This article explores the interplay between transitional justice and 'everyday' political economies of survival in post-conflict Acholiland, northern Uganda. It advances two main arguments. First, that transitional justice — as part and parcel of conventional liberal peacebuilding packages — promotes a repertoire of normatively driven policies that have little bearing on lived realities of social accountability in post-conflict settings. Second, that in transcending the epistemological and ontological boundaries of transitional justice and using concepts developed in the critical peacebuilding literature — the 'everyday' and 'hybridity' — a nuanced understanding of this dissonance emerges. Based on extensive fieldwork in Acholiland in the period 2012–14, using a range of qualitative research methods, the author examines the means through which people negotiate social and moral order in the context of post-conflict life and analyses the tensions between these forms of 'everyday' activity and current transitional justice policy and programming in the region.


A listing of book recommendations from the UW Law School faculty and staff as we celebrate National Library Week, April 2017. Anne Smith


In this paper we describe a computation of iterative operator-splitting method, which are known as competitive splitting methods, see [11] and [10]. We derived a closed form, based on commutators for the iterative method. The time discretization schemes apply extrapolation schemes and Pade approximations to the exp-functions. Spatial discretization schemes considered Lax-Wendroff methods and are combined with the iterative schemes. The error analysis describe the approximation errors. Numerical examples of ordinary and partial differential equations support the fast computation ideas.


Patients with multiple myeloma (MM) carrying high-risk cytogenetic abnormalities (CA) have inferior outcome despite achieving similar complete response (CR) rates when compared to cases with standard-risk CA. This questions the legitimacy of CR as treatment endpoint for high-risk MM, and represents a biological conundrum regarding the nature of tumor reservoirs persisting after therapy in patients with standard- and high-risk CA. Here, we used next-generation flow (NGF) to evaluate measurable residual disease (MRD) in MM patients with standard- (N=300) vs high-risk CA (N=90) enrolled in the PETHEMA/GEM2012MENOS65 trial (NCT01916252), and to identify mechanisms determining MRD resistance in both patient subgroups (N=40). The 36-month progression-free and overall survival rates were higher than 90% in patients with undetectable MRD, with no significant differences (P≥0.202) between cases having standard- vs high-risk CA. Persistent MRD resulted in median progression-free survival of approximately three and two years in patients with standard- and high-risk CA, respectively (P<0.001). Further use of NGF to isolate MRD followed by whole-exome sequencing of paired diagnostic and MRD tumor cells, revealed greater clonal selection in patients with standard-risk CA, higher genomic instability with acquisition of new mutations in high-risk MM, and no unifying lost or acquired genetic abnormalities driving MRD resistance. Conversely, RNA sequencing of diagnostic and MRD tumor cells uncovered the selection of MRD clones with singular transcriptional programs and ROS-mediated MRD resistance in high-risk MM. Our study supports undetectable MRD as treatment endpoint for MM patients with high-risk CA and proposes characterizing MRD clones to understand and overcome MRD resistance.


Archaeoastronomical studies conducted thus far have shown that many important buildings of prehispanic Mesoamerican cities were oriented on an astronomical basis, predominantly to sunrises and sunsets on particular dates, allowing the use of observational calendars that facilitated an efficient scheduling of agricultural and associated ritual activities in the yearly cycle. The alignments in the urban layout of El Mirador, the largest Late Preclassic site in the Maya Lowlands (ca. 300 B.C–A.D. 150), represent the earliest evidence of the use of such observational schemes in the Maya area, and exemplify the significance of astronomical and calendrical factors in the concepts dictating architectural design and urban planning. Also relevant, particularly to the issues of cultural interaction in Mesoamerica, is our finding that the so-called 17° family of orientations, the most widespread Mesoamerican alignment group, did not originate in the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan, as commonly held, but rather in the Maya area, most likely at sites within the Mirador Basin.


"And Now on Radio 4" offers an enthusiast's guide to the shows that have made Radio 4 what it is, and also explores some of the wonderful corners of the network's history that are long forgotten by all but a few. Who, for instance, now recalls Ronnie Barker's starring role on Radio 4 in a sophisticated cabaret-cum-sketch-show called "Lines from My Grandfather's Forehead"? What about Spike Milligan's intimate, soul-bearing account of his upbringing in colonial India, "Plain Tales from the Raj"? And who now remembers that "Start the Week" was once hosted by Russell Harty, a bit of programming compared by one insider to letting Graham Norton run Newsnight. In order to reflect the way devotees listen to Radio 4, the book is organised not on simple chronological lines but in the form of a typical day. Chapter by chapter, the day evolves, from "Farming Today", through the daily feast that is "Today", through the morning menu of conversation, "Woman's Hour", documentary and comedy. Lunchtime brings The World at One. The early evening, of course, yields "The Archers". And finally, there's "Book at Bedtime" and "Sailing By". An addictive mix of history, biography, anecdote and occasional useless fact, this is the perfect book for Radio 4 aficionados.


With power comes responsibility: as robots become more advanced and prevalent, the role they will play in human society becomes increasingly important. Given that violence is an important problem, the question emerges if robots could defend people, even if doing so might cause harm to someone. The current study explores the broad context of how people perceive the acceptability of such robot self-defense (RSD) in terms of (1) theory, via a rapid scoping review, and (2) public opinion in two countries. As a result, we summarize and discuss: increasing usage of robots capable of wielding force by law enforcement and military, negativity toward robots, ethics and legal questions (including differences to the well-known trolley problem), control in the presence of potential failures, and practical capabilities that such robots might require. Furthermore, a survey was conducted, indicating that participants accepted the idea of RSD, with some cultural differences. We believe that, while substantial obstacles will need to be overcome to realize RSD, society stands to gain from exploring its possibilities over the longer term, toward supporting human well-being in difficult times.


Author(s): Adams, Muriel | Abstract: This project was completed as a National Center for Sustainable Transportation graduate student research project at the University of Vermont. The work builds onnthe prior work of Dr. Brian H. Y. Lee and the National Center for Sustainable Transportation graduate student Sean Neely who focused on travel behavior between non-metropolitan areas and large metropolitan centers, because of its impacts on quality of life, multimodal planning, and rural economies.This project studies travel from home locations in northern New England (Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts, excluding the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy Metropolitan Statistical Area), going to Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. Data were collected in The Intercity Travel, Information, and Technology Survey Questionnaire conducted by Resource Systems Group (RSG Inc.) for the University of Vermont's Transportation Research Center (UVM TRC) and the New England Transportation Institute (NETI), with funding from the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) NCST in May 2014. A total of 2560 valid survey responses were collected using a paid panel purchased by the consultant. In his Master's thesis, Neely developed generic mode choice models for these intercity trips but lacked the mode-specific travel times and access measures for more advanced mode choice models. The goal of this current project was to perform more advanced spatial data re-tabulation to generate new mode-specific predictor variables, especially measures of air access using Federal Aviation Administration datasets. The internet access measures were also refined and alternative measures of a zip code location's ruralness were generated. Zip code home location was used for generation of on-road travel times and distances to destination as well as an Amtrak station access measure.In addition to the data development, some specific research questions were pursued with the data: 1) How many trips per year do rural residents take in the Northeast United States to major metropolitan areas? And 2) What socio-economic, location, and accessibility variables are associated with rural trip generation to metropolitan areas?View the NCST Project Webpage


The paper shows the results of the research project that has as title ?GESMEY? and it has been developed in collaboration between a research team from the E.T.S. Ingenieros Navales of The Technical University of Madrid (UPM) and other from The Foundation Technological Centre SOERMAR. The main objective of the Project it?s the design and development of a new type of submarine electrical generator to get the exploitation of the marine currents energy with a good performance, that has as name ?Submarine Electrical Generator with Y shape framework (GESMEY). The GESMEY generator can work into deeper waters and it gets the right depth by itself only using a hydrodynamics force that allows it to go to the surface or dive without any other help. This Paper has the follow structure, it begins with a brief introduction about the present situation of this technological field and also an analysis over the energetic power of the marine currents on Gibraltar?s Strait it is done, as an ideal place to use GESMEY. On following points, the Paper describe topics as the organization and methodology that was used during the development of the Project, the description of some device models and the generator?s internal system with the ballast system included and the way that the generator is submerged to the work place, emerge for maintained and towered to seashore.


Objectives : The aim of this study was to evaluate the distribution of Staphylococcus species in bloodstream infections and to assess their susceptibility to methicillin. Material and Methods: Between January 1 st 2008 - December 31 st 2010, 7424 blood culture sets were submitted to the Laboratory Department of the Hospital for Clinical Infectious Diseases in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The blood cultures were performed using BacT/Alert until January 2010 and BacT/Alert 3D automated system (bioMerieux) after that date. The blood culture bottles were incubated at 37°C in a continuously monitoring system for up to 7 days. The strain identifications were performed by conventional methods, ApiStaph galleries and  Vitek 2 Compact system. Susceptibility to methicillin was determined by disk diffusion method with cefoxitin disk and by using Vitek 2 Compact system. Results: From the total number of performed blood cultures, 568 were positive with Staphylococcus species. From 168 bacteriemic episodes 103 were with Staphylococcus aureus . Among 65 coagulase-negative staphylococci isolates, Staphylococcus epidermidis was the most frequently isolated species (34), followed by Staphylococcus hominis (15), Staphylococcus haemolyticus (8), Staphylococcus saprophyticus (3), Staphylococcus cohnii (1), Staphylococcus auricularis (1), and 3 strains that were not identified at species level. Methicillin resistance was encountered in 53.40% of Staphylococcus aureus strains and in 80% of coagulase-negative staphylococci. Conclusions: An important percentage of blood cultures were contaminated with Staphylococcus species. The main species identified in true bacteriemia cases were Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis . The percentage of methicillin-resistance, proved to be high not only for coagulase-negative staphylococci but also for Staphylococcus aureus .


We present the case of a helicopter pilot who suffered an arterial gas embolism following instruction in the use of the Short Term Air Supply System (STASS) at a depth of 1 m of water. This is believed to be the shallowest depth from which a case of arterial gas embolism associated with the use of compressed air breathing apparatus has been reported.


We analyzed data for a large number of small social network services (SNSs) and classified them in terms of their structures and communication patterns. Using this classification, we analyzed their features and found that most of them have small world, scale free, and negative assortativity characteristics. We also classified them on the basis of calculated network indexes and compared the four types. Finally, we classified their communication patterns and identified four types of friend networks: partial, parity, inclusive, and independent.


Wolkersdorfer, Ch.; Khayrulina, E.; Polyakova, S.; Bogush, A. (Editors) Abstract This study assesses the flow and transport characteristics of backfilling opencast coal mines with coal combustion residues (CCR's), in order to assess its feasibility. Generic models were constructed to simulate six backfilling scenarios, which include: (1) No CCR's (2) CCR's above water table, (3) CCR's below water table, (4) CCR's in middle of pit, (5) CCR's down gradient, and (6) CCR's below weathered zone. Results indicate that all scenarios have the potential to contribute to a less negative environmental impact. This paper demonstrates the model setup and approach using Scenario 5 where a rise in water levels in the pit was achieved, reducing acid mine water generation and redirecting plume migration.


Abstract The development of reagent strategies for the flotation of boron minerals requires an understanding of flotation chemistry of reagent/mineral interactions. The floatability of a typical boron mineral, colemanite, was investigated in a microflotation cell by using anionic and cationic surfactants as collectors and tannic acid as a depressant. The results obtained with zeta potential measurements together with flotation tests reveal that colemanite is floatable with both anionic and cationic surfactants at its natural pH of 9.3. While the floatability of colemanite with anionic surfactants decreases with increasing pH, that with a cationic surfactant exhibits a maximum at pH 10.2, indicating the major role of electrostatic interactions in the system.


Characterized by early‐onset seizures, global developmental delay and severe motor deficits, CDKL5 deficiency disorder is caused by pathogenic variants in the cyclin‐dependent kinase‐like 5 gene. Previous efforts to investigate genotype‐phenotype relationships have been limited due to small numbers of recurrent mutations and small cohort sizes. Using data from the International CDKL5 Disorder Database we examined genotype‐phenotype relationships for 13 recurrent CDKL5 variants and the previously analyzed historic variant groupings. We have applied the CDKL5 Developmental Score (CDS) and an adapted version of the CDKL5 Clinical Severity Assessment (CCSA), to grade the severity of phenotype and developmental outcomes for 285 individuals with CDKL5 variants. Comparisons of adapted CCSA and CDS between recurrent variants and variant groups were performed using multiple linear regression adjusting for age and sex. Individuals with the missense variant, p.Arg178Trp, had the highest mean adapted CCSA and lowest mean developmental scores. Other variants producing severe phenotypes included p.Arg559* and p.Arg178Gln. Variants producing milder phenotypes included p.Arg134*, p.Arg550*, and p.Glu55Argfs*20. There are observed differences in phenotype severity and developmental outcomes for individuals with different CDKL5 variants. However, the historic variant groupings did not seem to reflect differences in phenotype severity or developmental outcomes as clearly as analyzed by individual variants.


The leading intent of high tibial osteotomy (HTO) is to shift the mechanical axis of a varus malaligned knee to a slightly valgus axis in order to reduce pain, slow down the degenerative process and avoid or delay the joint replacement. The effectiveness of the procedure is strongly related to the correct patient selection; an ideal patient for HTO is a moderately active, high-demand patient, between 40–60 years old, with isolated joint line tenderness, body mass index <30, malalignment <15°, metaphyseal varus, full range of motion, near-normal lateral and patellofemoral compartments, non-smoker, and with some level of pain tolerance. Although instability has been traditionally considered a contraindication for osteotomy, a growing indication of the procedure is the correction of load imbalance in ligamentous insufficiency. Using total knee replacement as the end point, HTO 10-year survival rate reported by the literature ranges from 51% to 93%. More than 80% of patients return to work and sport, mainly by 1 year postoperatively, two-thirds of them at a level of physical demand equal to or greater than their preoperative level. Due to the technical advances, the surgical procedure has a low specific complication rate nowadays; the incidence of nonunion has been reported between 0–4.4%. HTO is currently considered as a preferred alternative to a knee arthroplasty in young patients with medial degenerative changes in a malaligned knee, particularly in active population or physically demanding workers.


PURPOSE
Proximal Xp harbors many inherited retinal disorders, including retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and congenital stationary night blindness, both of which display genetic heterogeneity. X-linked congenital stationary night blindness (CSNBX) is a nonprogressive disease causing night blindness and reduced visual acuity. Distinct genetic loci have been reported for CSNBX at Xp21.1, which is potentially allelic with the RP3 gene, and at Xp11.23, which is potentially allelic with the RP2 gene. The study to identify the RP2 gene led to an extended study of families with potentially allelic diseases that include CSNBX.

METHODS
Haplotype analysis of a family diagnosed with CSNBX was performed with 17 polymorphic markers on proximal Xp covering previously identified loci for CSNBX and XLRP. Two-point and multipoint lod scores were calculated.

RESULTS
Informative recombinations in this family define a locus for CSNBX (CSNB4) with flanking markers DXS556 and DXS8080 on Xp11.4 to Xp11.3, an interval spanning approximately 5 to 6 cM. A maximum lod score of 3.2 was calculated for the locus order DXS556-1 cM-(CSNB4-DXS993)-2 cM-DXS1201.

CONCLUSIONS
The results describe a new localization for CSNBX (CSNB4) between the RP2 and RP3 loci on proximal Xp. CSNB4 is not allelic with any previously reported XLRP loci; however, the interval overlaps the locus reported to contain the cone dystrophy (COD1) gene, and both diseases are nonrecombinant with DXS993. Because mutations in the RPGR gene to date account for disease in only a small proportion of RP3 families, the possibility that this new locus (CSNB4) also segregates with an as yet unidentified XLRP locus cannot be excluded.


Numerical modelling using Finite Element Method (FEM) is currently a standard procedure for engineering complex structures and determining structure–subsoil cooperation conditions. It is used for, among others, forecasting displacements, which are the calculation results most easily verified. Numerical modelling is also used to identify the impact on neighbouring structures and design a monitoring system and determine expected values, e.g., displacements. A numerical model enables one to optimally design the monitoring system for a facility under construction and the neighbouring structures through selecting a measurement technology, matching the scope of obtained results or choosing sensor and measurement point locations. The implemented monitoring may be based on various technologies, from thermal monitoring, laser scanning, fibre optic measurements, to classic surveying measurements. The walls must protect the soil from excessive displacement and protect the excavation against groundwater inflow. If the wall is not watertight, deepening the excavation may cause a sudden water inflow. Leak and erosion process thermal monitoring is a proven leak detection method. It is based on the tests utilizing heat and water transfer process relations, which are coupled processes. Another tool for verifying numerical models is the installation of DFOS (Distributed Fibre Optic Sensors) at the stage of executing structural elements (e.g., diaphragm walls, barrettes, foundation slab). It allows one to permanently monitor both temperature and displacements during element execution (concrete curing), and following facility construction and operation stages. The paper presents methods for designing selected monitoring elements of engineering objects, based on calculations using the Finite Element Method. The verification of numerical models, based on data obtained from DFOS, classic surveying measurements and thermal monitoring, is also presented.


Objective:
 Increasing age, hypertension (HTN), diabetes (DM), hyperlipidemia, smoking and chronic kidney disease are implicated in endothelial dysfunction. Our hypothesis was that endothelial dysfunction would decrease the amount of salvageable ischemic tissue (penumbra) in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

 Methods:
 Patients with ischemic stroke that underwent perfusion computed tomography (PCT) at admission from August 2011 to March 2012 were reviewed. Demographics and risk factors were abstracted. PCT protocol included 4 supratentorial slices, 8 mm thick. Areas of increased mean transit time were traced and marked as ischemic area. Corresponding area of preserved cerebral blood volume was labeled as penumbra area. The ischemic and penumbra areas in four slices were added and multiplied by the slice thickness (0.8 cm) to give ischemic volume (IV) and penumbra volume (PV) respectively. The proportion of penumbra (penumbra/ischemia volume) was calculated and compared across the different risk factors.

 Results:
 Of the 47 patients that underwent PCT, 43 (22 males; mean age 61.6 ±12.6 years) had perfusion abnormalities. Subjects younger than 45 years had significantly higher median IV (118.8 cm
 3
 vs. 58.4 cm
 3
 ; p=0.01) and median PV (97.9 cm
 3
 vs. 38.7 cm
 3
 ; p<0.01). The median proportion of penumbra, was significantly lower in subjects older than 45 years (72.2% vs. 82.0%; p=0.04). Other factors that demonstrated trends toward a decrease in proportion of penumbra, but did not reach statistical significance due to small numbers: HTN (72.8% vs. 80.0% ; p=0.20) and DM (67.5% vs. 75.7%; p=0.56). In our subset, smoking, hyperlipidemia and kidney disease did not affect the penumbra proportion.

 Conclusion:
 Older patients and those with HTN or DM are less likely to have a large proportion of salvageable penumbra. While endothelial dysfunction may be a common denominator to these risk factors, the biological mechanisms underlying this phenomenon need to be elucidated.


Thirty patients with presumed anaerobic pleuropulmonary infection were treated with clindamycin hydrochloride. Diagnoses of anaerobic infections were made primarily on clinical evidence, including history of aspiration, fetid sputum, and x-ray findings of pulmonary infiltrates, frequently with cavity formation. All patients were treated with clindamycin hydrochloride by mouth for 10 to 28 days in a dosage of 150 to 300 mg four times a day. Twenty-six patients showed a favorable response, although 6 also required closed thoracotomy with tube drainage of the pleural space. No serious side effects were encountered, although one patient developed transient neutropenia, and another showed elevation of hepatic enzyme levels. There were no cases of clinical superinfection, and only four patients acquired Gram-negative enteric pathogens in the sputum in low titers. Clindamycin given orally thus appears to be an effective initial antibiotic in the treatment of anaerobic pneumonias.


The aim of this experiment was to study the carcass traits of rabbits when the same maternal stocks were mated with bucks of two well-known hybrids selected for growth traits or with Pannon White bucks selected for carcass traits by CT (computerised tomography). Three experiments were carried out at the same time. Experiment 1: Pannon White (P) or Hycole terminal (H) males were crossed with Pannon White (P) does (n=PP: 60, HP:59). Experiment 2: Pannon White (P), Hycole terminal (H) or Zika terminal (Z) bucks were crossed with Hycole (H) parent does (n=PH: 60, HH:52 and ZH:58). Experiment 3: Pannon White (P) or Zika terminal (Z) males were crossed with a Maternal line (M) stock (n=PM: 60, ZM:58). In all the experiments, hybrid males increased their body weight. Mating the same maternal stock with hybrid or Pannon White bucks, the body weight of the offspring of hybrid males was higher than that of the offspring of Pannon White bucks (Experiment 1: PP and HP:2644 and 2758 g, P<0.001; Experiment 2: PH, HH and ZH:2611, 2671 and 2890g, P<0.001; Experiment 3: PM and ZM:2534 and 2677 g, P<0.001). The most important carcass traits differences were found in rabbits originated from Pannon White males. Genetic origin influenced the dressing out percentage, which was 0.5% higher in PP rabbits compared to the HP group in Experiment 1 (60.6 and 60.1%, resp.; P=0.092); 1% higher in PH and ZH genotypes compared to HH animals in Experiment 2 (in PH, ZH and HH:59.6, 59.7 and 58.7%; P=0.008), and 1.5% higher in PM than in ZM rabbits in Experiment 3 (61.0 and 59.5%, resp.; P<0.001). The ratio of the m. Longissimus dorsi to reference carcass weight was also higher in rabbits derived from P males in Experiments 2 and 3 (Experiment 2: PH:11.2, HH:10.8, ZH:10.5%, P<0.001; Experiment 3: PM:11.5, ZM:10.6%, P<0.001), while it did not differ in Experiment 1. Significant difference in fat deposit was found only in Experiment 3, progeny of Pannon White males had higher weight (22.3 vs. 16.6g, P=0.002) and ratio of perirenal fat (1.65 vs. 1.25%, P=0.003) compared to offspring of Z males. Results of the dressing out percentage and the ratio of m. Longissimus dorsi proved that the selection based on CT (Pannon White genotype) was successful.


: In the particles enriched with plasmatic membranes of target cells (human erythrocytes, skeletal muscles and adipocytes of rats) ATP was steadily formed within 1 min of incubation of the particles with insulin (4 microgram/ml) in the medium containing Tris-HCl buffer, pH 7.5, ADP, Mg2+, inorganic phosphate, NaF, during NADH oxidation in presence of cytochrome c and oxygen (30 degrees). Introduction of proton ionophore p-trifluoromethoxycarbonyl cyanide phenylhydrazone (pFCCP) into the incubation medium before addition of human erythrocyte particles enriched with plasmatic membranes and of insulin led to a distinct increase of the insulin-stimulated accumulation of ATP in erythrocyte plasmatic membranes: at 10(-6) M concentration of pFCCP the increase was 3.5-fold, at 5 X 10(-6) M of pFCCP it was even 8-fold. In presence of 10(-4) M pFCCP the insulin-stimulated ATP accumulation was increased 2-fold in the particles from rat adipocytes. Output of protons into the medium and its acidification (alteration of pM by 0.01-0.012) within 3-6 sec was found in experiments with impulse administration of insulin 100 micrograms and pFCCP 0.1 micrograms into the suspension of freshly isolated rat adipocytes (5 ml) added to an electrolyte containing 150 mM NaCl, 10 mM beta-hydroxybutyric acid, 0.01 mM Gly-Gly (pH 7.45).


Decreased levels of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) or excess levels of their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs) may contribute to dysregulation of extracellular matrix turnover in systemic sclerosis (SSc). In a cross-sectional study of 106 SSc patients, we measured serum levels of TIMP-4 which is preferentially expressed in cardiovascular structures and searched for correlations with simultaneously performed echocardiography measurements of pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP), myocardial performance, and pulmonary function tests. TIMP-4, but not MMP-9, levels were significantly raised in patients with SSc than controls. However, in the subgroup of patients with PASP measurements lower to 40 mmHg (n = 69), TIMP-4 levels were comparable to controls irrespective of the presence of diffuse or limited skin involvement, or lung fibrosis. Individual PASP measurements suggestive of pulmonary hypertension were associated with increased TIMP-4 serum levels (P = .03), independently of age, extent of skin sclerosis, or lung fibrosis, suggesting a cardiopulmonary vasculature-specific role of TIMP-4 activation in SSc.


Recent studies point to an association between the late-onset sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs1559085 and rs27852 in Ca2+-dependent protease calpain inhibitor calpastatin (CAST) gene. This finding is of interest since loss of CAST activity could result in over activated calpain, potentially leading to Ca2+ dysregulation and loss of substantia nigra neurons in PD. We explored the association between CAST SNPs and late-onset sporadic PD in the Han Chinese population. The study included 615 evaluable patients (363 male, 252 female) with PD and 636 neurologically healthy controls (380 male, 256 female) matched for age, gender, ethnicity, and area of residence. PD cases were identified from the PD cohort of the Chinese National Consortium on Neurodegenerative Diseases (www.chinapd.cn). A total of 24 tag-SNPs were genotyped capturing 95% of the genetic variation across the CAST gene. There was no association found between any of the polymorphisms and PD in all models tested (co-dominant, dominant-effect and recessive-effect). Similarly, none of the common haplotypes was associated with a risk for PD. Our data do not support a significant association between the CAST gene polymorphisms and late onset sporadic PD in the Han Chinese population.


A novel method of high energy solar neutron detection is proposed with the Spherical Proportional Counter (SPC), taking advantage of the 209 Bi(n,f) reaction. This reaction, is considered as a standard for high energy neutron detection, due to large cross section values in the 100 MeV – 1 GeV energy interval, obtained in the n_TOF facility at CERN. A thin spherical shell of Bismuth will be situated in the large volume of the SPC, serving as target for high energy neutrons bombarding the detector, thus resulting in fission fragment emission. Detailed simulation of the 209 Bi(n,f) reaction with the INCL++ model, coupled with the ABLA07 de–excitation code is performed (cross section, mass & atomic number distribution, kinetic energy per fragment) in the 100 MeV – 10 GeV energy interval, together with SRIM for the fragments' projected range in 209 Bi. Experimental data from a 252 Cf source are obtained, in order to validate the SPC's efficiency in fission fragment detection. Calculations for the expected reactions in the 209 Bi shell have been performed in different atmospheric depths (700 & 1000 g/cm 2 ) , and various spherical detector radii.


The problem of the effective prediction for large-scale spatio-temporal traffic data has long haunted researchers in the field of intelligent transportation. Limited by the quantity of data, citywide traffic state prediction was seldom achieved. Hence the complex urban transportation system of an entire city cannot be truly understood. Thanks to the efforts of organizations like IARAI, the massive open data provided by them has made the research possible. In our 2020 Competition solution, we further design multiple variants based on HR-NET and UNet. Through feature engineering, the hand-crafted features are input into the model in a form of channels. It is worth noting that, to learn the inherent attributes of geographical locations, we proposed a novel method called geo-embedding, which contributes to significant improvement in the accuracy of the model. In addition, we explored the influence of the selection of activation functions and optimizers, as well as tricks during model training on the model performance. In terms of prediction accuracy, our solution has won 2nd place in NeurIPS 2020, Traffic4cast Challenge.


Dr. Yamamura et al, "Analysis of charges and complications of permanent pacemaker implantation in the cardiac catheterization laboratory versus the operating room," (PACE 22; 1820-1824] have confused cost with charges and use the terms interchangeably. Few hospitals have good cost-accounting systems and the information they were seeking remains elusive. The data on cost however is the basis of their study and conclusions. Since cbarges are used as a surrogate for cost the conclusions cannot be justified by the data. Charges are often structured differently in different departments and there is little generality among hospitals. Reimbursement is usually identical in a DRG type payment system so a difference in cost (not charges) is important information. When faced with the same debate, our institution elected to make the charges the same for both venues. It was then a clearer task—at least conceptually—to compare factors that actually contribute to the cost of providing the service. We came to the opposite conclusion for a variety of reasons peculiar to our own situation. We submit that generalizations cannot be derived from a single institution's analysis, either ours or Yamamura's. If charges are confused with cost, then conclusions, one way or the other, are not justified.


A brushless doubly fed machine is equipped with two decoupled windings on its stator, known as the power winding and the control winding. The power winding reactive power can be controlled by voltage amplitude fed by the machine-side converter to the control winding, affecting both the converter size and machine efficiency. This paper investigates different proposed scenarios for optimal reactive power flow targeted to minimize the converter cost and maximize the machine efficiency. Previously, the grid-side converter has not been used for reactive power compensation. However, in the present paper it is shown how the grid-side converter can be effectively used to reduce the converter cost by controlling the flow of reactive power. The optimal power winding reactive powers for minimizing the converter cost and for maximizing the output power are not the same. Then the priority of minimizing converter cost over maximizing machine output power has been justified.


Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a common disorder that causes irreversible loss of central vision. Increased intake of foods containing zeaxanthin may be effective in preventing AMD because the macula accumulates zeaxanthin and lutein, oxygenated carotenoids with antioxidant and blue light-absorbing properties. Lycium barbarum L. is a small red berry known as Fructus lycii and wolfberry in the West, and Kei Tze and Gou Qi Zi in Asia. Wolfberry is rich in zeaxanthin dipalmitate, and is valued in Chinese culture for being good for vision. The aim of this study, which was a single-blinded, placebo-controlled, human intervention trial of parallel design, was to provide data on how fasting plasma zeaxanthin concentration changes as a result of dietary supplementation with whole wolfberries. Fasting blood was collected from healthy, consenting subjects; fourteen subjects took 15 g/d wolfberry (estimated to contain almost 3 mg zeaxanthin) for 28 d. Repeat fasting blood was collected on day 29. Age- and sex-matched controls (n 13) took no wolfberry. Responses in the two groups were compared using the Mann–Whitney test. After supplementation, plasma zeaxanthin increased 2·5-fold: mean values on day 1 and 29 were 0·038 (sem 0·003) and 0·096 (sem 0·009) μmol/l (P<0·01), respectively, for the supplementation group; and 0·038 (sem 0·003) and 0·043 (sem 0·003) μmol/l (P>0·05), respectively, for the control group. This human supplementation trial shows that zeaxanthin in whole wolfberries is bioavailable and that intake of a modest daily amount markedly increases fasting plasma zeaxanthin levels. These new data will support further study of dietary strategies to maintain macular pigment density.


The process of antigenic variation in African trypanosomes allows the survival of the parasite by constantly switching the variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) expressed in their surface. There are believed to be several hundred copies of these silent VSG genes in the parasite's genome and they are expressed differentially. The majority of these genes are not capable of being transcribed in situ and must therefore be expressed from specialised transcriptional units known as bloodstream expression sites (BESs). Only one such site is active at any one time, ensuring that a single VSG is expressed in the trypanosome's surface coat. Switching the expressed VSG involves replacing the VSG in the active BES, or activating a new BES in conjunction with silencing the previously active. Differential expression of variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) genes, has a strong association with telomeres. All BESs are telomeric and differential activation involves recombination into the telomeric environment or silencing/activation of subtelomeric promoters. A number of pathogen contingency gene systems associated with immune evasion involve telomeric loci, which has prompted speculation that chromosome ends provide conditions conducive for the operation of rapid gene switching mechanisms. Ku is a protein associated with yeast telomeres that is directly involved in DNA recombination and gene silencing. The main aim of this thesis was to test the hypothesis that Ku in trypanosomes is centrally involved in differential VSG expression. In order to compare trypanosome Ku homologues with those from other organisms, it was necessary to compile homology alignments with other Ku homologues using Clustal W analysis. Subsequent experiments looked at the fate of exogenously introduced restriction enzyme target sites after transient transformation with cassettes encoding the restriction enzyme. A final analysis looked for the presence of NHEJ in homologous recombination- deficient trypanosomes. Disrupting this element of DNA repair would hopefully lead to other forms of repair becoming detectable, and even up-regulated. Rad51, in yeast a member of the Rad52 epistasis group (integral in yeast homologous recombination), had previously been demonstrated to be involved in DNA repair in trypanosomes (McCulloch & Barry, 1999). rad51 mutants were electroporated with cassettes containing noncompatible ends that would prevent their integration into the endogenous genome via conventional homologous recombination. This cassette also contained promoter DNA sequence to allow selection in the event of integration into non-transcribed regions of the genome. Study of the junctions encompassing the integration sites of the cassette allowed investigation into how the cassettes were integrated, and revealed to us the extent of the sequence homology required to catalyse integration. The method of repair detection observed indicated that classical homologous recombination is not the only pathway utilised by African trypanosomes to metabolise DNA double-strand breaks. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)


An advanced rheo-diecasting technique, based on a modified multi-electromagnetic stirring continuous preparation (MSCP) process was developed for manufacturing near-net shape Al-alloys components with high integrity. The modified MSCP process innovatively combines noncontact electromagnetic stirring and an annular chamber with specially designed profiles to in situ make high quality semisolid slurry, and intensive forced shearing and self-wiping action can be achieved under high shear rate and high intensity of turbulence inside the annular chamber. Three Al-Si alloys with hypoeutectic, eutectic and hypereutectic compositions were tested in this study. The results indicate that, compared with those produced by conventional high-pressure diecasting (HPDC) process, rheo-diecasting samples based on the modified MSCP process have finer and more uniform microstructure.


PETER SANTINA, Staff Writer, Harvard International Review After three decades of civil war, Colombia is finally approaching peace. On August 7, 1998, Andres Pastrana assumed the presidency, replacing the discredited Ernesto Samper. The country's two largest guerrilla armies, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), had refused to meet with Samper because he received US$6 million in campaign contributions from the Cali drug cartel. The Pastrana administration has moved quickly toward negotiations with the guerrillas, agreeing to the FARC's demand to demilitarize an area the size of Switzerland in southern Colombia for 90 days while the two sides negotiate. Pastrana was elected by the most votes in his nation's history and has established a much more cordial relationship with the United States than his predecessor, making the first Colombian presidential visit to the United States in 23 years. President Bill Clinton and Pastrana signed a joint agreement to fight the drug trade, and Clinton promised US$280 million more in US aid to Colombia. Since his election, however, Pastrana's popularity in the polls has fallen nearly to the level of Samper's, due to an enormous amount of social unrest. Mounting opposition to the government's plans to cut public spending with privatization reforms manifested itself in a three-week national strike of 800,000 Colombian state employees. The strike, which ended on October 27, resulted in the death of seven union leaders. This tragedy highlights the key to Colombia's human rights catastrophe: political murders. Unions are targeted by right-wing paramilitaries for their opposition to the power of business, especially multinational corporations. According to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, in 1997 alone 156 trade unionists were killed in Colombia. Although unions are one target of political violence, peasants living in the countryside have suffered even more. Brutal paramilitary forces target those suspected of collaboration with the guerrillas and have committed numerous human rights abuses. This relationship between the official military and the death squads has been investigated by the US State Department, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, international think tanks, and human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Government Abuses According to the US State Department, "the [Colombian] Government took no significant action to restrain these powerful paramilitary groups" in 1997. A major factor in the abuse is indeed the complicity of the Colombian government, particularly the armed forces, in the rightist agenda of the paramilitaries in the face of a growing leftist guerrilla movement. The Colombian government, threatened by the socialist rebels, has been unwilling to prosecute either paramilitaries or army soldiers for their human rights abuses because they are more concerned with losing power to the socialist rebels than protecting the basic human rights of Colombian citizens. General Bedoya, the commander of the armed forces, has said that military courts effectively punish violators, citing a high overall conviction rate for military violations. When asked by Human Rights Watch, however, he could not cite a single conviction for a human rights violation; most military tribunal convictions are for technical offenses such as failure to follow orders. A detailed report on Colombian human rights abuses released by Human Rights Watch in 1998 states that in cases of humanitarian law violations, "allegations against officers are rarely investigated." The US State Department noted in its 1997 report that, "at year's end, the military exercised jurisdiction over many cases of military personnel accused of abuses, a system that has established an almost unbroken record of impunity." The Colombian National Police, although it has improved its record since 1994, continues to show a reluctance to prosecute paramilitaries. …


Ternary CePt3Si crystallizes in the tetragonal P4mm structure which lacks a center of inversion. Antiferromagnetic order sets in at TN≈2.2 K followed by superconductivity (SC) below Tc≈0.75 K. Large values of Hc2′≈−8.5 T/K and Hc2(0)≈5 T were derived, referring to Cooper pairs formed out of heavy quasiparticles. The mass enhancement originates from Kondo interactions with a characteristic temperature TK≈8 K. CePt3Si follows the general features of correlated electron systems and can be arranged within the Kadowaki–Woods plot next to the unconventional SC UPt3. NMR and μSR results show that both magnetic order and SC coexist on a microscopic scale without having spatial segregation of both phenomena. The absence of an inversion symmetry gives rise to a lifting of the degeneracy of electronic bands by spin-orbit coupling. As a consequence, the SC order parameter may have uncommon features as indicated from a very unique NMR relaxation rate 1/T1 and a linear temperature dependence of the penetration depth λ.


When evaluating recommender systems for their fairness, it may be necessary to make use of demographic attributes, which are personally sensitive and usually excluded from publicly-available data sets. In addition, these attributes are fixed and therefore it is not possible to experiment with different distributions using the same data. In this paper, we describe the Frequency-Linked Attribute Generation (FLAG) algorithm, and show its applicability for assigning synthetic demographic attributes to recommendation data sets.


Dog-leg and cockatoo fences were widely used by selectors and squatters in colonial Australia in the early years of developing their selections and runs. However as the terms, which have their origins in colonial Australia, were applied to a range of structures, interpreting contemporary descriptions may be difficult. This paper explores the meanings of the terms and their origins. Dog-legs are paired poles laid diagonally across a fence of any form, but usually some form of log or brush fence, with a log supported in the crutch to increase the height or stability of the fence. They have also been recorded with dry stone walls. In general the term 'dog-leg fence' should not be interpreted as a zig-zag fence, although dog-legs may be used with these structures. Cockatoo or cocky's fence was a derisive term applied to any of a wide range of rough fences, again usually log or brush, and including dog-leg fences, erected by small-scale selectors known as cockatoo or cocky farmers. Historical archaeologists should be careful assigning a specific structure to a contemporary use of this term.


Energy efficiency, performance, area, and cost are critical concerns in designing microprocessors for embedded systems such as portable handheld computing and personal telecommunication devices. This work introduces the concept of framework-based instruction set synthesis (FITS), which is a new instruction synthesis paradigm that falls between a general-purpose embedded processor and a synthesized application specific processor (ASP). FITS processors reduce code size and energy consumption by tailoring the instruction set to the requirement of a target application. This is achieved by replacing the fixed instruction and register decoding of a general purpose embedded processor with programmable decoders that can achieve ASP performance, low energy consumption, and smaller code size with the fabrication advantages of a mass produced single chip solution. Experimental results show that our synthesized instruction sets result in significant power reduction in the level one instruction cache compared to ARM instructions. The instruction cache is one of the most predominant sources of power dissipation on the processor. For instance, in Intel's StrongARM processor, 27 percent of total chip power loss goes into the instruction cache. For 21 MiBench benchmarks, our simulation results, indicate, on average, a 49.4 percent saving for switching power, a 43.9 percent saving for internal power, a 14.9 percent saving for leakage power, a 46.6 percent saving for total instruction cache power with up to 60.3 percent saving for peak power.


A study of the theory and practice of seventeenth-century Dutch group portraits, Manhood, Marriage, and Mischief offers an account of the genre's comic and ironic features, which it treats as comments on the social context of portrait sitters who are husbands and householders as well as members of civic and proto-military organizations.The introduction picks out anomalous touches with which Rembrandt problematizes standard group-portrait motifs in The Night Watch: a shooter who fires his musket into the company; two girls who appear to be moving through the company in the wrong direction; guardsmen who appear to be paying little or no attention to their leader's enthusiastic gesture of command.Were the patrons and sitters aware of or even complicit in staging the anomalies? If not, did the painter get away with a subversive parody of militia portrait conventions at the sitters' expense? Parts One and Two respond to these questions at several levels: first, by analyzing the aesthetic structure of group portraiture as a genre; second, by reviewing the conflicting accounts modern scholars give of the civic guard company as an institution; third, by marking the effect on civic guardsmen of a mercantile economy that relied heavily on wives and mothers to keep the homefires burning. Two phenomena persistently recur in the portraits under discussion: competitive posing and performance anxiety.Part Three studies these phenomena in portraits of married couples and families. Finally, Part Four examines them in The Night Watch in the light of the first three parts. The result is an interpretation that reads Rembrandt's painting both as a deliberate parody by the sitters and as the artist's covert parody of the sitters.


Handheld devices have added more and more functionality over the past couple of years. Advances in wireless networks have contributed to this trend. However, the major factor has been the development of more powerful mobile processors. New mobile chips have given smart cellular phones, PDAs, and intelligent pagers the capability to run faster, access the Internet, handle multimedia, and offer other enhanced services. However, more powerful chips use energy more quickly - a problem in devices that run on batteries, which have limited life spans. In addition, the chips generate heat buildup in devices that don't have space for fans or other cooling mechanisms. In response, mobile-chip makers are developing low-power designs and working on other ways to lower energy consumption. However, they face important challenges in the process.


What should the clinician do when confronted with a patient who has depressive symptoms? Seek the proper diagnosis. Question the patient about depressive symptoms over a two-week course that interferes with social and/or occupational functioning. Determine if there is any history of mania or hypomania. Information from a significant other is extremely useful as well. Coexisting diagnoses, such as substance abuse, posttraumatic stress disorder, or medical conditions, must be ruled in or out. It is critical to include a suicide risk assessment in the evaluation. Lithium is still the gold standard for bipolar patients with its suicide preventative effects. Lamotrigine appears to have the advantage of efficacy against bipolar depression without high risk for inducing mania. Experts recommend that a mood stabilizer be used in combination with antidepressants. The tricyclic antidepressants and the monoamine oxidase inhibitors appear to have the highest risk for mania and are best avoided. Atypical antipsychotic medications are best utilized for psychotic symptoms and as adjuncts to existing antidepressants. Cognitive behavioral therapy may complement pharmacotherapy.


Cyanobacteria are prokaryotes that express circadian (daily) rhythms. In rhythmic environments, the fitness of cyanobacteria is improved when this clock is operational and when its circadian period is similar to the period of the environmental cycle. In cyanobacteria, three key proteins (KaiA, KaiB and KaiC) form a core molecular clockwork that orchestrates global gene expression by modulating chromosomal topology. The three-dimensional structures of these proteins have been determined. KaiA, KaiB and KaiC form a multiprotein nanomachine that can reconstitute a circadian oscillator in vitro, and this oscillator appears to function as a post-translational oscillator (PTO) in vivo. Because this PTO regulates rhythmic transcription and translation, the entire circadian system comprises both the PTO and a transcriptional/translational feedback loop. Models of the complete in vivo system have important implications for our understanding of circadian clocks in higher organisms, including mammals.

Key Concepts:

Prokaryotic cyanobacteria have a circadian timekeeping system that enhances fitness.

These cells exhibit pervasive circadian regulation of gene expression, possibly mediated by cyclic changes of chromosomal topology.

A circadian rhythm of the phosphorylation of the central clock protein KaiC can be reconstituted in vitro with three proteins derived from cyanobacteria (KaiA, KaiB and KaiC) and ATP.

KaiA, KaiB and KaiC are the only circadian clock proteins for which the 3-D structure of full-length proteins is known.

Structural, biochemical and biophysical methods have been used to study the mechanism by which KaiC is rhythmically phosphorylated and dephosphorylated.

Mathematical modelling that has been applied to the in vitro and in vivo systems indicate the existence of a core biochemical post-translational oscillator (PTO) that controls a larger transcription/translation feedback loop (TTFL).

Keywords:

biological clock;
fitness;
phosphorylation;
protein structure;
gene expression;
cell division;
KaiABC;
in vitro oscillator


Abstract. The chemistry of the troposphere and specifically the global tropospheric ozone budget is affected by reactive halogen compounds like BrO or ClO. Bromine monoxide (BrO) plays an important role in the processes of ozone destruction, disturbance of NOx and HOx chemistry, oxidation of DMS, and the deposition of elementary mercury. In the troposphere BrO has been detected in polar regions, at salt lakes, in volcanic plumes, and in the marine boundary layer. For a better understanding of these processes instruments with high spatial resolution and high sensitivity are necessary. A Cavity Enhanced Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (CE-DOAS) instrument was designed and applied. For the first time, such an instrument uses an UV-LED in the UV-wavelength range (325–365 nm) to identify BrO. In laboratory studies at the Atmospheric Chemistry Research Laboratory, University of Bayreuth, Germany, BrO, as well as HONO, HCHO, O3, and O4, could be reliable determined at detection limits (for five minutes integration time) of 20 ppt for BrO, 9.1 ppb for HCHO, 970 ppt for HONO, and 91 ppb for O3, respectively. The best detection limits for BrO (11 ppt), HCHO (5.1 ppb), HONO (490 ppt), and O3 (59 ppb) were achieved for integration times of 81 min or less.


ABSTRACT Building simulations are often used to predict energy demand and to determine the financial feasibility of the low-carbon projects. However, recent research has documented large differences between actual and predicted energy consumption. In retrofit projects, this difference creates uncertainty about the payback periods and, as a consequence, owners are reluctant to invest in energy-efficient technologies. The differences between the actual and the expected energy consumption are caused by inexact input data on the thermal properties of the building envelope and by the use of standard occupancy data. Integrating occupancy patterns of diversity and variability in behaviour into building simulation can potentially foresee and account for the impact of behaviour in building performance. The presented research develops and applies occupancy heating profiles for building simulation tools in order create more accurate predictions of energy demand and energy performance. Statistical analyses were used to define the relationship between seven most common household types and occupancy patterns in the Netherlands. The developed household profiles aim at providing energy modellers with reliable, detailed and ready-to-use occupancy data for building simulation. This household-specific occupancy information can be used in projects that are highly sensitive to the uncertainty related to return of investments.


Vasculitis commonly induces peripheral neuropathies. Neuropathy is isolated in one third of the cases or participates in a multisystemic disorder. The pathological mechanism is tissular ischaemia induced by inflammation and lesions of vessel walls. Pathophysiological classification of vasculitis is mainly based on the size of affected vessels but other approaches may be proposed such as immunological classification considering the presence or absence of immunological markers. The diagnosis is supported by neuropathological examination of muscle and nerve biopsies, but electrophysiological testing may contribute to establish the diagnosis and the prognosis of the disease by showing the highly suggestive pattern of multitroncular involvement and by evaluating the extent of the neuropathy and of axonal loss. In most cases, treatment with steroids and other immunosuppressive agents result in good but partial improvement.


IgD myeloma is relatively rare. We wish to report 4 new cases investigated in this laboratory during the past 18 months. Extra-osseous involvement was present in 2 patients. Total serum protein concentrations were normal in all cases, while serum paraprotein peaks were inconspicuous in 2 patients. Bence Jones proteinuria of the lambda type was present in all, while free light chains could be detected in the blood in 3 patients.


With the development of autonomous vehicles, research on energy-efficient eco-driving is becoming increasingly important. The optimal control problem of determining the speed profile of the vehicle for minimizing energy consumption is a challenging problem that necessitates the consideration of various aspects, such as the vehicle energy consumption, slope of the road, and driving environment, e.g., the traffic and other vehicles on the road. In this study, an approach using reinforcement learning was applied to the eco-driving problem for electric vehicles considering road slopes. A novel model-based reinforcement learning algorithm for eco-driving was developed, which separates the vehicle's energy consumption approximation model and driving environment model. Thus, the domain knowledge of vehicle dynamics and the powertrain system is utilized for the reinforcement learning process, while model-free characteristics are maintained by updating the approximation model using experience replay. The proposed algorithm was tested via a vehicle simulation and compared with a solution obtained using dynamic programming (DP), and as well as conventional cruise control driving with constant speed. The simulation results indicated that the speed profile optimized using model-based reinforcement learning had similar behavior to the global solution obtained via DP and energy saving performance compared with cruise control.


This research is aimed at not only enlightening the readers on the need to assign monetary values to natural resources particularly recreation sites but also to compare suitability of various models. Recreation sites are important to any population especially the urban population. New recreation sites need to be provided while existing ones are conserved and expanded to meet the needs of the ever growing urban population. Travel cost method is suitable for valuation of recreation sites and its premise is that the total cost incurred in visiting a recreation site is the 'price' paid for buying the product. The number of visits to a site is determined by the total cost incurred in accessing it hence the demand function. Travel cost has various variations such as individual travel cost model and zonal travel cost model which employs different approaches in analysis of travel cost. They are suitable under different circumstances as they result in different valuation outcomes. It is therefore important to use the model which gives the most optimal recreation value to enable it compete effectively with other uses. The recreational values calculated using the two models was compared with what the market would offer for the next best alternative use. The next best alternative is residential since the case study falls under zone 4. The optimal value equals or greater than market based appraised value. The comparison revealed that individual travel cost model resulted in a comparatively more optimal recreational valuation.


AIMS
The study targeted to evaluate the antihyperglycemic activity of Salvia hispanica.

BACKGROUND
Salvia hispanica L. (Lamiaceae) is a medicinal plant with many beneficial properties on human health.

OBJECTIVE
This objective of the study was to investigate the antihyperglycemic effect of the aqueous extract of Salvia hispanica (S. hispanica) seeds and its capacity to improve lipid profile in normal and STZ-induced diabetic rats.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The seed aqueous extract of S. hispanica (SHSAE) at a dose of 100 mg/kg was administered orally in normal and diabetic rats. The effect of oral SHSAE treatment on blood glucose and lipid levels during 15 days was assessed in normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. The oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was carried out. The antioxidant activity of SHSAE was also examined.

RESULTS
The decrease of glycemia in rats following the administration of the plant extract suggested that the studied extract possesses antidiabetic effect. The extract of S. hispanica produced hypolipidemic effect with a significant lowering effect on plasma total cholesterol levels and increase on HDL-cholesterol levels. SHSAE was also able to enhance glucose tolerance using OGTT. Moreover, SHSAE possess a potential antioxidant effect in vitro.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this study demonstrates the antihyperglycemic and antilipidemic effects of SHSAE in rats.


PURPOSE
To demonstrate the usefulness of dual-wavelength fundus autofluorescence (FAF) imaging for noninvasive, quantitative monitoring of dynamic changes associated with healing of retinal photocoagulation lesions in a small animal model.

METHODS
Brown Norway rats, exhibiting substantial age-dependent lipofuscin autofluorescence, were used to characterize the kinetics of FAF recovery after retinal photocoagulation. An argon laser with a beam diameter of 100 μm, exposure duration of 0.1 seconds, and a range of laser powers (8-22 mW) were used to create subthreshold, threshold, and suprathreshold lesions. A modified retinal angiograph was used to obtain dual-wavelength FAF images at 488 and 514 nm to quantify and monitor changes in retinal fluorescence up to 6 months.

RESULTS
Compared to white light funduscopy, the FAF images exhibited heightened definition and clarity of lesion boundaries immediately after laser exposure. No significant reduction in FAF was measured at or below laser powers of 8 mW. Furthermore, a linear, dose-dependent decrease in FAF (R(2) = 0.9605) was observed immediately after laser exposures of 13 to 22 mW. Complete recovery of baseline FAF was observed for 13.5 and 16 mW exposures at 3 weeks and 4 months, respectively. However, retinal damage was still evident at 6 months after suprathreshold exposure induced using 22 mW laser power.

CONCLUSIONS
The accumulation of lipofuscin in the aged Brown Norway rat makes it a suitable small animal model for the characterization of laser-induced injury in the retina based on FAF. Dual-wavelength FAF measurements provide a sensitive, quantitative, noninvasive means of monitoring recovery of laser-induced retinal injury.


Similar biotherapeutic products (SBPs), also called biosimilars, exhibit similar biological and clinical properties to authorized reference products. Biosimilars, including small molecules like erythropoietin and complex macromolecules like monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), have been used extensively in disease treatment. Monoclonal antibody biosimilars have gradu-ally become a dominant development in the global pharmaceutical industry since their patents or data protection have been expired or nearing expiration. Since the mAb biosimilars are complex biological macromolecules with various post-translation modifications, it is important to evaluate whether these tiny differences significantly affect the quality. From a regulatory perspective, the comparability study needs to be performed to demonstrate that the quality, safety, and efficacy are similar to the biological reference. Based on these comprehensive comparative results, the indicated extrapolation might be acceptable. Post- market surveillance is also required because of unexpected biological variation caused by slightly different manufacturing processes. This chapter presents the scientific and regula - tory considerations for monoclonal antibody biosimilar products for manufactures and for the regulatory authorities to administrate wisely and comprehensively.


In this paper we solve three equivalent problems. The first is: what $3$-uniform hypergraph on a ground set of size $n$, having at least $e$ edges, has the most $2$-independent sets? Here a $2$-independent set is a subset of vertices containing fewer than $2$ vertices from each edge. This is equivalent to the problem of determining the $3$-uniform hypergraph for which the size of $\partial^+(\partial_2(\mathcal{H}))$ is minimized. Here $\partial_2({\cdot})$ is the down-shadow on level $2$, and $\partial^+({\cdot})$ denotes the up-shadow on all levels. This in turn is equivalent to the problem of determining which graph on $n$ vertices having at least $e$ triangles has the most independent sets. The (hypergraph) answer is that, ignoring some transient and some persistent exceptions which we can classify completely, a $(2,3,1)$-lex style $3$-graph is optimal.
We also discuss the general problem of maximizing the number of $s$-independent sets in $r$-uniform hypergraphs of fixed size and order, proving some simple results, and conjecture an asymptotically correct general solution to the problem.


While there may be an important, but transitory, cyclical component in the poor performance of the past decade, we will emphasise the secular forces: the impact of demographic structure and innovation. We draw on the empirical and theoretical work reported in Aksoy, Basso, Smith and Grasl (2015), ABSG, about the impact of changes in demographic structure on macroeconomic outcomes. This suggests that changes in age profile not only have significant implications for savings, investment, real interest rates and growth but also for innovation. The size of the effects seems plausible. For instance, if in 2015 the UK had the 1970 age structure, it would have added 0.68 percentage points to the long-run annual growth rate. The model suggests that the population ageing predicted for the next decades will tend to reduce output growth and real interest rates across OECD countries.


Background: Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is the most common cancer of the biliary tract, but molecularly targeted therapies are not available for GBC. Loss of microRNA (miR)-335 expression may be a useful predictor of clinical outcomes and the reversal of its loss of expression may be a useful treatment strategy for GBC. In this study, we investigated whether a long noncoding RNA, nuclear paraspeckle assembly transcript 1 ( NEAT1 ) sponges miR-335 in GBC cells. Materials and Methods: Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), Western blotting, and immunohistochemistry were used to determine the expression of miR-335; NEAT1 ; survivin; and Ki67 in GBC cell lines (GBC-SD and SGC-996) and tissue samples from patients (n = 25). Cell Counting Kit-8, colony-formation, and Transwell migration and invasion assays were performed to measure cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Bioinformatic analysis and dual-luciferase reporter assays were utilized to analyze correlativity. Results: miR-335 overexpression resulted in inhibition of GBC cell proliferation and invasion. In addition, knockdown of NEAT1 resulted in downregulation of survivin expression. As NEAT1 competitively " sponges " miR-335, NEAT1 knockdown resulted in inhibited GBC cell proliferation and invasion in vitro and GBC tumor growth in vivo. Furthermore, NEAT1 was found to be upregulated in GBC samples, and its expression was inversely correlated with miR-335 levels, but positively correlated with survivin levels. Conclusion: These fi ndings indicate that NEAT1 promotes survivin expression by function-ing as a competitive endogenous RNA for miR-335 in GBC cells; thus, we have identi fi ed a potential biomarker and target for GBC diagnosis and therapy.


The aim of this article is to analyze whether pro-environmental behaviors can be reinforced by simply putting people in a context that recalls nature.?To do so, we carried out a laboratory experiment in which we created nature versus urban decision-making frameworks (via video viewing), and we observed two types of behavior: a monetary donation to an environmental non-governmental organization (NGO) (eco-giving) and a recycling effort through a green deed (eco-action).?We show that participants placed in a context of nature are more motivated to give, give on average more and recycle more compared to participants who have been put in an urban context.?The results also highlight that there is no link between donation behavior and the recycling decision.?Our work provides new avenues for designing policies to preserve the environment. Classification JEL?: C91, D91, Q50.


Prion diseases belong to a group of fatal infectious diseases with no effective therapies available. Throughout the last 35 years, less than 50 different drugs have been tested in different experimental animal models without hopeful results. An important limitation when searching for new drugs is the existence of appropriate models of the disease. The three different possible origins of prion diseases require the existence of different animal models for testing anti-prion compounds. Wild type, over-expressing transgenic mice and other more sophisticated animal models have been used to evaluate a diversity of compounds which some of them were previously tested in different in vitro experimental models. The complexity of prion diseases will require more pre-screening studies, reliable sporadic (or spontaneous) animal models and accurate chemical modifications of the selected compounds before having an effective therapy against human prion diseases. This review is intended to put on display the more relevant animal models that have been used in the search of new antiprion therapies and describe some possible procedures when handling chemical compounds presumed to have anti-prion activity prior to testing them in animal models.


This report presents findings from Beta, one of four school districts examined in a series of case studies that investigated the complex relationship between reading assessment and instruction. The research was situated in the context of school decision making. Teachers, principals, parents, students, and central office staff were interviewed to determine how decisions were made in the district and how that decision-making process influenced assessment and instruction. In addition, teachers were observed, and discussions were conducted with them about the observations. A constant comparative method was used to identify patterns in the data. Findings showed that standardized-test data played a powerful role in Beta, with teachers, prinzipals, and central office staff reporting that such data were the most viable way to understand how students were doing. Teachers' assessments were rarely mentioned. Within the classroom, teachers felt that they needed to "cover" the textbooks before state and district testing so that their students would score well. Teachers spent classroom time helping students prepare for the test; indeed, sometimes the curriculum for the entire year was driven by the test. Curriculum was synonymous with textbooks, and using textbooks was expected to lead to good test scores. Educators in Beta seemed to feel that the tests measured what matLered, and that therefore it was reasonable to modify curriculum and instruction to match the test. (One table and three figures of data are included; a letter to schools describing the research project, and a list of interview and observation codes are attached.) (Author/RS) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. *********************************************************************** 0 Champaign, Illinois 61820 tv.) Technical Report No. 590 ASSESSMENT AND DECISION MAKING IN BETA Janelle Weinzierl, Diane Stephens, Anne Stallman, P. David Pearson, Judith Shelton, Alicia Rodriguez, Mary Roe, Michelle Commeyras, Candace Clark, Judy Moll, Colleen P. Gilrane


Arbitrary style transfer has been demonstrated to be efficient in artistic image generation. Previous methods either globally modulate the content feature ignoring local details, or overly focus on the local structure details leading to style leakage. In contrast to the literature, we propose a new scheme "style kernel" that learns spatially adaptive kernels for per-pixel stylization, where the convolutional kernels are dynamically generated from the global style-content aligned feature and then the learned kernels are applied to modulate the content feature at each spatial position. This new scheme allows flexible both global and local interactions between the content and style features such that the wanted styles can be easily transferred to the content image while at the same time the content structure can be easily preserved. To further enhance the flexibility of our style transfer method, we propose a Style Alignment Encoding (SAE) module complemented with a Content-based Gating Modulation (CGM) module for learning the dynamic style kernels in focusing regions. Extensive experiments strongly demonstrate that our proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art methods and exhibits superior performance in terms of visual quality and efficiency.


Syndicated content in the Internet has been a huge success ever since the early days of RSS 0.9 and MyNetscape. Currently, it is the cornerstone of content push, ranging from podcasts to emerging Web 2.0 sites such as FriendFeed and Plexus. Unfortunately, the simple technology that makes publication and subscription very simple and flexible, thus explaining in part its success, is also limiting its usefulness in more demanding applications. This paper proposes a novel distributed architecture for feed caching and dissemination. It leverages social networks as promoters of discovery and aggregation, and peer-to-peer protocols for content distribution, while providing an evolutionary upgrade path that does not disrupt current infrastructure or require changes to publishers' or consumers' habits.


The spaces Lp(, φ) for 1 ≤ p ≤ ∞, where φ is a faithful semifinite normal trace on a von Neumann algebra , are defined in (10),(2),(14). The problem of determining the general form of an isometry of one such space into another has been studied in (i), (6), (9), (12), (5). Our main result, Theorem 2, is a characterization of such isometries for 1 ≤ p ≤ ∞, ≠ 2. The method of proof is based on that of (7), where isometries between Lp function spaces are characterized. The main step in the proof is Theorem 1, which gives the conditions under which equality holds in Clarkson's inequality.


Sartre's Second Century reflects the richness of Sartre's vision of the human condition, the diversity of the means he employed in grappling with it, and the lengthy trajectory of his itinerary, in a variety of wider cultural perspectives. The centenary of Sartre's birth in 2005 was the primary occasion for many of the essays included in this volume. Hosted by the UK or North American Sartre Societies, contributors participating in Sartre's centennial celebrations were asked to address the central themes and overall development of his life and thought. As the present collection shows, the attempt to present Sartre in a retrospective light also provides a basis for assessing the relevance of his work for the new century.


This paper proposes a generic architecture and protocol for adaptive distribution of multimedia content within collaborative conferencing sessions, supplying applications like presentation sharing, co-browsing, or application sharing with extensive content. Applications building upon it are able to use efficient decoupled content delivery with adaptation in a tightlycoupled environment while integrated interaction features like annotations, telepointer, and chat are still available. Building blocks from content networking research are combined with concepts of IP conferencing. A system for presentation sharing and photo sharing was implemented as a proof of concept.


Acute respiratory tract infections are one of the most common reasons that result in general practitioner consultations. Viruses are the most common cause of both upper- and lower respiratory tract infections, however pneumonia is usually bacterial in origin. When from a bacterial origin, S. pneumoniae non-typical H. influenzae and M. catarrhalis are mostly the cause of acute otitis media, acute bacterial rhinosinusitis and acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis, while S. pyogenes are usually the presenting organisms in acute pharyngotonsillitis. B. pertussis, C. pneumoniae or M. pneumoniae are common organisms associated with acute bronchitis and community-acquired pneumonia (atypical). Pneumonia is a serious life-threatening condition, and organisms mostly associated with it include S. pneumoniae, S. aureus, H. influenzae type b, K. pneumoniae, Legionella species or P. jirovecii. Common symptoms and signs include coughing, facial pain, fever, nasal congestion, sore throat, dyspnoea, and tachypnoea. Most of the acute uncomplicated respiratory tract infections are self-limiting in nature. It is in many instances a challenge to distinguish between acute bronchitis and pneumonia because of the similarity in presenting symptoms. Antibiotics are in many instances inappropriately prescribed to treat the infections resulting in the burden of antibiotic resistance patterns within the community. Treatment options are usually amoxicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid or the 2nd or 3rd generation cephalosporins.


Abstract Background In 2021, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) revised its lung cancer screening guidelines to expand screening eligibility. We evaluated screening sensitivities and racial and ethnic disparities under the 2021 USPSTF criteria vs alternative risk-based criteria in a racially and ethnically diverse population. Methods In the Multiethnic Cohort, we evaluated the proportion of ever-smoking lung cancer cases eligible for screening (ie, screening sensitivity) under the 2021 USPSTF criteria and under risk-based criteria through the PLCOm2012 model (6-year risk ≥1.51%). We also calculated the screening disparity (ie, absolute sensitivity difference) for each of 4 racial or ethnic groups (African American, Japanese American, Latino, Native Hawaiian) vs White cases. Results Among 5900 lung cancer cases, 43.3% were screen eligible under the 2021 USPSTF criteria. Screening sensitivities varied by race and ethnicity, with Native Hawaiian (56.7%) and White (49.6%) cases attaining the highest sensitivities and Latino (37.3%), African American (38.4%), and Japanese American (40.0%) cases attaining the lowest. Latino cases had the greatest screening disparity vs White cases at 12.4%, followed by African American (11.2%) and Japanese American (9.6%) cases. Under risk-based screening, the overall screening sensitivity increased to 75.7%, and all racial and ethnic groups had increased sensitivities (54.5%-91.9%). Whereas the screening disparity decreased to 5.1% for African American cases, it increased to 28.6% for Latino cases and 12.8% for Japanese American cases. Conclusions In the Multiethnic Cohort, racial and ethnic disparities decreased but persisted under the 2021 USPSTF lung cancer screening guidelines. Risk-based screening through PLCOm2012 may increase screening sensitivities and help to reduce disparities in some, but not all, racial and ethnic groups. Further optimization of risk-based screening strategies across diverse populations is needed.


Summary: The fundamental idea we discuss in this paper is that the failure of Europe to deal with the international crisis is due, first and foremost, to the deepening of a more specific crisis that affected the very process of European integration and developed through two main channels: one, broader, linked to the erosion of the original driving forces underpinning integration in Europe; another, more circumscribed, linked to the malfunctioning of the euro as an internal adjustment mechanism of the currency zone. To deal with these structural dimensions of the crisis, we put forward a model of a Global Europe against the model of Continental Europe that has dominated the integration process until now and in this alternative framework we discuss the potential role of Portugal and of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries.


We explore probability modelling of discretization uncertainty for system states defined implicitly by ordinary or partial differential equations. Accounting for this uncertainty can avoid posterior under-coverage when likelihoods are constructed from a coarsely discretized approximation to system equations. A formalism is proposed for inferring a fixed but a priori unknown model trajectory through Bayesian updating of a prior process conditional on model information. A one-step-ahead sampling scheme for interrogating the model is described, its consistency and first order convergence properties are proved, and its computational complexity is shown to be proportional to that of numerical explicit one-step solvers. Examples illustrate the flexibility of this framework to deal with a wide variety of complex and large-scale systems. Within the calibration problem, discretization uncertainty defines a layer in the Bayesian hierarchy, and a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm that targets this posterior distribution is presented. This formalism is used for inference on the JAK-STAT delay differential equation model of protein dynamics from indirectly observed measurements. The discussion outlines implications for the new field of probabilistic numerics.


We study how to recommend discussion threads in the tourism domain to meet visitors' travel information needs. This research-in-progress paper reports the first stage of our research, namely classifying discussion threads into travel goals. We propose an information goal-oriented model, which consists of four goals: Initiation, Attraction, Accommodation, and Route planning, that can be characterized using nine features. Seven of these nine features can be quantified based on lexicons, and the other two can be measured using the named entity recognition technique. Three lexicons can be further enhanced using WordNet. We conduct an experiment in evaluating the impact of these features on goal classification with a data set collected from TripAdvisor.com, the world's largest travelling website. The experimental results show that our approach generally has comparable or better performance than that of using purely lexical features, namely TF-IDF, for classification.


This paper presents a IV RF transceiver implemented as part of an ultra low power system-on-chip (SoC), the Sensium , for wireless body area sensor network (WBASN) applications. Operating in the 862-870 MHz European short- range-device (SRD) or the 902-928 MHz North American Industrial, Scientific & Medical (ISM) frequency bands, the transceiver utilizes digital 2-level FSK modulation at a data rate of 50 kbit/s to provide wireless connectivity between target sensor nodes and a central base-station node. The wireless transceiver operates half-duplex and achieves -102 dBm receiver input sensitivity (for raw 1E-3 bit error rate) and up to -7 dBm transmitter output power through a single antenna port. It consumes 2.1 mA during receive and up to 2.6 mA during transmit from a 1.0 to 1.5 V supply. This surpasses state-of-the- art in terms of performance versus power consumption. It is fabricated in a 0.13 mum CMOS technology and occupies approximately 7 mm in a SoC die size of 4x4 mm .


This article introduces the Inventory of Creative Activities and Achievements (ICAA), a broad-based assessment of individual differences in real-life creativity. The ICAA provides independent scales for the frequency of engagement in everyday creative activity and the level of creative achievement across 8 creative domains. A formal test analysis based on 7 Little-C samples and 2 Pro-C samples (overall N = 1,566) provides evidence for the reliability and validity of the ICAA test scores. The analyses shed light on the prevalence of specific creative activity and achievement and examine the relevance of personality, creative potential, and intelligence across domains of creativity. The findings further suggest that the assessment of creative activity is particularly suited for Little-C creativity, whereas the assessment of creative achievement appears more appropriate for Pro-C creativity. The ICAA offers researchers a broad and versatile assessment tool for studying creativity across domains and levels.


This study was specified in documenting Mimosa reaction in the state of defoliation on the plants. As defoliation was believed to cause plants experiencing both positive and/or negative effects on its growth performance, thus among the aim of this study is to monitor the emergence of foliar buds in respond with vary level of defoliation intensities. The seedlings were grown singly in polybags up to four leaf stage as. Grown seedlings were randomly subjected under four different defoliation intensities: control (un-defoliated), 25%, 50%, and 100% in which 10 replicates of seedling for each treatment. Experiment was ceased at the 6 th month after establishment of plants grew. Results shown that, the effect of defoliation on the production of foliar buds was significantly difference between the treatments (P< 0.05). As compared with 25%, 50% and 100% defoliation, un-defoliated plants showed the highest amount of foliar buds production which is 14 buds. While, there were no differences amount of foliar buds production between 25% and 50% defoliation with 5 foliar buds per plants. Emergence of foliar buds was reportedly lowest in 100% defoliation plant when there were no sign of buds emergence. Results concluded that, the subjected plants of control, 25% and 50% leaves defoliation treatments, were able to performed tolerance effect relative to the induced stressor. Apart from that, experiment revealed that the 100% defoliation has probability of detrimental effect on growth and reproduction of Mimosa seedling as it hindrance the germination of foliar buds.


Abstract A systematic study of (7,8-dimethylated) alloxazine, isoalloxazine, and their derivatives with substituted N(1) and N(10) positions was conducted using the density functional theory. The main aim of this work was the direct investigation of substituent effect on the molecular structure. Furthermore, HOMED aromaticity indices were calculated to describe the scope of the geometry changes. Frontier molecular orbitals of reference alloxazine, isoalloxazine and lumichrome derivatives were discussed by means of changes in their shape and energy levels. Photophysical properties were analyzed by determination of optical transition energies using the TD-DFT method. Obtained results were compared with previously published experimental data.


Abstract argumentation systems are formalisms for defeasible reasoning where some components remain unspecified, the structure of arguments being the main abstraction. In the dialectical process carried out to identify accepted arguments in the system some controversial situations may appear. These relate to the reintroduction of arguments into the process which cause the onset of circularity. This must be avoided in order to prevent an infinite analysis. Some systems apply the sole restriction of not allowing the introduction of previously considered arguments in an argumentation line. However, repeating an argument is not the only possible cause for the risk mentioned, as subarguments must be taken into account. In this work, we introduce an extended argumentation framework and a definition for progressive defeat path. A credulous extension is also presented.


Abstract:  Bartonella are vector‐borne, fastidious Gram‐negative bacteria causing persistent bacteremia in their reservoir hosts. Felids represent a major reservoir for several Bartonella species. Domestic cats are the main reservoir of B. henselae, the agent of cat‐scratch disease. Prevalence of infection is highest in warm and humid climates that are optimal for the survival of cat fleas, as fleas are essential for the transmission of the infection. Flea feces are the likely infectious substrate. Prevalence of B. henselae genotypes among cat populations varies worldwide. Genotype Houston I is more prevalent in the Far East and genotype Marseille is dominant in western Europe, Australia, and the western United States. Cats are usually asymptomatic, but uveitis, endocarditis, neurological signs, fever, necrotic lesions at the inoculation site, lymphadenopathy, and reproductive disorders have been reported in naturally or experimentally infected cats. Domestic cats are also the reservoir of B. clarridgeiae and co‐infection has been demonstrated. B. koehlerae has been isolated from domestic cats, and was identified in cat fleas and associated with a human endocarditis case. B. bovis was isolated from a few cats in the United States and B. quintana DNA was recently identified in a cat tooth. Bartonella spp. have also been isolated from free‐ranging and captive wild felids from North America and Africa. Whereas, B. henselae was identified in African lions and a cheetah, some strains specific to these wild cats have also been identified, leading to the concept of a B. henselae group including various subspecies, as previously described for B. vinsonii.


The radiographs of ninety patients in whom treatment of unilateral congenital dislocation of the hip was complicated by disturbance of growth of the proximal part of the femur were studied retrospectively. All patients were followed until closure of the affected proximal femoral physis. We divided the patients into three groups, according to the degree of vascular insufficiency: patients who had mild vascular insufficiency of the hip, which had little effect on growth; those who had moderate vascular insufficiency, which produces partial arrest of growth; and those who had severe vascular insufficiency, which causes complete arrest of growth. Good correlation was found between the initial degree of vascular insufficiency and the radiographic results at the most recent follow-up. The radiographic signs that were used to predict the extent of physeal involvement were a crescent-shaped epiphysis, medial bowing of the femoral neck (a shorter and more concave curve between the lesser trochanter and the proximal femoral metaphysis [the lateral portion of the Shenton line]), lateral tilting of the capital epiphysis, and premature physeal closure. Signs that were diagnostic of existing physeal involvement were elevation of the greater trochanter and shortening of the affected extremity. The presence and severity of these signs correlated well with the degree of vascular insufficiency. Medial bowing was the most reliable prognostic factor for the determination of the fate of the hip joint at maturity.


Deduplication has become essential in disk-based backup systems, but there have been few long-term studies of backup workloads. Most past studies either were of a small static snapshot or covered only a short period that was not representative of how a backup system evolves over time. For this paper, we collected 21 months of data from a shared user file system; 33 users and over 4,000 snapshots are covered. We analyzed the data set for a variety of essential characteristics. However, our primary focus was individual user data. Despite apparently similar roles and behavior in all of our users, we found significant differences in their deduplication ratios. Moreover, the data that some users share with others had a much higher deduplication ratio than average. We analyze this behavior and make recommendations for future deduplication systems design.


INTRODUCTION: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a disease that is caused by prolonged high-concentration oxygen therapy, and its typical pathologic character is edema of pulmonary alveolus. Aquaporins play an important role in the fluid transition. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the expression change of aquaporin 1 (AQP1) in hyperoxia-induced lung injury and the mechanism of action in lung edema. METHODS: Thirty-two juvenile Wistar rats were randomly divided into breathing room air (n = 8) and hyperoxia exposure (O2 > 95%; n = 8 at 3, 7, and 14 days, respectively). The distribution of AQP1 in the lung tissues and its mRNA expressions were detected by immunohistochemistry and reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: Light microscopic findings in the hyperoxia group included edema, hemorrhage, and extensive inflammatory cells. The lung wet/dry ratio, the protein content in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and the lung leak index in the hyperoxia group were significantly higher than those in room air group. The expression of AQP1 mRNA in the lungs was significantly decreased at 3 days of hyperoxia exposure, minimized at 7 days, and increased from 14 days. Immunohistochemistry for AQP1 was seen primarily in microvascular endothelia cells around bronchus and alveolus and interstitial cells; the positive regions were similar between the room air group and the hyperoxia group, AQP1 protein expression in the lungs was significantly decreased at 3 days of hyperoxia exposure, minimized at 7 days, but increased at 14 days. The dynamic changes of AQP1 protein level coincided with the changes of AQP1 mRNA expression. CONCLUSIONS: Hyperoxic lung injury may induce regulative imbalance of aquaporin expression. It may be 1 of the reasons for lung edema caused by hyperoxic lung injury.


This phenomenological investigation examined how eight student-nominated faculty who teach at an evangelical Christian liberal arts university describe their understanding and practice of the Integration of Faith and Learning (IFL). Collected data via informal, conversational, taped interviews led to the emergence of two primary themes: the Inseparability of Faith from Practice and the Outworking of Faith in Practice. The findings of the study highlight the need to create a more conducive context in which students can learn IFL and call for a re-examination of the already murky discourse surrounding definitional aspects of IFL. The study proposes to move the discourse forward by offering a new, yet to be discussed construct that emanated from the participants of this study, ontological foundation. A conceptual model describing its relationship with IFL is proposed.


To improve the maintainability, scalability, and reusability of models in complicated Missile Weapon System simulation, the system of a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation system based on high Level Architecture (HLA) and Modelica is designed, which can satisfy the need of interoperability among federates, and the simulation model library of missile based on Modelica is developed. Simulation application of missile trajectory and scene simulation is devised and is introduced into the federation to achieve the interaction between them and other federates. New simulation application incorporated with latest simulation technology can easily be introduced into the existing simulation system if they are in accordance with the HLA standards. The scene simulation application provides developers with a visual method to assess the performance of the system, which works as a federation in the HLA-based system. The results of missile trajectory simulation and scene simulation are given. The reusability of Modelica-based missile model provides designers with great flexibility and reusability in developing new missile models.