The three-quarter crossbar switch (TQ-XBS) has been known to have about 3N/4 crosspoints, where N is the switch size, and shows a property intermediate between the crossbar switch (XBS) and the triangular switch (TAS). Its original configuration has an extra pair of input and output ports to make the analysis of the switch control complexity difficult and some major properties of TQ-XBS have been left open. In this paper, we consider a diminished TQ-XBS that has not the extra ports as a first step to examine performance of TQ-XBSs. We made a comprehensive study of the switch control complexity and the worst case scenario for rearrangement in the diminished TQ-XBS. It is shown that the switch control complexity for setting up a new connection is O(N) at most. It is also shown that the identical permutation ensures truly a worst case scenario for rearrangement and the maximum number of rearrangements for the worst case remains two regardless of N. The complexity of the rearrangement process is also given by O(N). Additionally, it is pointed out for the first time that the diminished TQ-XBS shows a better performance than the TAS regarding a newly defined figure of merit.


The problem facing the Tlokwe Local Municipality is that it is Constitutional and legislatively obliged to avoid and/or mitigate the impact of potential disasters within its boundaries, through the effective management of potential disaster risks and disasters. The lack of effective risk management tools is especially concerning in the context of the water catchment management of the Mooi River, which is the main water supply of the Tlokwe local Municipality. The Mooi River is exposed to many potential catchment related hazards that could affect the municipality of which the origins are both anthropogenic and natural. Although, many of the impacts on the catchment arise beyond the boundaries and the control of the municipality, this does not relieve the municipality from the responsibility to develop tools to manage the risks. The aim of the study is to assist in addressing the above stated problem through establishing the requirements for a conceptual model for an effective spatial information system that will assist the municipality in effectively managing the potential disaster risks and disasters that may arise in the Mooi River Catchment area that could impact on the Tlokwe Local Municiaplity. The aim gives rise to three-research questions that are formulated as research objectives that are used to identify the conceptual model requirements. The first is to identify and conceptualise the constitutional and legislative obligations in respect of disaster risk management in general and specifically those governing the disaster disk management in the water catchment area for the Mooi River. The study of this objective not only highlight the constitutional and legal obligations that the local municipality is subject to, but provides legislatives remedies that the local municipality can utilise to assist with disaster risks reduction. The second is to identify and conceptualise the generic hazards that are related to water catchment areas (including the related groundwater compartments) and those specific in the Mooi River catchment area. In this section, potential anthropogenic and natural hazards are listed, a methodology for risk and vulnerability analyses is provided, and a concise study of quaternary catchment C23D is provided. The third is to identify and conceptualize the requirements for an effective conceptual model of GIS for Disaster Risk Management in the Tlokwe Local Municipality. An overview of a GIS is provided. The essential components of a generic information system namely, people, software, hardware, procedures and processes, data and telecommunications or networks are discussed. The information and system requirements cumulating from the analyses of the three research questions, serve as the drivers of the goal, outcomes and transformation process of the system as well as the requirements for the conceptual model. In this section: a comparison of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Framework for Applied Systems Thinking (FAST), problem solving and the phases addressed in this study; the identification of the conceptual model requirements; and a concise systems conceptualisation of an effective GIS is provided. As the, mini-dissertation focuses on the needs for a conceptual model, the additional activities required before the system can be implemented are identified and formulated as recommendation that provide the opportunity for future research.


We present a class of time-delay anisotropic diffusion models for image restoration. These models lead to asymptotic states that are selected on the basis of a contrast parameter and bear some analogy with neural networks with Hebbian dynamical learning rules. Numerical examples show that these models are efficient in removing even high levels of noise, while allowing an accurate tracking of the edges.


: A method of close-focus x-ray therapy for extensive ulcerated hemangiomas was worked out and used in combination with ointment treatment with a good clinical effect in 230 patients. The summary focal dose was 0.5-1.0 Gy. A study of the results of radiotherapy over the period of 3-10 yrs. has shown that such changes as skin atrophy, scars and cosmetic defects result from the ulceration of a tumor at its early stage of development because during irradiation at doses that do not cause local radiation reactions, changes of the skin and soft tissues are not observed.


Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are the most valid methodological tool for establishing causal relationships. Nevertheless, their validity is constrained by various methodological details concerning their design, conduction and implementation. Failure of successful randomization, absence of correction for multiple comparisons, use of noisy scales for measuring a disease parameter, are a few of these constraints. Furthermore, there are constraints inherent in the scientific research methodology, like the use of the p-value as a threshold of statistical significance and in succession of inferential reasoning, as a threshold of truth. In this work, the examples of RCTs illustrating these limitations are drawn from the field of multiple sclerosis (MS). In general, RCTs in MS mostly are well designed, adequately powered, and well conducted. Nevertheless, sometimes there are exceptions, leading to false conclusions and steering clinical practice toward wrong choices.


Background: Medicaid patients have high rates of diabetes complications. We examined quality of diabetes care among Medicaid patients and variation by Medicaid state spending.
 Methods: Using 2015-16 United Healthcare claims (eligibility, medical, pharmacy) and lab data, we identified Medicaid patients with diabetes >21 yrs of age receiving care in practices with >1000 Medicaid patients (diabetes defined by diagnostic codes, A1c >6.5% or glycemic prescriptions) . Over an 18-month study period, we examined A1c testing, statin use, retinal and nephropathy screening rates. Logistic regression covariates included a categorical variable for per-beneficiary Medicaid spending terciles by state (low, middle or high) , age, gender, race, ethnicity, language, Medicaid eligibility category, indicator for type 1 vs. 2 diabetes, indicator for chronic eye diseases, comorbidity indicators, and a count of number of enrolled months. We adjusted for clustering at the 3-digit zip code level and excluded states with vision care carve-outs.
 Results: Among 46,5Medicaid patients with diabetes, the overall unadjusted completion rates for individual diabetes care measures varied from 39% (retinal screening) to 86% (nephropathy screening) ; 27% (7,540) of patients completed all 4 care measures. Adjusted completion rates for all 4 measures did not vary by Medicaid spending level. As compared to Whites, Asian/Pacific Islanders and patients with missing race were more likely to complete all 4 measures (5.1% and 3.7% higher respectively, p=0.00) , while Native Americans were less likely (-6.1%, p=0.04) . Medicaid patients with dual Medicare were more likely to complete all 4 measures than TANF members (4.8%, p=0.00) .
 Conclusions: Only 1 in 4 Medicaid patients with diabetes received all 4 diabetes care measures in our study. Interventions are needed to increase adherence to diabetes processes of care for underserved Medicaid patients with diabetes.

 T.Moin: None. J.Harwood: None. O.Duru: None. C.Tseng: None. C.Mangione: n/a.

 CDC/NIH/NIDDK U18DP006128


INTRODUCTION
Maternal mortality is one of the threatening factors of human life and the overall status index of women's health in any society. Death of a mother causes irreversible damage to a family and a society. This study aims at examining the causes of maternal mortality in urban and rural areas.

AIM
The purpose of this study was to determine the frequney and causes of maternal mortality in urban and rural areas in southeast of Iran in 2009-2013.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This was a retrospective descriptive study and its research population includes the entire pregnant woman who died in Iranshahr County between April 2009 and March 2013. An eight-section questionnaire was used for collecting data. The first section was based on the hospital records of pregnant woman including mother's demographic data and the following sections were completed based on their health records.

RESULTS
The frequency of maternal mortality during birth in the study period was 34 (of 4857). The study individuals were between 13 and 40-year-old with the mean age of 30±6.4. Maximum maternal mortality occurred in 2012. Haemorrhage was the most common cause of maternal death (38.2%).

CONCLUSION
As haemorrhage was the most common cause of death of pregnant women in this study, it seems necessary to improve care for woman and reduce haemorrhage and its complications during pregnancy period.


Background: Access to health services is needed around the world, from healthcare providers to doctors. One of the needs in public health is a system that is accessible for everyone, but, unequal distribution of healthcare provider and health workers, especially in dentistry fields is still a main problem in several countries, including Indonesia. The aim of this study is to analyze the spatial distribution of dentists, dental technicians, and dental therapists. Methods: This spatial analysis study was conducted after obtaining secondary data in Indonesia. All data were collected between September 1 st, 2020 and October 1 st, 2020 from open access sources of de-identified data. The data of dentists per area, dental technicians per area, and dental therapists per area were calculated for analysis. A spatial distribution map was prepared using the Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS Desktop, version 3.10.6). Results: The results of this study found a ratio of dentists to members of the population in Indonesia of 1:17,105. The average number of dental technicians that work in the public health centers in each province (dental technicians per area) in Indonesia was calculated to be 0.13. The average number of dental therapists that work in the public health centers in each province (dental therapists per area) in Indonesia was calculated to be 0.40. This spatial autocorrelation illustrates that there is a relationship between values of dentists per area and dental therapists per area between provinces in Indonesia, and shows geographic clustering relationships or patterns that are grouped and have similar characteristics in adjacent locations. This spatial autocorrelation did not occur in the value of dental technicians. Conclusions: From this study we can conclude that there is an unequal distribution of dental personnel in Indonesia.


The performance of the permanent magnet synchronous machines depends on the torque ripple and radial forces acting on its shaft and stator frame. There are two major ways to treat the undesirable torque ripples. In the first group of the methods machine design issues is considered. The second group considers optimal excitation of the machine so that the resulting performance is acceptable. In this paper a voltage formulation of the field reconstruction method is derived to predict the machine performance. The voltage source waveforms are used to find the associated 3 phase currents. The currents are used to calculate magnetic field distribution in the middle of the air gap. These quantities are used to predict the performance of the targeted PMSM.


Objectives: The aim of the present study was to determine the incidence of peptic ulcer bleeding (PUB) in pediatric patients. Methods: A hospital inpatient database, Premier Perspective, and an insurance claims database, MarketScan, were analyzed to estimate upper and lower limits for the annual incidence of PUB in the US pediatric population. Results: Using data from the Premier Perspective database and database-specific projection methodology, the total number of cases of hospitalization of pediatric patients for PUB in the United States in 2008 was estimated to be between 378 and 652. This translated to an incidence of 0.5 to 0.9/100,000 individuals in the pediatric population. Using data from the MarketScan database, the incidence of PUB in the insured pediatric population was estimated to be 4.4/100,000 individuals. Overall, 17.4% of insured pediatric patients diagnosed as having any upper gastrointestinal ulcer in 2008 were reported to have developed PUB. Conclusions: The estimated incidence of PUB in the US pediatric population in 2008 ranged from 0.5 to 4.4/100,000 individuals. The total number of cases of PUB in pediatric patients in the United States each year was thus estimated to be between 378 and 3250. Such estimates provide a likely lower and upper limit for the total number of cases of the condition annually.


Taking into account global trend that fight against crime and crime prevention can be successful only if we consolidate public authority' and society' efforts all together, the need of study of non-governmental organizations involvement in process of combating crime is necessary. Recent developments of civil society in Ukraine shows us the rise of role of non-governmental organizations in state affairs, and sphere of combating of crime is not an exception. At the same time, the term "non-governmental organizations" seems to be quite new for Ukraine' criminological science, as well as for legal science of Ukraine in a whole. That is why the study of legal nature of non-governmental organizations give us the chance to conduct deeper research about their impact into decision-making proses and formation of different kinds of state policies, including policy in the field of combating crime in Ukraine.
Therefore, the article is devoted to highlighting the characteristic features of nongovernmental organizations. Seems reasonable to start conduct such a research via study based on a logical and meaningful analysis of the regulatory documents of the Council of Europe. Where features of the concept of "non-governmental organization" are disclosed. Later on the right disclosure of features of non-governmental organizations, makes it possible to distinguish them from other similar legal forms (civil society organization, non-profit organization, voluntary citizens' group etc.). Taking into account the global trends and the development of criminological science, the importance of further research on non-governmental organizations in the field of counter of crime is noted. A vital part in further research belongs to formation of a separate definition of "non-governmental organization" in the theory of Ukrainian' legal science.


Due to stringent environmental legislation and increasing fuel costs, the efficiencies of modern turbofan engines have to be further improved. Commonly, this is facilitated by increasing the turbine inlet temperatures in excess of the melting point of the turbine components. This trend has reached a point where not only the high-pressure turbine has to be adequately cooled, but also components further downstream in the engine. Such a component is the turbine center frame (TCF), having a complex aerodynamic flow field that is also highly influenced by purge-mainstream interactions. The purge air, being injected through the wheelspace cavities of the upstream high-pressure turbine, bears a significant cooling potential for the TCF. Despite this, fundamental knowledge of the influencing parameters on heat transfer and film cooling in the TCF is still missing.
 This paper examines the influence of purge-to-mainstream blowing ratio, purge-to-mainstream density ratio and purge flow swirl angle on the convective heat transfer coefficient and the film cooling effectiveness in the TCF. The experiments are conducted in a sector-cascade test rig specifically designed for such heat transfer studies using infrared thermography and tailor-made flexible heating foils with constant heat flux. The inlet flow is characterized by radially traversing a five-hole-probe. Three purge-to-mainstream blowing ratios and an additional no purge case are investigated. The purge flow is injected without swirl and also with engine-similar swirl angles. The purge swirl and blowing ratio significantly impact the magnitude and the spread of film cooling in the TCF. Increasing blowing ratios lead to an intensification of heat transfer. By cooling the purge flow, a moderate variation in purge-to-mainstream density ratio is investigated, and the influence is found to be negligible.


Distribution patterns of intermediate filaments, vimentin, smooth muscle actin, and desmin were studied in the ovine ovary using an immunohistochemical method. Vimentin was consistently expressed in follicular cells of primary, secondary, and antral follicles. Stromal cells of cortex and medulla and those surrounding the corpus luteum were immunostained with the anti-vimentin antibody. Endothelial cells lining blood vessels showed strong anti-vimentin positivity. Smooth muscle cells positive for smooth muscle actin were incorporated in the cortical region in the theca interna and externa and formed incomplete spheres around large antral follicles. In atretic follicles, the presence of positive smooth muscle cells inside follicular spaces were related with capillaries. Corpora lutea were surrounded by a layer of positive smooth muscle cells. In the hilus, smooth muscle actin was localized in the wall of blood vessels. In cortical regions, desmin-positive cells were randomly distributed and occasionally formed ill-defined clusters around tertiary follicles, but not around secondary follicles, whereas desmin was expressed in the medullary region in blood vessels. The distribution pattern of intermediate filaments in sheep ovary suggests a possible role of smooth muscle cells in the mechanism of ovulation.


A preliminary study was conducted to evaluate the effects of nine methanol fungal extracts on fourth instar larvae of Aedes caspius and Culex pipiens (Diptera: Culicidae). None of the extracts tested showed larvicidal activity except for the Paecilomyces lilacinus extract, which showed 100 % mortality against the larvae of Ae caspius after 24 h. The LC50 values of the P. lilacinus extract after 24 h were 190.66 μg/mL against Ae. caspius and 254.25 μg/mL against Cx. pipiens, respectively. After 48 h, meanwhile, the LC50 values were 65.70 and 164.13 μg/mL, respectively. Histological analysis of the midgut of the treated larvae of Ae. caspius and Cx. pipiens revealed changes such as cell destruction, spacing between the cells and disruption of the microvilli, resulting in an appearance of vacuolization in the midgut. This article is the first report of the use of P. lilacinus extract for the control of Ae. caspius and Cx. pipiens larvae and the data obtained may help to provide a better understanding of the mode of action of P. lilacinus as an insecticide against mosquito larvae.


This research aims to study the importance of innovation enablers (Enablers), i.e. factors that enable innovation work, for innovation teams in on-going innovation work and to identify which Enablers that are most important. Prior research states that Enablers are important for innovation work, but there's still knowledge to gain regarding their relative importance. Data from three innovation teams, supported by an external facilitator, were used within this study. The long-term qualitative study demonstrates that the Enablers' importance varies, but Collaboration, Dedication and Mind-set were the most important Enablers in general to overcome innovation project related problems. Further research is suggested.


Abstract. A new regional coupled ocean–atmosphere model is developed and its implementation is presented in this paper. The coupled model is based on two open-source community model components: the MITgcm ocean model and the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) atmosphere model. The coupling between these components is performed using ESMF (Earth System Modeling Framework) and implemented according to National United Operational Prediction Capability (NUOPC) protocols. The coupled model is named the Scripps–KAUST Regional Integrated Prediction System (SKRIPS). SKRIPS is demonstrated with a real-world example by simulating a 30 d period including a series of extreme heat events occurring on the eastern shore of the Red Sea region in June 2012. The results obtained by using the coupled model, along with those in forced stand-alone oceanic or atmospheric simulations, are compared with observational data and reanalysis products. We show that the coupled model is capable of performing coupled ocean–atmosphere simulations, although all configurations of coupled and uncoupled models have good skill in modeling the heat events. In addition, a scalability test is performed to investigate the parallelization of the coupled model. The results indicate that the coupled model code scales well and the ESMF/NUOPC coupler accounts for less than 5 % of the total computational resources in the Red Sea test case. The coupled model and documentation are available at https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/collection/bb1847661c (last access: 26 September 2019), and the source code is maintained at https://github.com/iurnus/scripps_kaust_model (last access: 26 September 2019).


Editorial note: A meeting on 'West Antarctica and the southern Andes: correlation and synthesis', convened by Dr P. W. G. Tanner (Department of Geology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ) was held at the Geological Society on 21 October, 1981. Dr P. W. G. Tanner has provided the following Introduction to the published papers: A geological connection between southern South America and West Antarctica has long been recognized: indeed, Suess in 1888 proposed that 'the Andes are to be seen again in Graham Land' (Tyrrell 1945). This geological unity is now known to have arisen from the quasi-continuous subduction of Pacific Ocean floor beneath the western margin of this region over the past 200-300 Ma. A linear pattern of fore-arc, magmatic arc and back-arc terranes which developed parallel to the Pacific margin of the Gondwana super-continent was later disrupted and offset following the break-up of Gondwana in the earliest Cretaceous, in particular by the Cenozoic opening of the Scotia Sea. The purpose of the 21 October meeting was to encourage geologists currently working in the southern Andes and Antarctic Peninsula to provide up to date syntheses of many different aspects of the geology of this long-active continental margin belt. The collection of papers which has resulted is not encyclopaedic, emphasis being placed on research in progress rather than on review papers, but it does give direct access to a widely scattered and often obscure literature. It also reflects the change in the style of research which took place in the mid


BACKGROUND
TEL (ETV6)/AML1 (RUNX1) rearrangement is observed in approximately 20-25% of childhood precursor B-ALL and is associated with a favorable outcome. Additional genetic changes, associated with TEL/AML1, are frequently found. We evaluated the prevalence and prognostic significance of TEL/AML1 rearrangement and additional genetic changes in the TEL and AML1 genes in Korean childhood precursor B-ALL.

METHODS
We performed FISH using LSITEL/AML1 ES probe (Vysis, USA) in 123 children diagnosed as having precursor B-ALL and assessed clinical relevance of the TEL/AML1 rearrangement and additional genetic abnormalities.

RESULTS
The frequency of TEL/AML1 was 17.1% (21/123) in patients with precursor B-ALL. TEL/ AML1-positive group showed male predominance (P=0.012) and younger age of onset than TEL/ AML1-negative group by 1.6 yr (P=0.013). The outcome of TEL/AML1-positive group tended to show lower incidences of relapse (1/21 vs 20/102), death (1/21 vs 17/102) and longer event free survival. Among TEL/AML1-positive patients, unrearranged TEL deletion, AML1 gain, and unrearranged TEL deletion combined with AML1 gain were detected in 61.9%, 23.8%, and 9.5%, respectively. There were no significant differences in the clinical features and outcome according to the presence or absence of additional genetic changes.

CONCLUSIONS
The frequency of TEL/AML1 and additional genetic changes in TEL and AML1 is higher than previous studies in Korean children, and in close agreement with usually reported one, 20-25%. TEL/AML1-positive group showed a tendency toward better prognosis. Further study is needed to clarify the prognostic significance of additional changes in TEL and AML1 based on a large sample size.


The mechanical behaviour of ceramic refractories formulated in the MgO-CaO-SiO2- ZrO2 system is analysed in terms of the room temperature Young´s modulus, the modulus of rupture and the work of fracture at 25 and 1100°C. The materials have been designed taking into account the phase equilibrium relationships to obtain MgO-CaZrO3-Ca2SiO4-Ca3Mg(SiO4)2 or MgO-CaZrO3-Ca3Mg(SiO4)2-c-ZrO2 as final crystalline phases. Different relationships between the proportion and sizes of the fines and the aggregates have been explored. The microstructure of the materials has been characterised in terms of density, crystalline phases and phase distribution and morphology. A combination of X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analyses and Reflected Light Optical Microscopy (RLOM) has been used. The relationships between the obtained phases and microstructures and the grain size distributions of the used raw materials have been established. The relationships between the mineralogical composition and the obtained microstructure and the mechanical behaviour are discussed.


Background and Objectives Interscalene block can be chosen for complete anesthesia for shoulder surgery. Phrenic nerve block occurs with almost all interscalene blocks, but is well tolerated in most patients. This may not be the case in selected geriatric patients. Methods The patient is a 90-year-old female with osteoarthritis of the left shoulder scheduled for total shoulder anthroplasty. Past medical history revealed hypertension, mild mitral valve insufficiency, and a remote episode of congestive heart failure. She underwent interscalene block with 40 mL of 1.4% mepivacaine, 1:200,000 epinephrine freshly added, alkalinized with sodium bicarbonate. Results The onset of the block was rapid and complete. The patient had minimal intravenous sedation (0.5 mg midazolam) and was resting comfortably with a respiratory rate of 12-14 breaths/min. Approximately 5 minutes after the injection of local anesthetic, the patient was noted to be alert, cyanotic, denying dyspnea, with an oxygen saturation of 75-85%. A chest radiograph revealed elevation of the ipsilateral hemidiaphragm and no pneumothorax or other pathology. Despite supplemental oxygen by face mask, desaturation persisted and general anesthesia was induced. On emergence from anesthesia, the patient had a complete interscalene block. Repeat chest radiograph after resolution of the block revealed return of hemidiaphragm position and no other pathology. The patient was extubated in the recovery room without difficulty. Following extubation the patient demonstrated stable respirations and normal oxyhemoglobin saturation. Conclusions Ipsilateral phrenic nerve paralysis caused significant respiratory compromise in an elderly patient without known significant pulmonary disease.


The popularity of academic social networks like ResearchGate and Academia.edu indicates that scholars want to share their work, yet for universities with Open Access (OA) policies, these sites may be competing with institutional repositories for content. Our study seeks to reveal researcher practices, attitudes, and motivations around uploading their work to ResearchGate and complying with an institutional Open Access Policy. We conducted a population study to examine the participation by 558 full-time University of Rhode Island faculty members in the OA Policy and ResearchGate, followed by a survey of 728 full-time URI faculty members about their participation in the two services. Institutional Repositories and Academic Social Networks: Competition or Complement?


Abstract The importance of arabinoxylans and b-glucans in rye baking was studied by depolymerizing these cell wall polysaccharides in situ with purified xylanase and β-glucanase. Two different rye cultivars, Danko (from Sweden) and Muskate (from Canada), were used. The most marked effect of the enzymes was the reduction in proofing time, with xylanase having the greater effect. Xylanase addition made the doughs soft and slack, as indicated by the viscoelastic measurements. Both xylanase and β-glucanase had a positive effect on the dough volume, but a negative effect on the oven rise. Addition of increasing levels of β-glucanase during baking degraded β-glucans extensively in the bread but did not influence the content or solubility of arabinoxylans. Microstructural studies showed xylanase addition to cause increased fragmentation of cell walls. Xylanase also increased the release of amylose from the starch granules. At high dosage of xylanase swelling of the starch granules and a release of proteins from aleurone cells were observed. Sugar analysis and NMR studies of soluble non-starch polysaccharides isolated from the bread revealed higher contents of soluble arabinose, xylose and glucose residues in the Danko bread without enzyme addition than in the corresponding Muskate.


: Bioactive peptides are chemical functional substances which are linked by covalent bond and are formed by amino acid residues. The essential requirement of food derived bioactive peptide increases day by day due its important property, for example high affinity, efficiency specificity which play vital role in human health by promoting digestive, endocrine, cardiovascular, immune system. They also known as future biological active regulators which help to reduce the chances of oxidation and microbial degradation in food stuff. The biological active substance having different considerable activities which includes antiproliferative, antioxidant, antimicrotubular, these activities are identified from the marine animal sources, specifically algae and cyanobacteria, which act as a secondary metabolite. Milk also contain rich amount of soluble and insoluble protein that is whey and casein protein. Alcalase potato protein hydrolysate (APPH) and germinated soya bean protein are bioceutical and play role in anti -obesity as well as anti-diabetes. The different presumed biological activities found in glutellin which carry at least 21 peptides with~53% of the nut storage protein. These activities are anti-hypertensives, antioxidants, immunomodulators, antimicrobial, anti-thrombotic, anti-cancer, hypocholesterolemic, anti-obesity and protease inhibitors that inhibits the cell cycle progression in cancer cells. These peptides have many advantages than the synthetic drugs. There is need to establish favourable condition to develop bioactive peptides for the human welfare in terms of treating many diseases as well as food beverages. the a Alcases degrade soy protein the antioxidative cell spectrometry methodology the of three highly antihypertensive peptides in maize crops.


Purpose Nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) is associated with vascular as well as anatomical risk factors. Following the insult, the visual development varies from minor to severe deterioration. The aim of this study was to examine possible prognostic systemic risk factors and their eventual impact on post-insult visual development in NAION patients. Methods A retrospective chart review of all NAION patients (18–79 years at time of diagnosis) seen a minimum of two times in a tertiary eye department during a 10-year period in regard to systemic diseases, medication, lifestyle factors and ophthalmic examination was performed. Visual outcome was assessed according to the development of best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and visual field from initial to final visit. Results There were 163 eligible patients. A greater proportion of the patients in the total cohort were over 50 years of age (79.8%) and men (66.3%). In total, 59.5% of the patients had a stable BCVA, while 25.8% experienced improvement, and 14.7% had deterioration. Seventy-two percent of the patients had a stable visual field, while 14% had improvement, and 14% had deterioration. No association between visual outcome and clinical characteristics, medication or systemic risk factors were identified. Conclusion We did not find any association between patient characteristics and systemic risk factors at time of diagnosis and visual development post-insult. This could suggest that the optic nerve head anatomy plays a larger role for visual outcome than previously estimated.


Brain activity related to time estimation processes in humans was analyzed using a perceptual phenomenon called auditory temporal assimilation. In a typical stimulus condition, two neighboring time intervals (T1 and T2 in this order) are perceived as equal even when the physical lengths of these time intervals are considerably different. Our previous event-related potential (ERP) study demonstrated that a slow negative component (SNCt) appears in the right-frontal brain area (around the F8 electrode) after T2, which is associated with judgment of the equality/inequality of T1 and T2. In the present study, we conducted two ERP experiments to further confirm the robustness of the SNCt. The stimulus patterns consisted of two neighboring time intervals marked by three successive tone bursts. Thirteen participants only listened to the patterns in the first session, and judged the equality/inequality of T1 and T2 in the next session. Behavioral data showed typical temporal assimilation. The ERP data revealed that three components (N1; contingent negative variation, CNV; and SNCt) emerged related to the temporal judgment. The N1 appeared in the central area, and its peak latencies corresponded to the physical timing of each marker onset. The CNV component appeared in the frontal area during T2 presentation, and its amplitude increased as a function of T1. The SNCt appeared in the right-frontal area after the presentation of T1 and T2, and its magnitude was larger for the temporal patterns causing perceptual inequality. The SNCt was also correlated with the perceptual equality/inequality of the same stimulus pattern, and continued up to about 400 ms after the end of T2. These results suggest that the SNCt can be a signature of equality/inequality judgment, which derives from the comparison of the two neighboring time intervals.


In this study, the synthesis of palm oil-based polymeric ester for application as a polymeric surfactant was carried out by a cationic addition polymerisation method through two steps. The initial step is a synthesis of fatty acid methyl esters oleate (FAMEO) through esterification reaction between oleic acid and methanol. The optimum conditions of the esterification reaction were carried out at a temperature of 70–80 o C for 4 hours with the addition of 1wt% sulfuric acid as a catalyst. The molar ratio between oleic acid and methanol was 1:3. FAMEO was analysed using GCMS to determine the methyl ester content. The second step is the polymerisation of FAMEO. The polymerisation reaction of FAMEO was carried out at 120, 140, and 160 o C with 1wt%, 3wt% and 5wt% of boron trifluoride dihydrate as a catalyst and an initiator of polymerisation reaction for 4 to 24 hours of reaction. The reaction conversion of the product was 66%. The polymeric ester was analysed H-NMR. Meanwhile, the molecular weight of that product was 1714 g/mol which analysed using GPC and the PDI was 1.12346 or equal to 1.12. It means that the polymerisation technique was controlled or living polymerisation, which indicates that the distribution type of this product was narrow monodisperse.


The increasing ethnic diversity of the UK has been mirrored by growing public awareness of multicultural issues, alongside developments in academic and government thinking. This paper explores the contested meanings around ethnic identity/ies in community settings, drawing on semi-structured interviews with staff from Children's Centres and allied agencies conducted for a research project that examined the relationship between identity and the participation of parents/carers in services in northeast England. The research found that respondents were unclear about, especially, white ethnic identities, and commonly referred to other social categorizations, such as age, nationality, and circumstances such as mobility, when discussing service users. While in some cases this may have reflected legitimate attempts to resist over-ethnicizing non-ethnic phenomena, such constructions coexisted with assumptions about ethnic difference and how it might translate into service needs. These findings raise important considerations for policy and practice.


This article constructs new monetary aggregates for Ireland between 1840 and 1921. Three major findings are gleaned from the data. First, we find that the degree of monetization on the eve of the Famine was comparatively high. Second, we find an unprecedented monetary contraction during the Famine. Third, in contrast to previous research, we find that the failure of the Munster Bank in 1885 had ramifications for confidence in, and the stability of, the banking system.


We have created this LibGuide for the purpose of sharing resources, that address Racism, White Privilege, and Police Brutality (all do thanks to Donald B. Watt Library's marvelous research guide)


The 18O(p, α)15N and 17O(p, α)14N reactions are of primary importance in several as‐trophysical scenarios, including nucleosynthesis inside Asymptotic Giant Branch stars and oxygen and nitrogen isotopic ratios in meteorite grains. They are also key reactions to understand exotic systems such as R‐Coronae Borealis stars and novae. Thus, the measurement of their cross sections in the low energy region can be crucial to reduce the nuclear uncertainty on theoretical predictions, because the resonance parameters are poorly determined. The Trojan Horse Method, in its newly developed form particularly suited to investigate low‐energy resonances, has been applied to the 2H(18O, α15N)n and 2H(17O, α14N)n reactions to deduce the 18O(p, α)15N and 17O(p, α)14N cross sections at low energies. Resonances in the 18O(p, α)15N and 17O(p, α)14N excitation functions have been studied and the resonance parameters deduced.


Forward steps are being taken in the care of mentally ill patients, who are often cured and returned to their homes as productive citizens. In many hospitals up to 80 per cent of first admissions are returned home within a year. In a state close to Texas the mentally ill do not remain in jail pending admission to a state hospital because there is no waiting list. As soon as patients reach the hospital, members of the medical staff diagnose their difficulty as accurately as possible, and members of the treatment and rehabilitation team begin the hopeful process of preparing them for their return to useful work in community life. Texas aspires to a similar goal. Its hospital program is moving from the "human warehouses" of the past to effective treatment centers-places of encouragement, of hope, of cure. The transition is not easy. Scientific knowledge, public interest, and professionally trained personnel are the indispensable partners in such progress. Research workers can define problems and point to ways of improvement, but even their invaluable reports become dust-collectors unless the information is made available to the public. At the request of the Texas Research League staff, the Hogg Foundation is publishing this brief booklet based on their 13 volume study. The League is responsible for the study, for the findings, and for the recommendations. The Foundation is responsible for writing the study in summary form.
Individual copies are available at the Hogg Foundation office
without charge.


Abstract We use a state space model to estimate a time-varying Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment (NAIRU) for Israel for the period 1992–2013. The NAIRU is an unobserved variable and can be estimated by the Kalman filter, exploiting the assumed relationship between the NAIRU and several observed variables such as the inflation and unemployment rates. We assume a forward looking Phillips curve, according to which actual inflation is influenced by expected inflation (which is also unobserved), by the unemployment gap (the gap between the actual unemployment rate and the NAIRU) and by real exchange rate changes. As a proxy for expected inflation, we use data on inflation expectations derived from the bond market in Israel ("breakeven inflation"). This enables us to avoid making an assumption regarding the formation of expectations, especially avoiding the usual practice of assuming adaptive expectations and using lags of inflation as proxies for inflation expectations. We find that the estimated NAIRU is fairly variable and explains a great deal of the low frequency dynamics of the actual unemployment rate. For example, from 2004 to 2013, the actual unemployment rate declined by 7.7 percentage points. Our estimates suggest that 6.2 percentage points (most of the reduction) were due to a decline in the NAIRU. This is probably a result of policy steps to encourage employment that were implemented by the government beginning in 2002. We also found that the estimated NAIRU fits very well in a Beveridge curve, and thus helps to identify the negative relationship between job vacancies and unemployment, as one would expect from a measure of structural unemployment.


Web technologies are quickly evolving in order to provide an increasing set of services to Internet users. Multimedia is one of the fields where the availability of high-speed networks, innovative devices and new technological approaches is noticeably arousing the interest of content producers and consumers. In this regard, it is worth mentioning new HTML5 elements to embed multimedia, recent evolutions of e-book formats towards interactivity and hypermedia, and the establishment of new W3C groups addressing specific media-related issues. Such technological advances can have a deep impact on digital cultures, as it regards both content production and dissemination on the Web. The current challenge is to combine new hardware and software technologies in order to radically improve and customize content experience. After discussing a number of approaches to music representation, this paper aims to review the most relevant Web technologies already available and to propose new Web applications addressing music in an advanced multimedia context.


Until recently, virtually all information about the past in Vietnam was produced by scholars working for the state, mainly university professors, and published in print media. In recent years, however, private individuals have begun to make use of the Internet to offer new perspectives on the Vietnamese past, and in some cases to print their work. Some of these amateur historians have now produced a new narrative about Vietnamese prehistory. This narrative presents an extremely positive view of the history of the ancient ancestors of the Vietnamese, seeing them as essentially the founders of East Asian civilisation. While some aspects of this narrative were first proposed by South Vietnamese philosopher Lương Kim Định in the 1960s, amateur Vietnamese historians in the diaspora around the turn of the 21st century added what they argued were "scientific" findings of "international" scholars to this narrative. Finally, scholars in Vietnam accessed these ideas through the Internet and synthesised them with the works of scholars working in Vietnam. This spread of ideas from South Vietnam into the diaspora and then back to Vietnam via the Internet offers a fascinating insight into the ways in which communication in the Digital Age has enabled some authors from the previously divided worlds of Vietnam and the diaspora to find common ground to promote a nationalistic vision of the distant past IJAPS, Vol. 16, No. 1, 71–104, 2020 The Centrality of "Fringe History" 72 out of a shared desire to create a strong cultural and philosophical foundation that will enable Vietnamese to thrive in the global age.


An infra-red spectrograph having sufficient flexibility to permit a wide variety of investigations is described. Its main characteristics follow. Any one of two prisms and two gratings, mounted on a table rotated by a large worm wheel, may readily be put into the path of the collimated radiation. A foreprism spectrometer is built into the instrument in such a way that it may be by-passed. The spectrograph case and the source housing are evacuable. Moving parts in the evacuated chamber are controlled through induction and Autosyn types of motors. This permits control, entirely electrical, from a semi-portable unit outside the spectrograph. The widths of the slits are automatically varied so that the output of the radiation detector thermocouple is approximately the same for all spectral regions if no absorbing material is in the path. The radiation detector is a rapid-response evaporated thermocouple whose output is amplified by a vacuum tube amplifier. A pulsating thermocouple output voltage is obtained by interrupting the radiation at the entrance slit by a rotating shutter. Shutters of metal, mica, and sodium chloride are used to minimize the effect of scattered radiation. To adjust the frequency of the shutter to match the sharply tuned amplifier, the rotational speed of the shutter disk is controlled through a synchronous motor driven by a variable-frequency power supply. A thyratron-operated calibration flasher is used to put reference lines on the photographically recorded spectra. The housing in which the Nernst glower is mounted is equipped with windows so that it may be divided into compartments to serve also as a vapor cell. This unit carries a mounting designed to locate a liquid cell precisely.


We conducted this study to determine the relationships between the use of self-regulated learning strategies (SRL) and depression scores among medical students. An accelerated prospective cohort study among 623 students at a public medical university in Vietnam was carried out during the academic year 2012–2013. The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (21 items) was used to measure depression scores as the primary research outcome, and to measure anxiety and stress scores as the confounding variables. Fourteen SRL subscales including intrinsic/extrinsic goal orientation, task value, self-efficacy for learning, control of learning beliefs, rehearsal, elaboration, organization, critical thinking, meta-cognitive strategies, time and study environment, effort regulation, peer learning, and help seeking were measured using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. Data were collected at two points in time (once each semester). There were 744 responses at the first time (95.88%) and 623 at time two (drop-out rate of 16.26%). The generalized estimating equation was applied to identify any relationships between the use of each SRL subscale and depression scores at time 2, adjusting for the effects of depression at time 1, anxiety, stress, within cluster correlation, and potential demographic covariates. Separate multivariate GEE analysis indicated that all SRL subscales were significantly negatively associated with depression scores, except for extrinsic goal orientation and peer learning. Whereas full multivariate GEE analysis revealed that self-efficacyT1, help-seekingT1, time and study environmentT2 were found to be significantly negatively associated with depressionT2, adjusting for the effects of depressionT1, anxiety, stress, and demographic covariates. The results should be used to provide appropriate support for medical students to reduce depression.


Distance Learner Library Services provide help with research needs and access to library materials for currently enrolled students living over one hour from the ORU campus. Library registration is required before services can be provided.


The state of the oxygen-depended antimicrobial activity of neutrophils on oncologic patients was studied. Production of active oxygen by non-activated and activated neutrophils of peripheral blood from 19 patients (the average age of 56 years, 16 males and 3 females) with esophageal cancer and cancer of the stomach and metastasis to the esophagus was recorded by chemiluminescence before and after surgical interventions (transpleural gastrectomy, Lewis type operation) on the 1st, 3rd and 7th days after the operations. The oxygen-depended antimicrobial activity of the neutrophils was investigated by their ability to produce active oxygen when incubated with opsonized zymosan and N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine. Luminol chemiluminescence recorded the whole pool of active oxygen and showed the summary activity of myeloperoxidase and NADPH-oxidase, while luceginin chemiluminescence measured formation of superoxide anion radical (*O(-)2) and evaluated the activity of NADPH-oxidase. The results showed that the procedure provided estimation of the functional state of the neutrophil leukocytes and their ability to produce active oxygen. Impairment of the myeloperoxidase- and NADPH-depended production of active oxygen by non-activated and activated neutrophils observed before operations resulted in altered synthesis of active oxygen after the surgery. This is one of the leading factors of the infection development in the end. Detection of the myeloperoxidase- and NADPH-depended production of active oxygen could be of help in revealing the groups of risk among patients at the stage of the preoperative examination and serve as a prognostic factor of the development of severe infectious complications during the postoperative period.


This study deals with the evaluation of four different image-processing software modules for the generation of digital surface models from very high-resolution stereo satellite data. The analysis was done in an urban area due to the growing interest in 3-D information over built-up areas. Depending on the different geometric model approaches used by the different software packages, shifts between 3.06-3.27 m between the digital surface models (DSMs) and the reference DSM were measured. The vertical RMSE of the four tested software packages range between 2.96-14.01 m. However, the visual evaluation resulted in a different ranking and does not confirm the quantitative results entirely. The results show that, depending on the building type to be extracted, the choice of software package may vary. The challenges of automatic DSM extraction in urban areas and the performance of current software package modules to address them are discussed. Potential improvements for automatic DSM extraction in urban areas are identified.


The omicron variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is known to have high infectivity and is more likely to evade vaccine immunity. However, booster vaccination is expected to strengthen cross-reactive immunity, thereby increasing the vaccine effectiveness (VE). This study aimed to evaluate the relative VE of the 3-dose (booster) vaccination compared with the 2-dose primary series vaccination in healthcare workers during omicron variant-dominant periods. During the omicron-dominant period from February 1, 2022 to February 28, 2022, a 1:1 matched case-control study was conducted. Healthcare workers with positive SARS-CoV-2 test results were classified as positive cases, whereas those with negative results served as controls. Compared with the 2-dose primary series vaccination, booster vaccination with mRNA vaccine showed moderate VE (53.1%). However, in multivariate analysis including the time elapsed after vaccination, the significant VE disappeared, reflecting the impact of recent vaccination rather than the third dose itself.


For language modeling of spontaneous speech, we propose a novel approach, based on the statistical machine translation framework, which transforms a document-style model to the spoken style. For better coverage and more reliable estimation, incorporation of POS (part-of-speech) information is explored in addition to lexical information. In this paper, we investigate several methods that combine POS-based model or integrate POS information in the ME (maximum entropy) scheme. They achieve significant reduction in perplexity and WER in a meeting transcription task. Moreover, the model is applied to different domains or committee meetings of different topics. As a result, even larger perplexity reduction is achieved compared with the case tested in the same domain. The result demonstrates the generality and portability of the model.


The cognitive effects of the most commonly used antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are reviewed, discussing both the absolute effects (the effects compared to no treatment) and the relative effects (the comparison of one AED with an other). The cognitive profile per AED is given, based on a literature database, consisting of 1,357 articles in peer review journals. Available information on the newer AEDs is discussed as an addendum.


In gravel bed rivers, bed load transport exhibits considerable variability in time and space. Recently, stochastic bed load transport theories have been developed to address the mechanisms and effects of bed load transport fluctuations. Stochastic models involve parameters such as particle diffusivity, entrainment, and deposition rates. The lack of hard information on how these parameters vary with flow conditions is a clear impediment to their application to real‐world scenarios. In this paper, we determined the closure equations for the above parameters from laboratory experiments. We focused on shallow supercritical flow on a sloping mobile bed in straight channels, a setting that was representative of flow conditions in mountain rivers. Experiments were run at low sediment transport rates under steady nonuniform flow conditions (i.e., the water discharge was kept constant, but bed forms developed and migrated upstream, making flow nonuniform). Using image processing, we reconstructed particle paths to deduce the particle velocity and its probability distribution, particle diffusivity, and rates of deposition and entrainment. We found that on average, particle acceleration, velocity, and deposition rate were responsive to local flow conditions, whereas entrainment rate depended strongly on local bed activity. Particle diffusivity varied linearly with the depth‐averaged flow velocity. The empirical probability distribution of particle velocity was well approximated by a Gaussian distribution when all particle positions were considered together. In contrast, the particles located in close vicinity to the bed had exponentially distributed velocities. Our experimental results provide closure equations for stochastic or deterministic bed load transport models.


The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of an innovative, multicomponent, theory-based educational intervention for pediatric residents on prevention of tobacco use counseling for cessation. Before and 3 months after intervention residents in a large urban midwestern pediatric residency program completed a self-assessment of measures of their attitudes and counseling behaviors. The intervention was a 3-hour multicomponent program including presentations, case discussions, role-plays and support material based on concepts from Motivational Interviewing (MI). Participants reported increased confidence in their ability to counsel, as well as greater frequency of counseling (standardized effect size (d) = 0.57). Residents also reported an increased use of principal components of MI, assessing how important quitting is to patients (d = .66), and how confident patients are in their ability to quit (d = .78). This brief educational intervention taught theory-based counseling techniques to pediatric residents. After the study, participants reported significant increases in their frequency of counseling as well as greater use of the MI principles.


Through application of the contemporary term transmasculinity and the more historical stone butch, the author questions the critical tendency to perceive American writer Willa Cather only as lesbian while ignoring or undertheorizing a transgender longing at play in her fiction, short stories, and letters. While biographical evidence must not be approached as simply coterminous with literary production, as literature often exceeds or resists such alignments, Cather's letters in particular suggest a strong identification with her male fictional alliances. Analysis of her letters alongside two of her most treasured, and disparaged, novels, One of Ours (1922) and The Professor's House (1925), conveys Cather's wish for an idealized masculinity, both for herself and for Western culture, that would survive two coeval historical processes and events: the closing of the American frontier and the First World War. Through what the author calls a stone butch "armature," she and her characters retained masculine dignity despite historical foreclosure of Cather's manly ideal, Winston Churchill's Great Man, who was for her the artistic and intellectual casualty of the period. Cather expressed the peculiar nostalgic longing present in stone butch, and in the explosion of new forms of transmasculinity in the present. This suggests that historical transgender styles don't disappear entirely, even as new categories emerge.


The development of antifertility drugs is reviewed and judged as beneficial to man's social progress, although the need for safer, more convenient, and more effective contraceptives is still recognized. The unreliability and subjectivity of most reports of side effects from pill use is noted, and the need for accurate and comprehensive epidemiological studies of oral contraceptives is emphasized.


Transmission control protocol (TCP), a widely used transport protocol performs well over the traditional network which is constructed by purely wired links. As wireless access networks are growing rapidly, the wired/wireless mixed internetwork, a heterogeneous environment will get wide deployment in the next-generation ALL-IP wireless networks. TCP which detects the losses as congestion events could not suit the heterogeneous network in which the losses will be introduced by higher bit-error rates or handoffs. There exist some unsolved challenges for applying TCP over wireless links. End-to-end congestion control and fairness issues are two significant factors. To satisfy these two criteria, we propose a jitter-based scheme to adapt sending rates to the packet losses and jitter ratios. The experiment results show that our jitter-based TCP (JTCP) conducts good performance over the heterogeneous network.


This study examines the integration of regional dairy markets in Poland, which is a major European dairy producing country. The analysis of prices is important, as many dairy farmers are members of dairy processing cooperatives, and their incomes are affected by the prices of two popular products: butter and curd. Moreover, the period of study included significant fluctuations in the world market and the termination of the milk quota system in the European Union (EU). The price records used in this study are from the two main milk-producing regions in the country: Northern and Central. The data were tested for stationarity and Granger causality before estimating a Vector Error Correction (VEC) model. Estimation results show that the removal of the milk quota lowered prices of butter and curd in the two regions. The relationships of the prices in both regions for butter markets were nearly perfect during the period January 2010–November 2017, but curd prices were found unintegrated. Impulse response analysis showed that the effect of shocks was mostly absorbed in a two-week period and prices returned to full equilibrium in about four to five weeks. This fast price adjustment indicates that both markets operate properly and no market participant can obtain gains above those offered at equilibrium.


ABSTRACT López-Gutiérrez, J.S.; Negro, V., and Esteban, M.D., 2016. New Coastal Regulation in Spain. A roadmap to a better approach to coastal environment. In: Vila-Concejo, A.; Bruce, E.; Kennedy, D.M., and McCarroll, R.J. (eds.), Proceedings of the 14th International Coastal Symposium (Sydney, Australia). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, No. 75, pp. 662–666. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The decision to draw a fixed line dividing land into two different types of property – public domain and privately owned land – in a changeable environment is a potentially major source of conflict in Spain. This conflict is caused by adapting this fixed line to the movements of the shoreline. Obviously, then, the limit has to move its position from time to time. The current Spanish Coastal Law was published in 2013. As written, it cannot be considered a single document because it has to be read together with the previous 1988 Coastal Law document in order to gain a complete view of the current Spanish Coastal Law. The new Coastal Regulation was published in 2014. The paper shows and analyzes changes in the 2013 Law and the 2014 Regulation in comparison with the previous 1988 Coastal Law and the 1989 Regulation. Some of the changes set forth in the paper are: a more accurate definition of the position of the Public Domain limit; a new definition of the severe regression concept; a new classification of the uses of beaches depending on the characteristics of the area; consideration of the climate change effects; possibility of transferring, inter vivos and causa mortis, of properties located in the public domain under government concession, etc. All these lead drive to major improvements in coastal management in Spain. In addition, this paper includes some proposals for further improvements.


Background: The major allergen of the dust mite Lepidoglyphus destructor, Lep d 2, has been produced as a recombinant allergen (rLep d 2) with IgE reactivity both in vivo and in vitro. A modified form of rLep d 2 (rLep d 2.6Cys) obtained by site-directed mutagenesis has been shown to have a reduced IgE reactivity in vitro. In this study we have compared the ability of rLep d 2 and rLep d 2.6Cys to elicit positive skin prick tests and cellular responses among L. destructor-sensitized subjects. Methods: Seventeen subjects were skin prick-tested with rLep d 2, rLep d 2.6Cys, histamine and negative controls and 17–20 h later skin biopsy specimens were taken from the skin prick-tested sites. The biopsy specimens were stained immunohistochemically for EG2+, CD3+, CD1a+, mast cell tryptase+, and IgE+ cells. Dermal cell infiltrates were judged in hematoxylin and eosin staining. Total IgE and allergen-specific IgE were determined by CAP-RAST. Results: Compared to rLep d 2, rLep d 2.6Cys induced significantly smaller and fewer skin prick test reactions (p < 0.001) and dermal cell infiltrates (p < 0.05). Further, rLep d 2.6Cys induced fewer EG2+ cells (p < 0.001) but more tryptase+ cells (p < 0.05) than rLep d 2. A positive RAST to rLep d 2 was obtained for 88.2% of the subjects, while only 35.2% displayed a positive RAST to rLep d 2.6Cys. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that rLep d 2.6Cys is less able to evoke IgE-mediated reactions and cellular responses, as measured both in skin and in serum, than rLep d 2. In the future this hypoallergenic derivative may be a promising candidate molecule for immunotherapy of L. destructor-allergic patients.


This paper presents the implementation of 3D tracking techniques based on natural features for augmented reality. The contemplated techniques are from the model based category, comprising recursive and non-recursive methods, as well as edge and texture based techniques. An evaluation of the implemented 3D trackers was performed regarding performance and accuracy under different scenarios.


I immediately entered the room where my friend was on the verge of collapse, but he got neither help nor sympathy. I later saw the young houseman again, and he told me the condition was an astrocytoma. After a course of radiotherapy at another hospital the patient returned home, but deteriorated and was eventually admitted to the little 50-bedded cottage hospital in her home town. From the point of view of general comfort, nursing care, and kindness and understanding, this was by far the best of all the hospitals she had been in. Nothing was too much trouble to make her end as easy as possible, and to support her husband in his distress. This hospital is now in imminent danger of being closed down on grounds of cost. It would appear that, the larger the hospital, the lower the level of common humanity and vice versa. Too few of our colleagues seem to appreciate that not only does the patient need kindness and understanding as part of therapy, but that in serious cases reasonable explanation to close relatives might well save them from subsequent severe psychological trauma. In this case the husband and child, being basically balanced individuals, faced up to the whole situation very well, but if they had been of less mature personality the consequences might well have been severe and long standing.-I am, etc.,


Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder with an increased prevalence around the world over the past two decades. Remarkably, a large number of individuals with ASD have gastrointestinal disorders. Recent studies demonstrate that the endogenous gut microbiota has a close relationship with ASD according to the analyses of human host intestinal microbial composition and animal model studies. Here, we review the reports of microbial dysbiosis in ASD and then discuss the recent evidence of biological interactions among microbiota, metabolism, immunity, neurodevelopment, and behaviors. We also describe the role of the gut microbiome in the link between ASD and environmental risk factors. Finally, we suggest adjuvant treatments to consider in attempts to correct autistic behaviors.


We present deep Keck/MOSFIRE H-band spectroscopic observations covering the [C iii],C iii]λλ1907, 1909 doublet for three z ∼ 8 galaxy candidates in the AEGIS field. Along with nondetections in two galaxies, we obtain one of the highest-redshift detections to date of [C iii]λ1907 for the galaxy AEGIS-33376, finding z spec = 7.945 ± 0.001. We measure a [C iii]λ1907 flux of 2.24 ± 0.71 × 10−18erg s−1cm−2, corresponding to a rest-frame equivalent width of 20.3 ± 6.5 Å for the single line. Given the not very constraining upper limit for C iii]λ1909 based on strong sky-line contamination, we assume a [C iii]λ1907/C iii]λ1909 doublet ratio of 1.5 and infer a total [C iii][C iii]λλ1907, 1909 equivalent width of 33.7 ± 10.8 Å. We repeat the same reductions and analysis on multiple subsets of our raw data divided on the basis of time and observing conditions, verifying that the [C iii]λ1907 emission is present for AEGIS-33376 throughout our observations. We also confirm that the significance of the [C iii]λ1907 detection in different subsets of our data tracks that of brighter emission features detected on the same multi-slit mask. These multiple tests suggest that the observed emission line is real and associated with the z ∼ 8 target. The strong observed [C iii],C iii]λλ1907, 1909 in AEGIS-33376 likely indicates ISM conditions of low metallicity, high ionization parameter, and a hard ionizing spectrum, although AGN contributions are possible. This single detection represents a sizable increase in the current sample [C iii],C iii]λλ1907, 1909 detections at z > 7, while JWST will provide the first statistical samples of such measurements at these redshifts.


This article contains results of an experimental study of the process of droplets gravitating in a layer of a typical forest fuel during its thermal decomposition. Also similar experiments were carried out in conditions of moderate temperature conditions (about 300 K). Pine needles were considered as a material for study. The initial droplets' volume was varied from 90 to 900 μL. After analysis of experimental results we established the depths, on which water droplets can penetrate into the layer of forest combustible material (FCM). The characteristic velocities of water droplets' motion at different distances from the FCM surface were calculated. Also we determined the fraction of the mass of water consumed in the FCM layer for vaporization and cooling of the material to temperatures below the values corresponding to thermal decomposition.


This paper examines some aspects of English and Lebanese-Arabic adult-responses to child-answers, exploring the way the use of preferred communication strategies reflects culturally-based assumptions about learning and guiding learning. Adults who regularly deal with young children develop preferred interactive strategies which derive from social attitudes. Naturally there is an element of individual style, but this is only recognisable as individual in relation to the norm. These early experiences teach children how to make sense of the world and how to relate within it. They develop a relational competence, learning how to adapt to differing role expectations as they move between home, peer, preschool and school groups. Understanding how to ask and answer appropriately is certainly part of being a competent speaker. Home and pre-school norms are not always the same, and young children and adults don't always understand each other, particularly in crosscultural interactions. Data was elicited from dyads engaged in narrative and descriptive tasks using sets of pictures. The approach is interpretive. In cross-cultural studies there is not always a neutral middle ground between cultures from which one can easily develop objective interpretations. There is a different ranking of values, assumptions and expectations. Part of the analytical approach of this research is aimed at reducing the potential for cultural bias in interpretations by using Natural Semantic Metalanguage to produce cultural scripts representing meanings.


Four species of the Hawaiian Drosophila planitibia subgroup which are homosequential in their polytene chromosomes are resident on the islands of Molokai, Maui and Hawaii. Comparisons of DNA sequence divergence in these four have been made by hybridization of total single-copy radiolabeled tracer DNA from each of the species with excess nonlabeled DNA from each of the species, and measurement of the reduction of average melting temperature (DeltaTma) was made in 2.4 m tetraethyl ammonium chloride. The mean DeltaTma between either D. heteroneura or D. silvestris and either D. planitibia or D. differens was found to be 1.06 degrees , whereas the difference between D. planitibia and D. differens in 0.65 degrees and between D. heteroneura and D. silvestris is 0.75 degrees . These measurements taken together with the distances calculated from isozyme studies, chromosomal relationships, as well as the island locations indicate that the ancestor of these species diverged from other planitibia subgroup flies on Molokai [age 1.8 million years before present, (My BP)]. We hypothesize that one line became the present-day D. differens and diverged probably at the time of formation of East Maui (0.8-1 My BP) to form the species D. planitibia. Flies from the other line migrated to Hawaii soon after its formation (0.7 My BP) to form the two species D. heteroneura and D. silvestris.


Abstract In his seminal paper "A Natural Semantics for Lazy Evaluation", John Launchbury proves his semantics correct with respect to a denotational semantics, and outlines a proof of adequacy. Previous attempts to rigorize the adequacy proof, which involves an intermediate natural semantics and an intermediate resourced denotational semantics, have failed. We devised a new, direct proof that skips the intermediate natural semantics. It is the first rigorous adequacy proof of Launchbury's semantics. We have modeled our semantics in the interactive theorem prover Isabelle and machine-checked our proofs. This does not only provide a maximum level of rigor, but also serves as a tool for further work, such as a machine-checked correctness proof of a compiler transformation.


We generalize and correct a model of bargaining with endogenous information acquisition proposed by Dang (2008). Allowing for asymmetric information costs, we show that the opportunity to obtain information during the bargaining process can lead to inefficient outcomes when the responder's cost of obtaining this information is low. We then show that, for very low costs, this inefficiency is robust to allowing agents to voluntarily increase their own information costs and potentially eliminate adverse selection problems.


We explore the task of constructing a parallel Gibbs sampler, to both improve mixing and the exploration of high likelihood states. Recent work in parallel Gibbs sampling has focused on update schedules which do not guarantee convergence to the intended stationary distribution. In this work, we propose two methods to construct parallel Gibbs samplers guaranteed to draw from the targeted distribution. The first method, called the Chromatic sampler, uses graph coloring to construct a direct parallelization of the classic sequential scan Gibbs sampler. In the case of 2-colorable models we relate the Chromatic sampler to the Synchronous Gibbs sampler (which draws all variables simultaneously in parallel), and reveal new ergodic properties of Synchronous Gibbs chains. Our second method, the Splash sampler, is a complementary strategy which can be used when the variables are tightly coupled. This constructs and samples multiple blocks in parallel, using a novel locking protocol and an iterative junction tree generation algorithm. We further improve the Splash sampler through adaptive tree construction. We demonstrate the benefits of our two sampling algorithms on large synthetic and real-world models using a 32 processor multi-core system.


Platinum-based combination chemotherapy is the standard treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). While cisplatin is effective, its use is not curative and resistance often emerges. As a consequence of microenvironmental heterogeneity, many tumour cells are exposed to sub-lethal doses of cisplatin. Further, genomic heterogeneity and unique tumor cell sub-populations with reduced sensitivities to cisplatin play a role in its effectiveness within a site of tumor growth. Being exposed to sub-lethal doses will induce changes in gene expression that contribute to the tumour cell's ability to survive and eventually contribute to the selective pressures leading to cisplatin resistance. Such changes in gene expression, therefore, may contribute to cytoprotective mechanisms. Here, we report on studies designed to uncover how tumour cells respond to sub-lethal doses of cisplatin. A microarray study revealed changes in gene expressions that occurred when A549 cells were exposed to a no-observed-effect level (NOEL) of cisplatin (e.g. the IC10). These data were integrated with results from a genome-wide siRNA screen looking for novel therapeutic targets that when inhibited transformed a NOEL of cisplatin into one that induced significant increases in lethality. Pathway analyses were performed to identify pathways that could be targeted to enhance cisplatin activity. We found that over 100 genes were differentially expressed when A549 cells were exposed to a NOEL of cisplatin. Pathways associated with apoptosis and DNA repair were activated. The siRNA screen revealed the importance of the hedgehog, cell cycle regulation, and insulin action pathways in A549 cell survival and response to cisplatin treatment. Results from both datasets suggest that RRM2B, CABYR, ALDH3A1, and FHL2 could be further explored as cisplatin-enhancing gene targets. Finally, pathways involved in repairing double-strand DNA breaks and INO80 chromatin remodeling were enriched in both datasets, warranting further research into combinations of cisplatin and therapeutics targeting these pathways.


SUMMARY Recent publications demonstrated that a fragment of a Neospora caninum ROP2 family member antigen represents a promising vaccine candidate. We here report on the cloning of the cDNA encoding this protein, N. caninum ROP2 family member 1 (NcROP2Fam-1), its molecular characterization and localization. The protein possesses the hallmarks of ROP2 family members and is apparently devoid of catalytic activity. NcROP2Fam-1 is synthesized as a pre-pro-protein that is matured to 2 proteins of 49 and 55 kDa that localize to rhoptry bulbs. Upon invasion the protein is associated with the nascent parasitophorous vacuole membrane (PVM), evacuoles surrounding the host cell nucleus and, in some instances, the surface of intracellular parasites. Staining was also observed within the cyst wall of 'cysts' produced in vitro. Interestingly, NcROP2Fam-1 was also detected on the surface of extracellular parasites entering the host cells and antibodies directed against NcROP2Fam-1-specific peptides partially neutralized invasion in vitro. We conclude that, in spite of the general belief that ROP2 family proteins are intracellular antigens, NcROP2Fam-1 can also be considered as an extracellular antigen, a property that should be taken into account in further experiments employing ROP2 family proteins as vaccines.


This paper addresses issues related to industry heterogeneity, default clustering and parameter uncertainty of capital requirements in US retail loan portfolios. Using a multi-factor model of credit risk, we show that the Basel II capital requirements overstate the riskiness of small businesses. Retail exposures are a much safer investment than the regulator would suggest. We find that sensitivity to the common risk factors is low and that small business risk is predominantly a reflection of idiosyncratic risk. Our results show that only 0.00-3.39% of the asset variability is explained by economy-wide risk factors. The remaining 96.61%-100.00% of small business risk is due to changes in the firm-specific characteristics. Moreover, both expected and unexpected losses are time dependent. Their shifts over the course of financial crisis cause uncertainty in the provisions level and capital requirements. Importantly, our estimates of asset correlations are significantly lower than any available estimates for corporate firms. Our results are based on a new, representative dataset of US retail businesses from 2005 to 2011 and give fundamental insights into the US economy.


This paper aims at conducting a preliminary analysis of some results derived from Ge Fei's narrative research, through a close-reading of some narrative patterns in his recent trilogy, Renmian taohua (Peach Blossom-beauty, 2004), Shanhe ru meng (Mountains and Rivers Fall Asleep, 2007) and Chunjin jiangnan (End of Spring in Jiangnan, 2011). On the one hand Ge Fei tends to assimilate and re-invent the traditional patterns of Chinese novel, however, on the other hand, he doesn't ignore, and, on the contrary, tries to adopt also some narrative devices from Western fiction theory and practice. The aim of this research is to detect the evolution of his technique in defining the main characters of the three novels as full-rounded 'fictional minds', and to explore Ge Fe's strategy to link Chinese traditional fictionality with his analysis of the modern Chinese individual consciousness.


Electrical stimulation was delivered bilaterally to either the anterior or posterior cortex in rats from 0.1 second to 4 hours after a single training trial on an inhibitory avoidance task. As indicated by a retention test given 24 hours later, the length of the retrograde amnesia gradients ranged from 5 seconds to 240 minutes, depending on the brain region stimulated and the intensity of the stimulating current. The stimulation intensity that was threshold for amnesia varied directly with the length of the interval between training and treatment.


The flavivirus nonstructural protein 5 (NS5) is a large protein that is structurally conserved among members of the genus, making it an attractive target for antiviral drug development. The protein contains a methyltransferase (MTase) domain and an RNA dependent RNA polymerase (POL) domain. Previous studies with dengue viruses have identified a genetic interaction between residues 46-49 in the αA3-motif in the MTase and residue 512 in POL. These genetic interactions are consistent with structural modelling of these domains in West Nile virus (WNV) NS5 that predict close proximity of these regions of the two domains, and potentially a functional interaction mediated via the αA3-motif. To demonstrate an interaction between the MTase and POL domains of the WNV NS5 protein, we co-expressed affinity-tagged recombinant MTase and POL proteins in human embryonic kidney cells with simian virus 40 large T antigen (HEK293T cells) and performed pulldown assays using an antibody to the flag tag on POL. Western blot analysis with an anti-MTase mAb revealed that the MTase protein was specifically co-immunoprecipitated with POL, providing the first evidence of a specific interaction between these domains. To further assess the role of the αA3 helix in this interaction, selected residues in this motif were mutated in the recombinant MTase and the effect on POL interaction determined by the pulldown assay. These mutations were also introduced into a WNV infectious clone (FLSDX) and the replication properties of these mutant viruses assessed. While none of the αA3 mutations had a significant effect on the MTase-POL association in pulldown assays, suggesting that these residues were not specific to the interaction, an E46L mutation completely abolished virus viability indicating a critical requirement of this residue in replication. Failure to generate compensatory mutations in POL to rescue replication, even after several passages of the transfection supernatant in Vero cells, precluded further conclusion of the role of this residue in the context of MTase-POL interactions.


We consider a two-echelon supply chain with an upstream manufacturer and a downstream retailer for a single perishable product. The manufacturer processes raw materials into finished products, which are purchased by the retailer in each replenishment cycle. The raw materials of the manufacturer are highly perishable (i.e. perishing within hours or days), and the finished goods at the retailer face demand uncertainty and obsolescence. We model the manufacturer–retailer relationship as a Stackelberg game where the retailer is the leader and decides the replenishment cycle that minimises its mismatch cost between supply and uncertain demand. The manufacturer is the follower and decides its processing rate to minimise its unit cost for finished goods. Our results show that the raw material and finished goods lifetimes, which are interrelated through the duration of the replenishment cycle, have a significant impact on supply chain costs. Although raw material spoilage cost by itself is low, we show that short raw material lifetimes have a significant impact on the costs of both parties. Additionally, we find that while high manufacturer markups increase retailer costs, they reduce the manufacturer's costs due to large production batches.


In describing Israel's relationship to the nations, Isaiah 40–55 represents three loci of tension: either divine blessings for Israel alone or for the entire world also, Israel as either an active witness or a passive one, and either the nations as subject to Israel or as coequal with Israel in their standing before God. Israel's mission to the world is either centripetal (inward moving) or centrifugal (outward moving). Biblical scholars have debated which it is. Attempts to explain fluctuation in the prophet's message between the two possibilities have included elimination of certain passages, con sideration of reda ctional lay ers, redefinition of terms, and pointing out external circumstances in the prophet's time. A correct understanding does not consist in explaining away one side of the tension, but in recognizing God's future restoration of the nation as a means of extending redemptive benefits to the nations, His blessing of the nations after their judgment, and His use of Israel to rule the nations at the same time that His chosen people are a vehicle to bless the nations.


A study of Pennsylvanian petrified seeds and seedlike megaspores has revealed new information on the structure of the megaspore membrane and associated tissues, and has provided characteristics useful for identifying seed fragments released from coals and shales by maceration. Layering and ornamentation may be observed in surface views of detached megaspore membranes, but clarity is greater if microtome sections are prepared. Fragments of the nucellus which sometimes remain associated with the megaspore membranes supplement these features and aid in the recognition of taxa. Genera studied which are recognizable from fragments of megaspore membrane are: Cardiocarpus, Conostoma, Codonospermum, Stephanospermum, Taxospermum, Pachytesta, Lepidocarpon, and Lepidostrobus.


BACKGROUND
Emergency departments (EDs) act as the safety net and alternative care site for patients without insurance who have dental pain.

METHODS
We conducted a retrospective chart review of visits to an urban teaching hospital ED over a 12-month period, looking at patients who presented with a chief complaint or ICD code indicating dental pain, toothache, or dental abscess.

RESULTS
The number of visits to this ED by patients with a dental complaint was 1,013, representing approximately 1.3% of all visits to this ED. Dental patients had a mean age of 32 (+/- 13) years, and 60% of all dental visits were made by African Americans. Dental patients were more likely to be self-pay than all other ED patients (61% versus 22%, P < 0.001). At the vast majority of dental ED visits (97%), the patient was treated and discharged; at most visits (90%) no dental procedure was performed. ED treatment typically consisted of pain control and antibiotics; at 81% of visits, the patient received an opiate prescription on discharge, and at 69% of visits, the patient received an antibiotic prescription on discharge.

LIMITATIONS
This retrospective chart review covered a limited period of time, included only patients at a large urban academic medical center, and did not incorporate follow-up analysis.

CONCLUSION
Although they make up a small percentage of all ED visits, dental ED visits are more common among the uninsured, seldom result in definitive care or hospital admission, and often result in prescription of an opioid or antibiotic. These findings are cause for concern and have implications for public policy.


: Action recognition from skeletons is gaining attention since skeleton data can be easily obtained from depth sensors and highly accurate pose estimation methods such as OpenPose. A method using graph convolutional networks (GCN) has been proposed for action recognition using skeletons as input. Among the action recognition methods using GCN, spatial temporal GCN (ST-GCN) achieves a higher accuracy by capturing skeletal data as spatial and temporal graphs. However, because ST-GCN defines human skeleton patterns in advance and applies convolution processing, it is not possible to capture features that take into account the joint relationships specific to each action. The purpose of this work is to recognize actions considering the connection patterns specific to action classes. The optimal connection pattern is obtained by acquiring features of each action class by introducing multitask learning and selecting edges on the basis of the value of the weight matrix indicating the importance of the edges. Experimental results show that the proposed method has a higher classification accuracy than the conventional method. Moreover, we visualize the obtained connection patterns by the proposed method and show that our method can obtain specific connection patterns for each action class.


Exploring the unique catalytic properties of gold clusters associated with specific nano-architectures is essential for designing improved catalysts with a high mass-specific activity. We investigate the geometric and electronic structure of hexadecagold clusters in which Rh was doped. Density functional theory calculations demonstrate that the resulting neutral and negatively charged Rh-doped Au16 clusters are stable and bind CO and O2 stronger than Au16. Consequently, activation barriers for CO oxidation are lowered. Microkinetics simulations predict especially negatively charged Rh-doped Au16 clusters to exhibit very high CO oxidation activity, already at sub-ambient temperature. Our findings highlight the promise of alloying gold clusters with more reactive transition metals and the importance of charge transfer from the support in heterogeneous gold systems in catalyzing CO oxidation.


We report the first detection of ammonia in the Homunculus Nebula around η Carinae, which is also the first detection of emission from a polyatomic molecule in this or any other luminous blue variable (LBV) nebula. Observations of the NH3 (J, K) = (3, 3) inversion transition made with the Australia Telescope Compact Array reveal emission at locations where infrared H2 emission had been detected previously, near the strongest dust emission in the core of the Homunculus. We also detect ammonia emission from the so-called strontium filament in the equatorial disk. The presence of NH3 around η Car hints that molecular shells around some Wolf-Rayet stars could have originated in prior LBV eruptions, rather than in cool red supergiant winds or the ambient interstellar medium. Combined with the lack of any CO detection, NH3 seems to suggest that the Homunculus is nitrogen-rich like the ionized ejecta around η Car. It also indicates that the Homunculus is a unique laboratory in which to study unusual molecule and dust chemistry, as well as their rapid formation in a nitrogen-rich environment around a hot star. We encourage future observations of other transitions like NH 3 (1, 1) and (2, 2), related molecules like N2H+, and renewed attempts to detect CO.


As a result of the growth of evidence-based practices across the world, health-care providers and policymakers in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe have established institutes such as the United Kingdom's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to produce clinical guidelines that physicians are asked to use in their daily practice. This article discusses how the withholding of clinical trial information by pharmaceutical companies and academic researchers affects the reliability of clinical guidelines. It first offers a case study analysis of the U.K. drug regulator's failure to prosecute GlaxoSmithKline, manufacturer of the bestselling antidepressant Seroxat (manufactured as Paxil in North America), for withholding information on the safety of Seroxat from regulators. It next examines the idea of a "Sarbanes- Oxley for Science," a recent proposal that seeks to introduce legislation forcing companies to disclose clinical trials that have indeterminate or negative results. Legislation such as Sarbanes-Oxley for Science would solve some problems with the withholding of data, but not all. Until practitioners and policymakers address the political and legal barriers preventing full access to clinical trial data for all medical treatments, the ideals of evidence-based practice will remain elusive.


Attainment of 85% age-predicted peak heart rate (APPHR) during leg exercise is widely accepted and emphasized in clinical textbooks as a condition for adequate diagnostic stress test sensitivity. However, there is little direct evidence for this belief and relationships among peak heart rate, diagnostic sensitivity, coronary revascularization and mortality are poorly characterized. In addition, the prognostic significance of chronotropic incompetence as a predictor of mortality is underappreciated and there is almost no data relating arm exercise heart rate responses to abnormal stress test results and mortality.
 Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate relationships among arm exercise heart rate responses, abnormal stress tests findings, coronary revascularization and mortality in patients who could not perform leg exercise. From 1997 to 2002, we conducted arm cycle ergometer stress tests on 446 veterans aged 64±11 years, of whom 253 underwent myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI). We evaluated associations of quartiles of %APPHR and heart rate reserve (%HRR) with an abnormal electrocardiographic (ECG ST depression ≥ 1 mm) or MPI stress test, coronary revascularization and all-cause mortality during follow-up ≥ 10 yrs. An abnormal arm exercise ECG occurred in 62/427 (14.5%) of patients with an interpretable ECG. MPI was abnormal in 157/253 (62.1%). Over 12.0±1.3 yrs. follow-up, there were 256 deaths (57.4%) and 105 patients (23.5%) underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). An abnormal arm exercise ECG was directly associated with quartile of %APPHR (p = 0.009) and %HRR (p = 0.02) but an abnormal arm exercise MPI exhibited an inverse trend (p = 0.10 and 0.12, respectively). There was a sharp upward inflexion point for increased percent of abnormal arm exercise ECG tests at 69%APPHR. Results for abnormal ECG and MPI tests were similar for patients taking beta blockers. Both %APPHR and %HRR were inversely related to all-cause mortality (p = 0.02 and p = 0.004, respectively) after adjustment for significant demographic and clinical variables. CABG and PCI were each predicted by an abnormal arm exercise ECG (p < 0.04) and PCI alone by abnormal MPI (p= 0.02) with no interaction of %APPHR or %HRR. We conclude that higher %APPHR and %HRR are associated with greater likelihood of an abnormal arm exercise ECG, particularly above 69%APPHR, but borderline reduced likelihood of abnormal arm exercise MPI in patients unable to perform leg exercise. An abnormal arm exercise ECG predicts CABG and PCI and MPI predicts PCI with no apparent influence of %APPHR or %HRR. Higher arm exercise %APPHR and %HRR are related to lower all-cause mortality.


The adsorption technique using fly ash composite material has been applied for the removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous samples. Batch experiments have been carried out for the adsorption of Cr(VI) onto fly ash composite material. The effects of various process parameters, namely, pH, adsorbent dosage, initial Cr(VI) concentration and contact time has been studied in batch systems. Maximum metal removal ratio was observed at pH 5.0~5.5, and the sorption reaction was an endothermic process. The results revealed that the hexavalent chromium is considerably adsorbed on this adsorbent and it could be an economical method for the removal of hexavalent chromium from aqueous systems.


The multi-agent system described in this paper implements a collaborative filtering process that applies personalization techniques to measure the appropriateness of a document for a community of users. Collaborations among agents and users are defined in a workflow that describes the broadcasting of documents, which flow through a series of filters at different levels (community agents, personal agents, and users). With this system we demonstrate that a workflow definition (roles, tasks, and their relationships) is a key component for the specification of the multi-agent system organization, improves the design of agents interactions and coordination, and supports the identification of agents' goals and tasks. Furthermore, we discuss social rules that can be used to control the global behavior of the community of agents.


The Vmbatch system is shown to be a robust and reliable system for running batch jobs inside virtual machines. The system has been developed as a lightweight tool to establish and clean up virtual machines for CernVM processing of ALICE grid jobs. It can work with a stock guest image and interfaces with the Torque batch system.

With the use of virtualization, the system can create a homogeneous execution environment for grid jobs that can be expanded dynamically upon availability of generic computing resources.