Multiple object tracking (MOT) is a significant task in achieving autonomous driving. Traditional works attempt to complete this task, either based on point clouds (PC) collected by LiDAR, or based on images captured from cameras. However, relying on one single sensor is not robust enough, because it might fail during the tracking process. On the other hand, feature fusion from multiple modalities contributes to the improvement of accuracy. As a result, new techniques based on different sensors integrating features from multiple modalities are being developed. Texture information from RGB cameras and 3D structure information from Lidar have respective advantages under different circumstances. However, it's not easy to achieve effective feature fusion because of completely distinct information modalities. Previous fusion methods usually fuse the top-level features after the backbones extract the features from different modalities. In this paper, we first introduce PointNet++ to obtain multi-scale deep representations of point cloud to make it adaptive to our proposed Interactive Feature Fusion between multi-scale features of images and point clouds. Specifically, through multi-scale interactive query and fusion between pixel-level and point-level features, our method, can obtain more distinguishing features to improve the performance of multiple object tracking. Besides, we explore the effectiveness of pre-training on each single modality and fine-tuning on the fusion-based model. The experimental results demonstrate that our method can achieve good performance on the KITTI benchmark and outperform other approaches without using multi-scale feature fusion. Moreover, the ablation studies indicates the effectiveness of multi-scale feature fusion and pre-training on single modality.


The author presents a review of "In the Shadow of Regulation: Informality in the Russian Labor Market" edited by V. Gimpelson and R. Kapeliushnikov (HSE Publishing House, 2014). This book is designed as a collection of texts devoted to various aspects of informal employment in the Russian labor market. The book review attempts to explore whether informal employment can be treated as a result of imperfections in the formal employment system or a special sector that helps to overcome those shortcomings. To answer this question, the author turns to basic definitions in order to understand who can be described as "informally employed". Different approaches to defining informality are given. Then, based on empirical results, it's demonstrated that the position of "informally employed" nan be better as well as worse, compared to "formal employment". The lack of social guarantees can be considered the most evident shortcoming of being informally employed, while saving money due to the absence of taxation can be seen as a key advantage. There are though countries with both higher and lower incomes among the informally employed in world markets. Turning to Russian realities one should pay attention to the heterogeneity of informal employment: in general, informally employed workers have lower incomes, but some groups, such as freelancers, earn more money. The self-estimation of informally employed people does not prove the idea of informal employment as a problem to the employed themselves as they do not assess their status as lower than being formally employed. Taking into account the variety of aspects of informality, it's hard to assess it either positively or negatively, but it's rather evident that the struggle against informality itself would be erroneous while the best way to reduce the informal sector is to correct the formal sector to make it more attractive.


Development of high volumetric capacitance, high rate performance and low-cost electrode materials for supercapacitors is still a significant challenge. Among the various promising candidates, carbon nanofibers (CNFs) with heteroatom functionalization have attracted increasing attention. Herein, a type of nonporous CNFs combined with a heteroatom functionalization strategy is proposed for high performance supercapacitor electrodes. Tri-heteroatom functionalization of nonporous carbon nanofibers was carried out by tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and phosphorus (H3PO4) activation of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) through electrospinning and subsequent thermal treatment. The optimal electrode material showed a high gravimetric capacitance of 243.7 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1, superior rate capability with ∼83% retention at rates ranging from 0.5 A g−1 to 30 A g−1 and excellent cycle stability (capacitance retention rate >100% after 8000 cycles at a high current density of 30 A g−1). It is worth noting that the nonporous CNF also possesses a high packing density, which presents a maximum volumetric capacitance of 253.4 F cm−3 at 0.5 A g−1 and 209 F cm−3 at 30 A g−1. The current synthetic strategy of preparing nonporous carbon architectures with multi-heteroatom doping offers an eco-friendly, feasible, and cost-effective way for constructing high-performance electrode materials employed in supercapacitors.


The purpose of this section is to study the problems with implementing technical and legal regulations for the development of public administration functions in the Russian Federation when using the internet of things (IoT). The introduction is based on an analysis of regulatory legal acts and presents the main strategic directions for the development of public administration functions in the Russian federation when using IoT. State reports, scientific literature, a system of technical and legal regulation are analyzed, and the main problems of implementing the IoT that impede the achievement of effective public administration are studied. The Russian practice of using IoT in various economic areas is investigated. Based on an analysis of the mechanisms for ensuring data safety of information technology users in the Russian federation, problems were investigated, such as the collecting data through IoT, including publicly available personal data in order to profile human activities, and creating of a digital twin of a person. The social constraints for introducing distributed registry technologies are users' distrust in the field of data privacy protection and mathematical algorithms that are used to establish trust in a digital environment instead of trusted centralized intermediaries; these problems were also analyzed. The Russian approach was analyzed in comparison to European experience in this field. To ensure information security and the possibility of its distribution, the IoT is revealed.


The research is conducted based on the nationwide goals of Indonesia proposed in the Nawacita document, where one of the big goals is to improve the human resource greatly. Providing a good medium such as a job marketplace can be part of improving the human resource. Since most of Indonesian citizen nowadays has easy access to internet, which can ease their way of using a job marketplace application. Creating a job marketplace application may minimize a number of unemployment in Indonesia. Addition to that, through a focus group discussion, it has been discovered that respondents find job marketplace such as JobStreet and Indeed jobs does not satisfy respondents' UI and UX view towards the application. The objective of this research is to create a job marketplace mobile application that is useful and easy to use for users. The prototype mobile application is developed using react native, and a middleware that is developed using Express JS is made alongside to bridge data to the mobile application. To assess the prototype mobile application, two evaluation method is used which is User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) and Questionnaire User Interface Satisfaction (QUIS). 6 respondents were allowed to examine prototype application, and answer the questionnaire. The result of the evaluation both shows positive results from both questionnaires.


: A method for reconstruction of temporomandibular joint is proposed using an intermediary prosthesis and non-sealed cupula. This prosthesis respects the cranial articular slope and provides twofold mobility at the cupular level, which approaches physiological conditions and allows reproduction of buccal opening and closing movements as well as lateralization. A strict surgical procedure is essential when inserting the prosthesis, particular care being necessary in the approach to the facial nerve and control of its temporofacial contingent until above the zygomatic arch. Indications for this procedure are discussed in relation to injuries and tumoral, degenerative and malformatory lesions.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
There is abundant evidence that leaf mechanical traits deter feeding by insect herbivores, but little is known about which particular traits contribute to defence across feeding guilds. We investigated the contribution of multiple mechanical traits from shear, punch and tear tests to herbivore deterrence across feeding guilds.

METHODS
Visible damage from miners and external chewers was measured and sucker feeding density estimated in mature leaves of 20 species of forest shrubs and small trees. Cafeteria trials were undertaken using a generalist chewer (larvae of Epiphyas postvittana, Lepidoptera). Damage was compared with leaf mechanical traits and associated nutrient and chemical defence traits.

KEY RESULTS
Damage by external chewers in the field and by E. postvittana correlated negatively with mechanical traits. Hierarchical partitioning analysis indicated that the strongest independent contribution to chewing damage was by the material trait of specific work to shear, with 68 % of total variance explained by the combination of specific work to shear (alone explaining 54 %) and tannin activity in a regression model. Mining damage did not correlate with mechanical traits, probably because miners can avoid tissues that generate high strength and toughness in mature leaves. Mechanical traits correlated more strongly with chewing damage in the field than chemical defences (total phenolics and tannin activity) and nutrients (nitrogen and water), but nutrients correlated strongly with diet selection in the cafeteria trial. Surprisingly, sucker feeding density correlated positively with mechanical traits and negatively with nutrients.

CONCLUSIONS
Mechanical traits of mature leaves influenced insect feeding guilds differentially, reflecting differences in life history and feeding modes. For external chewers, energy (work) to fracture in shearing tests, at both structural and material levels, was strongly predictive of damage. Knowing which leaf mechanical traits influence insect feeding, and in which guilds, is important to our wider understanding of plant-herbivore interactions.


The size and orientation of the calcium carbonate crystals influence the structure and 2 strength of the chickens eggshell. In this study estimates of heritability for crystal size 3 were found to be high (0.6) and moderate for crystal orientation (0.3). There was a 4 strong positive correlation for crystal size and orientation with the thickness of the 5 shell, and in particular the thickness of the mammillary layer (0.65). Correlations with 6 shell breaking strength was positive but with a high error. This was contrary to 7 expectation as in man made materials smaller crystals would be stronger. We believe 8 the results of this study support the hypothesis that the structural organisation of shell, 9 and in particular the mammillary layer, is influenced by crystal size and orientation 10 especially during the initial phase of calcification. Genetic associations for crystal measurements were observed between haplotype blocks or individual markers for a number of eggshell matrix proteins. Ovalbumin , 13 and ovotransferrin (LTF) markers for example were associated with crystal size while ovocleidin-116 and ovocalyxin 32 (RARRES1) markers were associated with crystal 15 orientation. The location of these proteins in the eggshell is consistent with different 16 phases of the shell formation process. shells thickness profile. and/or associated markers in to improve


Despite power line communication is considered a cost-effective solution to communicate electronic devices across the power system, the performance of this technology is highly affected by physical channel factors such as the presence of noise and signal attenuation. Such phenomena are mainly determined by the characteristics of the electrical infrastructure as well as by the network topology. This study presents an analytical approach to systematically compute the signal attenuation between any pair of nodes in real electric power distribution network topologies based on transmission-line theory and graph theory. The proposed methodology has been applied to obtain the attenuation matrix of two representative networks for low and medium voltage. In addition, the results have been used to analyse the communication performance of these networks, where the low voltage network shows better results due to the reduced number of nodes and network length. The conclusions of this study motivate the application of this methodology to power line communication networks planning.


We study probabilistic safety for Bayesian Neural Networks (BNNs) under adversarial input perturbations. Given a compact set of input points, $T \subseteq \mathbb{R}^m$, we study the probability w.r.t. the BNN posterior that all the points in $T$ are mapped to the same region $S$ in the output space. In particular, this can be used to evaluate the probability that a network sampled from the BNN is vulnerable to adversarial attacks. We rely on relaxation techniques from non-convex optimization to develop a method for computing a lower bound on probabilistic safety for BNNs, deriving explicit procedures for the case of interval and linear function propagation techniques. We apply our methods to BNNs trained on a regression task, airborne collision avoidance, and MNIST, empirically showing that our approach allows one to certify probabilistic safety of BNNs with millions of parameters.


How should digital platforms engage with and invest in their online communities to shape innovation and knowledge contributions from members in their platform ecosystems? This is an important question because user contributions are important drivers of technological progress and business value. We examine the effect of platform sponsors' investments in online communities on user knowledge contributions, using fine-grained longitudinal data from a leading enterprise software vendor's community network. We focus on the sponsor practice of knowledge seeding, in which its employees provide free technical support by answering questions posted in discussion forums. We define user knowledge contribution as peer-evaluated, quality-weighted solutions that community members provide to help resolve the questions their peers raise. We show that the platform sponsor's investments in knowledge seeding have a positive, significant association with user knowledge contribution. We also find temporal and geographical variations in returns on the sponsor's knowledge investments. Specifically, returns (i.e., amount of user contribution that is stimulated) decrease with the age of the community, consistent with the observation that the most active contributors are lead users who tend to join the community early. In addition, returns vary across different countries, such that greater returns are realized when the investment is made in countries with higher levels of information technology (IT) infrastructure, partly because country-level IT infrastructure may be associated with greater absorptive capacity of these countries. We discuss the implications for research and practice.


Presidential signing statements are creeping into judicial opinions with increasing frequency, leading to a resurgence of interest in the issue and several attempts, by Congress and others, to limit the use of signing statements or to challenge their constitutionality. This Note contends that the paramount separation of powers concern raised by signing statements is the conference of legislative power in the hands of the President through judicial consideration of signing statements in interpreting statutes. By analogizing signing statements to agency interpretations, this Note proposes the use of the Chevron framework as an analytical tool to guide courts in evaluating signing statements. Such use of the Chevron framework is consistent with the doctrine's underlying rationales and works to minimize subjectivity in judicial analysis through Chevron's requirements of statutory ambiguity and interpretive reason.


This paper presents a method for making nonaudible murmur (NAM) enhancement based on statistical voice conversion (VC) robust against external noise. NAM, which is an extremely soft whispered voice, is a promising medium for silent speech communication thanks to its faint volume. Although such a soft voice can still be detected with a special body-conductive microphone, its quality significantly degrades compared to that of air-conductive voices. It has been shown that the statistical VC technique is capable of significantly improving quality of NAM by converting it into the air-conductive voices. However, this technique is not helpful under noisy conditions because a detected NAM signal easily suffers from external noise, and acoustic mismatches are caused between such a noisy NAM signal and a previously trained conversion model. To address this issue, in this paper we apply our proposed noise suppression method based on external noise monitoring to the statistical NAM enhancement. Moreover, a known noise superimposition method is further applied in order to alleviate the effects of residual noise components on the conversion accuracy. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method yields significant improvements in the conversion accuracy compared to the conventional method.


A survey conducted in the fall of 2015 at American University in Washington, DC shows that rising textbook prices similarly affect students at an expensive private university as those at community colleges and state schools. Research on high textbook costs that has demonstrated corollary unwanted behavior changes in students, including not purchasing the book, resorting to illegal online downloads, and poor study habits, were confirmed at American University as well. Solutions that have been proposed to this problem of prohibitive textbook prices, including Open Educational Resources (OER), could have an equally profound impact at American University, and potentially similar private universities, as has been demonstrated at less selective and more affordable counterparts.


Timed automata are a convenient framework for modelling and reasoning about real-time systems. While these models are now well-understood, they do not offer a convenient way of taking timing imprecisions into account. Several solutions (e.g. parametric guard enlargement) have been proposed over the last ten years to take such imprecisions into account. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for handling robust reachability, based on permissive strategies. While classical strategies propose to play an action at an exact point in time, permissive strategies consider intervals of possible dates when to play the selected action. In other words, the controller specifies an interval of time delays for actions to be executed in a more flexible way. With such a permissive strategy, we associate a penalty, which is the inverse of the length of the proposed interval, and accumulates along the run. We show that in that setting, optimal strategies can be computed in polynomial time for one-clock timed automata.


The objective  of this study was to describe housewives motivation to work as tea gathers, and analyze their income  contJibution,  and measure a correlation  of housewives  income  with  family  income.  The first  and second objectives were analysed using descriptive analysis while the last objective used chi-squares analysis. The study  conducted  in Air Sempiang,  Kepahiang distJict, Bengkulu Province.  This research concluded that an economic reason such as increasing  family income, having personaf income,  fulfilling household needs were  the main reason   motivating  housewifes  to work.  While social motivation,  namely as employing  their waste time, making a friend and culture motivation  is another reason. Housewife has ontJibuted 24,85 % of total family income.   The research also found that there was a strong correlation between housewife income and her total family income. Key words:  income contribution,  housewives


This thesis investigates the phonological ability of exceptional second language (L2) learners of English and their levels of motivation. This study is the first of its kind to do a large-scale examination of L2 learners whose first languages (L1s) do not belong to the same Indo-European language family as English. Fifteen non-native speakers (NNSs) of English filled out a questionnaire and produced four speech samples, including a picture description task, paragraph reading task, sentence reading and word reading task. Fifteen native speaker (NS) controls also produced the same speech samples. Four NSs judged all participants' accents. Six NNSs scored as highly as NSs on some of the speech segments using a 2-standard deviation (SD) cut-off point. There was no significant correlation between their scores on pronunciation and motivation.


Introduction
Sarcoidosis and tuberculous lymphadenitis are granulomatous inflammatory diseases. Differentiating lymph node involvement in these two diseases can be challenging. This study evaluated whether elemental analysis of tissue samples could facilitate the differentiation of these histopathologically and clinically similar diseases.

Materials and Methods
A total of 152 tissue samples were included: 57 caseating granulomatous inflammation, 58 non-caseating granulomatous inflammation, and 37 reactive lymph node specimens. The tissue samples were analyzed for calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc, chrome, molybdenum, nickel and selenium with inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES).

Result
Comparison of element levels in the three groups revealed that caseating granulomatous inflammation had higher calcium content (662.6 ± 4.6 ppm, p< 0.001) and lower iron content (48.7 ± 83 ppm, p< 0.001) compared to non-caseating granulomatous inflammation. Compared to reactive lymph tissue, caseating granulomatous inflammation had higher calcium and lower iron and magnesium content while non-caseating granulomatous inflammation had higher levels of iron and lower magnesium; however, these differences were not statistically significant. In caseating granulomatous inflammation, a calcium cut-off value of 207 ppm yielded 85% specificity and 63% sensitivity. For iron, a cut-off value of 51 ppm had 74% specificity and 58% sensitivity.

Conclusions
High calcium and low iron levels in lymph tissue may be suggestive of caseating granulomatous inflammation and tuberculosis. In cases where differentiating between sarcoidosis and tuberculous lymphadenitis is difficult, performing tissue elemental analysis may provide additional supportive evidence for differential diagnosis.


In the Associação Sindical dos Juízes Portugueses judgment the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) deemed that on the basis of Article 19(1) TEU it is competent to evaluate the guarantee of independence of judges if only they sit in a national court that may apply and interpret EU law. In light of this ruling, the European Commission in the infringement proceedings against Poland does not have to restrict itself to the slightly modified "Hungarian scenario" (hitherto preferred by it). It may instead once again analyse the scope of charges with regard to the Common Courts System Act (the CCS Act), and may even lodge a new complaint concerning i.a. the Act on the Supreme Court.


BACKGROUND
Cattle are commonly fed soybean meal (SBM) and accidental intoxication sometimes occurs.

OBJECTIVES
To describe the biologic and clinical features of SBM intoxication.

ANIMALS
Four steers with ruminal cannula.

METHODS
Controlled experimental trial. SBM was administered once at 1 and 2% of body weight (BW) via cannula at 2-month intervals.

RESULTS
This study showed a 2-phase pathogenic course for 2% BW SBM intoxication. The 1st phase (until 10 hours post-administration) is restricted to ruminal modification with volatile fatty acid overproduction and moderate ruminal ammonia concentration. In the 2nd phase (12-22 hours post-administration), ruminal pH returned to initial values and marked ammonia accumulation occurred in blood, inducing severe metabolic alkalosis with hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and delayed aciduria (30-40 hours post-administration). Among the clinical signs, nervous signs were only observed during the period with increased plasma ammonia concentration. At 1% BW, ruminal and blood modifications were less pronounced than at 2% BW, and clinical signs were not observed.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Ammonia accumulation in blood during the second phase is the consequence of continued ammonia production, decreased carbohydrate fermentation, and overwhelming of hepatic detoxifying capacity. Because ammonia accumulation is associated with the clinical signs, treatment of SBM intoxication could be similar to treatment of urea intoxication, including rumenotomy, oral administration of cold water and vinegar, and measurement of ruminal pH.


The gene, Aquifex aeolicus AAC07157.1, encoding a multicopper oxidase (McoA) and localized in the genome as part of a putative copper‐resistance determinant, has been cloned, over‐expressed in Escherichia coli and the recombinant enzyme purified to homogeneity. The purified enzyme shows spectroscopic and biochemical characteristics typical of the well‐characterized multicopper oxidase family of enzymes. McoA presents higher specificity (kcat/Km) for cuprous and ferrous ions than for aromatic substrates and is therefore designated as a metallo‐oxidase. Addition of copper is required for maximal catalytic efficiency. A comparative model structure of McoA has been constructed and a striking structural feature is the presence of a methionine‐rich region (residues 321–363), reminiscent of those found in copper homeostasis proteins. The kinetic properties of a mutant enzyme, McoAΔP321‐V363, deleted in the methionine‐rich region, provide evidence for the key role of this region in the modulation of the catalytic mechanism. McoA has an optimal temperature of 75 °C and presents remarkable heat stability at 80 and 90 °C, with activity lasting for up to 9 and 5 h, respectively. McoA probably contributes to copper and iron homeostasis in A. aeolicus.


A creditor can establish a security right by pledging his claim. The right of pledge is considered an absolute right under current Dutch law, i.e. a right that can be invoked against anyone. A claim, on the other hand, is a relative right that can only be exercised against one or more specific persons. Considering this, is it possible that the pledgee's right in case a claim has been pledged is of an absolute nature? In order to provide a starting point for answering this question, A.J.H. Smit researches the Roman law pignus nominis, i.e. the pledge of a claim under Roman law. The praetor awarded the pledgee an actio utilis to collect the pledged claim, that is, an action analogous to an existing action. What kind of action was this? Was it a personal or a real action? Following the example of which action did the praetor formulate this action? You will find the answer to these questions and to many others in this thesis.


Have contemporary writers anything to say about their times and, if so, have they the nerve to say it? This article argues that there is much failure of vision and failure of nerve on the part of today's writers. Because they lack the clarity and courage to come to terms with the times, they succumb to its deceptions and seductions. Its thesis is is that the power and value of writing is in the scope and depth of its engagement with the zeitgeist; in how perceptively a writer captures the spirit of the age, expresses the temper of the times; in how much of what is there in the air, throbbing in the collective psyche, pulsing in the ever shifting social order, a writer gathers up and expresses in accurate and resonant images, in provocative and paradigmatic stories. This is pursued in reflection on attitudes expressed at two international writers conferences and in polemic against the prevailing views expressed.


To reduce the charge injection barrier, we attempt to synthesize thin-shell CdSe/ZnxCd1−xS core/shell quantum dots (QDs) in this work. A low-temperature (90–115 °C) synthetic scheme was developed for highly luminescent CdSe/ZnxCd1−xS core/shell QDs by employing short-chain tert-dodecanethiol as the ligand and low-boiling xylene or octane as the solvent. Thiol-capped CdSe/2ZnxCd1−xS core/shell QDs with two monolayers of the shells were directly synthesized in open air, including CdSe/2ZnS, CdSe/2Zn2/3Cd1/3S, CdSe/2Zn1/2Cd1/2S, CdSe/2Zn1/3Cd2/3S, CdSe/2CdS, and CdSe/1CdS/1ZnS core/shell QDs. These short-chain ligand capped and thin-shell QDs were used as the emitting layers to fabricate quantum dot light emitting diodes (QD-LEDs). The results showed that QDs coated with an alloyed Zn0.5Cd0.5S shell possess the optimal photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) properties as well as a maximum current efficiency of 12.5 cd A−1.


Cyberloafing is the biggest time waster in organization, 69 percent of respondents admitted waste time on non-work related activities each day. This number might be higher in China for a larger population of cyber citizens. Previous Studies have investigated the antecedents from various perspectives, such as organization justice, deterrence and work stressor. No one addressed cyberloafing from the perspective of guanxi, even though the strength of guanxi directly determines the appropriate behavior of employees, and employees are grounded by such behavioral norms. To fill this gap, we proposed a research model from the perspective of guanxi theory to understand employees' cyberloafing behavior.


Objectives: Off-label prescription of antipsychotics to patients without psychotic symptoms has become a routine matter for many psychiatrists and also some general practitioners. Nonethe-less, little is known about the possibly detrimental effects of antidopaminergic medications on general psychopathology, subjective mental state, or a possible association with physiological parameters in nonpsychotic individuals. Methods: In this randomized, single-blinded study, groups of healthy volunteers (n = 18) received low doses of reserpine, aripiprazole, haloperidol, or placebo on 7 successive days. Relevant physiological parameters (plasma prolactin, concentrations of catecholamine metabolites in plasma, and 24-hour urine) and each subject's mental state (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, visual analogue scale, Beck Depression Inventory II) were assessed at the start and end of the trial. Results: Of the three active treatments, only reserpine caused a significant increase in some plasma- and urine-catecholamine metabolites, but all three medications evoked objective and subjective changes in general psychopathology scores, which correlated with individual increases in plasma homovanillic acid concentrations. Both objective and subjective impairments were significantly more pronounced in the subgroup with greatest increase of plasma prolactin. Subjects experiencing the most pronounced side effects under haloperidol, which compelled them to drop out, showed significantly higher prolactin concentration increases than those who tolerated haloperidol well. Conclusion: We found consistent associations between altered markers of dopamine transmission and several objective and subjective mental impairments in healthy volunteers after 1 week's treatment with antidopaminergic medications. These findings should draw attention to a more intensive risk–benefit evaluation in cases of off-label prescription of antipsychotic medications.


We report the case of a male infant with a variant of congenital dyserythropoietic anemia (CDA), who developed severe hyperbilirubinemia on the day of birth, subsequent severe anemia, and hyperferritinemia. Bone marrow and laboratory examinations revealed features of CDA including trilineage myelodysplasia and erythroblasts with a binucleated nuclear morphology and ineffective erythropoiesis. The CDA in this patient was assumed to be a new variant type because of: the lack of internuclear chromatin bridges in the erythroblasts with abnormal nuclear morphology; a negative acid serum test; the presence of erythrocyte antigen I, and the effect of splenectomy. Trilineage myelodysplasia in CDA is not known. An abnormality in the stem cells was suggested to be the cause of CDA in this case.


This paper considers the influence of civil rights era community organizing on the formation of Black Anarchism, and the combination of the two for helping imagine a more open trajectory for anti-authoritarian politics. We will argue that while Black Anarchism is still perhaps more of a notion, than a movement, it is still an important lens through which to consider radical politics in the US, given its racist and patriarchal history. We will explore this through the thought, radical organizing, and life of Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin. Ervin's seminal written contributions to the development of Black Anarchism, coupled with his influential organizing experiences with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Black Panther Party, Anarchist People of Color and Black Autonomy Network of Community Organizers situates him as an organic black intellectual with powerful insights to share. One of Ervin's greatest contributions has been demonstrating the potential of anarchist praxis to both transform and link revolutionary conceptions of social transformation with people's everyday struggles for survival.


Terrain navigation is an application where inference between conceptually different sensors is performed recursively online. In this work the Bayesian framework of statistical inference is applied to this recursive estimation problem. Three algorithms for approximative Bayesian estimation are evaluated in simulations, one deterministic algorithm and two stochastic. The deterministic method solve the Bayesian inference problem by numerical integration while the stochastic methods simulate several candidate solutions and evaluates the integral by averaging between these candidates. Simulations show that all three algorithms are efficient and approximately reach the Cramer-Rao bound. However, the stochastic methods are sensitive to outliers and the deterministic method has the limitation of being hard to implement in higher dimensions.


Introduction: Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) shows an exponential growth related to age. Prostaglandin analogues are first-line drugs. As a side effect, they cause elongation, pigmentation and thickening of the eyelashes. Demodex are ectoparasites that live in the skin of humans and are associated to blepharitis. Their rate of infestation increases with age. Aim: Analyze and compare the prevalence of eyelid infestation by Demodex in patients with POAG who attend the clinic in a random manner, and who are receiving treatment with prostaglandin analogues. Methods: 110 eyes treated with prostaglandin analogues for POAG were included. An eyelash was removed to analyze it under the microscope and observe the presence of infestation. The results were compared with a group of patients with similar characteristics who did not use this drug. In addition, an in vitro study with one drop of different prostaglandin analogues on a slide of samples infested with Demodex was carried out to evaluate the direct chemical effect. Results: 36.4% of patients with POAG treated with prostaglandin analogues were infested with Demodex. The in vitro study showed the morphological changes that the mites suffered. Conclusions: Although the average age was high in the group of patients studied, a low prevalence of Demodex eyelid infestation was observed, unlike other series of patients of the same age who did not receive this medication and had a higher prevalence of infestation.


The aim of my paper is to show how to perceive the art and the influence of perception of it on human's taste in so called standard aesthetics. I start with discussing levels of human's perception. Then I turn to the question what is practise and theory contributing to the (aesthetic) taste. I distinguish between aesthetic pleasure and aesthetic experience. Next I argue that the (aestehtic) taste has subjective content. The taste is a complex or collection of aesthetic judgements (reasons).


North Queensland has the highest rates of skin cancer in the world. Local Government Authorities (LGAs) are ideally placed to provide recreational facilities that protect the population from ultraviolet radiation. In 2005, consistent with outcomes proposed within the Queensland Skin Cancer
Prevention Strategic Plan 2001-2005, the North Queensland Skin Cancer Network (NQSCN) conducted a pilot award scheme to promote and support the development of quality sun-safety strategies. Sixty-four councils in North Queensland were encouraged to enter their most sun safe initiative. The NQSCN established a 7-point assessment criterion, used by five impartial judges to determine the winner, who received a plaque, perpetual trophy and $2500 for further sun-safety initiatives at an award ceremony
attended by the media. Seven high quality entries were received: four from rural and three from regional shire councils. Whilst most entries were shade structures, the winner, an urban council, nominated the development of
an urban forest. Barriers to participation included: workforce shortages; economic viability; and incomplete projects at nomination closure. Building on the success of this pilot, NQSCN plans to explore the feasibility of statewide and/or national expansion using the Keep Australia Beautiful Tidy-Towns model with onsite evaluation and corporate sponsorship and branding.


High temperature nuclear reactors plan to use highly corrosive coolant such as molten salts, molten lead, and lead-bismuth eutectic mixtures. The existing Class A metallic materials qualified in the ASME Section III, Division 5 rules for high temperature nuclear reactors are not ideal for resisting corrosion when exposed to these coolants. One option to overcome this limitation would be to Code-qualify new corrosion-resistant materials for Class A service, however this process is long and expensive and requires long-term creep test data. A near-term alternative would be to allow designers to clad the existing Class A base materials with non-qualified corrosion-resistant materials. However, there are currently no ASME design rules for cladded components to guard against creepfatigue failure and ratcheting strain accumulation in elevated temperature nuclear service. This work addresses this deficiency by proposing a design strategy for cladded components that does not require long-term testing of clad materials. The proposed approach relies on approximate design analysis methods for two types of clad materials — soft clad that creeps faster than the base material and hard clad that creeps slower and has higher yield stress than the base material. The proposed approach treats a soft clad material as perfectly compliant and a hard clad material as linear elastic. Sample finite element analyses of representative high temperature reactor components are performed to verify the approach. At the end, a complete set of design rules is provided for each of the two types of cladded components.


There is a call for greater preparation for the ethical challenges encountered by physicians in their future professional duties. This study in Egypt aimed to reveal problems and perceived needs for medical ethics education of resident physicians working at University of Alexandria hospitals. In a descriptive, cross-sectional survey, 128 residents answered a self-administered questionnaire. More than half were of the opinion that their medical ethics course was ineffective; 56.3% mentioned poor curricular planning. The majority complained that the subject was not tailored to specialties, the course was too short, there was a shortage of resources to facilitate the educational process and that assessment was done for knowledge but not for skills. Problems related to staffing were low staff:student ratios and staff lack of experience. Trainees, regardless of clinical discipline, felt that there was a great need for improvement to their medicalethics education.


Context: Collaborative Model-Driven Software Engineering (MDSE) consists of methods and techniques where multiple stakeholders manage, collaborate, and are aware of each others' work on shared models.  Objective: Collaborative MDSE is attracting research efforts from different areas, resulting in a variegated scientific body of knowledge. This study aims at identifying, classifying, and understanding existing collaborative MDSE approaches. Method: We designed and conducted a systematic mapping study. Starting from over 3,000 potentially relevant studies, we applied a rigorous selection procedure resulting in 106 selected papers, further clustered into 48 primary studies along a time span of 19 years. We rigorously defined and applied a classification framework and extracted key information from each selected study for subsequent analysis.  Results: Our analysis revealed the following main fidings: (i) there is a growing scientific interest on collaborative MDSE in the last years; (ii) multi-view modeling, validation support, reuse, and branching are more rarely covered with respect to other aspects about collaborative MDSE; (iii) different primary studies focus differently on individual dimensions of collaborative MDSE (i.e., model management, collaboration, and communication); (iv) most approaches are language-specific, with a prominence of UML-based approaches; (v) few approaches support the interplay between synchronous and asynchronous collaboration. Conclusion: This study gives a solid foundation for classifying existing and future approaches for collaborative MDSE. Researchers and practitioners can use our results for identifying existing research/technical gaps to attack, better scoping their own contributions, or understanding existing ones.


Since the discovery of the so-called Bridlington Crag in 1835 (2) the possible existence of Tertiary rocks in Yorkshire has been a matter of speculation but Phillips' conclusion that Tertiary strata did not occur in Yorkshire has been accepted by most Yorkshire geologists. In 1904, Stather (13) reported the presence of scattered pebbles of quartzite over the Wolds even above the drift limit and concluded that they represented either the relics of an early glaciation or even of a Tertiary stratum. There exists in the Hull Museum a map produced by R. Mortimer, never officially published, showing a distribution of masses of sand and gravel covering the Chalk of the Wolds and allocated by him to the Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene periods. There is now no indication of such sand being exposed so far as the writer has been able to discover but the late Mr. Stather gave the author a sample of sand collected some thirty or forty years ago from Thixendale, one of the localities marked by Mortimer. The analysis of this sand is given later in this paper. Others of Mortimer's areas seem to be simply the ordinary chalk gravel of glacial date.

Among the many tumuli which are scattered on the Yorkshire Wolds and were excavated by J. R. Mortimer (10) there are some, 12 in all, which are described as having been dug, not in Chalk, but in sand which existed as a pipe in the Chalk. All these tumuli are found above the drift ...


The lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs) are a group of inherited metabolic disorders that are caused for the most part by enzyme deficiencies within the lysosome resulting in accumulation of undegraded substrate. This storage process leads to a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations depending on the specific substrate and site of accumulation. Examples of LSDs include the mucopolysaccharidoses, mucolipidoses, oligosaccharidoses, Pompe disease, Gaucher disease, Fabry disease, the Niemann-Pick disorders, and neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses. This review summarizes the main clinical features, diagnosis, and management of LSDs with an emphasis on those for which treatment is available.


1040-8703 Copyr Current Opinion in Pediatrics was launched in 1989. It is one of a successful series of review journals whose unique format is designed to provide a systematic and critical assessment of the literature as presented in the many primary journals. The field of pediatrics is divided into 18 sections that are reviewed once a year. Each section is assigned a Section Editor, a leading authority in the area, who identifies the most important topics at that time. In addition to this, Henry H. Bernstein also invites a prominent authority in the field of Office Pediatrics to write on the subject for each issue. Here we are pleased to introduce the Section Editors for this issue.


Glucocorticoids (GCs) are a central component of multi-drug treatment protocols against T and B acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which are used intensively during the remission induction to rapidly eliminate the leukemic blasts. The primary response to GCs predicts the overall response to treatment and clinical outcome. In this review, we have critically analyzed the available data on the effects of GCs on sensitive and resistant leukemic cells, in order to reveal the mechanisms of GC resistance and how these mechanisms may determine a poor outcome in ALL. Apart of the GC resistance, associated with a decreased expression of receptors to GCs, there are several additional mechanisms, triggered by alterations of different signaling pathways, which cause the metabolic reprogramming, with an enhanced level of glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation, apoptosis resistance, and multidrug resistance. Due to all this, the GC-resistant ALL show a poor sensitivity to conventional chemotherapeutic protocols. We propose pharmacological strategies that can trigger alternative intracellular pathways to revert or overcome GC resistance. Specifically, we focused our search on drugs, which are already approved for treatment of other diseases and demonstrated anti-ALL effects in experimental pre-clinical models. Among them are some "truly" re-purposed drugs, which have different targets in ALL as compared to other diseases: cannabidiol, which targets mitochondria and causes the mitochondrial permeability transition-driven necrosis, tamoxifen, which induces autophagy and cell death, and reverts GC resistance through the mechanisms independent of nuclear estrogen receptors ("off-target effects"), antibiotic tigecycline, which inhibits mitochondrial respiration, causing energy crisis and cell death, and some anthelmintic drugs. Additionally, we have listed compounds that show a classical mechanism of action in ALL but are not used still in treatment protocols: the BH3 mimetic venetoclax, which inhibits the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, the hypomethylating agent 5-azacytidine, which restores the expression of the pro-apoptotic BIM, and compounds targeting the PI3K-Akt-mTOR axis. Accordingly, these drugs may be considered for the inclusion into chemotherapeutic protocols for GC-resistant ALL treatments.


Unlike other revolutions, the information revolution is not routed in ideology but rather science and technological developments. The episteme of science has an historical legacy that is well documented by contested and often conflicting accounts. In this paper a thesis for the dis-aggregation of scientific knowledge (meta narratives) is adopted to tease out a framework for contemporary analysis of social spaces and the self. The sub-text is a testing of knowledge acquisition, validation, and representation claims, against the inferences, explanations, and uncertainty beliefs elaborated in recent Textbooks used in the teaching of information systems. The problem is the present.


Diaspore traits and germination of four non-viviparous mangrove species in Hong Kong, Lumnitzera racemosa (Jack.) Voigt., Heritiera littoralis (Drgand.) Ait., Excoecaria agallocha L. and Acanthus ilicifolius L., were investigated. L. racemosa fruits planted immediately after collection failed to germinate but those stored in wet condition for 35 or 50 d were successfully germinated. This suggested that L. racemosa had endogenous and morphological seed dormancy, with embryos continued to develop during the dormant period. Germination rates of L. racemosa decreased with increasing salinity and no germination was found at salinities over 25 ppt (ppt, parts per thausand). H. littoralis seeds were easily germinated if the fruit coat was artificially removed. Fruit dissection significantly shortened time for root initiation and leaf expansion. E. agallocha and A. ilicifolius seeds were also easy to germinate, initiating roots within 2 and 3 d, respectively. In terms of germination, A. ilicifolius had more tolerance to high salinity than L. racemosa. The four species exhibited three types of adaptation to unstable environments: (1) prolonged diaspore longevity as shown in L. racemosa and H. littoralis ; (2) shortened rooting time as in E. agallocha and A. ilicifolius ; and (3) produced sinking diaspores in L. racemosa. Diaspore buoyancy was one of the most important factors in determining inter-tidal zonation of non-viviparous mangrove species. Among the four species, L. racemosa was distributed in the most seaward zones because its diaspores were sinkers while diaspores of H. littoralis, E. agallocha and A. ilicifolius, more abundant at backshore locations, were floaters. Root initiation was also important in influencing the inter-tidal zonation of the three species whose diaspores were floaters. H. littoralis with the longest rooting time, as compared to E. agallocha and A. ilicifolius, was distributed in the most backshore zone. None of other factors including salinity of seawater, animal predation, diaspore size and seedling dimension could account for inter-tidal zonation of these species.


With the advent of the high synchronization accuracy of modern phasor measurement units (PMUs), a new approach for accurately locating faults on three-terminal lines is proposed. Using the data measured from two terminals of three-terminal lines, the proposed technique can provide an extremely accurate fault location. The EMTP/ATP simulator is used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed fault locator. The simulation results show that the accuracy of fault location is very high under various fault resistance, fault locations, prefault loading conditions, source impedance, and fault types.


Anodic alumina oxide (AAO) templates with multi-branched structure were fabricated in a phosphoric acid. Atomic force microscope (AFM) was utilized to investigate the unstable growth of porous oxide film in initial stage. The morphologies of cross-section of AAO templates at different current density were also studied with FESEM. The results show that the acquired AAO templates are of multi-branched structure with large size. The diameter of pores on outer surface ranges from 150 to 220 nm, and the width of branches from 100-120 nm. This structure can be due to the unstable growth of AAO film in initial stage. Besides, the structure of AAO template is sensitive to the current density and the order degree decreases with the increase of current density: at 1.0A/dm2, most of tubes are not straight and some divided into two branches; at 2.0A/dm2, all tubes grow disorderly and form net-like structure. In this electrolyte, different types of structure of AAO templates can be acquired by adjusting current density, which may be used for the synthesis of new types of nanowires with improved mechanical properties.


A standardized sampling technique for measuring plant diversity is needed to assist in resource inventories and for monitoring long-term trends in vascular plant species richness. The widely used 'Whittaker plot' (Shmida 1984) collects species richness data at multiple spatial scales, using 1 m 2, 10 m 2, and 100 m 2 subplots within a 20 m x 50 m (1000 m 2) plot, but it has three distinct design flaws involving the shape and placement of subplots. We modified and tested a comparable sampling design (Modified-Whittaker plot) that minimizes the problems encountered in the original Whittaker design, while maintaining many of its attractive attributes. We overlaid the two sampling methods in forest and prairie vegetation types in Larimer County, Colorado, USA (n = 13 sites) and Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota, USA (n = 19 sites) and showed that the modified design often returned significantly higher (p < 0.05) species richness values in the 1 m 2, 10 m 2, and 100 m 2 subplots. For all plots, except seven ecotone plots, there was a significant difference (p < 0.001) between the Whittaker plot and the Modified-Whittaker plot when estimating the total number of species in the 1000 m 2 plots based on linear regressions of the subplot data: the Whittaker plot method, on average, underestimated plant species richness by 34%. Species-area relationships, using the Modified-Whittaker design, conformed better to published semilog relationships, explaining, on average, 92% of the variation. Using the original Whittaker design, the semilog species-area relationships were not as strong, explaining only 83% of the variation, on average. The Modified-Whittaker plot design may allow for better estimates of mean species cover, analysis of plant diversity patterns at multiple spatial scales, and trend analysis from monitoring a series of strategically-placed, long-term plots.


ABSTRACT Melanoma is a paradigm of aggressive tumors with a complex and heterogeneous genetic background. Still, melanoma cells frequently retain developmental traits that trace back to lineage specification programs. In particular, lysosome-associated vesicular trafficking is emerging as a melanoma-enriched lineage dependency. However, the contribution of other lysosomal functions such as autophagy to melanoma progression is unclear, particularly in the context of metastasis and resistance to targeted therapy. Here we mined a broad spectrum of cancers for a meta-analysis of mRNA expression, copy number variation and prognostic value of 13 core autophagy genes. This strategy identified heterozygous loss of ATG5 at chromosome band 6q21 as a distinctive feature of advanced melanomas. Importantly, partial ATG5 loss predicted poor overall patient survival in a manner not shared by other autophagy factors and not recapitulated in other tumor types. This prognostic relevance of ATG5 copy number was not evident for other 6q21 neighboring genes. Melanocyte-specific mouse models confirmed that heterozygous (but not homozygous) deletion of Atg5 enhanced melanoma metastasis and compromised the response to targeted therapy (exemplified by dabrafenib, a BRAF inhibitor in clinical use). Collectively, our results support ATG5 as a therapeutically relevant dose-dependent rheostat of melanoma progression. Moreover, these data have important translational implications in drug design, as partial blockade of autophagy genes may worsen (instead of counteracting) the malignant behavior of metastatic melanomas.


BACKGROUND
Clear-cell carcinoma of the ovary (CCC) is often diagnosed at childbearing age, or sometimes during treatment for infertility. Therefore, most young women with early-stage CCC wish to preserve their reproductive and endocrine functions if possible.

METHODS
Clinicopathologic data collected under the central pathological review system were subjected to survival analyses. We analyzed patients with stage I CCC who underwent fertility-sparing surgery (FSS, n = 16) and compared their long-term survival with those receiving radical surgery (n = 205), or patients with non-CCC undergoing FSS (n = 64).

RESULTS
There was no difference in both the overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) between patients with CCC who underwent FSS and those who received radical surgery [CCC/FSS (n = 16) versus CCC/radical (n = 205); OS: P= 0.519, DFS: P= 0.265]. Moreover, patients with CCC who underwent FSS did not show a poorer OS and DFS than non-CCC patients who underwent FSS (CCC/FSS versus non-CCC/FSS; OS: P= 0.584, DFS: P= 0.401), or those at the corresponding stage with no CCC. Furthermore, according to the series of patients with CCC in both the current study and four studies in the literature, there was no difference in the recurrence rate between patients with or without CCC who were treated conservatively (CCC/FSS: 13.2% versus non-CCC/FSS: 10.9%, P= 0.614).

CONCLUSIONS
Although our study did not have sufficient power to yield a definite conclusion, our data suggests that at least patients with stage IA CCC may be treated with FSS.


Mangosteen or Garcinia mangostanae husk has been observed and showed that it contains flavonoid, tanin, saponin, quinon and steroid. Steroid has a role on the growth of follicle through two different ways: hypothalamus-hypofise anterior and ovarium. Hypothalamus-hypofise anterior produces gonadotropin hormone which consists of FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) and LH (Luteinizing Hormone) of ovarium, while the second way through teka cell and granulose cell. The general objective of this research is to find the effects of mangosteen in inhibiting the process of mice folliculogenesis ovarium. And the specific objective of this study is to find the effect of giving the skin of mangosteen extract on the number of primary, secondary, tersier follicle, and de Graaf follicle. The subject of the research consists of five groups, the first group (K 1) as a control group which is given CMC solution 0.2 ml/20 gr of the mice weight. The second group (K2) is given a solution drink of mangosteen extract 4.55 mgl20 gr of the mice weight. The third group (K3) is given a solution drink of mangosteen extract 9.1 mg120 gr of weight. The forth group (K4) is given the same drink with different doses, that is 13.65 mgl20 gr of weight. And the last group (K5) is given the same solution drink 18.2 mgl20 gr of weight. The treatment of giving mangosteen extract to all of the groups previously is being dissolved in the CMC solution (Carboxy Methyl Cellulose) 0.5% with 0.2 mltweight. The result of the study shows that variable of the primary, secondary, and tersier follicle have normal distribution (p > 0.05), in order to find average of each group, an analysis by using Oneway Anova test is conducted. The result of Oneway Anova test shows that each ofthe p values for the three follicles is 0.453, 0.696, and 0.261 from the p values available. Ho is considered that mangosteen extract in which is given per oral on the mice do not being any inhibition to the follicle growth of the mice ovarium. To find out the differences of the number of de Graaffollicle among the groups, Kruskal-Wallis test is applied. And the result of Kruskal-Wallis test shows that there is a significant difference (p < 0.05) among the control and treatment group. De Graaf follicle is the last form and the biggest follicle in ovarium. Giving the extract of mangosteen husk per oral towards the mice do not inhibit the growth of the primary. secondary, and tersier follicle in the ovarium of the mice. However, giving the extract of mangosteen husk per oral towards the mice may inhibit the growth of de Graaf follicle in the mice ovarium. There is no any significant relationship between the given of mangosteen husk extract per oral towards the mice which do not inhibit the growth of the primary, secondary, and tersier follicle in the mice ovarium. And there is a significant relationship between the given of mangosteen husk extract per oral towards the mice which inhibits the growth of de Graaf follicle.


In this paper, a text-to-rapping/singing system is introduced, which can be adapted to any speaker's voice. It utilizes a Tacotron-based multispeaker acoustic model trained on read-only speech data and which provides prosody control at the phoneme level. Dataset augmentation and additional prosody manipulation based on traditional DSP algorithms are also investigated. The neural TTS model is fine-tuned to an unseen speaker's limited recordings, allowing rapping/singing synthesis with the target's speaker voice. The detailed pipeline of the system is described, which includes the extraction of the target pitch and duration values from an a capella song and their conversion into target speaker's valid range of notes before synthesis. An additional stage of prosodic manipulation of the output via WSOLA is also investigated for better matching the target duration values. The synthesized utterances can be mixed with an instrumental accompaniment track to produce a complete song. The proposed system is evaluated via subjective listening tests as well as in comparison to an available alternate system which also aims to produce synthetic singing voice from read-only training data. Results show that the proposed approach can produce high quality rapping/singing voice with increased naturalness.


The ability to visualize breast lesion vascularity and quantify the vascular heterogeneity using contrast-enhanced 3-D nonlinear ultrasound imaging was investigated in a clinical population. Patients (n = 236) identified with breast lesions on mammography were scanned using power Doppler imaging, contrast-enhanced 3D HI, and 3D SHI on a modified Logiq 9 scanner (GE Healthcare). Time-intensity curve volumes were developed corresponding to ultrasound contrast agent flow in the lesions after being identified in 4D View (GE Medical Systems). Time points corresponding to, wash-in, baseline, peak intensity, and washout of ultrasound contrast agent were identified and used to generate and compare vascular heterogeneity plots for malignant and benign lesions. Vascularity was observed with power Doppler imaging in 93 lesions (69 benign and 24 malignant). The 3D HI showed flow in 8 lesions (5 benign and 3 malignant), whereas 3D SHI visualized flow in 83 lesions (58 benign and 25 malignant). Analysis of vascular heterogeneity in the 3D SHI volumes found benign lesions having a significant difference in vascularity between central and peripheral sections (1.8 ± 0.16 vs. 1.2 ± 0.09 dB, p = 0.0003, respectively), whereas malignant lesions showed no difference (1.7 ± 0.33 vs. 1.3 ± 0.21 dB, p = 0.23), indicative of more vascular coverage. Parametric volumes, that contained a single parametric value for every voxel within the 3D volume in order to visualize localized variations, were generated based on perfusion (PER) and area under the curve (AUC). These maps highlighted the variations in the vascularity for individual voxels in the lesion volume. Finally, a preliminary measure for lesion characterization, based on vascular heterogeneity, achieved an area under the ROC of 0.72. These preliminary results suggest quantitative evaluation of vascular heterogeneity in breast lesions using contrast-enhanced 3D SHI is feasible and able to detect variations in vascularity between central and peripheral sections for benign and malignant lesions to aid in characterization.


Technology has long been of interest to anthropologists but anthropological study of the topic has lagged behind consideration of other human institutions. In part this is because technology has remained poorly understood and incompletely defined and because technology's material and non-material components have been either confused or treated in isolation. To clarify the relationship between its material and non-material aspects, this paper defines the contents and results of technology in behavioral terms. Material results are an intrinsic part of technology that offer immediate, clear feedback. For that reason, technological behaviors are easy to evaluate and adjust. This makes technology especially subject to selective pressure and evolutionary change.


We show that the differential rotation profile of the solar convection zone, apart from inner and outer boundary layers, can be reproduced with great accuracy if the isorotation contours correspond to characteristics of the thermal wind equation. This requires that there be a formal quantitative relationship involving the entropy and the angular velocity. Earlier work has suggested that this could arise from magnetohydrodynamic stability constraints; here, we argue that purely hydrodynamical processes could also lead to such a result. Of special importance to the hydrodynamical solution is the fact that the thermal wind equation is insensitive to radial entropy gradients. This allows a much more general class of solutions to fit the solar isorotation contours, beyond just those in which the entropy itself must be a function of the angular velocity. In particular, for this expanded class, the thermal wind solution of the solar rotation profile remains valid even when large radial entropy gradients are present. A clear and explicit example of this class of solution appears to be present in published numerical simulations of the solar convective zone. Though hydrodynamical in character, the theory is not sensitive to the presence of weak magnetic fields. Thus, the identification of solar isorotation contours with the characteristics of the thermal wind equation appears to be robust, accommodating, but by no means requiring, magnetic field dynamics.


The numerical simulation of pollution dispersion within complex river course and its visualization on Geographic Information System( GIS) are very important to surface water Environmental Impact Assessment( EIA). But there still remain many difficulties and problems, such as grid generation, numerical simulation model of pollution dispersion and the visualization of result. To resolve these problems of area river pollution calculation and GIS-based visualization for point source side discharge situation, the ways of surface water EIA visualization based on Cartesian cut cell method were presented. The Cartesian cut cell method was applied to generate grid, by using cut cell intersection point chasing algorithm and choosing approach of background Cartesian grid in river course boundary, the Cartesian grids of complex river course were achieved. A self-adaptive grids refinement algorithm with steady state pollution decay model was proposed. Based on unstructured Cartesian grids, a point source river water pollution simulation model of side discharge was provided and an area filling algorithm was developed to achieve the visualization of EIA result. Through the visualization and analysis of a river pollution EIA example, the practicability and efficiency of the proposed methods were confirmed.


The major disadvantage of the slip-power recovery scheme using the static Scherbius scheme is its poor power factor at low speeds. In the investigation presented in the paper, a fully controlled inverter with half-controlled characteristics has been employed for improving the power factor instead of the conventional fully controlled inverter. Considerable improvement in the power factor of the motor and drive was obtained. There was an increase in efficiency of the drive and a reduction in the ripple current in the DC link current. The paper also presents a new method for starting the motor and a criterion for selection of filter inductance. Equations have been derived for calculating machine performance and drive power factor. The various theoretical deductions have been verified experimentally.


An 81-year-old male with a history of symptomatic bradycardia controlled by a pacemaker presented to our institution with three days of persistent hiccups. He denied any pulmonary symptoms and his initial evaluation showed no evidence of tachypnea, tachycardia, or hypoxia. Pacemaker malfunction or migration of the pacer leads was ruled out as an etiology and no intracranial pathology was present. Admission chest radiograph was normal but a computed tomography of the chest demonstrated a left lower lobe pulmonary embolus. After treatment with anticoagulation was initiated, the hiccups resolved within the next week. This is a unique case presentation of hiccups as the only presenting symptom of an otherwise asymptomatic pulmonary embolism.


Active noise reduction (ANR) technology, based on feedback signal processing, is being applied in commercial communication headsets and provides noise reductions up to 10-20 dB between 50 Hz and 400 Hz. There are, however, many acoustical designs and computational difficulties associated with feedback designs which limit their performance. Current research in feedforward design offers the opportunity for significant improvement in ANR performance. To support this current research in ANR feedforward algorithm development and evaluation, a low frequency acoustic test cell (LFATC) has been designed to provide a uniform and precisely controlled low frequency acoustic measurement environment. The LFATC design is based on the original work of E.A.G. Shaw and G.J. Theisson at the National Research Council of Canada and a prototype LFATC developed by J.G. Ryan, E.A.G. Shaw, A. J. Brammer, and T.G. Zang. The design analysis of the LFATC is based both on a lumped parameter model and a one-dimensional standing wave model. The acoustic performance of this test cell, including a simple floor vibration isolation system, is evaluated experimentally over a wide range of sound pressure levels. A representative set of measurements with a prototype ANR headset illustrates the application of the LFATC.


ABSTRACT Smoking and nicotine addiction are among the major preventable causes of disease and mortality. Being able to target promotional campaigns effectively relies on a good understanding of the demographics of smokers and potential smokers. This study reports on the results of a large sample survey of the demographics of smokers and non-smokers in South African townships. Using logistical regression, it finds that smokers tend to be significantly, older males who are less educated, and somewhat surprisingly, with no religious affiliation. Implications for public health policy are identified, and avenues for future research recognized.


Despite their diversity, the many factors that enter into the way the quality of telecommunications software is perceived can plainly be linked to the process by which the software is developed. This is fortunate, since the quality of the process is the more easily quantified. In focusing quality programs for telecommunications software on its development, we see that the quality of the final product is directly related to the technology used, the caliber of the staff using the technology, and the managerial controls applied to the entire process. The last of these is most visible in the standards applied to the project. Quality assurance for telecommunications software is the management of a quality program built upon these standards-the substance of the technology and managerial precepts evinced by the standards, and the methods of ensuring compliance to them.


Reliable and reproducible epitaxy (epi) materials are critical to the success of a high volume compound semiconductor fabrication line. An efficient epi matching and qualification procedure among different epi reactors and suppliers is paramount to supporting rapid fab capacity ramp to keep pace with market demands. Traditional methods of individual layer thickness and doping matching, such as Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS), have limitations when applied to heterojunctions and subtle interface matching. Sometimes a subtle epi interface mismatch can create significant discrepancies in transistor characteristics and RF module performance. Multiple iterations of lengthy epi matching as well as RF module level characterization may be required to resolve the differences. To overcome these limitations, we developed an epi matching procedure which greatly shortened the cycle time for epi qualification. After an initial "quick-lot" matching is performed by our suppliers, extensive transistor level electrical data is collected and compared to the historical production distribution. The measured data of these qualification samples must be within 2.5 sigma of the historical distribution with the same mean. The in-line DC PCM parameters, for the technology generation, are a subset collected data. In addition, an extended set of DC and RF parameters is also matched within the same stringent criteria. After the transistor level electrical data fully matches the historical distribution of our database, the qualification samples then go through transistor level reliability and module level evaluations. Adequate transistor level reliability and comparable module level performance are required for a full production release of a new epi reactor.


From Romulus to Augustus, the Chronicle of the Roman Republic examines the succession of leaders who took Rome from a small fortified hilltop to the greatest empire of antiquity. Here we meet the builders of Rome - superstitious, brutal and utterly uncompromising, but often men of great honour and principle. They could stoop to the depths of depravity, but could also be unflinchingly, even suicidally, brave. This book describes 56 of the foremost Romans of the Republic, spanning the centuries from its birth to its bloody death. In this history we see the best and worst of the Roman elite. Some, such as Tarquin the Proud, Julius Caesar and Pompey are well known. Others are less familiar - men like Licinius Crassus, a kind father and a loving husband, who captured slaves in their thousands. Or Cato the Censor, upright and incorruptible, xenophobic and misogynistic. This is a highly readable and authoritative account, ideal for home or school reference, and as a companion to the bestselling Chronicle of the Roman Emperors.


Introduction Chemsex is associated with ART non-adherence and may therefore negatively influence HIV disease progression. However, there is no systematic examination of evidence for this association. Our objective was to summarise the extent of ART non-adherence among chemsex drug-using HIV-positive MSM worldwide and to quantify the effect that chemsex has on ART non-adherence by comparing chemsex drug-users to non-chemsex drug-users. Methods Pubmed and Embase were searched from inception to 25.06.15. Prevalence and analytical studies were included. Bias was assessed using a risk-of-bias assessment tool. Assessment of heterogeneity was conducted using I2 and Cochran-Q Chi2 statistics. Metaanalyses were conducted using fixed or random-effects methods. Metaregression assessed for formal statistical evidence of heterogeneity. Results 3288 published and unpublished records were screened. Prevalence of ART non-adherence among chemsex drug-users (10 studies) ranged from 6% to 81%. 7 studies provided 10 effect measures for the association between chemsex drug-use and ART non-adherence. Chemsex drug-users had 23% higher odds of being ART non-adherent compared with non-chemsex drug-users (OR 1.23, 95%CI 1.10–1.38, I2 0%, p=0.372). Studies that used less specific definitions of chemsex drug-use found weak statistical evidence for an association (OR 1.96, 95%CI 0.52–7.31, I2 78.9%, p=0.009). Meta-regression failed to provide statistical evidence of why the effect varied between studies. Discussion In HIV-positive MSM, the prevalence of ART non-adherence among chemsex drug-users varied widely. There was evidence of an association between chemsex drug-use and ART non-adherence. Paucity of studies and substantial heterogeneity between studies limited interpretation of results. Further well-conducted studies in a variety of settings are needed.


An electric vehicle (EV) can be charged wirelessly through an inductively coupled power transfer system where the system resonates the inductive coupling coil at the operating frequency by means of a compensation network.  However, the resonant behaviour implies overcurrent in the inverter MOSFETs during uncoupled and high load resistor conditions, which affect to the inverter MOSFETs failure whenever the current exceeds their maximum current rating. Therefore, this paper presents a CLL/S detuned compensation network for EV wireless charging application to limit the inverter current during the uncoupled state and open circuit load conditions. The proposed compensation consists of a series capacitor and parallel inductor at the primary side and series capacitor at the secondary side.  By using Kirchhoff Voltage Law (KVL) analysis, the primary side is detuned to inductive behaviour to ensure zero voltage switching (ZVS), and the secondary side remains at natural resonant tuning. From the simulation analysis, the slight increase of the parallel inductor value at the primary side can limit of the inverter current at uncoupled and high load resistor conditions. The proposed system also offers higher efficiency than the series-series detuned compensation and slightly lower than the double-sided LCC compensation network at different coupling factor.


— The introduction of haptic elements in a graphic user interfaces are becoming more widespread. Since haptics are being introduced rapidly into computational tools, investigating how these models affect Human-Computer Interaction would help define how to integrate and model new modes of interaction. The interest of this paper is to discuss and investigate the issues surrounding Haptic and Graphic User Interface designs (GUI) as separate systems, as well as understand how these work in tandem. The development of these systems is explored from a psychological perspective, based on how usability is addressed through learning and affordances, defined by J.J. Gibson. Haptic design can be a powerful tool, aiding in intuitive learning. The problems discussed within the text is how can haptic interfaces be integrated within a GUI without the sense of frivolity. Juxtaposing haptics and Graphic user interfaces has issues of motivation; GUI tends to have a performatory process, while Haptic Interfaces use affordances to learn tool use. In a deeper view, it is noted that two modes of perception, foveal and ambient, dictate perception. These two modes were once thought to work in tandem, however it has been discovered that these processes work independently from each other. Foveal modes interpret orientation is space which provide for posture, locomotion, and motor skills with variations of the sensory information, which instructs perceptions of object-task performance. It is contended, here, that object-task performance is a key element in the use of Haptic Interfaces because exploratory learning uses affordances in order to use an object, without meditating an experience cognitively. It is a direct experience that, through iteration, can lead to skill-sets. It is also indicated that object-task performance will not work as efficiently without the use of exploratory or kinesthetic learning practices. Therefore, object-task performance is not as congruently explored in GUI than it is practiced in Haptic interfaces.


Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer histotype, characterized by high biological aggressiveness and scarce treatment options. Recently, we have established a clinically relevant murine HCC model by co-expressing activated forms of v-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog (AKT) and oncogene c-mesenchymal-epithelial transition (c-Met) proto-oncogenes in the mouse liver via hydrodynamic tail vein injection (AKT/c-MET mice). Tumor cells from these mice demonstrated high activity of the AKT/ mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and Ras/ Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascades, two pathways frequently co-induced in human HCC. Methods: Here, we investigated the therapeutic efficacy of sorafenib, regorafenib, the MEK inhibitor PD901 as well as the pan-mTOR inhibitor MLN0128 in the AKT/c-Met preclinical HCC model. Results: In these mice, neither sorafenib nor regorafenib demonstrated any efficacy. In contrast, administration of PD901 inhibited cell cycle progression of HCC cells in vitro. Combined PD901 and MLN0128 administration resulted in a pronounced growth constraint of HCC cell lines. In vivo, treatment with PD901 or MLN0128 alone moderately slowed HCC growth in AKT/c-MET mice. Importantly, the simultaneous administration of the two drugs led to a stable disease with limited tumor progression in mice. Mechanistically, combined mitogen-activated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MEK) and mTOR inhibition resulted in a stronger cell cycle inhibition and growth arrest both in vitro and in vivo. Conclusions: Our study indicates that combination of MEK and mTOR inhibitors might represent an effective therapeutic approach against human HCC.


Institutional buildings need smart techniques to predict the energy consumption in a smart grids' framework. Here, the importance of dynamic load forecasting as a tool to support the decision in smart grids is addressed. In addition, it is reviewed the energy consumption patterns of institutional buildings and the state-of-the-art of load forecast modeling using artificial neural networks. The discussion is supported by historical data from energy consumption in a university building. These data are used to develop a reliable model for the prediction of the electric load in a campus. A neural network model was developed, which can forecast the load with an average error of 6.5%, and this model can also be used as a decision tool to assess the convenience of supplying this load with a set of renewable energy sources. Statistical data that measure the availability of the local renewable sources can be compared with a load model in order to assess how well these energy sources match the energy needs of buildings. This novel application of load models was applied to the campus where a good correlation (Pearson coefficient of 0.803) was found between energy demand and the availability of the solar resource in the campus.


In this volume, seven historians of science examine the historical creation and meaning of a range of scientific textual forms from the seventeenth to the late nineteenth centuries. They consider examples from the fields of chemistry, medicine, physics, zoology, physiology, and mathematics, exposing the rich possibilities for a new, historically rooted approach to our scientific cultural heritage. Peter Dear presents the case for "taking texts seriously"-asking historians of science to confront issues and techniques moving to the forefront in a number of disciplines, and asking literary scholars and literary-minded intellectual historians not to "put science quietly to one side," or treat it as a mere source of cultural metaphors, but to understand it in terms of historically specific textual construction. The Literary Structure of Scientific Argument will interest historians, philosophers, and sociologists, as well as literary scholars concerned with science.


Based on orthogonal experiment design, a study on the one-fourth arc special-shaped surface of Lord Red granite was conducted, the relationship between cutting speed, feed rate and cutting depth with tool wear rate and grinding force were analyzed. The research shows that tool wear rate and grinding force are basically reduced with the increase of cutting speed and aggrandized with the increase of feed rate and cutting depth. By regression analysis the empirical formulas of grinding forces are concluded, it is the theoretical foundation for on-line monitoring grinding force to optimize the processing parameters for machining irregular surface of granite.


Conservative treatment of metacarpal fractures is recommended if there is no joint displacement, malrotation, displacement of over 30 degrees ad axim and shortening of over 5 mm. Surgery should be performed in open fractures and serial fractures of metacarpal bone. Early functional treatment should be carried out in stable, not displaced fractures. A cast can be used for a short period in full extended position of fingers and flexion in metacarpo-phalangeal joint in 60 - 90 degrees. Twin-tape fixation allows functional treatment after soft-tissue swelling has disappeared. Closed reduction of displaced fractures of the fifth metacarpal bone (boxer's fracture) is not successful. Cases with displacement of over 30 degrees may be treated surgically by intramedullary stabilisation.


Content-based video retrieval is a proper solution to handle the video data. But because of their huge volumes and high dimensionality, finding a proper way to organize them for efficient search and retrieval becomes a challenging and important problem. In this paper, we present a framework for content-based video retrieval using the Shot Cluster Tree, while the latter organizes the content of shots in the tree structure. The framework can supply users with two types of queries: query-by-content and query-by-example. We also put up a novel and efficient clustering method for generating the Shot Cluster Tree structure, where shots which are visual similar and time adjacent are grouped into shot groups using the method of Sliding Shot Window firstly and then shot groups are clustered into shot clusters with the simple agglomerative hierarchical clustering method. In addition to constructing the structure of content, the Shot Cluster Tree also provides better ways to video summary and video annotation, which facilitate the video retrieval. An experimental system has been built up. Experiments verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


Cameroon south-west region offers favorable climatic conditions for survival of land snails whose meat is known for their nutritional benefits. Besides, conventional livestock (beef, chicken, etc.) cannot satisfy the high demand in Cameroon. Hence, snail meat could be suitable alternative source of protein. Therefore, this article investigated the perception and identified the main determinants of land snail meat consumption in the Fako division (south-west region Cameroon). A multistage random sampling method was used to select a total of 211 respondents. Descriptive statistics has highlighted that snail meat is quite consumed in Fako with 76.30% of respondents. Majority of respondents where Christians (95.26%) and have their origin from south-west region (56.40%). Additionally, regression analysis has pointed out that snail meat consumption depends on marital status, household size, income, snail origin and religion. The amount of snail meat consumed was shown to be influenced by its price and price variation between seasons.  At the end of this study, two recommendations were made: snail farming should be increased in order to reduce scarcity of snail during dry season as well as its price and educate the people coming from other region of Cameroon on the nutritional benefits of snail meat.

 Key words: Snail consumption, African garden snails, Cameroon.


Organic photovoltaic(OPV) cells are rapidly gaining attention due to their potential to be fabricated at low cost in thin, flexible, and light-weight forms. For efficient generation of photo-induced charges,C60 has been indispensable electron acceptors in building heterojunctions with various suitable electron donors, such as CuPc, and Alq3 was always used as a new buffer layer to improve the degradation of heterojunction conductivity upon oxygen permeation In this work, the photoelectric properties of organic solar cells(ITO/CuPc/C60/ Al) were studied with a focus on the effect of substrate temperature. All the organic layers and the aluminum cathode were prepared onto ITO substrates by vacuum deposition at various substrate temperatures from room temperature to 363°CK. With increasing the substrate temperature , an improvement in crystallization of bilayer films(CuPc/C60) was observed by AFM. The results showed the photoconduction of the bilayer films increased because the bilayr films were well oriented, and the carrier mobility of the films were enhanced withby the increase of the substrate temperature.


The use of IL-1 in humans is associated with dose-limiting toxicity which resembles that of TNF-alpha or IL-2. Activation of neutrophils is thought to contribute to the toxicity caused by these two cytokines. We studied the effect of IL-1 in vivo on changes in neutrophil numbers and neutrophil degranulation as well as on the formation of neutrophil agonists, such as complement activation products, and on levels of TNF, IL-6, IL-8, and nitrite/nitrate (as a measure of nitric oxide production). Six patients with metastatic melanoma were treated with 3 ng/kg recombinant human IL-1 beta daily. One hour after the start of the 30-min IL-1 infusion, which caused mild cardiovascular toxicity, plasma levels of IL-6 reached a peak of 25 +/- 9 ng/L (mean +/- SEM), IL-8 reached a peak of 311 +/- 100 ng/L at 2 h, and nitrite/nitrate peaked after 10 h to 89 +/- 27 mumol/L. IL-1 did not induce significant changes in plasma levels of TNF or of the complement activation products C3a and C4b/c. Although IL-1 induced neutrophilia, levels of elastase and lactoferrin did not change. The failure of IL-1 to degranulate neutrophils was confirmed in an ex vivo model with whole blood culture in which doses of up to 100 microgram/L IL-1 beta or IL-1 alpha failed to induce significant elastase or lactoferrin release, whereas TNF, tested as a positive control, was able to do so. These results demonstrate that, unlike TNF, IL-1 does not cause neutrophil degranulation in man, despite its ability to cause neutrophilia and the rapid release of IL-6, IL-8, and nitrite/nitrate.


End-of-life care decisions are challenging for most people and cultural beliefs may facilitate or hinder such decisions. Advance care planning provides a venue to interact with and communicate to healthcare professionals a person's documented health and medical treatment wishes at end of life. Open communication, cultural accommodation, and mutual understanding among the healthcare provider, patient, and family are key to effective advance care planning. This article discusses how Hispanic / Latino people address end-of-life care and what cultural aspects are especially relevant for this population. The nurse's role in


Certain localised displacement fluctuations in the planar honeycomb lattice may be identified as precursors to topological defects. We show that these fluctuations are among the most pronounced non-affine distortions of an elemental coarse graining volume of the honeycomb structure at non zero temperatures. We obtain the statistics of these precursor modes in the canonical ensemble, evaluating exactly their single point and two-point spatio-temporal distributions, for a lattice with harmonic nearest neighbour and next near neighbour bonds. As the solid is destabilised by tuning interactions, the precursor fluctuations diverge and correlations become long-lived and long-ranged.


Plankton are the base of marine food webs, essential to sustaining fisheries and other marine life. Continuous Plankton Recorders (CPRs) have sampled plankton for decades in both hemispheres and several regional seas. CPR research has been integral to advancing understanding of plankton dynamics and informing policy and management decisions. We describe how the CPR can contribute to global plankton diversity monitoring, being cost-effective over large scales and providing taxonomically resolved data. At OceanObs09 an integrated network of regional CPR surveys was envisaged and in 2011 the existing surveys formed the Global Alliance of CPR Surveys (GACS). GAGS first focused on strengthening the dataset by identifying and documenting CPR best practices, delivering training workshops, and developing an integrated database. This resulted in the initiation of new surveys and manuals that enable regional surveys to be standardized and integrated. GACS is not yet global, but it could be expanded into the remaining oceans; tropical and Arctic regions are a priority for survey expansion. The capacity building groundwork is done, but funding is required to implement the GACS vision of a global plankton sampling program that supports decision-making for the scientific and policy communities. A key step is an analysis to optimize the global sampling design. Further developments include expanding the CPR for multidisciplinary measurements via additional sensors, thus maximizing the ship-of-opportunity platform. For example, defining pelagic ecoregions based on plankton and ancillary data could support high seas Marine Protected Area design. Fulfillment of Aichi Target 15, the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals, and delivering the Essential Ocean Variables and Essential Biodiversity Variables that the Global Ocean Observing System and Group on Earth Observation's Biodiversity Observation Network have, respectively, defined requires the taxonomic resolution, spatial scale and time-series data that the CPR approach provides. Synergies with global networks exploiting satellite data and other plankton sensors could be explored, realizing the Survey's capacity to validate earth observation data and to ground-truth emerging plankton observing platforms. This is required for a fully integrated ocean observing system that can understand global ocean dynamics to inform sustainable marine decision-making.


Introduction and Aim: The confirmatory step in diagnosis of monoclonal gammopathies is bone marrow biopsy and presence of M-protein in serum protein electrophoresis. These tests are relatively expensive & invasive for screening and unavailable in low resource settings. Increased levels of serum globulin are clue to the diagnosis of monoclonal gammopathy. The aim of this study was to assess the relevance of serum globulin levels in discriminating between patients with & without monoclonal gammopathies/ paraproteinemia.
Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed serum protein electrophoresis (SPE) and related investigations of patients suspected of monoclonal gammopathy. Reports with an M-band were considered as paraproteinemias, and those without as controls. ROC for sensitivities & specificities for serum globulin levels were computed.
Results: For the case-control study, median serum globulin values in cases were 4.4 (3.5-6.3) g/dL in males and 3.65 (3.33-5.0) g/dL in females. They were significantly higher than those with normal SPE pattern, with a p <0.001. A cut-off value of 3.25 g/dL of globulin could distinguish between paraproteinemias and controls with a sensitivity of 82.1% and specificity of 85.4% in males; a sensitivity of 79.2%, a specificity of 76.7% for females. At a cut-off value of 3.4 g/dL, sensitivity was 77% and specificity 92.7% for males; sensitivity was 75% and specificity 83.7% for females. Alternatively, a cut-off value of 0.458 of globulin/total protein ratio could distinguish at a best sensitivity & specificity of 80% and 89% in males; 83.3% and 83.7% in females.
Conclusion: Serum globulin values and globulin/total protein ratio can reliably differentiate patients with paraproteinemias.


The wave normal directions of magnetospheric chorus emissions have been analyzed by using data from the geostationary GEOS 2 satellite which is located in the equatorial region at L = 6.6. As the result of analyses for a specific day of December 19, 1979, chorus is found to be generated in conjunction with substorms and at local times from around midnight to afternoon. Two types of chorus are observed: impulsive burstlike and rising tone. The chorus during midnight to late morning hours is impulsive, and at local times from noon to dusk we notice an increase in the occurrence of rising tone chorus. The chorus spectra have shown the importance of the characteristic frequency of fH/2 (fH is the electron gyrofrequency). We notice the impulsive chorus only in the lower band (f fH/2) with infrequent occurrence in the lower band, and there is obviously no correlation between the elements in both bands. However, there are several intense tones which seem to be correlated in both bands for the strong two-banded impulsive chorus emissions observed only at LT ≃ 0800. This correlation might be related with a notch in chorus risers at f ≃ fH/2 caused by Landau damping, as previously suggested. The wave normals are determined by using only the magnetic field data. The direction finding studies have been made for impulsive and rising tone chorus, separately, which have yielded different results. The lower band is discussed first. The wave normals of the rising tones having values of df/dt as normally observed are found to take very small angles (5°–20°). Then it is found that the rising tones with increased values of df/dt have shown larger wave normal angles of 30°–45°. These relatively small wave normal angles for the lower band give further support to the loss cone instability as the generation mechanism. The impulsive chorus is found to take slightly larger wave normal angles (about 5°) than most rising tones. Further, it may be suggested that different types of chorus are associated with different wave normals. Next we are concerned with the upper band chorus, whose generation mechanism is not well agreed upon. It is shown that the impulsive chorus in the upper band is generated with its wave normal close to the oblique resonance cone. This suggests that the upper band chorus is quasi-electrostatic, and it is furthermore confirmed by the estimated ratio, c|B|/|E| (|E| and |B| are the total electric and magnetic field intensities; c is the light velocity). The rising tones in the upper band, however, have indicated a difference such that the closeness of their wave normals to the oblique resonance cone is much less distinct. An intensive comparison is made between the direction finding results for the upper band and the theoretical mechanisms so far proposed in order to elucidate the possible generation mechanism of the upper band chorus.