostol was rated as "better" or "much better" by 57% of the 174 patients who provided such ratings for both treatment periods, while acetaminophen was rated as "better" or "much better" by 20% of these patients, and 22% reported no difference (P < 0.001). Differences favoring diclofenac + misoprostol over acetaminophen were greater in patients with more severe osteoarthritis according to baseline pain scores, radiographs, or number of involved joints.

CONCLUSION
Patients with osteoarthritis of the hip or knee had significantly greater improvements in pain scores over 6 weeks with diclofenac + misoprostol than with acetaminophen, although patients with mild osteoarthritis had similar improvements with both drugs. Acetaminophen was associated with fewer adverse events.


Objective—The sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) analogue FTY720 is a potent immunosuppressive agent currently in Phase III clinical trials for kidney transplantation. FTY720 traps lymphocytes in secondary lymphoid organs thereby preventing their migration to inflammatory sites. Previously, we have identified FTY720 as a potent activator of eNOS. As both inhibition of immune responses and stimulation of eNOS may attenuate atherosclerosis, we administered FTY720 to apolipoprotein E / mice fed a high-cholesterol diet. Methods and Results—FTY720 dramatically reduced atherosclerotic lesion volume (62.5%), macrophage (41.8%), and collagen content (63.5%) after 20 weeks of high-cholesterol diet. In isolated aortic segments and cultured vascular smooth muscle cell, FTY720 potently inhibited thrombin-induced release of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1. This effect was mediated by the S1P3 sphingolipid receptor as FTY720 had no effect on thrombin-induced monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 release in S1P3 / mice. In contrast to S1P receptors on lymphocytes, FTY720 did not desensitize vascular S1P receptors as arteries from FTY720-treated mice retained their vasodilator response to FTY720-phosphate. Conclusions—We suggest that FTY720 inhibits atherosclerosis by suppressing the machinery involved in monocyte/macrophage emigration to atherosclerotic lesions. As vascular S1P receptors remained functional under FTY720 treatment, S1P agonists that selectively target the vasculature and not the immune system may be promising new drugs against atherosclerosis. (Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2007;27:607-613.)


Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to compare different software algorithms for processing DSC perfusion images of cerebral tumors with respect to i) the relative CBV (rCBV) calculated, ii) the cutoff value for discriminating low- and high-grade gliomas, and iii) the diagnostic performance for differentiating these tumors. Methods: Following approval of institutional review board, informed consent was obtained from all patients. Thirty-five patients with primary glioma (grade II, 9; grade III, 8; and grade IV, 18 patients) were included. DSC perfusion imaging was performed with 3-Tesla MRI scanner. CBV maps were generated by using 11 different algorithms of four commercially available software and one academic program. rCBV of each tumor compared to normal white matter was calculated by ROI measurements. Differences in rCBV value were compared between algorithms for each tumor grade. Receiver operator characteristics analysis was conducted for the evaluation of diagnostic performance of different algorithms for differentiating between different grades. Results: Several algorithms showed significant differences in rCBV, especially for grade IV tumors. When differentiating between low- (II) and high-grade (III/IV) tumors, the area under the ROC curve (Az) was similar (range 0.85–0.87), and there were no significant differences in Az between any pair of algorithms. In contrast, the optimal cutoff values varied between algorithms (range 4.18–6.53). Conclusions: rCBV values of tumor and cutoff values for discriminating low- and high-grade gliomas differed between software packages, suggesting that optimal software-specific cutoff values should be used for diagnosis of high-grade gliomas.


ABSTRACT Behavioral change in adolescents is often an important aim of residential youth care, but difficult to achieve. Care workers can increase the intrinsic motivation of adolescents to change their behavior by applying Motivational Interviewing (MI). The aim of this study is to investigate whether there is a difference in workers' performance vis-à-vis adolescents before and after an MI training course. To measure this difference, we coded transcripts of audio recordings of one-on-one conversations between adolescents and workers, using the MITI 4.2.1 and MISC 2.5. We compared the transcripts made before the MI training course with the transcripts made after the training course. The results show that the 13 workers made significantly more use of MI adherent behaviors after the training course. Moreover, a trend toward using fewer MI non-adherent behaviors after the training was observed. The results suggest that workers are able to evoke more 'change talk' with adolescents after a training course. In conclusion, after attending a training course, workers are able to engage in conversations that are more in line with the MI-spirit. However, these are still not "real" MI conversations yet. We recommend to train workers more intensively in how to apply MI.


A method for analyzing, modeling and simulating a two-level arrival-counting process is presented. This method is particularly appropriate when the number of independent processes is large. The initial motivation for this method was the need to analyze and represent computer file system trace data that involves activity on some 8,000 files. The method is also applicable to network trace data characterizing communication patterns between pairs of computers. Cluster analysis with a novel stopping rule is used to decompose the arrival process into groups. The resulting clusters can be characterized using the time between clusters, the time between arrivals within clusters, and the size of each cluster. Each of these three components is then analyzed as a univariate problem. The effectiveness of this method is measured by comparing the output of a simulation driven by the original trace data to the output of the same simulation driven by the input model.


About 50% of the world's population lives in cities, and the fraction is growing. Thus the study of the urban boundary layer and urban climate is of great importance.Since urban centres of the world have immense growth of population, their quality requires a very careful screening for sustainable future, growth and development. The quality of outdoor urban spaces is more significant in tropical countries like India, since the activities are shared between indoor and outdoor. There are clear links between the climate of a settlement and its potential sustainability. Its opportunities for gathering energy, its need for energy conservation and its ability to dispose of airborne wastes are largely controlled by the climate it experiences. moreover, urban design decisions will create microclimates that either accentuate or moderate the properties of the background climate. Thus, there is a clear role for an applied urban climatology in the planning of sustainable settlements. hence there is a compulsive need for providing ambient environmental conditions outdoors, specific to the pedestrian users. The uhI (urban heat Island) phenomenon though is influenced by many factors, the role of urban design and professionals like architects, urban designers and planners cannot be ignored. Often they are neglected when urban design principles get executed onsite. Therefore there is a need for understanding the urban microclimate interaction with the urban geometry elements for deriving design solutions and guidelines for the future. Though urban microclimate is also dependent on multiple factors this paper focuses on its relation with various urban geometry elements specific to the urban streets. The unit chosen for the study is 'urban canyon'. To understand the microclimatic variation various profiles of urban canyons were selected. The urban microclimatic discomfort is given by the term "microclimatic Stress" and the thermal index used for the measurement is PeT (Physiological equivalent temperature) and rayman Pro is used for its calculation. The study of the canyons concluded with findings that proved significant impact of street geometry elements on the microclimatic stress of urban outdoors.


HIV epidemic is still expanding all over the world. Heterosexual transmission into the general population is of particular concern mostly in Africa and Western countries. So far, pathogenesis of the syndrome is best explained by the likely role of co-factors that interfere with the latency phase of the virus. In this setting early treatment by specific antiviral therapy such as zidovudine, will probably slow down the evolution of HIV infection.


Summary 1. I present a successional study of marine organisms on pen shells ( Atrina rigida ) at different regions of St Joe Bay, Florida. By incorporating measures of relative abundance and assembly time I show how the relationship between local and regional diversity develops through different successional stages. 2. The results showed that, with time, motile species richness increases significantly while evenness indices remain high and constant. Sessile species, on the other hand, increased in both species richness and evenness through time. 3. For the motile species, regions seem to remain different while local saturation is observed. These results suggest that this group is under species-sorting: species are mobile enough that recruits and adult dispersal within a region maintain differences among regions, while local communities are saturated. 4. For the sessile species, the local‐regional relationship was unsaturated at all sampling dates with both untransformed and rarefied data. Regions are initially similar in community structure, then differ through time to become similar again at the last sampling date. This may reflect a priority effect: propagules that arrive at a shell may initially exert influence on the species composition on a shell, so that at intermediate sampling times regions differ in community structure. However, at the last sampling there were no differences detected among regions, suggesting that dispersal distances might be larger for this group of species. 5. These results suggest the following. (1) The degree of species saturation will depend on the successional stage of a community. (2) Incorporating species abundances (i.e. through rarefaction or other techniques) demonstrates the role of species commonness or rarity in determining patterns of community diversity at different scales. (3) Depending on the group of species studied, the size of the region will vary and will influence the local‐regional dynamics: the perceived region for sessile species may be larger than for motile species.


Visual Abstract Single-domain antibody fragments (sdAbs) are promising vectors for immuno-PET; however, better methods for labeling sdAbs with 18F are needed. Herein, we evaluate a site-specific strategy using an 18F residualizing motif and the anti–epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) sdAb 5F7 bearing an engineered C-terminal GGC tail (5F7GGC). Methods: 5F7GGC was site-specifically attached with a tetrazine-bearing agent via thiol-maleimide reaction. The resultant conjugate was labeled with 18F by inverse electron demand Diels–Alder cycloaddition with a trans-cyclooctene attached to 6-18F-fluoronicotinoyl moiety via a renal brush border enzyme-cleavable linker and a PEG4 chain (18F-5F7GGC). For comparisons, 5F7 sdAb was labeled using the prototypical residualizing agent, N-succinimidyl 3-(guanidinomethyl)-5-125I-iodobenzoate (iso-125I-SGMIB). The 2 labeled sdAbs were compared in paired-label studies performed in the HER2-expressing BT474M1 breast carcinoma cell line and athymic mice bearing BT474M1 subcutaneous xenografts. Small-animal PET/CT imaging after administration of 18F-5F7GGC in the above mouse model was also performed. Results: 18F-5F7GGC was synthesized in an overall radiochemical yield of 8.9% ± 3.2% with retention of HER2 binding affinity and immunoreactivity. The total cell-associated and intracellular activity for 18F-5F7GGC was similar to that for coincubated iso-125I-SGMIB-5F7. Likewise, the uptake of 18F-5F7GGC in BT474M1 xenografts in mice was similar to that for iso-125I-SGMIB-5F7; however, 18F-5F7GGC exhibited significantly more rapid clearance from the kidney. Small-animal PET/CT imaging confirmed high uptake and retention in the tumor with very little background activity at 3 h except in the bladder. Conclusion: This site-specific and residualizing 18F-labeling strategy could facilitate clinical translation of 5F7 anti-HER2 sdAb as well as other sdAbs for immuno-PET.


Intelligent soft materials have been intensively investigated during the past few decades. Herein, nanocomposite hydrogels are constructed for detection of multiple external stimuli by the naked-eye. The nanocomposite hydrogels were prepared by reacting oxidized sodium hyaluronate with carbon dots. As a result, the hydrogels are capable of self-healing and strong fluorescence, as well as having multiple stimuli-responsive properties. The gelation mechanism of the dynamic crosslinked reaction in these hydrogels was demonstrated. Interestingly, the hydrogels exhibit sharp phase transitions and fluorescence changes in response to multiple external stimuli, including various chemical redox reactions, enzymes, biomolecules, cations, and pH values. This stimuli-responsive property has been successfully exploited to design programmable logic-gate responses. This investigation opens the door to developing logic-gate responsive hydrogels, which may become a powerful method to visually detect multiple environmental changes through the observation of the phase transition and fluorescence change.


The Internet contains a great wealth of information available online. People search engines, such as WhitePages (http://www.whitepages.com), gather personal‐level demographic data, including full name, address, age and household members. Requiring only a surname and locational reference (e.g. city or postal code) as the minimum search criteria, such people search engines can be perceived as a gigantic database of demographic records. The objective of this article is to outline the development of a web‐based demographic data extraction tool for population monitoring. In this study, a web prototype was developed to extract web demographics of the Vietnamese‐American (VA) population in Texas, an ethnic minority with unique migration history, from WhitePages. After post‐processing, the personal‐level demographic data represent 40.3% of 202,003 VA in Texas reported by the American Community Survey (ACS) 2009. While all enumeration strategies, the web approach included, have their own strengths and weaknesses, this study suggests an alternative approach that is complementary to existing enumeration strategies. More research and development are needed to validate the accuracy of web demographics and further enhance data navigation and extraction rules. The utilization and release of web demographics must be cautious with regards to privacy and integrity of personal identity.


The Morris water maze task is a spatial memory task in which an association between cues from the environment and position must be learned in order to locate a hidden platform. This paper details the results of using a temporal difference (TD) learning approach to learn associations between perceptual states, which are discretized using a self organizing map (SOM), and actions necessary for a robot to successfully locate the hidden platform in a ldquodryrdquo version of the water maze task. Additionally, the adaptability of the temporal difference learning approach in non-stationary environments is explored.


The burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is estimated to be amongst the highest in the world. A recent study indicates that the number of COPD cases in India increased from 28·1 million in 1990 to 55·3 million in 2016. The correlation between immune dysfunction and chronic respiratory diseases such as COPD is well established. COPD is characterized by chronic inflammation of the airway which compromises innate as well as adaptive immune responses. This predisposes the patients to infective exacerbations of COPD. Addition of an immunostimulant agent in the treatment of COPD and AECOPD can be very effective. Pidotimod is a synthetic dipeptide molecule having immunostimulant properties and exerting effects on both innate and adaptive immunity. Pidotimod induces dendritic cells (DCs) maturation, promotes phagocytosis, upregulates expression of toll-like receptors-2 (TLR-2), stimulates T cell proliferation towards Th1 phenotype and enhances function of natural killer (NK) cells. As per one recent study in immunology, functional disorder of Th1/Th2 cells and immune hypofunction is clearly linked to development of recurrent respiratory tract infections (RRTIs). Pidotimod has been extensively studied in acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) in adults. Robust clinical evidence indicates that Pidotimod, when added to the standard of care reduces the number of exacerbations of COPD, shortens recovery time and reduces duration of clinical symptoms of AECOPD as compared to standard of care alone. Various studies conducted to date have demonstrated excellent safety profile of the molecule. A recent study by Goyal A concluded that Pidotimod is effective, well tolerated and cost effective for prevention and treatment of acute exacerbations of COPD. Hence, addition of an immunostimulant such as Pidotimod in management of these conditions can be very effective. To conclude, Pidotimod is a safe, well tolerated and effective therapeutic option in the treatment and prevention of AECOPD.


Paradigmatic cases of disagreement seem not to be compatible with a widespread kind of solution to Kripke's celebrated Pierre puzzle. As a result, the classical puzzle about rational belief is shown to be also a puzzle about public disagreement/agreement phenomena. In this paper, I defend that the new public version of the puzzle is substantial and challenging and conclude that a full solution to Kripke's considerations must offer a satisfactory account of both the rational and public character of belief attributions. I then argue that a notion of non-belief-individuating understanding is plausibly the key notion that would allow us to arrest both versions of the Pierre puzzle.


Marfan syndrome is a dominantly inherited connective tissue disease characterized by cardiovascular, skeletal and ocular manifestations, which was firstly described by Antoine Marfan in 1896. The underlying disorder is a mutation, which impairs fibrillin synthesis and is associated with the FBN-1 gene on the 15th chromosome. Ghent Nosology is used for diagnosis. The progressive dilatation of the proximal aorta leading to dissection and rupture is the typical feature of the disease. Aortic aneurysm and aortic rupture are the lethal complications of the disorder. Increased life expectancy depends on the control and the prevention of the cardiovascular complications. The most frequent cardiovascular manifestation is the mitral valve involvement. The principal pathologic findings on the mitral valve are annular dilatation, fibromyxomatous changes of the leaflets and chordae, elongation and rupture of chordae and deposition of calcium. Prolapsus occurs in 80% of the cases. Elective surgery with optimal timing is associated with increased survival. In the follow-up of patients after surgery for aortic aneurysm and dissection, serial imaging studies in order to detect a new onset aneurysm or dissection on different sites of the aorta are essential.


OBJECTIVES
To investigate the molecular epidemiology of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in the neonatal intensive care unit of a university hospital in Italy.

METHODS
Antibiotic susceptibility was evaluated by disc diffusion and Etest. ESBLs were identified by isoelectric focusing, PCR and DNA sequencing analysis. Genotyping was performed by PFGE analysis. Conjugation was performed by broth mating.

RESULTS
Molecular typing of K. pneumoniae isolates identified three distinct PFGE patterns. Isolates of PFGE profile A were isolated during an epidemic in 1996, while isolates of PFGE profiles B and C were sequentially isolated from September 2002 to December 2004, when 233 colonizations and 19 infections by K. pneumoniae occurred. All K. pneumoniae strains of different PFGE types were identified as ESBL producers. DNA sequencing of amplified beta-lactamase genes identified a novel bla(TEM) ESBL (bla(TEM-136)) along with bla(SHV-1) in chromosomal and plasmid DNA from K. pneumoniae of PFGE type A, respectively, and bla(TEM-1) and bla(SHV-12) in plasmid DNA from K. pneumoniae of PFGE types B and C. Conjugation experiments demonstrated that resistance to third-generation cephalosporins, along with an approximately 80 kb plasmid containing bla(SHV-12) and bla(TEM-1), was transferred from K. pneumoniae epidemic strains of PFGE types B and C to a susceptible Escherichia coli host at a frequency of 4 x 10(-6) and 1 x 10(-6) cfu/recipient cell, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
The selection of ESBL-producing clones and the transfer of the bla(SHV-12) ESBL gene between different clones were responsible for the spread of K. pneumoniae in the neonatal intensive care unit.


ABSTRACT The formation of a Chinese identity through symphonic music is an indispensable part of the overall cultural landscape in China. This article takes the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra – the oldest symphony orchestra in Asia – as a case study to examine the formation of a contemporary identity in China's cultural field, especially after the ten-year Cultural Revolution. Identity is a complicated and fluid concept for it concerns both individual and collective, and moreover, it is a concept that needs to be negotiated and communicated in spatial and temporal dimensions. This new Chinese identity formed through symphonic music not only involves the tension between local Chinese culture and Western bourgeois culture but also triggers argument with regards to the past, present and future Chinese self. The identity is also formed and confirmed through cultural consumption of symphonic music, a form of cultural capital which later defines social classes. Musical production at Shanghai Symphony Orchestra also affords identity formation and acts of cultural consumption. Materials collected from the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Archive are used to illustrate the process of identity formation and relevant issues. The concept of cultural capital is also applied to address some of the examples that illustrate how contemporary identity is formed via symphonic music.


Isoflavones are polyphenolic compounds found mainly in legumes the benefits of which have been widely studied and attributed in particular to their phytoestrogenic activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quali-quantitative composition of food supplements based on soy isoflavones (Glycine Max L.) and red clover (Trifolium pratense). Six commercial food supplements (five soy-based and one red clover-based) were analyzed by HPLC/DAD/MS. Genistein, daidzein, glycitein, biochanin A and formononetin derivatives (glycosides and acylglycosides) were identified in the analyzed samples. Also the antiradical activities (towards the DPPH• radical) and Fe2+ chelating abilities were compared.


Dual-frequency millimeter-wavelength radar observations in snowfall are analyzed in order to evaluate differences in conventional polarimetric radar variables such as differential reflectivity (ZDR) specific differential phase shift (KDP) and linear depolarization ratio (LDR) at traditional cloud radar frequencies at Ka and W bands (~35 and ~94 GHz, correspondingly). Low radar beam elevation (~5°) measurements were performed at Oliktok Point, Alaska, with a scanning fully polarimetric radar operating in the horizontal–vertical polarization basis. This radar has the same gate spacing and very close beam widths at both frequencies, which largely alleviates uncertainties associated with spatial and temporal data matching. It is shown that observed Ka- and W-band ZDR differences are, on average, less than about 0.5 dB and do not have a pronounced trend as a function of snowfall reflectivity. The observed ZDR differences agree well with modeling results obtained using integration over nonspherical ice particle size distributions. For higher signal-to-noise ratios, KDP data derived from differential phase measurements are approximately scaled as reciprocals of corresponding radar frequencies indicating that the influence of non-Rayleigh scattering effects on this variable is rather limited. This result is also in satisfactory agreement with data obtained by modeling using realistic particle size distributions. Observed Ka- and W-band LDR differences are strongly affected by the radar hardware system polarization "leak" and are generally less than 4 dB. Smaller differences are observed for higher depolarizations, where the polarization "leak" is less pronounced. Realistic assumptions about particle canting and the system polarization isolation lead to modeling results that satisfactorily agree with observational dual-frequency LDR data.


The dexamethasone suppression test was administered to 12 mentally handicapped depressed patients. One of the four patients with major depressive disorder, but none of those with other diagnoses, failed to suppress Cortisol production. The International Classification of Diseases and the Newcastle Diagnostic Index were found to be unreliable for use with severely mentally handicapped patients. Modifications are proposed which would allow the Research Diagnostic Criteria and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression to be applied to patients with any degree of mental handicap.


A 2.4-GHz fully integrated differential RF front-end was designed and implemented using 0.18-mum CMOS process. This design was targeted for low-power and low-cost applications such as short-range radio in biomedical devices. This RF front-end consists of a common-gate common-source low-noise-amplifier, a frequency doubler passive subharmonic mixer, and a resistive source degeneration intermediate frequency buffer. It consumes 2.5 mA from a 1.8-V supply. It occupies 950 mum times500 mum active area, which is only approximately 30% of that of the conventional RF front-end. This subharmonic RF front-end achieves 26-dB conversion gain, 9-dB noise figure and -10-dBm IIP3.


Abstract.
 Australia's future landscapes will be shaped by global climatic, economic, and cultural drivers. Landscapes evolve. They are manifestations of the complex negotiations between nature and cultures, over millennia. In the Anthropocene, humans are the dominant evolutionary force reshaping the biosphere. Landscape management involves all human activities and interventions that change the forms and functions of landscapes. It also involves the ways we learn about, and understand the world, and our place in it. Responses to climate change are driving changes in natural resources policy, research and management. Building capability for large-scale, adaptive management is critical in an era of global change. By rigorously examining and learning from recent experience—bioregional conservation planning, natural resource management (NRM), landcare, and water reform—Australia can build capacity for integrated and adaptive resource management. Climate change compounds existing stressors on ecosystems. It adds complexity and presents new challenges for integrated assessment, planning, and management of natural resources. Given the dynamic nature of the ecosystems, static conservation paradigms and stationary hydrology models are increasingly redundant. In the face of inherent complexity and uncertainty, 'predict and control' strategies are likely to be less useful. Adaptive approaches are called for, due to the complex relationships and non-linear feedbacks between social, ecological, and climatic systems. Australia should invest in building professional and community capacity. Australia's scientific and professional capacity in natural resources provides useful foundations, but substantially increased investment is called for. Research should be focused on guiding and influencing management at large scales and on avoiding undesirable thresholds or tipping points in complex ecological systems. Cultural and governance aspects are emphasised as central to effective adaptation strategies, because landscape management is an intergenerational, societal challenge that requires participatory, adaptive learning approaches.


This study aims to determine how much influence the replacement of lighting (fluorescent or TL lamps, incandescent) with energy efficient lighting towards payment of electricity accounts Untad which has now reached an average of Rp 79,676,246 per month. Data on the number and type of lighting used in this study, obtained from the equipment Untad. From the existing data is known that fluorescent lamps 40 watts of power still dominates its use when compared with energy-saving lamps. Spread usage of these lights in the room numbering approximately 708 rooms in Untad environment. The calculation of savings done by looking at the difference in cost between the energy-saving lamps with other lamps for 12,000 hours of lighting the flame. Results showed that by replacing all fluorescent lamps (TL lamps), incandescent bulbs with energy-efficient lighting can reduce electricity Untad payment of Rp 4,396,015 per month or as much as Rp 52,752,180 per year. If adjusted to the age of the lamp will be a savings of USD 253,650,065 while the investment cost of energy saving light bulbs should be issued to replace the entire lamp is only about USD 144.75 million. Keywords : saving energy,  fluorescent lamp, saving energy lamp.