In this article I will discuss "Performance-As-Research," as a method of pedagogy, an approach to learning and problem solving, as a practice of inquiry and of making meaning in the performing arts, and as a conduit for students to develop physical, cognitive and affective proficiencies; in the context of a first year undergraduate dance repertory course. Over the past academic year, I have begun to collaborate with entering Bachelor of Fine Arts Dance majors at Temple University (where I am an assistant professor) to restage and perform Les Noces, (French; English: The Wedding; Russian: Свадебка, Svadebka), a ballet and orchestral concert work composed by Igor Stravinsky for percussion, pianists, chorus, and vocal soloists. Stravinsky subtitled the work "Choreographed Scenes with Music and Voices." The ballet, commissioned by Serge Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes, was choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska and premiered in Paris in 1923. In my Repertory I course, the students and I have worked together to collaboratively craft a creative reimagining of the original work. This article will describe that process, and demonstrate the multiple avenues for teaching and learning that Performance-As-Research opens up in the pedagogical context of the higher education performing arts curriculum.


Introduction The aim of our study was to assess the efficacy of Phyllanthus niruri standardized extract, combined with magnesium and B6 vitamin, used to treat uncomplicated nephrolithiasis. Methods We included in the present study 48 patients with uncomplicated nephrolithiasis, with the maximum calculi diameter of up to 15 mm, confirmed by non-contrast-enhanced computer tomography. Each patient followed a three-month therapeutic regimen with the above mentioned combination, with imaging assessment of the calculi after treatment. Results Per patient The mean age of the patients was 48 years. The median number of calculi was 1 and the mean dimension was 5.5 mm. The stone-free status after treatment was not correlated with gender (p=0.7), side location (p=0.8) or with the number of calculi (p=0.3), but we found a correlation with the location in the upper or middle calyx (54.5% vs 13.8%, p=0.008) and with the maximum diameter (p=0.001). Per stone 60 calculi were analyzed, 8.3% being located in the upper calyx, 36.7% in the middle and 55% in the lower one. After treatment, 40% were absent, 21.7% showed lower dimensions and 38.3% remained unchanged, with the mean reduction of 1.7 mm. We identified a cut-off value of ≤ 3 mm (AUC 0.9, CI:0.8–0.9, p<0.0001) for the prediction of stone-free status after treatment. Conclusions The current treatment had the highest efficacy in achieving stone-free status for patients with calculi ≤ 3 mm, located in the middle or upper calyx. A higher duration of the treatment might show improved results.


Temperature dependent stacking fault energies in fcc Fe and the ${\mathrm{Fe}}_{75}{\mathrm{Mn}}_{25}$ random alloy are calculated within density functional theory. The high temperature paramagnetic state of Fe is modeled by the spin wave (SW) method within a Hamiltonian formalism and by the disordered local moment (DLM) approach in the Green's function technique using the coherent potential approximation (CPA). To determine the stacking fault energy, the supercell approach is used in the case of the SW method, while the axial Ising model is used in both the SW method and CPA-DLM calculations. The SW and CPA-DLM results are in very good agreement with each other, and they also accurately reproduce the existing experimental data. In both cases, fcc Fe and the ${\mathrm{Fe}}_{75}{\mathrm{Mn}}_{25}$ alloy, the SFE increases with temperature. This increase is almost entirely due to thermal lattice expansion, in contrast to earlier claims connecting such a dependence with magnetic entropy. Additionally, we check the convergence of the SW method with respect to the number of spin waves in the calculations of the phonon spectrum and the vacancy formation energy of paramagnetic fcc Fe.


OBJECTIVES
To compare surgical morbidity and time, as well as anatomical outcomes between vaginal histerectomy and uterine preservation in the treatment of uterine prolapse using a mesh kit (Nazca).

METHODS
Randomized controled trial with 31 women with uterine prolapse POP-Q stage 3 or 4 pelvic organ prolapse who underwent vaginal surgery using tipe I polypropilene mesh (Nazca). They were randomized in two groups: group HV: hysterectomy and pelvic reconstruction floor with mesh (n=15); group HP: hysteropexy and pelvic reconstruction floor with mesh (n=16). Race, miccional urgency, intestinal constipation, sacral pain were assessed as well as the amount of bleeding and time of operation.

RESULTS
Median follow-up was nine months on both groups. No difference was observed on complication rates and functional outcomes. Operation time was 120 minutes on group HV, versus 58.9 minutes on group HP (X(2) = 17.613*, p < 0.001 ) and intraoperative blood loss was 120 mL on group HV versus 20 mL on group HP (X(2) = 19.425*; p < 0.001). There was no differences in relationship to anatomical cure rates. Objective success rate was 86.67% to group HV and 75% to group HP (p=0,667) at nine months of follow-up. The anatomical results were similar between the two groups.

CONCLUSION
The anatomic results between histeropexy and hysterectomy were similar. However, surgical time and blood loss were greater in group with histerectomies. The erosion rate were also similar. Vaginal surgery using mesh is an effective procedure for pelvic organ prolapse.


The Mississippian Antler foreland basin contains siliciclastic sedimentary rocks that record a series of orogenic events along the western margin of North America from about 350 to 320 Ma. Our new stratigraphic and sedimentologic studies in Nevada indicate that the strata are not generally progradiational as previously described, and that uplift played a large role in basin evolution. We have recognized three unconformity-bounded stratigraphic sequences in the Antler basin in central Nevada: the Diamond Range submarine-fan system, the Newark Valley fluvial and delta-plain system, and the Green Springs deltaic and shelf-carbonate system. They propose a two-phase history for the antler orogeny: (1) collision of the western edge of North America with the Antler allochthon and downwarping of the continental margin (360-350 Ma), which resulted in deposition of the Diamond Range submarine-fan system; and (2) uplift and low-amplitude folding of the basin (350-320 Ma), accompanied by deposition of a thin veneer of reworked siliciclastic sediments (Newark Valley and Green Springs sequences) across a shallow-marine shelf. Siliciclastic sedimentation waned in the Late Mississippian and Early Pennsylvanian, and gradually gave way to carbonate sedimentation.


Reliability is a major criterion for integrated circuits (ICs) in safety critical applications, such as automotive, medical, or aviation electronics. A particular effect that contributes to wear-out is device (i.e. transistor) degradation. Its impact on the circuit behavior can be verified by circuit level aging simulations, which are offered by various EDA vendors. However, reasonable results can only be achieved with accurate and efficient device (i.e. transistor) degradation models. This white paper discusses the state of the art and points out opportunities for improvements.


Adrenal cysts are rare lesions which are usually nonfunctional and asymptomatic. Adrenal pseudocysts do not have epithelial linings and account for about 40% of adrenal cysts. We report a case of giant adrenal pseudocyst in a 32 year old woman presenting with flank pain who had undergone surgical excision.


Abstract The study of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) is a young and promising field of research. If IMBHs exist, they could explain the rapid growth of supermassive black holes by acting as seeds in the early stage of galaxy formation. Formed by runaway collisions of massive stars in young and dense stellar clusters, intermediate-mass black holes could still be present in the centers of globular clusters, today. Our group investigated the presence of intermediate-mass black holes for a sample of 10 Galactic globular clusters. We measured the inner kinematic profiles with integral-field spectroscopy and determined masses or upper limits of central black holes in each cluster. In combination with literature data we further studied the positions of our results on known black-hole scaling relations (such as M• − σ) and found a similar but flatter correlation for IMBHs. Applying cluster evolution codes, the change in the slope could be explained with the stellar mass loss occurring in clusters in a tidal field over its life time. Furthermore, we present results from several numerical simulations on the topic of IMBHs and integral field units (IFUs). We ran N-body simulations of globular clusters containing IMBHs in a tidal field and studied their effects on mass-loss rates and remnant fractions and showed that an IMBH in the center prevents core collapse and ejects massive objects more rapidly. These simulations were further used to simulate IFU data cubes. For the specific case of NGC 6388 we simulated two different IFU techniques and found that velocity dispersion measurements from individual velocities are strongly biased towards lower values due to blends of neighboring stars and background light. In addition, we use the Astrophysical Multipurpose Software Environment (AMUSE) to combine gravitational physics, stellar evolution and hydrodynamics to simulate the accretion of stellar winds onto a black hole.


Electro-slag remelting (ESR) is a kind of special metallurgy techniques to produce high quality alloy materials. The interface of electrode and slag is the energy entrance of entire system in the remelting process. Mathematical model of consumable electrode's melting process has been built in this paper. Some valuable variation rules of droplet diameter, droplet forming time, melting rate and purification coefficient following melting current and slag bath depth have been studied through a series of simulation work. Based on the mechanism studying of the consumable electrode's melting, some meaningful experience to optimize the technological parameters and improve material quality of electro slag ingot has been gotten.


A theoretical model and a simplified analytic expression are developed to describe the buildup time of a pulsed confocal unstable optical parametric oscillator (OPO) with a uniform-reflectivity mirror (URM) or a Gaussian-reflectivity mirror (GRM). Two analytic expressions have been demonstrated to correspond to theoretical models with a sufficient degree of accuracy. The effects of a variety of cavity and pump parameters on the buildup time of an OPO were investigated and analyzed. It was found that a GRM unstable OPO generally exhibits a shorter buildup time than the corresponding URM unstable OPO with equally effective output coupling.


Background: Shared reading interventions can impact positively on preschool children's language development and on their caregiver's attitudes/behaviours towards reading. However, a number of barriers may discourage families from engaging with these interventions, particularly families from lower socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds. We investigated how families from such backgrounds responded to an intervention designed explicitly to overcome these barriers. Methods: In a pre-registered cluster randomised controlled trial, 85 lower SES families and their 3- to 4-year old children from 10 different preschools were randomly allocated to take part in The Reader's Shared Reading programme (intervention) or an existing 'Story Time' group at a library (control), once a week for eight weeks. Three outcome measures were assessed at baseline and post-intervention: (i) attendance, (ii) enjoyment of the reading groups, and (iii) caregivers' knowledge of, attitudes and behaviours towards reading. A fourth, - children's vocabulary - was assessed at baseline and four weeks post-intervention. Results: Families were significantly more likely to attend the intervention group and rated them more favourably, compared to the control group. However, there were no significant effects on caregivers' knowledge, attitudes and behaviours, or on children's language. Conclusion: The intervention was only successful in engaging families from disadvantaged backgrounds in shared reading. Implications for the use, duration and intensity of shared reading interventions are discussed.


This paper describes DRAM array driving techniques and the parameter scaling techniques for low voltage operation using the boosted sense ground (BSG) scheme and further improved methods. Temperature compensation and adjustable internal voltage levels maintain a small subthreshold leakage current for a memory cell transistor (MC-Tr), and a distributed BSG (DBSG) scheme and a column decoded sensing (CDS) scheme achieve the effective scaling. These schemes can set the DRAM array free from the leakage current problem and the influence of temperature variations. Therefore, parameters for the MC-Tr, threshold voltage (V/sub th/), and the boosted voltage for the gate bias can be scaled down, and it is possible to determine the V/sub th/ of the MC-Tr simply (0.45 V at K=0.4) for the satisfaction of the small leakage current, for high speed and stable operation, and for high reliability (V/sub PP/ is below 2 V/sub CC/). They are applicable to subquarter micron DRAM's of 256 Mb and more. >


Based on ISSR molecular markers, Weissia wimmeriana is clearly distinct from W controversa. A clade separating the two species is supported by 100% bootstrap support using Neighbor Joining as criterion. An Analysis of theMolecular Variance (AMOVA) supports the high significance value of the ISSR data (p ≤ 0.001). The genetic variability within W. wimmeriana is extremely low, a typical finding in rare species. The two studied populations of W. controversa show a relatively low fixation index (F S T = 0.189), which may be the result of a high rate of dispersal or a low evolutionary rate combined with a high effective population size.


The study examines the application of peer counselor training to prevent bullying behavior. This study uses the Tru-experimental design experimental research approach. The research design used was pretest-posttest control group design with research subjects as many as 60 students, 30 students for the control group and 30 students for the experimental group. There are two instruments used: bullying questionnaire and peer counselor training questionnaire. The results obtained through questionnaire behavior on bullying behavior were analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis showing differences in student bullying behavior between before and after the implementation of peer counselor training, namely from high categories to moderate categories. While the results of inferential statistical analysis using the t-test showed a real or positive influence on the application of peer counselor training to prevent student bullying behavior.


The study examined teaching capacity for agricultural adaptation to climate change in the University Faculties of Agriculture in South east Nigeria. One hundred and thirty randomly selected academic staff in the University Faculties of Agriculture were used. Data were collected using questionnaire and analyzed by descriptive statistics and factor analysis. Majority (78.3%) of academic staff were males, married (85.8%) with an average of eight years of experience in teaching. A greater proportion (50.8%) had Ph.D and two years of research experience in climate change. Only 10% of the Universities indicated existence of postgraduate programme. Climate change content of courses taught were on issues such as vulnerability to climate change (27.7%), adaptation (25.5%), mitigation (23.2%), and indigenous strategies to climate change (22.5%). The teaching materials employed included textbooks (83.3%), journal (78.3%), conference proceedings (66.7%), articles on Climate Change and agricultural adaptation (80.8%) and lectures/teaching notes (44.2%). The major teaching methods used to communicate climate change concepts were lecture (63.3%) and field trip (12.6%). Teaching capability of the Universities were constrained by poor understanding of climate change concept, poor learning environment, weak infrastructure, and inadequate fund. The study therefore recommends universal review of curriculum and programmes to increase climate change content of courses, and provision of climate change teaching materials in the University Faculties of Agriculture. This however, requires adequate funding, availability of infrastructure, enabling environment through favourable policy and cooperation of all stakeholders in development process.


The hot deformation behavior of a newly designed Fe–5Mn–3Al–0.1C (wt.%) medium manganese steel was investigated using hot compression tests in the temperature range of 900 to 1150 °C, at constant strain rates of 0.1, 1, 2.5, 5, 10, and 20 s−1. A detailed analysis of the hot deformation parameters, focusing on the flow behavior, hot processing map, dynamic recrystallization (DRX) critical stress, and nucleation mechanism, was undertaken to understand the hot rolling process of the newly designed steel. The flow behavior is sensitive to deformation parameters, and the Zener–Hollomon parameter was coupled with the temperature and strain rate. Three-dimensional processing maps were developed considering the effect of strain and were used to determine safe and unsafe deformation conditions in association with the microstructural evolution. In the deformation condition, the microstructure of the steel consisted of δ-ferrite and austenite; in addition, there was a formation of DRX grains within the δ-ferrite grains and austenite grains during the hot compression test. The microstructure evolution and two types of DRX nucleation mechanisms were identified; it was observed that discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX) is the primary nucleation mechanism of austenite, while continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) is the primary nucleation mechanism of δ-ferrite. The steel possesses unfavorable toughness at the deformation temperature of 900 °C, which is mainly due to the presence of coarse κ-carbides along grain boundaries, as well as the lower strengthening effect of grain boundaries. This study identified a relatively ideal hot processing region for the steel. Further exploration of hot roll tests will follow in the future.


We've all travelled abroad with the best of intentions when it comes to speaking the language, only to falter when it comes to the crunch. This quick and constructive course gives you the Arabic you need to talk to the locals - and crucially, the confidence to put it into practice. As well as providing essential vocabulary and phrases, the course also aims to improve your understanding of spoken Arabic, so that you can feel sure of yourself in two-way conversations. Based on the ten situations you are most likely to find yourself in while travelling abroad, the course builds your knowledge and understanding gradually, and is suitable for complete beginners. A booklet is included, with the dialogues and their English translations. A glossary of the words and phrases used also provides you with a handy phrasebook while you travel. By the end of this course, you will be at Level A2 of the Common European Framework for Languages: Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions. Can communicate in simple and routine tasks.


We present a novel, yet simple, technique for the speciication of context in structured documents that we call caterpillar expressions. Although we are primarily applying this technique in the speciication of context-dependent style sheets for HTML, SGML and XML documents, it can also be used for query speciica-tion for structured documents, as we shall demonstrate, and for the speciication of computer program transformations. From a conceptual point of view, structured documents are trees, and one of the oldest and best-established techniques to process trees and, hence, structured documents are tree automata. We present a number of theoretical results that allow us to compare the expressive power of caterpillar expressions and caterpillar automata, their companions, to the expressive power of tree automata. In particular, we demonstrate that each caterpillar expression describes a regular tree language that is, hence, recognizable by a tree automaton. Finally, we employ caterpillar expressions for tree pattern matching. We demonstrate that caterpillar automata are able to solve tree-pattern-matching problems for some, but not all, types of tree inclusion that Kilpell ainen investigated in his PhD thesis. In simulating tree pattern matching with caterpillar automata, we reprove some of Kilpell ainen's results in a uniform framework. Earlier and shorter versions of some of the ideas in this paper were presented at PODDP '98 6] and at DLT '99 10].


This paper examines the secondary English-language scholarship on Dutch artist Pieter Coecke van Aelst's frieze,  The Customs and Fashions of the Turks . By examining the scholarship on this woodcut series, this paper points out the trends and lacunae regarding the artist and his work. In addition to summarizing historical trends related to Coecke and the frieze, I also posit a possible hypothesis based on the scenes of a circumcision procession and Suleyman's procession through the Hippodrome. By placing these scenes into their proper historical context, I argue that it is possible that Coecke was alluding to Suleyman's son's circumcision festivities in 1530, shortly after his siege of Vienna against the Hapsburgs, in order to secure tapestry commissions and/or to gain favor with the Sultan.


Problem The parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus, in terms of its complexity and construction, is one of the most difficult decipherable parables that Jesus uttered during His time among men. With much tact, we will try to answer a question that has profound implications: Does the narrative in Luke 16: 19-31 support the existence of life after death? Purpose We carefully examine the Christ's discourse in Luke 16: 19-31 in order to identify those suggestive parallels between this account of Jesus and the culture of the time, which would help us to decode more clearly both the reason and the message of this story. -- Method. The preamble of our démarche proposes the stylistic analysis of this biblical passage where we will examine if the narrative is indeed or not a parable. Moreover, in order to decode precisely the Christ's message, we will take into account the issues that precede the prologue of this narrative; in contrast with the descriptions of the rich and the poor before passing out of existence, but especially after death. The subject of analysis in the middle section of the research will have to analyze the claim of the afterlife. Once arrived at the apparently hot topic of the research (hell) will be analyzed in detail the four biblical terms that are shaping the geography of hell besieged by the Judeo-Pagan cultural converge. Beyond the timeliness of this fundamentally recurring theme, the epilogue depicts, in what way the sublimity of Christ's discourse, through intrinsic biblical truth itself, unanimously discloses the aspects that decisively influence the individual [and the neighbor] both in this life but especially in the afterlife. Conclusion The parable with the rich man and poor Lazarus (Luke 16: 19-31) is not intended to portray the afterlife. This parable instead of building a positive teaching about the conditions of the afterlife is set out precisely to deconstruct popular views on the afterlife, and functions as a parody on popular tales about communication with the dead. Therefore, this parable cannot be used as a definitive statement about the afterlife, since parables were told to illustrate a point, not to give a systematic account of any doctrine. The more the Greek philosophy grew in influence, the more the unbiblical conception of the immortality of the soul had to be (re)adapted. However, by separating the soul from the body, new pretensions of interpreting hell appeared. Due to that fact, Jesus, instead of telling the reality about the afterlife directly, uses these complex figurative images precisely to meet people in their field. Jesus was the Son of God, a brilliant thinker and also the greatest communicator. Therefore He chooses to illustrate with a caricature: what would later be called hell. Observing the errors of interpretation of this recurring theme, Jesus analyzes the claim of the afterlife! In order to save the core of this great theme, given the socioreligious context of that time, Jesus will untie it! To accomplish this difficult task, Jesus masterfully chooses to introduce it into the concepts of Jewish tradition and Greek philosophy that were deeply rooted in the minds of His listeners. Looking at the last instance to the four terms that refer to the afterlife, we conclude that despite efforts to harmonize this doctrine satisfactorily, if we stick to the OT concept of this term we are not put in the situation to force the primary biblical meanings only to be able to adapt it to the motives and pretensions of the Persian and Greek culture that were fashionable in those times; even if they have familiar echoes today. As explicitly stated in the last part of the parable, Jesus leads His listeners to embrace exclusively the teachings of the Old Testament. By accepting (only) the Scripture of that time, Jesus is convinced that hell, with all its attached phraseology, will simply be demystified. Moreover, a faithful Scripture approach not only extinguishes your fear of an eternal fiery hell —the hottest point of the narrative — but with the appeasement of this fear, it practically quenches the very flames of hell.


Motivations. Next Generation Sequencing technologies have greatly improved our ability to detect genetic variations within organisms. In particular, they have been recently applied with great success to the discovery of mutations linked to rare mendelian diseases. The goodness of the results has been showed to be tightly dependent on two as crucial as systematic family of errors: those introduced by the particular sequencing chemistry and those due to the library preparation procedure. As a consequence, it is rather important to always assess the quality of the sequencing products before proceeding to carry out any downstream analysis, especially when errors, even if rare, might be decisive to the fulfillment of the overall objective. In the context of variants discovery, errors are deleterious. We have then implemented an accurate bioinformatics pipeline, which particularly applies to SOLiD raw data, and that aims to reduce the occurrences of false positive mutation calls. It consists of several sequential steps: SOLiD short reads quality assessment, dataset filtering, mapping, exome coverage analysis and variants discovery. Methods. Four exon-enriched genomic libraries, belonging to 3 unrelated patients with a severe neurogenetic disease and one control sample, were sequenced by the SOLiD 4 sequencing platform (Applied Biosystems, part of Life Technology, Foster, USA). Site-specific and global reads quality were analyzed by the QV_assessment tool [1] and by means of custom scripts. Then, because of the assessed qualities, color-space sequence files were filtered according to different threshold values. Afterwards, filtered and original sequence libraries were mapped, using the LifeScope Genome Analysis Software. Aligned reads were recalibrated through the GATK (The Genome Analisys ToolKit). Performances of mapping were calculated by custom scripts, while depth of coverage for each target site and target exon was calculated by means of the Bedtools Package and some R custom scripts. Variants were detected by the GATK and, later, cross-checked by Samtools and diBayes. Therefore, they were annotated by ANNOVAR. We looked for novel candidate mutations by searching our variants in the dbSNP (ver. 1.35) repository and setting a minimum allele frequency threshold to 0.02. For two out of the four libraries, we could check the resulting variants against those of as many SNP arrays. We could then assess the performance of our filtering strategies and do some statistics on the number of false/true positive variants call. Results. The quality of these SOLiD 4 raw data has been found to be generally low. Accuracy of color calls decreased gradually along the 50 bp fragments length, and resulted to be under 20 already around the 20th-25th read position. As a confirmation, even the application of the most relaxed filtering strategy caused a dramatic reduction of mappable reads: indeed, the four raw datasets ranged from 50 to 80 Mb, but only the 35-65% of sequence data passed the filters. Reason for this seems to be linked to SOLiD 4 sequencing chemistry rather than to the library preparation procedure. For filtered and unfiltered libraries, the median site-specific coverage ranged from 12 to 32, with the 50%-80% of sites having a depth of coverage higher than 10. Regarding the entire set of target exons (over than 200000), from 4% to 10% of them were systematically skipped or poorly covered by the sequencing process. Regarding the variant calling task, a large number of low quality SNPs and Indels has been detected on the four raw datasets, while from 5000 to 15000 variations have been found among the filter-passing datasets (going from the more stringent to the more relaxed filtering criteria). Because of the recessive mode of inheritance of the mendelian diseases under examination, we searched for homozygous mutations in exons and splice sites, finding different pools of non-synonymous, stop-gain, stop loss and splicing mutations within each filtered library. In addition, low ratios of transition vs. transversion and non-synonymous vs. synonymous variants clearly confirmed the general low sequencing quality of the four experiments. Comparison with SNP array data finally helped to determine the best filtering configuration and the variants set with minimal impact of false positive calls. As a side effect, the presented pipeline produced some detailed reports about the SOLiD read quality, mapping accuracy, coverage of target regions and variants detection. It implemented some well known best practices and custom methodologies and, even in case of bad sequencing outputs (as the above-mentioned cases), tried to extract reliable information and present them to biologists and clinicians. References 1. Sasson A, Michael TP (2010) Filtering error from SOLiD Output. Bioinformatics 26(6):849-850


Use of pyrethroid pesticides, which are highly toxic to aquatic organisms, has increased substantially over the past decade. In 2006, the pyrethroid pesticides cyfluthrin and permethrin were measured in Sacramento‐San Joaquin (SSJ) Delta (CA, USA) water at 5 and 24 ng/L (pptr), respectively. To elucidate any interactions between the two pyrethroids, a 10‐d laboratory exposure was performed with 7‐ to 14‐d‐old amphipods (Hyalella azteca). Cyfluthrin and permethrin were tested singly and in combination at detected levels and also at half and twice the detected levels, both with and without the addition of 25 ppb of piperonyl butoxide (PBO). Mortality in all treatments was significantly higher than in controls, with the median lethal concentration (LC50) for permethrin with PBO (13.9 ng/L) and the LC50s with and without PBO for cyfluthrin (5.7 and 2.9 ng/L, respectively) at or below levels measured in SSJ Delta water samples. The LC50 for permethrin alone was estimated to be 48.9 ng/L. To evaluate combined toxicity, logistic regression models containing terms for concentrations of cyfluthrin, permethrin, and PBO, as well as models containing all possible combinations of these terms and interactions, were run and compared using Akaike's information criterion. The most parsimonious set of models indicated slight antagonism between cyfluthrin and permethrin. Results indicate that a dissolved mixture of cyfluthrin and permethrin is toxic at environmentally relevant concentrations in the water column.


The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the rumen on the kinetics of drugs by measuring plasma and gastro-intestinal fluid concentrations of model drugs (weak acids and bases), after various routes of administration. The experimental animals used were Finn-Dorset sheep fitted with permanent ruminal, abomasal and duodenal cannulae, and the drugs chosen were meclofenarrate, an acidic drug, and levamisole, fenbendazole, oxfendazole and albendazole which are basic drugs. All of the drugs studied were absorbed to soma extent after oral administration. Levamisole only was absorbed from the rumen; absorption from this part of the gastro-intestinal tract was much slower than that from the more distal regions. For the other drugs studied, absorption from the rumen was negligible. Passive diffusion of drug from the systemic compartment into the rumen, either across the rumen wall or via the saliva, was found to occur with levamisole and meclofenamate, but not with the benzimidazole drugs or their metabolites, Levamisole administered subcutaneously, and benzimidazole metabolites formad in the systemic compartment were found to diffuse into abomasal fluid, reaching higher concentrations than those found in plasma at the same time. The kinetics of the benzimidazole drugs were found to be very slow, the drugs persisting in plasma and gastro-intestinal fluid for up to 9 days. This was attributed to the low water and lipid solubility of the drugs compared with that of levamisole and meclofenamate. Passage through the rumen, of the drugs studied, was found to slow the rate of absorption compared with that of drug administered directly into the abomasum. Oral administration of each of the drugs studied resulted, on almost every occasion, in scme of the drug being delivered directly to the abomasum by, the action of the reticular groove. The extent of ruminal by-pass was variable and usually small. It did not appear to be consistent for any individual animal. High concentrations of benzimidazole metabolites were found in plasma and in abomasal fluid after oral, intra-ruminal and intra-abomasal administration of the parent drug. The site of metabolism of the benzimidazoles was investigated in vitro. On incubation with hepatic microsomes both sulfide crugs, fenbendazole and albendazole, were oxidised to sulfoxides and sulfones. Reduction of fenbendazole sulfoxide (oxfendazole), and albendazole sulfoxide, also occurred during incubation in vitro with liver microsomes; both sulfoxides were found to undergo reduction to the sulfides on incubation with fresh ruminal fluid. No oxidation or reduction was found during incubation of sulfides or sulfoxides with abomasal fluid. The anthelmintic activities of albendazole and its two major metabolites, albendazole sulfoxide and albendazole sulfone were compared by administration of the compounds in feed to rats infected with Nippostrongylus braziliensis. Albendazole sulfoxide was found to have similar anthelmintic activity to albendazole, and albendazole sulfone was found to be non-active. The relevance of these findings to the suggested mode of action of these drugs is discussed.


Recommender systems, especially the newly launched ones, have to deal with the data-sparsity issue, where little existing rating information is available. Recently, transfer learning has been proposed to address this problem by leveraging the knowledge from related recommender systems where rich collaborative data are available. However, most previous transfer learning models assume that entity-correspondences across different systems are given as input, which means that for any entity (e.g., a user or an item) in a target system, its corresponding entity in a source system is known. This assumption can hardly be satisfied in real-world scenarios where entity-correspondences across systems are usually unknown, and the cost of identifying them can be expensive. For example, it is extremely difficult to identify whether a user A from Facebook and a user B from Twitter are the same person. In this paper, we propose a framework to construct entity correspondence with limited budget by using active learning to facilitate knowledge transfer across recommender systems. Specifically, for the purpose of maximizing knowledge transfer, we first iteratively select entities in the target system based on our proposed criterion to query their correspondences in the source system. We then plug the actively constructed entity-correspondence mapping into a general transferred collaborative-filtering model to improve recommendation quality. We perform extensive experiments on real world datasets to verify the effectiveness of our proposed framework for this cross-system recommendation problem.


Recent research has demonstrated that small firm performance in Northern Ireland has benefited from the availability of a comprehensive and well‐funded programme of selective financial assistance provided by the Local Enterprise Development Unit (LEDU), the small business agency for the region. Such assistance to small firms was seen to overcome many of the constraints of doing business in a peripheral location such as Northern Ireland. However, one question remains unanswered by that research and that is the precise way in which LEDU financial assistance impacts upon business performance. One interpretation of the research to date could be that the relatively better performance of LEDU‐assisted small firms is due to the fact that they are more likely to be faster growing businesses in the first instance, because either they are self‐selecting in presenting themselves for LEDU assistance or else the LEDU engages in a "creaming" process, which results in the granting of assistance to the more successful firms in Northern Ireland. In order to probe further into the impact of LEDU assistance, it is necessary to examine the differential impact on growth of the wide range of support programmes and initiatives for small firms operated by the small business agency in Northern Ireland. This paper will report the results of the first stage of such an analysis by analysing the business performance of two broad groups of LEDU‐assisted clients who have received different levels of assistance in the 1990s – "Growth" and "Established" clients. The analysis is based on information drawn from a specially created database of approximately 1,600 small firms who were in receipt of LEDU financial assistance in the period 1991‐97. The analysis of the employment and turnover performance of LEDU‐assisted firms revealed that Growth clients grew faster than Established clients in the 1991‐97 period and provides tentative evidence that a more intense and directed package of assistance is clearly associated with faster business growth. The age of Growth firms was much older than Established LEDU clients and, therefore, this differential growth performance cannot be related to a simple life‐cycle explanation. The shift in LEDU policy in the 1990s towards a greater concentration of effort on firms with growth potential would appear to have been successful.


We tested the hypothesis that nutrient enrichment affects recruitment of the oyster Sac- costrea glomerata and the barnacle Hexaminius popeiana, which are dominant occupiers of space on tree trunks in temperate mangrove forests in New South Wales, Australia. We measured recruitment on artificial settlement plates at high and low intertidal levels under ambient conditions and where we manipulated nutrient levels by adding fertiliser to the water column for 2 mo. To determine whether nutrients influenced temporal patterns of settlement and early mortality of larvae, we quan- tified recruitment for 2 sampling intervals: on plates that were replaced 4 times at 2 wk intervals and on those left in the field for the entire 2 mo. For both intervals, recruitment of oysters was 3 to 4 times and significantly higher under elevated than ambient nutrient conditions. Recruitment of barnacles was also significantly higher under elevated nutrient conditions, but only on plates sampled at 2 wk intervals. On plates left out for 2 mo, the effect of nutrients on recruitment was variable, but recruits were generally higher in number under ambient conditions, suggesting that nutrients might enhance postsettlement mortality. Nutrient enrichment clearly affected recruitment of oysters and barnacles, possibly by mimicking natural settlement cues of conspecific individuals. Considering the central role of recruitment to the population dynamics of marine benthic invertebrates, nutrient enrichment has the potential to alter species assemblages in estuarine and marine habitats.


Dendritic cells (DCs) that capture apoptotic cells (ACs) in the steady state mediate peripheral tolerance to self-antigens. ACs are recognized by an array of receptors on DCs, the redundancy of which is not completely defined. We made use of an AC surrogate system to address the individual roles of the alphavbeta5 and complement receptors (CRs) in the phagocytosis and induction of immunity. CR3 and CR4, while substantially less efficient than alphavbeta5 in internalizing ACs, initiate signals that render DCs tolerogenic. Responding T cells show impaired proliferation and IFNgamma production and subsequently die by apoptosis. While tolerogenic DCs are not induced via alphavbeta5, coligation of CR3 and alphavbeta5 maintains the DC's tolerogenic profile. This immunomodulatory role, however, is countered by a significant inflammatory stimulus such as bacterial infection. Overall, our data suggest that under steady-state conditions, signaling via CRs predominates to render DCs tolerogenic.


Several studies report that between 60 to 85% of laboratory errors are produced during the preanalytical phase. The objective of this study was to identify the factors at the origin of nonconformities during this phase at the Civil Hospital of Tetouan. A mixed preanalytical descriptive study realized between April and May 2014 was based on a questionnaire, an observation grid, focus groups and semi-structured interviews. The quality of preanalytical phase determines the quality and reliability of laboratory results. Indeed, 30% of the prescriptions of biologic tests are drafted by nurses and not doctors this is in the absence of an updated list of exams. The samples are taken at 84.6% by unqualified personnel and 98% without any guide or manual. For the traceability aspect, the name of the sampler is never placed on the sheet of examination, age, sex of the patient; time and nature of the sample are often not mentioned in the label vials of samples. The factors causing nonconformities laboratory tests at the civil hospital may have an impact on the quality of care. They result from a major defect of coordination between the laboratory and the services and the weak competence of the staff involved in this process.

 Key words: Nonconformities, quality, biological sample, preanalytical phase, hospital laboratory.


Submitted to Ian D. Dunkle for CAS PH 110 A1 Great Philosophers on Friendship and Solitude
at Boston University, Spring 2019.

Selected by classmates and the professor for publication in this special collection for the course in OpenBU.


Africa is often called 'the fire continent' based on the high frequency and large extent of burning. Over 200 million hectares of land are regularly burned, mostly savanna areas. In this thesis the ecological effects of fire on savanna herbivores in Benoue National Park in North Cameroon are described.
 Analyses of grass quality show that unburned grass swards are of insufficient quality to sustain grazing herbivores during the dry season. Post-fire regrowth, however, is of much better quality, as it contains higher nutrient levels and higher digestibility. As a result, herbivores strongly prefer to graze on burned swards. This is more than just a simple food preference: most grazers probably would not survive the dry season on unburned swards. Because of this, fire proves to be a major factor governing diversity patterns of herbivores, both at the local scale (the park) and at larger scales (West Africa as a whole). In this thesis it is argued that the species richness of grazing herbivores throughout West Africa is primarily governed by fire, rather than by moisture or soil fertility. Without fire it would thus be impossible to maintain current diversity levels of herbivores in the Guinea savanna zone of West Africa.


data). Under these circumstances the usual effects of noradrenaline, causing marked reductions in heart rate and cardiac output, do not occur. Thus atropine, alone or after beta-blockers, can raise blood pressure and heart rate while maintaining cardiac output. From these observations therefore we would endorse the use of atropine in doses of at least 3 mg as bolus injections. Furthermore, as an alternative to isoprenaline in patients still hypotensive we would recommend graded infusions of noradrenaline to restore blood pressure provided atropine has been given previously. Under these circumstances heart rate and cardiac output are likely to be satisfactorily maintained and blood pressure restored. D A RICHARDS BRIAN N C PRICHARD


Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is increasingly recognised as an essential tool of development a tool which empowers the poor by enhancing skills, increasing productivity and improving governance. The success of ICTenabled development (or e-Development) is measured not only by the diffusion of technology, but also by advances in development itself. The contribution of ICT can be viewed at two different but interrelated levels : ICT growth and ICT diffusion. The former refers to the contribution in output, employment, export earnings, etc., resulting from production of ICT related goods and services that are limited to just one segment of the economy. The latter refers to IT-induced development through enhanced productivity, competitiveness, growth and human welfare resulting from the use of this technology by differentsectors of the economy and society. International research findings in the context of developing and developed countries reveal that unlike old technologies (radio, television, etc.) which are more demand driven, ICT is more supply driven and leaves greater scope for diffusion agents (Non-Government Organisations or NGOs, Government, private sector and other actors) to influence the diffusion process. Firstly, unlike earlier technologies, investment in the Internet, personal computers, etc. essentially complements investments already made in communications technologies like satellites, telephone and cable TV networks. Secondly, newly developed software technology in India has replaced the requirement of broadband and thus provides full connectivity in rural areas. Thirdly, ICT is multi-user by nature, which, in turn, leaves scope for Internet kiosks, Internet cafes and Community Information Centres (CICs), providing access to many. In India, the IT sector has not only grown in size but also complexity. Indian States resemble little nations. So, it is important to take regular stock of e-Readiness at the Country and State/ Union Territory levels to ascertain the status of underlying infrastructure, human resources, policy regime, environment climate, etc. and arrive at the steps needed to be taken to optimise the potential. Before we introduce our e-Readiness methodology, it would be instructive to look at the various e-Readiness assessment models used elsewhere.


Although most studies of protein phosphorylation have focused on intracellular protein kinases, evidence for protein kinase activity on the surface of several types of cells has been described. Evidence was recently provided for the existence of ecto-protein kinase activity on the surface of human neutrophils. Evidence for three distinct ecto-protein kinase activities was detected, one that phosphorylates endogenous surface proteins, one that phosphorylates exogenous substrates in a cAMP-independent manner and is released in the presence of substrate, and a low level of activity of one that phosphorylates exogenous Kemptide in a cAMP-dependent manner. To begin to elucidate its role in neutrophil function, we have characterized several properties of the releasable ecto-protein kinase activity on human neutrophils. This enzyme activity was inhibited by impermeant stilbene disulfonic acids, which are known to alter neutrophil function, as well as by impermeant sulfhydryl reactive agents. Enzyme activity was detectable at physiologic concentrations of Mg2+, but was higher in the presence of Mn2+. Protein kinase activity was strongly inhibited by heparin, whereas trifluoperazine, cAMP, and cGMP had little effect on kinase activity. Protein kinase activity was selectively removed from the cell surface by incubation with the ecto-kinase substrates casein and phosvitin, but the enzyme was not released by phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C. Repeated exposure of neutrophils to substrate depleted ecto-protein kinase activity from the cell surface, but activity was rapidly restored by incubation in buffer lacking substrate. The released protein kinase had a Km for ATP of approximately 0.5 microM and a pH maximum between 7.0 and 7.5. At least four ecto-protein kinase substrates were detected in serum; vitronectin was identified as one of these substrates by immunoprecipitation studies. Although the exact role of ecto-protein kinase activity in neutrophil function remains undefined, the identification of vitronectin as a serum substrate suggests that it interacts with a physiologically important substrate.


This article examines the legal issues pertaining to the use of
civilian armed guards on board Danish-flagged ships for
protection against piracy. The Danish model of regulation is
interesting for several reasons. Firstly, the Danish Government was among the first European flag States to allow and
formalise their use in a commercial setting. Secondly, the
distribution of assignments between public authorities and
private actors stands out as very pragmatic, as ship owners
and contracting private security companies are empowered
with competences which are traditionally considered as public administrative powers. Thirdly, the lex specialis framework governing the authorisation and use of force in selfdefence is non-exhaustive, thus referring to lex generalis
regulation, which does not take the special circumstances
surrounding the use of armed guards into consideration. As
a derived effect the private actors involved rely heavily on
soft law and industry self-regulation instrument to complement the international and national legal framework.


Unemployment, poverty and environmental degradation are among the challenges facing urban Tanzania. Currently, research on urban agriculture (UA) is gaining importance for its potential to reduce poverty, food insecurity and environmental stress. While research in rural areas has shown gender to be a key factor mediating agricultural performance, little is known about the dynamics of gender in UA, how they are sustained, and how UA shapes gender relations. This thesis fills this gap by examining how gardening activities and gender relations mutually shape each other in Morogoro Municipality, Tanzania.
Drawing on both bargaining and the separate spheres model of the household (Sen 1990; Lundberg and Pollak 1993) Schroeder (1996, 1999), and on Ribot and Peluso's (2003) access theory, this study focuses on how the allocation of labour in gardening and domestic activities, decision making about gardening income, and access to productive resources affect gender relations and gardening itself. The research was conducted for ten months in two open spaces where leafy vegetables were cultivated. Both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods were used.
A significant finding is the centrality of access to other household members for female gardeners to undertake gardening while meeting their gendered domestic responsibilities. Their access to household members for gardening varies with their life cycle, female-headed households, for women whose spouses are non-gardeners, and for women with young children. Secondly, strategies for accessing resources are dynamic, but vary across households according to gardening season, gender, type of resource, amount of capital, and availability of household members for gardening. Finally, different ways for negotiating the utilisation of gardening income were visible, most spouses not pooling their income but cooperating in family investments. Women's bargaining power depends both on their earnings and other sociocultural influences. An analysis of gender relations in UA shows that women's approaches and strategies are shaped by their position, are different from those of men, and need to be considered in urban development planning.


In this thesis newly generated high-resolution Oligo-Miocene climate proxy records from Walvis Ridge ODP Site 1264 (south-eastern Atlantic Ocean) are presented (Chapters 2 and 3). The records are tuned to an eccentricity solution (Chapter 3) and they are compared to published Atlantic and Pacific palaeoclimate chronologies (Chapters 2 and 4). The main research objectives are 1) to identify astronomical pacemakers of global significance and test earlier pacing theories, 2) to describe global climate and oceanographic change on astronomical and tectonic time scales and 3) to test the strong hysteresis in ice sheet models that suggest a very stable Antarctic ice sheet once formed. Chapter 1 gives a general introduction on the "mid"-to-late Oligocene climatic, oceanographic, geographic and cryospheric settings. Climate evolution and dynamics, together with the major underlying processes are introduced. In Chapter 2, high-resolution early Miocene stable oxygen and carbon isotope chronologies from Walvis Ridge Site 1264 are presented. The data are analysed on an untuned age model to identify the principal astronomical pacemakers, without introducing power on orbital frequencies. A dominance of variance in all datasets on 100-kyr timescales is found. The ?18O data are used to parameterize a suite of 1D ice sheet models and show that between 20 – 80% (avg. ~50%) of the ?18O signal can be explained by changes in Antarctic ice volume. (This chapter has been published as: D. Liebrand, L. J. Lourens, D. A. Hodell, B. de Boer, R. S. W. van de Wal and H. Palike. Antarctic ice sheet and oceanographic response to eccentricity forcing during the early Miocene. Climate of the Past, 7, 869–880, 2011) In Chapter 3, extended stable-isotope records together with X-ray fluorescence core scanning data from Walvis Ridge Site 1264 are presented. The records span an 11-Myr mid Oligocene through early Miocene time interval. Ages are calibrated to eccentricity, are in good agreement with the GTS2012 and independently confirm the Oligo-Miocene time scale to the ~100-kyr level. The ~2.4-Myr long-period eccentricity cycle is identified as the main pacemaker of Oligo-Miocene climate events, as identified in the benthic isotope records, at shorter astronomical (eccentricity) periodicities. In Chapter 4, the high-resolution Oligo-Miocene benthic stable-isotope chronology from Site 1264 is compared to published records from the Atlantic and Pacific to further identify and explore possible global climate pacemakers. In addition, an investigation of long-term trends and inter-/intra-basin isotopic gradients and their implications for ice volume reconstruction and palaeoceanographic studies are discussed. Methods are explored to quantify the apparent change in geometry of ~100-kyr cycles in our benthic ?18O data and the analyses indicate an increased cycle asymmetry (i.e. sawtooth patterns) throughout the Oligo-Miocene. This change in cycle geometry is interpreted as a measure of changing boundary conditions and used to track the evolution of a threshold response mechanism in Earth's climate system. In Chapter 5 the main results of this thesis are summarised, the implications for our understanding of the Oligo-Miocene are discussed and perspectives are given on future work.


The effect of geometric clearances on the stress and deformation distributions of a wedged-ring joint structure is studied, five cases of dimensional tolerance of each contact surface, i.e., the maximum, minimum, mean of maximum and minimum, mean of maximum and mean, and mean of minimum and mean are investigated, and the probable states that the wedged-rings attach with the upper cylinder or attach with the lower cylinder radially in the assembly process are considered as well. The results of finite element numerical simulations indicate that in the design tolerance zone, the effects of geometric clearances between contact surfaces on the displacement and stress distributions of the structural components are weak. Only when the wedged-rings attach tightly with the upper cylinder or with the lower cylinder, the displacement and stress distributions in the joint of the structure occur a dramatic variation, and the assembly processing measure making the wedged-rings attaching tightly with the lower cylinder can be adopted to effectively decrease the stresses and deformations in the joint of the structure.


Serious infections in paediatric patients pose some unique challenges to clinicians. Children represent a dynamic group of patients in whom there are age-related changes as well as age-related alterations in the biodisposition of various antimicrobial agents. In infants and children with serious infections multidrug therapy is generally employed. This occurs because most antibiotic therapy in these patients is initiated and continued on an empiric basis and few, if any, of the currently available agents may be employed confidently as monotherapy. When the agents currently available are compared on a pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic basis the carbapenems emerge as close to ideal for the treatment of serious infections in infants and children. Imipenem is the only member of this group currently available. It lacks paediatric labelling in the USA and its efficacy has not been compared directly with that of antibiotic regimens commonly employed in children. Meropenem is a new carbapenem currently under evaluation of the treatment of moderate to severe infections in children and adults. In 2 multicentre, randomised evaluations of the treatment of a variety of infections including lower respiratory tract infections, urinary tract infections, intra-abdominal infections, infections of the skin and skin structures, and septicaemia, the efficacy and safety of meropenem monotherapy were compared with those of cefotaxime-based regimens. Meropenem had an overall clinical efficacy rate of 98% compared with a rate of 95% for cefotaxime-based regimens. Neither regimen was associated with any significant clinical or laboratory adverse events. The carbapenem, meropenem, appears to be a reasonable choice for empiric therapy in infants and children with serious infections. Meropenem monotherapy has been evaluated and has been found to be as well tolerated and as effective as cefotaxime-based regimens in these patients.


We found that it is important to address currency risk to take full advantage of the benefits of minimum-volatility investing. In our back test that extended back to 1979, we found that hedging currency risk would have led to a higher Sharpe ratio by decreasing risk while maintaining return at a similar level. In the absence of hedging, a minimum-volatility portfolio's currency risk creates a home bias and other distortions. Separating equity selection from currency risk builds a portfolio that is low risk from a local-currency perspective. This local-currency portfolio historically delivered higher risk-adjusted returns, which we attribute to better stock selection. We found this result to be consistent for multiple investor domiciles including the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, and Australia. As a bonus, the hedged portfolio's return was also less correlated with the global equity market, making it a better portfolio diversifier. To our knowledge, despite extensive research published on low-volatility investing, currency-related issues have not yet been reported on.


Article history Received 13 January 2020 Revised 14 February 2020 Accepted 17 February 2020 The number of talented persons who are equipped with high wisdom intelligence will immediately determine the quality of humankind's entire life, and the future trend for humankind's innovation and creation in fields such as thinking, cognition, society, politics, economy, military, science, arts, culture, and so on. Meanwhile, it protects the harmonious development of various fields. By illustrating the meanings of applying high wisdom intelligence in the survival and prosperity for each nation, ethnicity and individual, this article has a significant application to the understanding of educational studies of high wisdom intelligence.


This paper reports the occurrence of symmetry-breaking bifurcation in the series-parallel load-resonant dc-dc converter with L-C output filter. The constant frequency phase shift modulation technique is employed with proportional-integral controller in the output voltage regulation. The complexity of the system is contributed by the fact that a six dimensional state space is divided into twelve subsystems by six switching surfaces. It is shown that the dynamics are not only related to the resonant components but are also heavily dependent on the output filter design. The understanding of the dynamics resulting from the interaction between the resonant tank and the filter circuit helps in designing more reliable converters. We show that the first instability can be caused by Neimark-Sacker as well as symmetry-breaking bifurcations. Stable as well as unstable periodic orbits are identified, and their characteristic multipliers are computed by a newly developed algorithm based on a combination of Filippov's theory and shooting method with Newton-Raphson algorithm.


Secondary inorganic fine particulate matter (iPM2.5) constitutes a significant amount of the atmospheric PM2.5. The formation of secondary iPM2.5 is characterized by thermodynamic equilibrium gas-particle partitioning of gaseous ammonia (NH3) and aerosol ammonium (NH4+). To develop effective strategies for controlling atmospheric PM2.5, it is essential to understand the responses of secondary iPM2.5 to different precursor gases. In southeastern North Carolina, the amount of NH3 is in excess to fully neutralize acidic gases (i.e., NH3-rich conditions). NH3-rich conditions are mainly attributed to the significant NH3 emissions in the region, especially from the large amounts of animal feeding operation (AFO). To gain a better understanding of the impact of NH3 on the formation of secondary iPM2.5 in this area, the responses of iPM2.5 to precursor gases under different ambient conditions were investigated based upon three-year monitoring data of the chemical components in iPM2.5, gaseous pollutants, and meteorological conditions. The gas ratio (GR) was used to assess the degree of neutralization via NH3, and ISORROPIA II model simulation was used to examine the responses of iPM2.5 to changes in the total NH3, the total sulfuric acid (H2SO4), and the total nitric acid (HNO3). It was discovered that under different ambient temperature and humidity conditions, the responses of iPM2.5 to precursor gases vary. In general, iPM2.5 responds nonlinearly to the total NH3 but linearly to the total H2SO4 and the total HNO3. In NH3-rich regions, iPM2.5 is not sensitive to changes in the total NH3, but it is very sensitive to changes in the total H2SO4 and/or the total HNO3. Reducing the total H2SO4, as opposed to the total HNO3 or the total NH3, leads to a significant reduction in iPM2.5 and is thus a more effective strategy for decreasing the concentration of iPM2.5. This research provides insight into controlling and regulating PM2.5 in NH3-rich regions.


We consider the problem of assessing the trustworthiness of mobile code. We introduce the idea of deep type inference on compiled object code and explain its usefulness as a method of deciding the level of security management which a unit of mobile code will require.


Competitive Drone Racing Using Game Theory Amin S. Almozel Drone racing has recently became a topic of interest in research especially with the increase of power of mobile processors. There are many approaches of localizing (perception), planning, and strategizing against an adversarial agent online, with varying degrees of computational complexity and success. This thesis presents a game theoretic approach to solve this problem in the context of drone racing. The game theory planner strategizes against an opponent by using the "iterated best response" learning method from game theory, to attempt to reach a Nash equilibrium, where neither players can improve their strategy. Furthermore, to complement the functionality of the game theory planner, a polynomial trajectory generation algorithm is used to generate a reference track. Lastly, a model predictive controller is used to execute the strategic path generated by the game theory planner. The game theory planner performed better than the pure MPC by holding the lead position significantly longer, even though it had lower maximum velocity. On the other hand, the pure MPC held the lead position for a shorter time when the roles were switched. Furthermore, the game theory planner also performed better against the policy improvement racer. However, the policy improvement racer fared better against the game theory planner compared to the pure MPC. Lastly, some intuitive competitive behaviors such as blocking and overtaking came naturally as a result of the algorithm.


This essay addresses the issue of impermanence in sub-Saharan African architecture through a case study from the Eastern Pende of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It takes inspiration from the work of Pierre Clastres to examine the kibulu (the chief9s ritual house), built from vegetal materials, as a product of choice and intention rather than as an example of a failed technology. Although interpreted as the "house of the dead," the plan, sculptural program, and landscaping of the kibulu are riven by a dialectical tension between the political and the ritual, between chiefs, who aspire to individualize the building and use it to forward their special status, and community members, who intend to prevent the chief from transforming his priestly function into one of coercive authority. Rules prohibiting maintenance of any kind ensure a regular renegotiation of the social contract between the chief and his people and underscore their interdependence.


This Article challenges the basic premise in the law of gerrymandering that partisanship is a constitutional government purpose at all. The central problem, Justice Scalia once explained in Vieth v. Jubilerer, is that partisan gerrymandering becomes unconstitutional only when it "has gone too far," giving rise to the intractable inquiry into "how much is too much." But the premise that partisanship is an ordinary and lawful purpose, articulated confidently as settled law and widely understood as such, is largely wrong as constitutional doctrine. The Article surveys constitutional law to demonstrate the vitality of an important, if implicit norm against government partisanship across a variety of settings. From political patronage, to government speech, to election administration and even in redistricting itself, Vieth is the exception in failing to bar tribal partisanship as a legitimate state interest in lawmaking.

The puzzle therefore is why the Supreme Court in Vieth diverged from this overarching norm for legislative redistricting where the need for government nonpartisanship is most acute and so rarely met. The Article proposes a new approach focused on legitimate state interest and partisan purpose, building on a constitutional norm against government partisanship. The importance of consolidating and reifying this norm, in its most salient legal context, cannot be overstated at a time when hyperpolarization between the major parties dominates national politics and is at its most severe in our lifetime.


Abstract: Introducing local legends is crucial for students to preserve their existence. However,  many students in SMAN 1 Katibung South Lampung found it difficult to retell narrative text in writing, especially local legends, because they are lack of grammar and vocabulary and they found it difficult to develop and to express their ideas in making narrative text writing. Therefore, the research applied Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) technique as an effective technique to students which allowed them to work cooperatively with their friends in a group. The research methodology was quasi experimental design, pretest-posttest design. The population of this research was the eleventh grade of SMAN 1 Katibung South Lampung. Two classes consisting of 30 students for experimental class and 28 students for control class were taken as the sample. In collecting the data of pretest and posttest, writing test was used. The data were analyzed by using SPSS to calculate Independent Simple t-test. From the data analysis, it was found that the result of t-test was Sig. (p value ) = 0.000 < α = 0.05. Therefore, Ha is accepted which meant that there was influence of using CIRC technique towards students' writing ability. Keywords : Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC), students' writing ability, local legends, quasi experimental research


Resistin and resistin-like molecules (RELMs) are a family of proteins reportedly related to insulin resistance and inflammation. Because the serum concentration and intestinal expression level of RELMβ were elevated in insulin-resistant rodent models, in this study we investigated the effect of RELMβ on insulin signaling and metabolism using transgenic mice and primary cultured hepatocytes. First, transgenic mice with hepatic RELMβ overexpression were shown to exhibit significant hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, fatty liver, and pancreatic islet enlargement when fed a high fat diet. Hyperinsulinemic glucose clamp showed a decreased glucose infusion rate due to increased hepatic glucose production. In addition, the expression levels of IRS-1 and IRS-2 proteins as well as the degrees of insulin-induced phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and Akt activations were attenuated in RELMβ transgenic mice. Similar down-regulations of IRS-1 and IRS-2 proteins were observed in primary cultured hepatocytes chronically treated (for 24 h) with RELMβ, suggesting the insulin resistance-inducing effect of RELMβ to be direct. Furthermore, it was shown that RELMβ acutely and markedly activates ERK and p38, while weakly activating JNK, in primary cultured hepatocytes. This increased basal p38 phosphorylation level was also observed in the livers of RELMβ transgenic mice. In conclusion, RELMβ, a gut-derived hormone, impairs insulin signaling probably via the activations of classic MAPKs, and increased expression of RELMβ may be involved in the pathogenesis of glucose intolerance and hyperlipidemia in some insulin-resistant models. Thus, RELMβ is a potentially useful marker for assessing insulin resistance and may also be a target for future novel anti-diabetic agents.


Data skipping reduces I/O for SQL queries by skipping over irrelevant data objects (files) based on their metadata. We extend this notion by allowing developers to define their own data s kipping metadata types and indexes using a flexible A PI. Our framework i s t he first to natively support data skipping for arbitrary data types (e.g. geospatial, logs) and queries with User Defined Functions ( UDFs). We integrated our framework with Apache Spark and it is now deployed across multiple products/services at IBM. We present our extensible data skipping APIs, discuss index design, and implement various metadata indexes, requiring only around 30 lines of additional code per index. In particular we implement data skipping for a third party library with geospatial UDFs and demonstrate speedups of two orders of magnitude. Our centralized metadata approach provides a x3.6 speed up even when compared to queries which are rewritten to exploit Parquet min/max metadata. We demonstrate that extensible data skipping is applicable to broad class of applications, where user defined indexes achieve significant speedups and cost savings with very low development cost.


Endovascular treatments have become increasingly common for patients with a variety of thoracic aortic pathologies. Although considered less invasive than traditional open surgical approaches, they are nonetheless complex procedures. Patients undergo manipulation of an often calcified aorta near the origin of the carotid and subclavian vessels and have stents placed in a curved vessel adjacent to a perpetually beating heart. These stents can obstruct blood flow to the spinal cord, induce an inflammatory response, and in rare cases erode into the adjacent trachea or esophagus. Renal complications range from contrast-induced nephropathy to hypotension and ischemia to dissection. Emboli can lead to strokes and mesenteric ischemia. These patients have complex medical histories, and skilled perioperative management is critical to achieving the best clinical outcomes. Here, we review the medical management of the most common complications in these patients including stroke, spinal cord ischemia, renal injury, retrograde dissections, aortoesophageal and aortobronchial fistulas, postimplantation syndrome, mesenteric ischemia, and endograft failure.


Because they are based on large, content-addressable memories, load-store queues (LSQs) present implementation challenges in superscalar processors. In this paper, we propose an alternate LSQ organization that separates the time-critical forwarding functionality from the process of checking that loads received their correct values. Two main techniques are exploited: First, the store-forwarding logic is accessed only by those loads and stores that are likely to be involved in forwarding, and second, the checking structure is banked by address. The result of these techniques is that the LSQ can be implemented by a collection of small, low-bandwidth structures yielding an estimated three to five times reduction in LSQ dynamic power.


This research uses the National Survey of Families and Households to explore Black-White differences in kin contact and exchange among unmarried young adults. Many significant differences between Blacks and Whites are found in both the descriptive statistics and in regression models that control for education, employment, and area of residence. This article also investigates the role of premarital fertility in race differences for women. Unmarried Black men and women are more likely than Whites to be living with relatives, especially nonnuclear relatives. In addition, Black women contact mothers and siblings and socialize with relatives more often than White women. However, Blacks are less likely to exchange aid with any relative, although they are more likely to exchange aid with relatives other than their parents.


Generally, the constant change in demographic trends among the aged depict gradual increase in the size of the aged population globally. The aged population is often capitalised with degenerative conditions such as chronic illness which affect their ability to function effectively and often require special support. Despite the increase in the size of the aged population and their associated degenerative conditions, very few descriptive studies on the determinants of chronic illness among the aged has been researched especially in developing countries such as Ghana and there is no compelling evidence on the association of chronic illness and its determinants. Thus, this study seeks to analyse and predict the impact of age, gender, education, marital status, Quality of Life (QoL), social cohesion, settlement and depression on chronic illness among the aged population in Ghana. From the studies a Multinomial Logit Regression (MLR) was employed to analyse the data obtained from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) under, Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE), 2012. It was revealed that out of the 1384 sampled, 71% had no chronic illness whilst 22% and 7% had one and two or more chronic illness respectively. Again, it was observed that, Depression State, Gender, Marital Status and Settlement Type (rural or urban) play significant roles in determining the likelihood of the aged getting chronic illness while Physical Function, Social Cohesion, QoL, Age and Education Level were not statistically significant determinants of chronic illness. Our findings demonstrate that chronic illness among the aged is constantly increasing in Ghana especially in the urban communities and need to be addressed urgently through governmental policies and programs in the quest to help salvage the deteriorating conditions of the aged.


Abstract An understanding of thermal hydraulics, its basic phenomena, and its application to nuclear power plants is vital to safe as well as efficient design and operation. Thermal hydraulics for two-phase flow and heat transfer with nuclear applications has been studied for roughly 50 years, and the current body of knowledge is extensive. Yet, there remain safety issues, and the licensing of new light water reactor designs or new analysis methodologies is rarely simple. This is due to the state of the art in reactor thermal hydraulics as well as the perspective that the regulator, in this case the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), has toward that field of study. This paper discusses the state of the art in nuclear thermal hydraulics, the regulator's unique role and perspective, and a view of current challenges. The discussion is meant to point out how the regulator's perspective has been shaped and hopefully provide some guidance on fulfilling research needs for future applications that may need NRC review.


Physiochemical properties of an estrogen binding protein were characterized in three human melanoma cell lines, UISO-MEL-1, UISO-MEL-2, and UISO-MEL-4. Estrogen binding to melanoma cytosol was saturable, specific for estrogens, and represented by a single class of high-affinity, limited-capacity binding sites (Kd 5.5 x 10(-10) M, 2.7 +/- 0.5 fmol/mg of cytosol protein, UISO-MEL-2; 2.2 x 10(-10) M, 7.8 +/- 3.3, UISO-MEL-4) (SEM). UISO-MEL-1 cytosols did not bind estradiol. The binding protein in UISO-MEL-2 and -4 sedimented at 8.5S and 9.2S, respectively, in the presence of 10 mM sodium molybdate. Solid-phase radioimmunoassay with a monoclonal antibody specific for human estrogen receptor (H222 sp lambda) showed good correlation (r = 0.84) with a hydroxyapatite biochemical assay of identical melanoma cytosols. Exposure of UISO-MEL-2 to estradiol produced a time- and temperature-dependent increase in total nuclear receptor for estrogen in vitro. Estradiol treatment of athymic mice also significantly increased cytosol progesterone receptor content in UISO-MEL-2 and UISO-MEL-4 xenografts. Estradiol had no effect on the plating efficiency or growth of any melanoma cell line or normal melanocytes in vitro. Tamoxifen also had no effect on melanoma growth in vitro. In contrast, chronic exposure of athymic mice carrying estrogen receptor-positive UISO-MEL-2 to estradiol resulted in a sex-dependent increase in tumor latency and overall inhibition of tumor growth. Taken together, these observations suggest that a subset of human melanomas contains limited amounts of an estrogen binding protein similar to that observed in other estrogen-responsive tissues. The lack of effect of estradiol on melanocyte and melanoma growth in vitro, coupled with a decrease in tumor growth in athymic mice, suggests that, while inhibition may be receptor mediated, possible indirect actions of estradiol must also be considered.


We previously reported that soy β-conglycinin (βCG) improves obesity-induced metabolic abnormalities, but not obesity, in obese model Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima fatty (OLETF) rats. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effects of βCG-derived peptide consumption on obesity and lipid abnormality in OLETF rats. To this end, wild-type Long-Evans Tokushima Otsuka and OLETF rats were provided a normal diet containing 20% casein for four weeks as a control. In addition, we prepared βCG peptide by enzymatic hydrolysis, and OLETF rats were fed a diet in which half of the casein was replaced by βCG peptide (βCG peptide group). Consequently, rats in the βCG peptide group showed decreased abdominal white adipose tissue weight and lipid content (serum and liver triglycerides, and serum and liver cholesterol) compared to control OLETF rats. Further analysis demonstrated that βCG peptide consumption decreased lipogenic enzyme activity and increased lipolytic enzyme activity in the liver of OLETF rats. In addition, suppressive effects on both synthesis and absorption of cholesterol were observed in βCG peptide-fed OLETF rats. These findings suggest that peptidization of βCG enhanced the anti-obese and hypolipidemic effects of βCG.


The interaction of a shock wave with a free surface which has geometrical defects, such as cavities or grooves, may lead to the ejection of micrometric debris at velocities of km/s. This process can be involved in many applications, like pyrotechnics or industrial safety. Recent laser shock experiments reported elsewhere in this conference have provided some insight into jet formation as well as jet tip velocities for various groove angles and shock pressures. Here, we present hydrodynamic simulations of these experiments, in both 2D and 3D geometries, using both finite element method and smoothed particle hydrodynamics. Numerical results are compared to several theoretical predictions including the Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities. The role of the elastic-plastic behavior on jet formation is illustrated. Finally, the possibility to simulate the late stage of jet expansion and fragmentation is explored, to evaluate the mass distribution of the ejecta and their ballistic properties, still essentially unknow...


Based on a transillumination study of a native speaker of German, various hypotheses were evaluated that can explain previous findings for English and German that place-dependent aspiration in /p, t, k/ is closely associated with the interval between stop release and peak glottal opening. It was found that the primary means by which long aspiration and late peak glottal opening relative to release are achieved is by shortening closure duration. The same question was addressed with respect to increased aspiration duration that is due to the presence and identity of a following sonorant consonant. Closure duration again turned out to be of primary importance, though this time the overall situation was less systematic, partially due to an uncertainty about the glottal patterns associated with the realization of German /r/ as an uvular fricative.


The control protocol used for constructing Point-to-Multipoint and
Multipoint-to-Multipoint Label Switched Paths ("MP LSPs") contains a
field that identifies the address of a "root node". Intermediate nodes
are expected to be able to look up that address in their routing
tables. However, if the route to the root node is a BGP route, and the
intermediate nodes are part of a BGP-free core, this is not possible.
This document specifies procedures which enable a MP LSP to be
constructed through a BGP-free core. In these procedures, the root
node address is temporarily replaced by an address which is known to
the intermediate nodes.


IntroductionThe Tasmanian Data Linkage Unit (TDLU) undertook a complex data linkage project in 2019 linking public and private pathology data to five disparate health datasets. Having linked pathology data previously, the unit was aware of the challenges it faced linking a large dataset covering a fourteen-year time span. The aim of this study was to use data-linkage to develop a Tasmanian dataset to quantify the burden and distribution of chronic kidney disease, including identifying barriers to dialysis treatment services.
Objectives and ApproachA cohort was selected from public and private providers of pathology services in Tasmania from 2004-2017 to support the establishment of a comprehensive researchable dataset. A linkage plan was developed that included detailed processes for cleaning and de-duplicating the pathology data prior to linkage. The larger private pathology dataset comprised 3.9 million records and data cleaning strategies were implemented. De-duplication created extensive clerical review and methods to reduce this work were devised and implemented as part of the linkage process.
ResultsDe-duplication based on exact matches reduced the size of the dataset from 3.9 million to just over 520,000 individuals. Internal linkage of the dataset resulted in approximately 47,000 'groups' eligible for review. Structured Query Language (SQL) queries were constructed and the number of groups eligible for review decreased by 42%. Further analysis was conducted, which resulted in an appropriate 'cut off' threshold being determined for clerical review and an estimate of false positive links remaining was calculated.
Conclusion / ImplicationsMethods of reducing the amount of manual clerical review can be incorporated into a linkage design when there is a thorough understanding of the characteristics and content of the dataset to be linked. The methods used for this linkage project will be utilised for future projects using pathology data.


We compared outcome and complications of three simple varicocelectomy techniques. Groups were divided according to whether they would receive the Ivanissevich technique (n = 55), Tauber's technique (n = 51) or subinguinal sclerotherapy (n = 49). Selection criteria were: infertility >1 year, subnormal semen, sonographic diameter of veins >3 mm and time of regurge >2 s. Patients were randomly assigned to the groups of treatment, with follow-up every 3 months for 1 year. Improvement was only in sperm count and total motility for all groups. Pregnancy rates were 20, 13.73 and 12.24%, respectively, with no significant difference between groups. Hydrocele occurred only in the group which received the Ivanissevich technique (5.5%). Tauber's technique is simple; however, it has the disadvantage of multiple branching of small veins.


We analyse a novel squeezing and entangling mechanism which is due to correlated Stokes and anti-Stokes photon forward scattering in a multi-level atom vapour. We develop a full quantum model for an alkali atomic vapour including quantized collective atomic states which predicts high degree of squeezing for attainable experimental conditions. Following the proposal we present an experimental demonstration of 3.5 dB pulsed frequency nondegenerate squeezed (quadrature entangled) state of light using room temperature caesium vapour. The source is very robust and requires only a few milliwatts of laser power. The squeezed state is generated in the same spatial mode as the local oscillator and in a single temporal mode. The two entangled modes are separated by twice the Zeeman frequency of the vapour which can be widely tuned. The narrow-band squeezed light generated near an atomic resonance can be directly used for atom-based quantum information protocols. Its single temporal mode characteristics make it a promising resource for quantum information processing.


Objectives: To assess the impact of clinical pharmacist counselling and education on Quality of Life (QoL) of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Methodology: A prospective interventional study was conducted for a period of 8 months. The ACS patients were categorized into intervention and control groups by randomization process. The intervention group was given patient counselling and patient information leaflets along with the usual care while the control group received only the usual care. The patient counselling, education and leaflets were provided only at the end of the study to the control group. The QoL of patients was assessed by WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire at baseline, third month and sixth month of the study. The change in QoL scores between the two groups over a period was analysed by Repeated Measures of ANOVA with p value less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: A total number of 130 patients (65 patients in the intervention group and 65 in the control group) were enrolled in the study. The mean age for the intervention group was 60.23 ± 10.07 years and for control group was 57.85± 10.67 years. There is no significant difference in the QoL scores of Physical, Psychological, Social Relationships and Environment domains between the two groups with p value more than 0.05. Conclusion: There was no statistically significant change in QoL scores of the ACS patients. However, there is an improvement in the QoL scores of the intervention group to that of the control group.


Electrospinning represents an attractive approach for polymer processing. In the present study, gelatin and poly (propylene carbonate)(PPC) were electrospun successfully and collected on a rotating mandrel to form tubulose scaffolds. Furthermore, to mimic the real structure of animal blood vessels, the polymers were employed in a single tube as distinct layers by the technique of alternate electrospinning. Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) was used to analyze the morphology and diameter of the fibers, and the porosity of the scaffold. The tubes were seeded with rat bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and cultured for 2 weeks to evaluate their biocompatibility. The growth and distribution of the cells were observed directly under the fluorescent microscope. The interaction between cells and scaffold was analyzed by SEM and H&E staining. After two weeks culture, the fibers were almost embedded by growing BMSCs. H&E staining and green fluorescent image showed that BMSCs uniformly grew inside the scaffolds. The results showed that electrospun tubes with uniform pores and fibers of smaller diameter were appropriate for BMSCs attachment and proliferation. These primary data indicated that scaffolds fabricated by ectrospinning are structurally biocompatible. The PPC scaffolds may be useful in vascular tissue engineering if they were further modified chemically or with appropriate therapeutic molecules.


The purpose of this study was to compare the ultraportable mechanically powered Smart Negative Pressure (SNaP®) Wound Care System to the traditional electrically powered Vacuum‐Assisted Closure (VAC®) Therapy System in the treatment of chronic lower extremity wounds. This 12‐center randomized‐controlled trial of patients with noninfected, nonischemic, nonplantar lower extremity wounds had enrolled 65 patients, as of January 5, 2010, at the time of a planned interim analysis. Subjects were randomly assigned to treatment with either the SNaP® or VAC® Systems. The trial evaluated treatment for up to 16 weeks or till complete closure was achieved. Fifty‐three patients (N=27 SNaP®, N=26 VAC®) completed at least 4 weeks of therapy. Thirty‐three patients (N=18 SNaP®, N=15 VAC®) completed the study with either healing or 16 weeks of therapy. At the time of planned interim analysis, no significant differences (p=0.99) in the proportion of subjects healed between the two devices evaluated were found. In addition, the percent wound size reduction between treatment groups was not significantly different at 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks, with noninferiority analysis at 4 weeks of treatment reaching the p‐value <0.05 significance level (*p=0.019). These interim data suggest no difference in wound closure between the SNaP® System and the VAC® System in the population studied. We look forward to the final analysis results.


Abstract Objective Chemotherapy-related adverse events (AEs) can negatively impact the care of patients. The prevention and management of AEs often require additional medications. This study evaluated the percentages of patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC) undergoing second-line therapy with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-based regimens that experienced AEs during treatment and received medication to manage those AEs. Methods We conducted a retrospective observational analysis utilizing the Flatiron Health database of adult patients with mPDAC who started second-line therapy between January 2016 and August 2020. The occurrence of diarrhea, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, neuropathy, and hematologic AEs including G3/G4 anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia was assessed. The use of concomitant medications including atropine and granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) was assessed. Results Of the 825 eligible patients, 29.0% (n = 239) received FOLFIRINOX, 24.0% (n = 198) received FOLFOX, 6.8% (n = 56) received FOLFIRI, and 40.2% (n = 332) received liposomal irinotecan-based regimens. FOLFIRI and FOLFIRINOX regimens were associated with the highest rates of anemia (16.1% and 15.5%), neutropenia (19.6% and 22.6%), and thrombocytopenia (14.3% and 9.6%). The liposomal irinotecan and FOLFOX regimens were associated with lower rates of anemia (11.8% and 12.1%), neutropenia (12.4% and 14.7%), and thrombocytopenia (2.4% and 8.1%). G-CSF use was observed among 63.6%, 34.9%, 33.9%, and 44.9% of patients treated with FOLFIRINOX, FOLFOX, FOLFIRI, and liposomal irinotecan-based regimens, respectively. Diarrhea was observed among 12.5%, 4.5%, 12.5%, and 10.2% of patients who were treated with FOLFIRINOX, FOLFOX, FOLFIRI, and liposomal irinotecan-based regimens, respectively. Nausea and vomiting occurred in 14.9%, 12.6%, 10.5%, and 13.1% of patients treated with FOLFIRINOX, FOLFOX, FOLFIRI, and liposomal irinotecan-based regimens, respectively. Atropine use was higher in patients treated with FOLFIRINOX and FOLFIRI (90.8% and 94.6%, respectively) than in patients treated with liposomal irinotecan-based regimens (75.6%). Conclusions In patients with mPDAC who received second-line therapy, those who received liposomal irinotecan-based regimens had the lowest rates of anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia compared to FOLFIRI, FOLFIRINOX, and FOLFOX, while requiring a similar or lower level of medication to treat and manage those adverse events. Patients treated with FOLFIRI received the highest dose of pegfilgrastim to manage neutropenia. The results of this real-world analysis are consistent with prior evaluations of patients with mPDAC and highlight the importance of managing adverse events and associated cost implications.


The confusion matrix, a ubiquitous visualization for helping people evaluate machine learning models, is a tabular layout that compares predicted class labels against actual class labels over all data instances. We conduct formative research with machine learning practitioners at Apple and find that conventional confusion matrices do not support more complex data-structures found in modern-day applications, such as hierarchical and multi-output labels. To express such variations of confusion matrices, we design an algebra that models confusion matrices as probability distributions. Based on this algebra, we develop Neo, a visual analytics system that enables practitioners to flexibly author and interact with hierarchical and multi-output confusion matrices, visualize derived metrics, renormalize confusions, and share matrix specifications. Finally, we demonstrate Neo's utility with three model evaluation scenarios that help people better understand model performance and reveal hidden confusions.


OBJECTIVE
Studying the changes of pulmonary diffusing capacity (DL), alveolar capillary membrane diffusing capacity (Dm) and pulmonary capillary blood volume (Vc) in patients with COPD and connective tissue disease (CTD) at rest and post-exercise; evaluating the diagnostic values of DL, Dm and Vc in early stage of pulmonary involvement of CTD.

METHOD
Spirometry was performed in the sit position. Several measurements of diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO) were measured by single-breath method at increasing alveolar oxygen tension. The estimations of Dm and Vc were done by the method of Roughton and Forster.

RESULT
(1) In COPD group, the values of DL were lower than that of the control group at rest. The decreases were due to the reduction of Dm, but Vc were normal. In CTD group, all the value of DL, Dm and Vc were lower than that of its control group at rest. (2) COPD patients had the higher DL, Dm and Vc after the end of exercise than that of at rest. But the changes of DL Dm and Vc in COPD patients were lower compared with the control group. In contrast to the control group, DL, Dm and Vc did not increase or even decreased after the end of exercise in CTD group. (3) There was no significant differences of DL, Dm and Vc between the 7 CTD patients with normal pulmonary volume and DLCO and the control subjects at rest. But after the end of exercise, DL, Dm and Vc of CTD patients kept unchanging or even decreasing. The difference between CTD patients and its control group was found significant.

CONCLUSION
The measurements of post-exercise Dm and Vc are sensitive tests for pulmonary involvement in of CTD patients. The results are abmormal much earlier in subject with minimal dyspnea and roentgenologic change. They are useful tests for early stage CTD.