: The pursuit of biotechnology is to use living organisms to obtain particular products. Biotechnology, 'New Look', takes an essential step further in this pursuit:.....production is based on manipulating the genome: genototechnology! The production of monoclonal antibodies starts by fusing lymphocytes and myeloma cells. The lymphocytes bring in their programme in this process, and the myeloma cells (tumour cells) will ensure permanent mitotic activity. In recombinant DNA technology, 'foreign' DNA is incorporated into an existing genome so that the (bacterial) cell starts to produce products unfamiliar to this cell. An outstanding feature of biotechnology, 'New Look', consists in the fact that the instrumentation required frequently is biotechnological itself.


Background: Evidence-based studies illustrate the effectiveness of specialized stroke services in improving stroke patient outcomes. The American Stroke Association (ASA) has recommended the development of primary (PSC) and comprehensive (CSC) stroke centers to ensure that organizations have the expertise and resources to provide stroke care. Purpose: Cohorting (grouping) stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients on a dedicated neurological intensive care unit (ICU) and providing continuum of neurological patient care through the stroke unit has shown to improve patient outcomes through 90-100% compliance with stroke core measures and Get With The Guidelines ( GWTG ) quality measures. Methods: The ICU redesigned and selected eight neurological beds; while simultaneously, the medical/surgical stroke unit transitioned to include neuroscience/telemetry. The transition utilized the theoretical framework of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) to promote positive culture change. Through the dedication of nursing leadership, stroke coordinator and neuro educators, a comprehensive education plan was executed for all registered nurses of these units. Through utilization of coordinated NIHSS during change of shift and inter-department report, subjective differences were eliminated and baseline assessment created consistently. A neuroscience task force established and incorporated nurses from emergency room, intensive care unit and neuroscience/telemetry unit to facilitate collegiality and stroke patient care continuum. Results: Examination of the Stroke Core Measures and GWTG quality measures pre and post the transitions confirmed improved compliance with ASA's stroke core measures and quality indicators. In addition, the patient length of stay decreased well below the national average and 30 day readmission rate decreased as well. Conclusions: The benefit from treatment in a dedicated stroke unit remains a key component of improved outcomes. Therefore, creating a coordinated stroke/TIA continuum of care from door to discharge has exhibited improvement of the core measures and quality indicator compliance thus improving patient outcomes.


A bag for storing products such as powdered or granular detergent, pet food, coffee, cereal etc., has a line of weakness for easy opening. The bag also has a means for re-closing after initial opening by the user.


As a result of studies of guinea-pig live testosterone 17beta-dehydrogenase (NADP+) (EC 188.8.131.52), a new testosterone 17beta-dehydrogenase was discovered. The new enzyme was purified to a single homogeneous protein from the 105 000 g-supernatant fraction of guinea-pig liver by (NH4)2SO4 fractional precipitation and two gel-filtration stages, DEAE-cellulose column chromatography and hydroxyapatite column chromatography. It was characterized by many properties. The enzyme has almost the same properties as the classical testosterone 17beta-dehydrogenase (NADP+) (EC 126.96.36.199), with respect to cofactor requirement, pH optima for dehydrogenation, effect of phosphate ion on the NAD+-dependent reaction and molecular weight, but characteristic differences were observed in substrate-specificity between the two dehydrogenases. With various androstane derivatives, the configuration of the A/B-ring junction was closely connected with enzyme activity. 5alpha-Androstanes, such as 5alpha-androstane-3alpha,17beta-diol, 5alpha-androstane-3beta,17beta-diol and 17beta-hydroxy-5alpha-androstan-3-one, and 5beta-congeners, such as 5beta-androstane-3alpha,17beta-diol, 5beta-androstane-3beta,17beta-diol and 17beta-hydroxy-5beta-androstan-3-one, served as substrates for both the EC 220.127.116.11 enzyme and the new enzyme. The EC 22.214.171.124 enzyme oxidized testosterone more rapidly than did the new enzyme. These comparisons were based on the relative activities, apparent Km values and apparent Vmax values.


Across a variety of asset classes, we show that relative returns are highly predictable in the time series in and out of sample, much more so than aggregate returns. For Treasuries, slope is more predictable than level. For equities, dominant principal components of anomaly long-short strategies are more predictable than the market. For foreign exchange, a carry portfolio is more predictable than a basket of all currencies against the dollar. We show the commonly used practice to predict each individual asset is often equivalent to predicting only their first principal component, the index, which obscures the predictability of relative returns. Our findings highlight that focusing on important dimensions of the cross-section allows one to uncover additional economically relevant and statistically robust patterns of predictability.


Objective This paper examines the scope of practice of global health, drawing on the practical experience of a global health initiative of the Government of Canada – the Teasdale-Corti Global Health Research Partnership Program. A number of challenges in the practical application of theoretical definitions and understandings of global health are addressed. These challenges are grouped under five areas that form essential characteristics of global health: equity and egalitarian North–South partnerships, interdisciplinary scope, focus on upstream determinants of health, global conceptualization, and global health as an area of both research and practice. Design Information in this paper is based on the results of an external evaluation of the program, which involved analysis of project proposals and technical reports, surveys with grantees and interviews with grantees and program designers, as well as case studies of three projects and a review of relevant literature. Results The philosophy and recent definitions of global health represent a significant and important departure from the international health paradigm. However, the practical applicability of this maturing area of research and practice still faces significant systemic and structural impediments that, if not acknowledged and addressed, will continue to undermine the development of global health as an effective means to addressing health inequities globally and to better understanding, and acting upon, upstream determinants of health toward health for all. Conclusions While it strives to redress global inequities, global health continues to be a construct that is promoted, studied, and dictated mostly by Northern institutions and scholars. Until practical mechanisms are put in place for truly egalitarian partnerships between North and South for both the study and practice of global health, the emerging philosophy of global health cannot be effectively put into practice.


The goals of this study were (i) to compare the degree and (ii) temporal changes in airway obstruction in sheep with pulmonary injury induced by smoke inhalation and/or burn; (iii) to qualitatively assess the cellular and mucous content of obstructive material; and (iv) to statistically assess a possible relationship between the degree of airway obstruction and pulmonary dysfunction. Using masked histologic slides, we estimated the degree of luminal obstruction in all cross-sectioned airways. The mean degree of bronchial, bronchiolar, and terminal bronchiolar obstruction was significantly greater in animals with smoke injury alone or combined smoke inhalation and burn (S+B) injury, compared with animals with burn injury alone or uninjured animals (P < 0.05). In S+B animals, the degree of bronchial obstruction was maximal at 24 h, with a progressive decrease over 72 h. In contrast, the degree of bronchiolar obstruction increased over time. Qualitatively, bronchial casts were largely composed of mucus at early times after injury, whereas neutrophils were the principal component of bronchiolar obstructive material. Localization of specific mucin subtypes in S+B tissues suggests that increasing bronchiolar obstruction is derived, in part, from upper airway material. Multiple linear regression analysis of airway obstruction scores compared with PaO2/FIO2 values showed a correlation coefficient of r = 0.76, with bronchial and bronchiolar scores predictive of PaO2/FIO2, (P < 0.05). These results suggest that strategies to remove or decrease formation of upper airway obstructive material may reduce its deposition into small airways and parenchyma and may improve respiratory function in victims of smoke inhalation injury.


Mapping and assessing social networks and the quality of their social support is a valuable intervention strategy for social workers. These networks have now spread onto the digital realm in the form of Online Social Networks (OSNs). This study investigated the nature of social support provided by such networks to their users in a rural mid-South University (USA) and explored parallels with the current understanding of social support in conventional social networks. A web-based survey administered to college students revealed that users of these online networks were predominantly undergraduate first year students, female, single, unemployed and from a variety of academic disciplines. The examination of the components of OSNs appears to mirror those of offline networks. They also seem to complement the effects of each other while contributing to an individual's support system. The paper concludes with critical implications of such online social networking for University students and social workers in practice and education.


Background: To determine the success and effectiveness of nonoperative measures in patients with tuberculosis of the spine presenting with or without neurological deficit thus avoiding the surgical intervention.
Methods: Seventy (M=20, F=50) patients were included and the study duration was 02 years. Selected patients were advised strict bed rest and antituberculous therapy (ATT) for 18 months. Surgery was done in those patients who presented with severe neurological deficits or non-operative measures did not produce any improvement.
Results: Pain was the most common presenting symptom (90%). The motor deficit was seen in 60% and incontinence in 10%. On investigations, end plate erosion was seen in 70% , disc and body involvement in 30% , paravertebral abscess in 40 %. Majority of the patients (70%) patients were treated successfully with non-operative measures.
Conclusion: Results are satisfactory in patients who have advised strict bed rest and ATT for 18 months. This helps in reducing the rate of surgical intervention in patients with spinal tuberculosis. It signifies the importance of ATT as it is the mainstay of treatment in spinal tuberculosis.


Topological Geometrodynamics is able to make rather precise and often testable predictions. In this and two other articles I want to describe the recent over all view about the aspects of quantum TGD relevant for particle physics. In the first article I will concentrate the heuristic picture about TGD with emphasis on particle physics. First I will represent briefly the basic ontology: the motivations for TGD and the notion of many-sheeted space-time, the concept of zero energy ontology, the identification of dark matter in terms of hierarchy of Planck constant which now seems to follow as a prediction of quantum TGD, the motivations for p-adic physics and its basic implications, and the identification of space-time surfaces as generalized Feynman diagrams and the basic implications of this identification. Symmetries of quantum TGD are discussed. Besides the basic symmetries of the imbedding space geometry allowing to geometrize standard model quantum numbers and classical fields there are many other symmetries. General Coordinate Invariance is especially powerful in TGD framework allowing to realize quantum classical correspondence and implies effective 2-dimensionality realizing strong form of holography. Super-conformal symmetries of super string models generalize to conformal symmetries of 3-D light-like 3-surfaces and one can understand the generalization of Equivalence Principle in terms of coset representations for the two super Virasoro algebras associated with lightlike boundaries of so called causal diamonds defined as intersections of future and past directed lightcones ($CD$s) and with light-like 3-surfaces. Super-conformal symmetries imply generalization of the space-time supersymmetry in TGD framework consistent with the supersymmetries of minimal supersymmetric variant of the standard model. Twistorial approach to gauge theories has gradually become part of quantum TGD and the natural generalization of the Yangian symmetry identified originally as symmetry of ${\cal N}=4$ SYMs is postulated as basic symmetry of quantum TGD. The so called weak form of electric-magnetic duality has turned out to have extremely far reaching consequences and is responsible for the recent progress in the understanding of the physics predicted by TGD. The duality leads to a detailed identification of elementary particles as composite objects of massless particles and predicts new electro-weak physics at LHC. Together with a simple postulate about the properties of preferred extremals of K\"ahler action the duality allows also to realize quantum TGD as almost topological quantum field theory giving excellent hopes about integrability of quantum TGD. There are two basic visions about the construction of quantum TGD. Physics as infinite-dimensional K\"ahler geometry of world of classical worlds (WCW) endowed with spinor structure and physics as generalized number theory. These visions are briefly summarized as also the practical constructing involving the concept of Dirac operator. As a matter fact, the construction of TGD involves three Dirac operators. The K\"ahler Dirac equation holds true in the interior of space-time surface and its solutions havea natural interpretation in terms of description of matter, in particular condensed matter. Chern-Simons Dirac action is associated with the light-like 3-surfaces and space-like 3-surfaces at ends of space-time surface at light-like boundaries of $CD$. One can assign to it a generalized eigenvalue equation and the matrix valued eigenvalues correspond to the the action of Dirac operator on momentum eigenstates. Momenta are however not usual momenta but pseudo-momenta very much analogous to region momenta of twistor approach. The third Dirac operator is associated with super Virasoro generators and super Virasoro conditions define Dirac equation in WCW. These conditions characterize zero energy states as modes of WCW spinor fields and code for the generalization of $S$-matrix to a collection of what I call $M$-matrices defining the rows of unitary $U$-matrix defining unitary process. Twistor approach has inspired several ideas in quantum TGD during the last years and it seems that the Yangian symmetry and the construction of scattering amplitudes in terms of Grassmannian integrals generalizes to TGD framework. This is due to ZEO allowing to assume that all particles have massless fermions as basic building blocks. ZEO inspires the hypothesis that incoming and outgoing particles are bound states of fundamental fermions associated with wormhole throats. Virtual particles would also consist of on mass shell massless particles but without bound state constraint. This implies very powerful constraints on loop diagrams and there are excellent hopes about their finiteness. Twistor approach also inspires the conjecture that quantum TGD allows also formulation in terms of 6-dimensional holomorphic surfaces in the product $CP_3\times CP_3$ of two twistor spaces and general arguments allow to identify the partial different equations satisfied by these surfaces.


Balt (Montmorency, France) recently manufactured the Leo+Baby dedicated intracranial stent for arteries with a calibre between 1.5 and 3.10 mm. We describe a patient with a partially thrombosed giant sacciform aneurysm of the anterior communicating artery treated without success by surgery and coil embolization subsequently occluded by placement of a Leo+Baby stent (Balt, Montmorency, France). A 56-year-old man presented with a giant aneurysm in the anterior communicating artery region. Following successive surgical intervention and embolization procedures the patient was referred to us with a revascularized aneurysm measuring 15×9×8 cm. To stabilize the endovascular occlusion a combined treatment was scheduled with coil embolization and stent deployment after dual antiplatelet therapy started five days before the interventional procedure. Treatment was undertaken two weeks later under general anaesthesia and total heparinization. A microcatheter was inserted into the aneurysmal sac and four metal coils were released for a total of 61cm obtaining almost complete occlusion of the aneurysm from the circulation. A Leo+Baby stent (2.5×18 mm) was subsequently deployed across the aneurysm neck. At follow-up angiography two months later the aneurysm appeared substantially excluded from the arterial circulation except for a small portion in the neck. Six months later, four months after suspending antiplatelet therapy, follow-up angiography disclosed the complete exclusion of the aneurysm from the circulation. Deployment of the new ministent through the same microcatheter used to release the coils made the interventional procedure simpler and faster.


An experimental study describes the reversible fixation of CO2 by non-aqueous solutions of 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP). The captured CO2 is stored in solution as AMP carbamate and alcohol carbonates in different relative amounts as a function of the CO2–AMP ratio. The identification and the quantification of the species in solution were obtained from 13C NMR spectroscopic analysis. The bench-scale experiments of CO2 fixation and solvent regeneration have been carried out in a continuous cycle where the CO2-loaded and regenerated solutions are continuously circulated between the desorber and absorber. The carbonated solutions are decomposed in the desorber at 80–90 °C to regenerate the free amine for its reuse, affording CO2 absorption efficiency over 90%. The replacement of water with an organic solvent and the relatively low temperature of the desorption-regeneration step, could have the potential of reducing some disadvantages of aqueous absorbents, namely the amine loss by degradation and evaporation, equipment corrosion and energy cost of the regeneration step, yet preserving the high efficiency of aqueous amines.


OBJECTIVE: To see if the alkalinisation of lignocaine caused a reduction in the pain of injection for digital nerve blockade. METHODS: The study was a prospective randomised double blind study with each patient acting as their own control. During the study period, all patients aged 16 years and over presenting to the accident and emergency department with a condition requiring digital nerve blockade were considered for inclusion in the study. Each patient received an injection of both alkalinised and non-alkalinised lignocaine. The pain of each injection was then assessed on a visual analogue scale. RESULTS: 98 patients were entered in the study. The mean difference in pain scores between the non-alkalinised and alkalinised injections was 0.739, P < 0.001, 95% confidence interval 0.47 to 1.01. CONCLUSIONS: Alkalinisation of lignocaine reduces the pain of injection for digital nerve blockade.


Author(s): Chen, Zuow-Zun | Advisor(s): Chang, Frank | Abstract: Circuit and system techniques for reducing phase noise in frequency synthesizers, and cancelling phase noise effect in quadrature receivers are presented. Phase noise performance of digital phase-locked loops (PLLs) is limited by the time resolution of time-to-digital converters (TDC). In contrast to TDCs in the past that concentrate on the arrival time difference between the divider feedback edge and the reference signal edge. Our approach extracts the timing information that is embedded in voltage domain. This approach not only achieves a higher time resolution, lower phase noise, but also consumes less power. A digital background calibration circuit is also presented to reduce the output spurious tones when the digital PLL operates under fractional-N divisions. Ring Oscillators (ROs) have the advantage of small area, wide tuning range, and multiphase output. However, their higher phase noise and higher sensitivity to supply noise may seriously deteriorate the wanted signal in wireless receivers. To circumvent this non-ideality, a low overhead phase noise cancellation technique for ring oscillator-based quadrature receivers is presented. The proposed technique operates in background and extracts ring oscillator phase noise as well as supply-induced phase noise from the digital PLL. The obtained phase noise information is then used to restore the randomly rotated baseband signal in digital domain. In recent years, the unsilenced band at 57~64 GHz frequency range has motivated the building of high-data rate radio systems targeting wireless personal area network (WPAN) applications. To address this demand, a low-noise wide-band integer-N PLL is presented which serves as the carrier generator of a 60 GHz heterogeneous transceiver. The PLL employs sub-sampling phase detection technique to achieve low-noise performance, and provides 48 GHz LO and 12 GHz IF carrier signals for the heterogeneous transceiver.


Repeated isolation of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDRAB) from respiratory secretions poses a great challenge for infection control. We conducted a retrospective case-control study to evaluate the efficacy and adverse effect of inhaled colistin methanesulfonate (CMS) in the eradication of MDRAB from the respiratory tract. Patients who were admitted to Taipei Veterans General Hospital between February 2009 and June 2010, had at least two sets of monomicrobial culture of MDRAB from respiratory secretions, and remained in hospital for at least 14 days after the first isolation of MDRAB (index day) were included. Patients who received intravenous CMS were excluded. Patients who received CMS inhalation for ≥ 3 days were selected as cases whereas the controls were matched for age and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score. Thirty-nine cases and controls were identified. The duration of CMS inhalation was 10.9 ± 3.6 days. The use of inhaled CMS was the only independent factor associated with the eradication of MDRAB within 14 days after the index day (OR 266.33; 95% CI 11.26-6302.18, p <0.001), and shortened the duration of MDRAB recovery from the respiratory tract by 13.3 ± 1.45 days. The adverse effects were similar for both groups. The increase of colistin minimal inhibitory concentrations in the last isolate compared with the index isolate from the same patient did not differ between the two groups. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that inhaled CMS enhanced the eradication of MDRAB from the respiratory tract without significant clinical adverse effect or impact on colistin resistance.


A review is given of what kind technological aspects were used for realizing the defect engineering in semiconductor layers or crystals. The possibilities to change the free carrier capture are presented. The effect of Fermi level pinning at the surface levels allow to avoid the influence of barriers on the photoconductivity as well as to increase a role of recombination in the inter-crystalline region. The isovalent doping or the creation of the clusters allows transforming the defect distribution in the crystal bulk. The detector structure using the high electric field can introduce the recombination in at the contacts therefore allow diminishing a role of carrier capture in the bulk of structure. The cluster generation allows to increase the capture rate in the definite volume by a proton irradiation. The experience of different technologies for Si, GaAs, PbS, CdSe are presented.


Corporate governance (CG) is a mechanism for directing, administering and controlling organisations. CG has become a vital component in driving efficient operation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between CG practices and the performance of Thai SOEs.,This research is quantitative in nature; data were collected through a questionnaire, which was distributed to a sample of 1,140 respondents from 38 Thai SOEs. Structural equation modelling was used for data analysis.,The results indicate that the board of directors has a direct negative influence on the performance of Thai SOEs. However, management systems play a significant role in mediating the relationship between boards of directors and the performance of Thai SOEs. Additionally, corporate governance practices should be implemented not only at the board-of-director level but also at all levels of operation throughout the organisation.,To develop effective boards of directors, SOEs should be pushed to develop the appropriate strategic management systems (i.e. risk management, internal controls, internal audits, human resource management and information technology). These systems allow boards of directors to access and use important information that will help guide the business process, which leads to performance improvement in SOEs.,This empirical study investigates the relationships between CG practices and the performance of SOEs in the context of developing countries.


Pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) is a rare disorder where abnormal synovial proliferation and insidious swelling are the characteristic features. As insidious joint swelling has many common causes and PVNS is rare entity, so that it may be missed or under evaluated. Here inconclusive biopsy findings at an early stage and features resembling spondyloarthritis (SpA) delayed the diagnosis. A 28-year-old young man presented with insidious swelling of knee. Here repeated aspiration and synovial fluid analysis with routine serological and radiological examination were inconclusive. Then he was labeled and treated as spondyloarthritis (SpA) for four years without improvement. After four years of sufferings he admitted here and reached the diagnosis of PVNS with the help of MRI and synovial biopsy. Sometimes rare disease diagnosis is complicated by the absence of typical features and inconclusive reports. Common differentials may mimic the diagnosis and rare disease may loss the attention. Here PVNS was treated as SpA for four years before being diagnosed.
Bangladesh Med J. 2017 May; 46 (2): 53-55


Benzene as an important raw material for production of industrial chemicals is generally synthesized from petroleum and coal tar. Here, we realized the synthesis of benzene from greenhouse CO2 and H2 with two connected reactors by a tandem catalysis reaction comprising CO2 methanation and CH4 aromatization. The Ni/SiO2 catalyst loaded in the first reactor was used to convert CO2 to CH4, and the formed CH4 was sequentially converted to benzene on the Mo/HZSM-5 catalyst in the second reactor. The benzene formation rate reaches 0.68 μmol g−1 min−1 accompanied by a high CO2 conversion of 92%. This concept will provide a new pathway for the direct synthesis of benzene and CO2 utilization.


Abstract Objective.—To evaluate the injury risk associated with indoor rock climbing competition. Methods.—All injuries reported to medical personnel at the 2005 World Championships in Rock Climbing were recorded and analyzed. Results.—Four hundred forty-three climbers (273 men, 170 women) from 55 countries participated in 3 separate disciplines totaling 520 climbing days. Only 4 of 18 acute medical problems that were treated were significant injuries, resulting in an injury rate of 3.1 per 1000 hours. Conclusions.—Indoor rock climbing competition has a low injury risk and a very good safety profile.


Phylogenetic relationships among nine species in the genus Pistacia were studied by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. The following species were included: P. atlantica, P. terebinthus, P. eurycarpa, P. vera, P. integerrima, P. mexicana, P. palaestina, P. lentiscus, and P. khinjuk. Genomic DNA was extracted from leaf tissue and RAPD analysis was performed using 20 primers. A total of 242 fragments were generated and 228 bands were polymorphic at the inter-specific level. Subjecting these data to phylogenetic analysis yielded a shortest cladogram that is 338 steps long, featuring two main groups. P. vera, P. khinjuk, P. eurycarpa, P. atlantica, and P. integerrima were included in one group, while P. terebinthus, P. palaestina, P. mexicana, and P. lentiscus formed the second group. The first group included species with single-trunked and big trees, whereas the species included in the second group mostly grow as shrubs or small trees. The cladogram showed that the closest pairs of species were P. terebinthus and P. palaestina, P. eurycarpa and P. atlantica, P. vera and P. khinjuk, and P. mexicana and P. lentiscus. We suggest that P. palaestina is in fact a variety of P. terebinthus in view of the small genetic distance between them. This study also showed that P. eurycarpa (syn. P. atlantica var. kurdica) is a distinct species from P. atlantica, rather than a variety within the same species.


Background Non-syndromic clefts lip and/or palate (CL/P) defects may have manifold significant and detrimental consequences for the affected individuals and their family environment. Although the use of pre-surgical infant orthopedics (PSIO) was introduced as a means to improve management and treatment outcomes, there still remains a controversy. Objective To investigate the effectiveness of PSIO in patients with non-syndromic CL/P and evaluate the quality of the available evidence. Search methods Search without restrictions, together with hand searching, until May 2016. Selection criteria Randomized clinical trials investigating the effects of pre-surgical infant orthopedic appliances. Data collection and analysis Following study retrieval and selection, data extraction and individual study risk of bias assessment using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool took place. The overall quality of the available evidence was assessed with the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach. Results Finally 20 papers (3 unique trials) were identified, involving a total of 118 patients with unilateral complete CL/P and 16 with cleft of the soft and at least two thirds of the hard palate. Eight publications were considered as being of low, four of unclear and eight of high risk of bias. In general, the investigated appliances did not present significant effects when compared to each other or to no treatment in terms of feeding and general body growth, facial esthetics, cephalometric variables, maxillary dentoalveolar variables and dental arch relationships, speech and language evaluation, caregiver-reported outcomes, economic evaluation, as well as, adverse effects and problems. Overall, the quality of the available evidence was considered low. Conclusions The aforementioned findings could provide initial guidance in the clinical setting. However, given the multitude of parameters, which may have affected the results, good practice would suggest further research, in order to reach more robust relevant recommendations for management decisions in individual cases.


Endophytic bacteria residing within living plant tissues without substantially harming plants have found a large number of applications in today's agriculture such as nutrient cycling, tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress as well as promotion of plant growth. Endophytic bacteria namely, Acetobacter and Azospirillum promised to be practically used in agriculture are nowadays thought of as most active components in association with cereals. So, in present study, endophytic bacteria mainly belonging to genera Acetobacter and Azospirillum were isolated from surface sterilized plant parts of species Cynodon dactylon (Durva), Pothos scandens (Money plant), Ipomea batata (Sweet potato), Saccharum officinarum (Sugarcane) cv. CO.LK-8001 and CO.-84135, Musa paradica (Banana) and Zea mays (maize) cv. GM-6 by using LGIP and Nitrogen free bromothymol blue media selective for growth of Acetobacter and Azospirillum, respectively. Inoculation of maize cv. GM-3 with endophytic bacterial isolates in combination with half and full Recommended dose (RD) of urea recorded significant increase in all the growth parameters wherein A-9 was found the best for growth stimulation as compared to other treatments.


OBJECTIVE
Degenerative dementia is characterized by progressive cognitive decline and neuropsychiatric symptoms. People with Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia, show synaptic loss and disruption of functional brain networks along with neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Electroencephalography (EEG) directly reflects synaptic activity, and among patients with AD it is associated with slowing of background activity. The purpose of this study was to identify associations between neuropsychiatric symptoms and EEG in patients with dementia and to determine whether EEG parameters could be used for clinical assessment of pharmacological treatment of neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia (NPSD) with galantamine or risperidone.

METHODS
Seventy-two patients with EEG recordings and a score ≥10 on the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) were included. Clinical assessments included administration of the NPI, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI). Patients underwent EEG examinations at baseline and after 12 weeks of treatment with galantamine or risperidone. EEG frequency analysis was performed. Correlations between EEG and assessment scale scores were statistically examined, as were EEG changes from baseline to the week 12 visit and the relationship with NPI, CMAI, and MMSE scores.

RESULTS
Significant correlations were found between NPI agitation and delta EEG frequencies at baseline and week 12. No other consistent and significant relationships were observed between NPSD and EEG at baseline, after NPSD treatment, or in the change in EEG from baseline to follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS
The limited informative findings in this study suggest that there exists a complex relationship between NPSD and EEG; hence, it is difficult to evaluate and use EEG for clinical assessment of pharmacological NPSD treatment.


As secondary education in Latin America and the Caribbean expands its reach and more attention is given to the post-secondary level, new demands are placed on educators and ministries. New methods of teaching will have to be found, new markets for graduates will have to be identified, and better targeting mechanisms for matching students with the market's real demand for labor will have to be defined and implemented. In short, the very definition of secondary and post-secondary education will have to be reexamined. It is in this regard that the community college model prevalent in the United States and Canada merits closer examination. Several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have experience introducing short post-secondary courses and nonuniversity institutions, sometimes as a result of private initiative, sometimes as a matter of public policy. Europe and North American models have inspired these innovations. Yet, this paper contends that more needs to be done in this area, in all countries and it explores in depth the model of the community college as an interesting source of ideas and relevant responses to changes in the social and economic landscape of the region. It also explores the potential the community college model holds for Latin America. The author's hope is that countries and institutions will look at this model not as something that should be necessarily imitated, but for inspiration and as an opportunity to reflect on the relevance and effectiveness of the current supply of post-secondary education and training.


Generally, eye closure (EC) and eye opening (EO)-based alpha blocking has widely recognized advantages, such as being easy to use, requiring little user training, while motor imagery (MI) is difficult for some users to have concrete feelings. This study presents a hybrid brain-computer interface (BCI) combining MI and EC strategies - such an approach aims to overcome some disadvantages of MI-based BCI, improve the performance and universality of the BCI. The EC/EO is employed to control the machine to switch in different states including forward, stop, changing direction motions, while the MI is used to control the machine to turn left or right for 90° by imagining the hands grasp motions when the system is switched into "changing direction" state. Additionally, a wearable two-channel EEG device is utilized in order to increase the efficiency of EEG processing and improving the practical utility. Results show that proposed hybrid system can generate four control commands with the average accuracy of 87.72%, which is higher than only using MI. Besides, it is possible to reach the same good accuracy using two-channel EEG as with usual multi-channel EEG.


We aim at solving the problem of predicting people's ideology, or political tendency. We estimate it by using Twitter data, and formalize it as a classification problem. Ideology-detection has long been a challenging yet important problem. Certain groups, such as the policy makers, rely on it to make wise decisions. Back in the old days when labor-intensive survey-studies were needed to collect public opinions, analyzing ordinary citizens' political tendencies was uneasy. The rise of social medias, such as Twitter, has enabled us to gather ordinary citizen's data easily. However, the incompleteness of the labels and the features in social network datasets is tricky, not to mention the enormous data size and the heterogeneousity. The data differ dramatically from many commonly-used datasets, thus brings unique challenges. In our work, first we built our own datasets from Twitter. Next, we proposed TIMME, a multi-task multi-relational embedding model, that works efficiently on sparsely-labeled heterogeneous real-world dataset. It could also handle the incompleteness of the input features. Experimental results showed that TIMME is overall better than the state-of-the-art models for ideology detection on Twitter. Our findings include: links can lead to good classification outcomes without text; conservative voice is under-represented on Twitter; follow is the most important relation to predict ideology; retweet and mention enhance a higher chance of like, etc. Last but not least, TIMME could be extended to other datasets and tasks in theory.


In the last half of the twentieth century, Muslim communities in North America have been increasingly recognised as an established minority rather than a 'mere exotic presence'. Their 'encounters' with their host communities have been multidimensional and consist of a diverse set of experiences. This article explores three dimensions through which Muslims have interacted with their communities of adoption: a) the establishment and creation of community space for prayer and gathering; b) addressing the normative values embodied in family life and tradition within an alternative and primarily secular context of law and rights; and c) recognising the importance of education as a tool for furthering identity and opportunity amidst assimilative national models.


The specification of sex involves either the presence or absence of a particular chromosome (the Y chromosome in mammals) along with dosage compensation, or the number of X chromosomes (for example, in the model organisms nematode and fruit fly). In C. elegans XOL-1 protein governs gender--high levels of XOL-1 produce males and low levels produce hermaphrodites. The presence of two X chromosomes in the hermaphrodites results in the expression of xol-1 repressors. Beyond the genetic evidence linking xol-1 to sexual differentiation, little is know regarding the function of the XOL-1 protein. Luz et al. crystallized XOL-1 to gain insight into its function. Surprisingly, despite no primary sequence similarity to GHMP kinases, the protein folded into a structure very similar to that of GHMP kinases, which catalyze small molecular metabolism. Indeed, the family is named for the first members identified, galactokinase, homoserine kinase, mevalonate kinase, and phosphomevalonate kinase. Despite the overall structural similarity, differences in specific residues predict that XOL-1 will not bind adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and in vitro, no ATP binding or hydrolysis by XOL-1 was detected. The structural differences suggested that XOL-1 may be regulated by a small molecule ligand. In yeast, GHMP-like kinases have been identified that act as transcriptional regulators or even as bifunctional proteins with transcription regulatory activity and kinase activity. Thus, the GHMP-like structure appears to be a dual-function motif, with roles outside of metabolism, involved in development and sexual specification. J. G. Luz, C.A. Hassig, C. Pickle, A. Godzik, B. J. Meyer, I. A. Wilson, XOL-1, primary determinant of sexual fate in C. elegans, is a GHMP kinase family member and a structural prototype for a class of developmental regulators. Genes Dev. 17, 977-990 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Abstract: This paper sets out a Marxian model that is based on the one by Stephen Marglin with one sector and continuous substitution. It is extended by adding technical progress and land as a factor of production. It is then shown that capital accumulation causes the preconditions for the breakdown of capitalism to emerge; that is, it causes the organic composition of capital to rise, the rate of profit to fall and the rate of exploitation to rise. A compressed history of the idea of the breakdown of capitalism is then set out and an explanation is given as to how the model relates to this and how it may serve as the basis for further research.


Systems engineers solve large problems by breaking them down into well-defined pieces, while preserving the problem definition for use in validating the solution. A new systems-engineering security road map recommends that systems engineers and security engineers converge on empirical methods. The trend should be to escape from best-practices checklists and return to core systems-engineering methods, processes, and tools.


The tongue is composed entirely of soft tissue: muscle, fat, and connective tissue. This unusual composition and the tongue's 3D muscle fiber orientation result in many degrees of freedom. The lack of bones and cartilage means that muscle shortening creates deformations, particularly local deformations, as the tongue moves into and out of speech gestures. The tongue is also surrounded by the hard structures of the oral cavity, which both constrain its motion and support the rapid small deformations that create speech sounds. Anatomical descriptors and categories of tongue muscles do not correlate with tongue function as speech movements use finely controlled co-contractions of antagonist muscles to move the oral structures during speech. Tongue muscle volume indicates that four muscles, the genioglossus, verticalis, transversus, and superior longitudinal, occupy the bulk of the tongue. They also comprise a functional muscle grouping that can shorten the tongue in the x, y, and z directions. Various 3D muscle shortening patterns produce large- or small-scale deformations in all directions of motion. The interdigitation of the tongue's muscles is advantageous in allowing co-contraction of antagonist muscles and providing nimble deformational changes to move the tongue toward and away from any position.


The number of tumors initiated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain B6 on primary pinto bean leaves was decreased when cells of an avirulent strain (IIBNV6) were included in the inoculum. With sufficient B6 cells to initiate ca. 50% of the maximal number of tumors per leaf, inhibition was detected at a 1:1 ratio of B6 to IIBNV6 cells and increased linearly with the logarithm of the number of IIBNV6. Varying the number of B6 in the presence of a constant number of IIBNV6 or varying the number of both, while maintaining a constant ratio of B6 to IIBNV6, showed that the inhibition was a function of the absolute concentration of each cell type. The data fit a one-particle dose response curve, which indicates that a single IIBNV6 cell can prevent tumor initiation by a single B6 cell. Inhibition was obtained with mixed inocula and when the addition of IIBNV6 preceded B6, but not when B6 preceded IIBNV6. Heat-inactivated IIBNV6 inhibited, as did ultraviolet or heat-inactivated B6. Several unrelated bacteria and certain strains of Agrobacterium failed to inhibit, whereas other related strains gave inhibition. Attachment of IIBNV6 to a specific wound site, thus excluding B6 from the site, is proposed to account for these data. A specific complementary binding of a virulent bacterium to a host wound site exposed by the inoculation procedure is suggested as an essential early event in the crown-gall tumor initiation process.


History and Objectives: Due to wide spread use of xanthenic compounds as flavoring agents in food industries and their application in the pharmaceutical industry, the effect these substances on human has attracted attention of many investigators. However, since little information is available on the effect of Caffeine on endocrine and reproductive system, the present study is designed to elucidate the teratogenic and other effects of Caffeine on adult rate reproductive system and on the histology of embryo during pregnancy. Materials and Methods: An experimental study on 28 female Wistar rat (Weight 200-240 gr) was carried out. They were divided into 3 control, sham and experimental groups. On the basis of LD50 (185 mg/kg), 60 mg/kg of Caffeine was injected intrapertioneally. Toxic effect of Caffeine on blood samples and reproductive system were determined. Weight, C-R values and developmental defects were studied on the embryo. Statistical ANOVA analysis was performed. Results: The results indicate that Caffeine reduces ovarian size, follicular atresia, increase size of corpus luteum and increases luteinization of ovaries. In addition Caffeine induces developmental defects in embryo by reduction of C-R value, retarded growth of organs responsible for movement and bulging of brain. Conclusion: Caffeine induces histologic changes on the reproductive system of adult female rat and her embryo. Further study on the effect of Caffeine in control of reproduction is recommended. In addition, the effect of Caffeine usage by pregnant mother on the well being of embryo and her reproductive system is recommended.


The present study provides substantial evidence of variation among the ITS2 regions of the sample species both at sequence as well as RNA secondary structure level. A bioinformatics approach was exploited to reveal the mystery of conservation and variation in ITS2 in mosquito genera. Multiple sequence alignment revealed conservation within the species and across species. Dimer frequency of all the species showed variance in conservation according to the type of dimer. RNA secondary structures were generated for all the species. To obtain a deep insight into structural similarity and divergence, parameters like structural energy, number of stems, G-C, A-U, G-U pairings were calculated. Out of five types of loops derived by Sribo Program, hairpin and exterior loops were found to be fairly more conserved rather than interior, bulge and multi loops. Tandem repeats with high degree of variation were observed in these specific regions. The unexpected observation was the striking proximity of Aedes longfilamentus and Anopheles culicifacies in the phylogenetic tree where they shared same clade instead of other species of Aedes genera. This finding is quite appealing and intriguing being contrary to the expected outcome and requires further rigorous investigation. These results indicate towards the major variable and conserved regions as well as the stretches of sequences and structural parts where selection pressure varies during ribosome biogenesis.


Background: Depression is common among patients with heart disease. Depression is also associated with worse outcomes among patients with heart disease. Fewer studies have shown whether or not baseline depressive symptoms predict subsequent heart disease in general population. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate whether depressive symptoms at baseline predict risk of developing heart disease during the next 20 years in the United States. Patients and Methods: The data were extracted from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), 1992 - 2012. The study was conducted on 8,375 individuals who were older than 50 years at entry, did not have heart disease at baseline, and had data on heart disease over the next 20 years. High depressive symptoms (modified Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale [CES-D]) were considered as the independent variable. Self-reported data on physician diagnosis of heart disease were measured on a biannual basis. Baseline demographic data (i.e., age and gender), socioeconomic status (i.e., race, marital status, and education level), health behaviors (i.e., drinking, smoking, and exercise), and body mass index were controlled. Cox proportional hazard model was used for data analysis. Results: Cox proportional hazard model revealed a link between high depressive symptoms at baseline and time to developing heart disease (Hazard ratio = 1.439, 95% CI = 1.253 1.652), suggesting that individuals with high depressive symptoms at baseline developed heart disease sooner than others. The association between baseline depressive symptoms and risk of heart disease was significant after controlling for all the covariates. Conclusions: Individuals with depressive symptomatology are at higher risk of development of heart disease over time. Thus, individuals with depressed mood may need more rigorous evaluation for heart disease.


Aerobic plate counts (APC) of vacuum-packaged beef livers, beef kidneys and pork livers during refrigerated storage were nearly always, particularly after 14 days at 2 C, much lower than those of comparable samples packaged in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) film. The pH of vacuum-packaged livers and kidneys decreased during refrigerated storage; the same was true for products stored in PVC film except that the pH of kidneys increased. In refrigerated vacuum-packaged livers and kidneys, lactic acid bacteria (homo- and heterofermentative lactobacilli, streptococci, Leuconostoc sp.) became more predominant, whereas in products packaged in PVC film, gram-negative bacteria frequently became more dominant.


As the primary output of the air transport sector, the flow of air passengers plays an important role in the economic and social welfare of nations, while the sector's regulatory framework represents the main vehicle through which government can exert a given level of influence over the provision of such services. This research modifies and applies existing macroeconomic impact theory to the Caribbean Community (Caricom), before developing an improved method by which to evaluate the supply and demand effects of further air policy liberalisation in the region. It was found, using an original multi-method approach, that the Caricom air transport sector contributed on average 16.9% towards GDP and 14.2% of the labour force. A large variation around these regional averages were noted, however, and are said to be primarily determined by exogenous factors such as relative size of GDP, relative sector diversity and relative level of trade dependency, with the largest impacts being recorded in smaller, tourism dependent islands. A significantly different picture emerges if catalytic impacts are removed showing the strength of the multiplier, with contribution to GDP reducing to 2.8% and the percentage of the labour force declining to around 1.9%. Multipliers for Trinidad & Tobago (-0.40), the Bahamas (2.38) and Guyana (2.95) were below the global average, however, reiterating the heterogeneity of the sample and by extension the whole Caribbean community. Using fixed-effects panel regression, the removal of bilateral or multilateral entry and tariff barriers were found to increase the average country-pair's arriving and departing passenger levels by 250,000, 22,000 and 8,000 on NA-, UKand Intra-Caricom markets respectively, given a one unit increase in air policy liberalisation. The actual impact of liberalisation on any given market was moderated by unobserved fixedeffect dummy variables which provided each country-pair with a unique intercept value to take account of underlying network and market maturity differences. Hence, all currently restricted country-pairs in the sample would stand to gain around 183,000 passengers per annum if a gradual bilateral approach to liberalisation was adopted. A counterfactual analysis suggested that a one unit policy change in the year 2000 on all 13 currently restricted markets would have increased passengers levels to around 16.4 million. In the multilateral scenario both restricted and partially liberal markets experience simultaneous reform resulting in a predicted traffic increase of 621,000 passengers per annum. Using 'within sample' multipliers, the extra bilateral output is estimated to increase baseline expenditure by US$51 million or US$16 million per annum when catalytic spending is included and excluded respectively. With multilateral reform, an additional US$164 million or US$53 million would accrue to the regional economy. When compounded, the total time-series effect of multilateral liberalisation totals 3.7 million passengers on top of the baseline, boosting regional output by 2.6% or 0.7% and increasing employment by 1.4% or 0.2%. Given previous evidence, extra-regional reform will not take place multilaterally in the foreseeable future. In the short to medium term, a combination of a revised Caricom MASA and gradual moves towards bilateral liberalisation would produce optimum macroeconomic results. The historical and counterfactual findings of this research challenge current restrictive practises in the region. Further assistance with respect to foreign carrier entry and regional carrier integration could stimulate the desired fare, capacity, frequency and connectivity improvements and generate significant increases in overall welfare.


Abstract In order to study the reinforcement mechanism of the single fluid alkalization method and to consider the possibility of using the permeation variation of loess, direct shear tests of loess were performed before and after the strengthening process of single fluid alkalization, and the resistivity of loess was measured. The test results indicate that the shear strength of alkaline loess samples is significantly higher than those without alkaline, due to a series of physical and chemical reactions occurring after the injection of lye. With the increase of the electrical current frequency, the vertical and horizontal resistivities of loess decrease quickly at first and then become stable. When the electrical current frequency is below 50 kHz, even a slight change of the current frequency will greatly affect the measured resistivity values of loess. When the electrical current frequency is above 50 kHz, the resistivity of loess seems no longer be affected by the current frequency. The vertical resistivity and the horizontal resistivity decrease with increasing curing time and finally remain stable during the single fluid alkalization process, in which the decreasing trend occurs in the initial stage. The average formation factor and the average shape factor decrease with increasing curing time and become stable eventually. The electrical anisotropy index increases rapidly with increasing curing time at first and eventually stabilizes. All tests indicate that during such single fluid alkalization process the use of the resistivity procedure to study the loess structure changes is an effective method.


The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems recognized that "current systems will be held in place insofar as these systems continue to be measured in terms of what industrial agriculture is designed to deliver, at the expense of many other outcomes that really matter in food systems" (IPES 2016: 57). In response, they called for new food systems indicators rooted in social justice, support for local economies, ecological regeneration and democratic engagement. This paper reflects on the ways that indicators can serve as a tool to understand the current state of food systems, challenge existing approaches and (re)frame a future vision of equity and sustainability. Our analysis focuses on the development of Food Counts: A Pan-Canadian Sustainable Food Systems Report Card, a first attempt to bring together existing measures of social, environmental, and economic well-being to help researchers, policy makers, and practitioners examine food systems more comprehensively. The report card used a food sovereignty framework and an integrated systems perspective and make connections to a global movement for collective social change. Beyond its practical value, and particularly in the context of Canada's development of a national food policy, our analysis illuminates the limited kinds of data available, the privileging of scientific expertise over traditional knowledge, the assumed value of certain indicators, and the reductionist nature of using data to represent complex food systems. We argue that while report cards can make visible numerous food systems' elements, they can also obscure divers experiences, reinforcing unsustainable practices and policies.


Introduction Some individuals with Crohn's Disease who take long term three monthly Vitamin B12 injections complain of lack of energy and tiredness prior to their next B12 injection. Some have persuaded their General Practitioners to give the B12 injection more frequently than 3 monthly. Methods We wanted to determine if this was a common experience,and also if seen in other causes of B12 deficiency besides Crohn's Disease. 453 patients on long term B12 in the community were invited to complete a questionnaire, 148 agreed. Most of these patients were elderly with a history of pernicious anaemia. 445 patients completed the questionnaire online. Most of these patients had Crohn's disease. 593 questionnaires were analysed. Results In the period prior to Vitamin B12 injection, the majority reported tiredness, lack of energy, poor concentration and mood. Selected control symptoms were only seen in 1/4, figure 1. Of those noticing fatigue, 65% noticed this in the week prior to B12 injection. The community recruited group and the online group showed a similar pattern of complaints, but the incidence was lower in the Community group. Following B12 injection there was an improvement in the majority, in energy, concentration, fatigue and mood. Multivariate analysis to identify factors differing between high and low symptom sufferer, showed only age and treatment interval which predicted greater symptom burden but this only explained a very small proportion of the variation seen (less than 9%) A small proportion reported worsening of symptoms following B12 injection; the most common symptom was feeling cold in 7%.Abstract PTH-109 Figure 1 Conclusions In summary, fatigue, lack of energy, poor mood, and difficulty in concentration are seen frequently as individuals approach the 3 monthly B12 injection both in Crohn's Disease and pernicious anemia. These improve following injection


We have previously shown that a biologically realistic spiking neuron implementation of an action selection/execution system (constrained by the neurological connectivity of the cortex, basal ganglia, and thalamus) is capable of performing complex tasks, such as the Tower of Hanoi, n-Back, and semantic memory search. However, because the neural implementation approximates a strict rule-based structure of a production system, such models have involved hand-tweaking of multiple parameters to get the desired behaviour. Here, we show that a simple, local, online learning rule can be used to learn these parameters, resulting in neural models of cognitive behaviours that are more reliable and easier to construct than with prior methods.


We describe a novel, expandable, multiple digital signal processor (DSP) architecture with a symbolic processing host. A multiprocessor board, called Odyssey, based on this architecture has been developed to combine symbolic and real-time digital signal processing in a single computing environment. Some of the key features of the board are: 20 million multiply/accumulates per second, 512K bytes of data space, and expandability to 16 boards on a NuBus host. The DSPs used are the TMS32020 signal processing chips developed by Texas Instruments, and the host is Texas Instruments' Explorer, a LISP machine workstation. This provides environment to perform many intelligent signal processing tasks by associating meaningful relationships between quantitative (signal processing) and qualitative (symbolic processing) entities to develop inferences using expert system technology. Applications such as grammar-driven connected speech recognition, neural network simulation, EEG analysis, and generation of speech from general English text with natural language processing are some of the tasks that can utilize the computational power of the multiple DSP and/or the associated symbolic processing capabilities. Software development tools to implement applications include the device driver to facilitate communication between the host processor and the Odyssey board, a unique window-based debugger resident on the Explorer that allows for simultaneous state display of all the processors on the board, a FORTH interpreter for high-level language programming, and a cross-assembler/linker for assembly level programming.


Physiological wall shear rates and stresses in vessel culture or tissue engineering are relevant for maintaining endothelial cell (EC) integrity. To this end, the culture medium should have an appropriate viscosity. The viscosity of a standard culture medium was increased using xanthan gum (XG) and compared with literature data on whole blood, resulting in a medium with blood-analog shear-thinning behavior (XG-medium). The measured osmolality of the XG-medium was 285+/-2 mOsm kg(-1), which is within a physiologically acceptable range. The XG-medium was compared to standard medium to verify whether XG alters vascular cell function. First, the effect of XG on the growth of human EC monolayers was determined. In addition, to study whether XG changes drug-induced vasoconstriction or endothelium-dependent vasodilation, different drugs were administered to porcine coronary artery rings in a solution with or without XG, measuring the isometric force developed. XG did not influence EC growth, nor did it change drug-induced vascular tone. Moreover, the ECs aligned in the direction of flow after 24 h of physiological shearing with XG-medium. We conclude that, unlike standard culture media, XG-medium as a blood-analog culture medium has rheological properties suitable for use in vessel culture and tissue engineering to induce physiological wall shear stresses at physiological flow rates.


The European Union's pre-accession conditionality was very effective in prompting the alignment of the post-communist candidate countries with EU law. As the conditional membership incentive was the main factor driving alignment, the changing incentive structure after accession suggests that – ceteris paribus – post-accession compliance with EU law will deteriorate. Data on infringements of EU law allow us a first insight into whether this negative scenario has materialized. The data suggest that, far from constituting an 'eastern problem', virtually all of the new member states outperformed virtually all of the old members during the first four years of membership. To explain this unexpectedly good performance, further research should focus on two factors, both related to the experience of pre-accession conditionality: a greater susceptibility of the new member states to shaming and an institutional investment in legislative capacity.


In order to survive in an oxygen environment, aerobic organisms have developed numerous mechanisms to protect against oxygen radicals and singlet oxygen. One such mechanism, which appears to have attained particular significance during primate evolution, is the direct scavenging of oxygen radicals, singlet oxygen, oxo-haem oxidants and hydroperoxyl radicals by uric acid. In the present paper we demonstrate that another important 'antioxidant' property of uric acid is the ability to form stable co-ordination complexes with iron ions. Formation of urate-Fe3+ complexes dramatically inhibits Fe3+-catalysed ascorbate oxidation, as well as lipid peroxidation in liposomes and rat liver microsomal fraction. In contrast with antioxidant scavenger reactions, the inhibition of ascorbate oxidation and lipid peroxidation provided by urate's ability to bind iron ions does not involve urate oxidation. Association constants (Ka) for urate-iron ion complexes were determined by fluorescence-quenching techniques. The Ka for a 1:1 urate-Fe3+ complex was found to be 2.4 X 10(5), whereas the Ka for a 1:1 urate-Fe2+ complex was determined to be 1.9 X 10(4). Our experiments also revealed that urate can form a 2:1 complex with Fe3+ with an association constant for the second urate molecule (K'a) of approx. 4.5 X 10(5). From these data we estimate an overall stability constant (Ks approximately equal to Ka X K'a) for urate-Fe3+ complexes of approx. 1.1 X 10(11). Polarographic measurements revealed that (upon binding) urate decreases the reduction potential for the Fe2+/Fe3+ half-reaction from -0.77 V to -0.67 V. Thus urate slightly diminishes the oxidizing potential of Fe3+. The present results provide a mechanistic explanation for our previous report that urate protects ascorbate from oxidation in human blood. The almost saturating concentration of urate normally found in human plasma (up to 0.6 mM) represents 5-10 times the plasma ascorbate concentration, and is orders of magnitude higher than the 'free' iron ion concentration. These considerations point to the physiological significance of our findings.


Purpose To investigate how the lamina cribrosa (LC) microstructure changes with distance from the central retinal vessel trunk (CRVT), and to determine how this change differs in glaucoma. Methods One hundred nineteen eyes (40 healthy, 29 glaucoma suspect, and 50 glaucoma) of 105 subjects were imaged using swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT). The CRVT was manually delineated at the level of the anterior LC surface. A line was fit to the distribution of LC microstructural parameters and distance from CRVT to measure the gradient (change in LC microstructure per distance from the CRVT) and intercept (LC microstructure near the CRVT). A linear mixed-effects model was used to determine the effect of diagnosis on the gradient and intercept of the LC microstructure with distance from the CRVT. A Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was applied to determine the difference in distribution between the diagnostic categories. Results The percent of visible LC in all scans was 26 ± 7%. Beam thickness and pore diameter decreased with distance from the CRVT. Glaucoma eyes had a larger decrease in beam thickness (−1.132 ± 0.503 μm, P = 0.028) and pore diameter (−0.913 ± 0.259 μm, P = 0.001) compared with healthy controls per 100 μm from the CRVT. Glaucoma eyes showed increased variability in both beam thickness and pore diameter relative to the distance from the CRVT compared with healthy eyes (P < 0.05). Conclusions These findings results demonstrate the importance of considering the anatomical location of CRVT in the assessment of the LC, as there is a relationship between the distance from the CRVT and the LC microstructure, which differs between healthy and glaucoma eyes.


In recent years, graphical user interfaces have become almost ubiquitous in form of notebooks, smartphones and tablets. These systems normally force the user to attend to an often very specific and narrow screen and thus squeeze the information through a chokepoint. This ties the users' attention to the device and affects other activities and social interaction. In this paper we introduce Blended Sonifications as sonifications that blend into the users' environment without confronting users with any explicitly perceived technology. Blended Sonification systems can either be used to display information or to provide ambient communication channels. We present a framework that guides developers towards the identification of suitable information sources and appropriate auditory interfaces. We aim at improving the design of interactions and experiences. Along with the introduction and definition of the framework, this paper presents interface examples, both for mediated communication and information display applications.


In the decade since Citizens United v. FEC, which, while consequential in its own right, is also not responsible for all the ills attributed to it by its detractors, the Supreme Court has decided a stunning number of what this Article terms to be democracy cases. Each respective case is the subject of substantial scholarship within its sphere — voting rights, contribution limits, public financing, partisan gerrymandering, federal bribery law, and sub-variations of each area — Decade of Democracy's Demise seeks to remove that scholarship from the respective topical silos, and to develop and analyze a heretofore scarcely considered composite.

This Article contends that in democracy cases, the judicial minimalists on the Court have actually engaged, during the decade, in extensive judicial fact-finding in order to justify their legal conclusions. In several of these cases the Court has shown a willingness to ignore the legislative fact-findings of Congress (reflected in the McCain-Feingold legislation struck down in both Citizens United and McCutcheon v. FEC and in the re-authorization of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County); and of state courts and legislatures (reflected in American Tradition Partnership v. Bullock and Arizona Free Enterprise v. Bennett). Indeed, within the democracy arena, the Court has deferred to legislative fact-finding basically only when the fact-finding body was itself hostile to participatory democracy, and actually acted upon that hostility. Examples of this anti-participatory deference include the Husted voter purge, the Crawford v. Indiana decision in 2008 that, while technically outside the defined decade, spawned numerous carbon copy voter ID laws in states around the nation, and the deference to legislative redistricting measures that, in the instances of Maryland and North Carolina, are not only inconsistent with one-person, one-vote norms, but are openly and transparently acknowledged by their progenitors to be so.

The Decade of Democracy's Demise asserts that while the short-term impact of the Court's decisions in the last decade, skews in a favorable direction for conservatives, the long-term impact is not necessarily favorable to either political party, so much as it favors politically and financially empowered interests who seek to employ that empowerment so as to exacerbate their anti-democratic advantages. While this dynamic is temporarily good news for conservative partisans, it may, at some future juncture be good news for liberal partisans (although historically, at least since the Civil Rights era, they are less inclined towards anti-participatory measures), but more importantly than any partisan valence, this Article asserts that the broader consequences for American democracy are grim indeed.


Proliferation of filamentous fungi following ingress of oxygen to silage is an important cause of dry matter losses, resulting in significant waste. In addition, the production of mycotoxins by some filamentous fungi poses a risk to animal health through mycotoxicosis. Quantitative assessment of fungal growth in silage, through measurement of ergosterol content, colony‐forming units or temperature increase is limiting in representing fungal growth dynamics during aerobic spoilage due to being deficient in either representing fungal biomass or being able to identify specific genera. Here, we conducted a controlled environment aerobic exposure experiment to test the efficacy of a monoclonal antibody‐based enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect the proliferation of fungal biomass in six silage samples. We compared this to temperature which has been traditionally deployed in such experiments and on‐farm to detect aerobic deterioration. In addition, we quantified ergosterol, a second marker of fungal biomass. After 8 days post‐aerobic exposure, the ergosterol and ELISA methods indicated an increase in fungal biomass in one of the samples with a temperature increase observed after 16 days. A comparison of the methods with Pearson's correlation coefficient showed a positive association between temperature and ergosterol and both markers of fungal biomass. This work indicates that the technology has potential to be used as an indicator of microbial degradation in preserved forage. Consequently, if it developed as an on‐farm technique, this could inform forage management decisions made by farmers, with the goal of decreasing dry matter losses, improving resource and nutrient efficiency and reducing risks to animal health.


Sugarcane is a tropical plant (Humbert, 1968) and requires warm cum humid climate for its good growth. However, it is being grown over the sub tropics land surface of earth between latitude 30o N and 35o S (Nazir, 1994). Pakistan lies in sub tropics with semi arid climatic conditions where sugarcane is grown on an area of 1.241 million hectares with a total annual stripped cane production of 63.92 million tonnes giving an average stripped cane yield of 51.51 t ha-1 (Govt. of Pakistan, 2008). Two field experiments were conducted for two consecutive years during 2006 and 2007 at Farm area, Sugarcane Research Institute, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan, to explore the production potential of spring planted sugarcane at higher levels of N and K, evaluate fertilizer application timing and to improve the nutrient (N & K) use efficiency. The experiments were laid out according to Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) having three replications with a net plot size of 6 m x 8 m. Results revealed significant effect of dose and time of nitrogen application on all agronomic and physiological traits except germination, number of shoots, number of internodes, NAR, HI and all quality parameters which were statistically non significant. The maximum stripped cane yield (108 & 101 t ha1) and sugar yield (12.8 & 12.1 t ha1) were recorded at T7 (126kg N ha-1 at sowing + 126 kg N ha-1 at 90 DAS) during 2006 and 2007, respectively. K2O level and time of its application has significant effect on all agronomic, physiological and quality parameters except germination, number of shoots, plant height, number of internodes, NAR, HI, fiber %, cane juice % and weight of bagasse % during both the years. The maximum stripped cane yield (116 & 107 t ha-1) was recorded at T7 (84 kg K2O ha-1 at sowing + 84 kg K2O ha-1 at 90 DAS) during 2006 and 2007, respectively. Sugar yield (14.7 t ha-1) was maximum at T7 (84 kg K2O ha-1 at sowing + 84 kg K2O ha-1 at 90 DAS) in 2006, while it was highest (14.1 t ha-1) in T10 (112 kg K2O ha-1 at sowing + 112 kg K2O ha-1 at 90 DAS) during 2007.


Purpose To study the adhesion of Acanthamoeba castellanii treated with multipurpose contact lens care solutions (MPSs) to human corneal epithelial cells. Methods Cell suspensions of A. castellanii (ATCC50514) trophozoites were mixed with six MPSs: MPS-A (polyhexamethylene biguanide [PHMB], macrogolglycerol hydroxystearate, propylene glycol), MPS-B (PHMB, poloxamine, boric acid), MPS-C (polyquad, poloxamine, boric acid), MPS-D (PHMB, poloxamer, propylene glycol), MPS-E (PHMB, poloxamer), or MPS-F (PHMB, poloxamer) for 4 hr. Morphologic changes of A. castellanii after exposure with MPSs were observed with scanning electron microscopy. A. castellanii cells treated with MPS for 4 hr were inoculated onto cultured SV40-immortalized human corneal epithelial cells. After 2-hr incubation, the number of adherent A. castellanii was assessed by 18S-rDNA quantification using real-time polymer chain reaction. Results After 4-hr incubation, MPS-A- and MPS-B-treated A. castellanii have changed from trophozoite morphology into cyst form; however, MPS-E- and MPS-F-treated A. castellanii maintained trophozoite morphology. In contrast, both cyst and trophozoite forms were observed in MPS-C- and MPS-D-treated A. castellanii. The adherence rate of A. castellanii was approximately two times higher in MPS-E (not significant), and more than three times higher in MPS-F (P<0.05) compared with MPS-A, which produced the lowest adhesiveness as estimated by real-time polymer chain reaction. Conclusions Taken together, these results support the possibility that chronic use of MPS with the lowest efficacies on promoting encystment of A. castellanii (MPS-E and MPS-F) by hydrogel contact lens wearers may increase adhesiveness of A. castellanii to corneal epithelial cells.


Background: A low socioeconomic status is associated with higher overall mortality rates. Aim: To assess the effect of socioeconomic inequalities on survival of patients hospitalized with a first myocardial infarction. Material and methods: Analysis of hospital discharge and mortality databases of the Ministry of Health. Patients aged over 15 years discharged between 2002 and 2011 with a first myocardial infarction (code I-21, ICD-10) were identified. Their survival was verified with the mortality registry. Survival from 0 to 28 and from 29 to 365 days was analyzed. Socioeconomic status was determined using the type of health insurance, stratified as public insurance (low and medium status) and private insurance (high status). Prais-Winsten trend (P-W) and Cox survival analyses were done. Results: We analyzed 59557 patients (69% males). Sixty three percent were of low socioeconomic status, 19% medium and 18% high. Between 2002 and 2011 the increase in survival was higher among patients of low socioeconomic status, mainly in women (P-W coefficients 0.58:0.31-0.86 in men and 1.12:0.84-1.41 in women for 0-28 days survival and 0.24:0.09-0.39 in men and 0.48:0.37-0.60 in women for 29-365 days survival, respectively). However, age and year of hospitalization adjusted analysis showed a higher mortality risk among patients of low socioeconomic status at 0-28 days ( HR 1.67:1.53-1.83 for men and 1.49:1.34-1.66 for women) and at 29-365 days (HR 2.30: 1.75-2.71 for men and 1.90:1.56-1.85 for women). Conclusions: Survival after a myocardial infarction improved in the last decade especially in patients of low socioeconomic status. However, subjects of this stratum continue to have a higher mortality.


The generation of embryonic stem cell (ESC) lines from parthenogenetically activated oocytes can provide transplantable cells, which are immunocompatible for the oocyte donors as well as an invaluable tool for genetic engineering and epigenetic studies. We report the efficient isolation of eight putative bovine parthenogenetic embryonic stem cell (bpESC) lines from 15 in vitro produced parthenotes. Five of these cell lines were maintained for more than 15 passages (>140 days) and analyzed. The cells displayed typical ESC morphology, stained positive for alkaline phosphate by histochemical staining, expressed Oct4, Nanog, and either stage-specific embryonic antigens, SSEA1, or SSEA4, detected by immunofluorescence staining. RT-PCR analysis of the cells demonstrated expression of Oct4, Rex1, SSEA1, and ALP. All the cell lines except one had a normal karyotype of 60, XX. The cells differentiated in suspension culture to form embryoid bodies (EBs) expressing markers of the three embryonic germ layers as assessed by RT-PCR. In conclusion, we report efficient derivation of putative ESCs from bovine parthenogenetic embryos. The cells express pluripotent markers, have the ability to form EBs, and differentiate into cells of the three embryonic germ layers. This is the first report of characterized putative parthenogenetic bovine ESC lines.


Patent law is under-theorized in the sense that the predominating incentive-based justifications cannot by themselves adequately explain empirical evidence on patenting gathered by research economists. This article provides an alternative justification for patent law based on private transaction costs savings offered by patent law in comparison to alternative options available to those who wish to exploit information assets. In particular, it identifies striking parallels to corporate law as described in recent scholarship and shows how patents act as affirmative asset partitions, ameliorate significant team production problems, and encourage technology transfer. Even if the patent system provides no significant incentives to invent, it can be explained and justified in terms of transaction costs savings alone.


The 21Na(p,gamma)22Mg reaction is expected to play an important role in the nucleosynthesis of 22Na in oxygen-neon novae. The decay of 22Na leads to the emission of a characteristic 1.275 MeV gamma-ray line. This report provides the first direct measurement of the rate of this reaction using a radioactive 21Na beam, and discusses its astrophysical implications. The energy of the important state was measured to be E(c.m.)=205.7+/-0.5 keV with a resonance strength omegagamma=1.03+/-0.16(stat)+/-0.14(sys) meV.


In this paper, we present experimental and numerical analysis on Extraordinary Optical Transmission (EOT) or optical resonance transmission through various nano-hole arrays constructed from an optically thick metal film within the visible and near infra-red spectrum. Nano-hole arrays with different geometrical parameters (hole size, hole shape, and hole periodicity) having their EOT properties in the visible and near-infrared regime were simulated based on Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD). Large nano-hole arrays with geometric properties similar to the simulated arrays were fabricated using Electron Beam Lithography (EBL). The optical resonance transmission properties (resonance position, transmission efficiency, and spectral bandwidth of resonance peak) of the fabricated nano-hole arrays were characterized. Finally, the experimental and numerical results were analyzed to determine the dependencies and discrepancies between optical resonance transmission properties for various nano-hole arrays.


A groundwater table survey, and chemical analyses of surface water and groundwater were performed in the coastal, shallow, aquifer of Lebna watershed (Cap Bon peninsula, Tunisia) in order to examine the infiltration effects of reservoir and sea waters. This was undertaken because, in this region, there is the Lebna dam reservoir, constructed to accelerate recharge of surface water and improve groundwater level depression, and seawater intrusion of the shallow aquifer, the effect has not been evaluated quantitatively yet. Measuring the groundwater level and water quality and collecting the water samples for analysis of inorganic solute ions were carried out in July 2010at 63 locations, including private wells, the river and reservoir. According to the contour map of the groundwater table, the groundwater flow from the reservoir was found in the downstream area of the reservoir only. On the other hand, the groundwater level around the estuary of the Lebna River was lower than the sea, thus seawater intrusion seemed to occur there. In addition, from the results of the chemical analyses, the spatial distribution of chloride ion concentration, which is used as a tracer, also showed that the reservoir water infiltrates the downstream area. Therefore, the effect of the reservoir water infiltration in the summer dry season was limited to the small area.


1 Quantum information processing, operational quantum logic, convexity, and the foundations of physics Quantum information science is a source of task-related axioms whose consequences can be explored in general settings encompassing quantum mechanics, classical theory, and more. Quantum states are compendia of probabilities for the outcomes of possible operations we may perform a system: " operational states. " I discuss general frameworks for " operational theories " (sets of possible operational states of a system), in which convexity plays key role. The main technical content of the paper is in a theorem that any such theory naturally gives rise to a " weak effect algebra " when outcomes having the same probability in all states are identified, and in the introduction of a notion of " operation algebra " that also takes account of sequential and conditional operations. Such frameworks are appropriate for investigating what things look like from an " inside view, " i.e. for describing perspectival information that one subsystem of the world can have about another. Understanding how such views can combine, and whether an overall " geometric " picture (" outside view ") coordinating them all can be had, even if this picture is very different in structure from the perspectives within it, is the key to whether we may be able to achieve a unified, " objective " physical view in which quantum mechanics is the appropriate description for certain perspectives, or whether quantum mechanics is truly telling us we must go beyond this " geometric " conception of physics.


We exploit an extensive high-frequency data set of all individual equity options trading at New York Stock Exchange London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (Amsterdam, London and Paris) in order to study the determination of liquidity during the trading day. In particular, we focus on two main aspects of option liquidity: (i) the intraday behaviour of equity option liquidity and its determinants and (ii) the influence of macroeconomic events and commonality on intraday equity option liquidity. Inventory management models cannot explain the intraday variation in option spreads and depths. Instead, we show that the option liquidity measures are strongly correlated with option volatility. Increases in volatility are associated with decreases in liquidity, a finding that is in line with information asymmetry models and the derivatives hedging theory. However, the relationship between spreads and volume varies across the three markets. Option liquidity reacts strongly to macroeconomic news announcements, especially US events. The average systematic liquidity component is 12% for Amsterdam, 14% for London and 16% for Paris.


A composite anode material of SnO2/graphite(GT)/carbon nanotube(CNT) for lithium-ion batteries was prepared by ball milling. It was observed that SnO2 particles were homogeneously embedded into the buffering matrix of graphite particles. This composite anode material showed an increased initial coulombic efficiencies of 56% in the first cycle, and after 25 charge–discharge cycles, a reversible capacity of 431 mAh/g was obtained, much higher than 282 mAh/g of SnO2/GT composite and 177 mAh/g of pure SnO2. The improvement in the electrochemical properties of the composite anode materials was mainly attributed to good electric conductivity of the CNT network and the excellent resiliency.


ABSTRACT Th e diptheria outbreak in Surabaya indicated that immunization program failure. Immunization is primary preventif effort to decrease morbidity of disease. An immunization service is very important to protect vaccine quality through cold chain so that vaccine potency be optimal. The purpose of this study was to analysis of factors which are assosiated with midwive's practice of DPT vaccine distribution and storage to outreach. This study is applying observational approach using cross sectional method. Populations are all village midwives in public health center East Surabaya. The numbers of sample were 38 midwives taken using simple random sampling. The dependent variable was midwive's practice of DPT vaccine distribution and storage to outreach and the independent variables of this study were work duration, a history of training of cold chain, sosialization, knowledge, attitude. Primary data were obtained through observation and interview. The results showed that 68.4 % midwive's practice on DPT vaccine distribution and storage at outreach is good. Independent variable which are significant assosiated with midwive's practice on DPT vaccine distribution and storage at outreach is sosialization about vaccine distribution and storage (p = 0.026) and value of phi and Cramer's V = 0.431. Enhancement of socialization again be needed to village midwive as efforts for increase knowledge and attitude. Keywords: midwive, cold chain, vaccine distribution, DPT


Mental toughness (MT) is a personal, state-like capacity that facilitates the initiation and continuation of goal-directed activities in several domains, including sports. Sport coaches are key agents in positions of authority. Coaching philosophy has been identified as one of the key parts in the development of environments that promote MT. The Coach Orientation Questionnaire (COQ) groups coaches in six profiles (Traditional, Technological, Innovative, Collaborative, Communicator, and Confrontational) mostly based on their professional training, personality, and experience. Coaches' levels of MT and coaching COQ profiles have not been investigated together. PURPOSE: To explore the relationship between the COQ coaching profiles with MT. METHODS: The study followed a cross-sectional design. Data from 37 male and eight female coaches (n = 45), with an age of 35.1 ± 11.7 years, were collected. The COQ and the Mental Toughness Index (MTI) were administered. MTI consists of eight items. Each item represents one MT key dimension (i.e., generalized self-efficacy, buoyancy, success mindset, optimistic style, context knowledge, emotion regulation, attention regulation, overcoming adversity). All analyses were conducted in SPSS. RESULTS: Based on the COQ scores, coaches fell into the following categories: Confrontational (19%), Traditional (19%), Communicator (18%), Innovative (17%), Technological (16%), and Collaborator (11%). The correlation analysis showed significant relationships between MT scores and the Technological (They like to use technology to study the sport. Assistants need to be competent to assist in that. Players must be predisposed to collaborate.) (r =.377; p = .011), Collaborator (They prefer delegation of tasks, while maintaining a climate of trust with players and the assistants) (r = .420; p = .005), and Confrontational (They criticize the training process, which creates a tense atmosphere) coach profiles (r =.474; p = .002). CONCLUSION: Our findings offer preliminary evidence for the relationship between coaches' COQ profiles and levels of MT and support the continuation of data collection. Larger-scale studies should explore this relationship further (e.g., different settings). Future studies should also investigate the etiology behind those inter-relationships (e.g., COQ profiles with each MT key dimension score) and their effect on environment development. Limitations may include cross-sectional design and convenience sample.


A well-exposed sequence of the Caleta Herradura de Mejillones section on the Pacific coast of northern Chile includes horizons of planktonic foraminiferal Zones N7 to N17 of Early to Late Miocene age. Successive appearances of species of the Praeorbulina-Orbulina lineage occur in the rich planktonic foraminiferal assemblage. An abrupt assemblage change in the basal part of Middle Miocene Zone N10 is marked by abundant Globigerinita glutinata, which continues through most of Zone N10, and suggests upwelling conditions in the surrounding seas during this time.


mg) versus 12 weeks of sofosbuvir/velpatasvir. Fifty-three patients with genotype 2 were included in the sofosbuvir/velpatasvir arm and all achieved SVR12 (100%). This study confirms the high efficacy and safety of this 12-week regimen in patients with genotype 2 infection (Jacobson, 2017). In a single-arm, phase 3 study from Asia that included 375 treatment-naive and -experienced patients with genotype 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 infection (18% with cirrhosis) treated with 12 weeks of sofosbuvir/velpatasvir, SVR was achieved in 95% (362/375) (Wei, 2019). Of the 62 patients with genotype 2 infection, 100% achieved SVR. A real-world, pooled analysis of 12 cohort studies demonstrated an SVR of 99.3% (1535/1546) among adults with genotype 2 infection (with or without compensated cirrhosis) who were treated with 12 weeks of sofosbuvir/velpatasvir (Mangia, 2020).


Stess spectrum serves as prerequisite of analysis on fatigue failure, which is the major cause of malignant industrial accident. The dynamic load coefficient is calculated by allowing for dynamic response of steel structure in complete working cycle and regard steel structure and load as a vibraton system of two degrees of freedom. The load date and its statistical characteristic is collected.through observation of 600t-176m gantry crane in some ship-building base. Then based on Monte Carlo method, the load is simulated and loaded on finite element model. Finally the stress spectrum of key parts of structure is calculated.


This study aimed to elucidate elderly patients' recognition of and life adjustment to attending dialysis facilities, and then to discuss factors for enabling such patients to continue attending dialysis facilities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 participants and interview data were analyzed using the modified grounded theory approach. The study was approved by the Ethical Review Board of Niigata University School of Medicine. The interview data yielded 21 concepts, comprising 2 categories and 7 subcategories. Patients who find themselves in a "Difficult Lifestyle" often try to maintain their health and lifestyle by using required support for hemodialysis patients. Factors for continuing to attend dialysis facilities were the ability to cope with the Difficult Lifestyle and to adjust to Hemodialysis as a Life Priority. It is thought that switching from a model of economic security to one of providing living support will be effective for maintaining elderly dialysis patients' life with only limited expenses. Additionally, it is necessary to consider the utilization of existing services.


In recent years, there has been a rise in methods and tools dedicated to programming education for chil- dren of primary school age. In this paper, we present our experience of providing five programming ses- sions to a group of eleven children between four and six years. Our sessions followed problem-solving and game-playing themes and featured two newly-developed tools: the unplugged Robot Turtles, and the robotic Ozobot. The activities embed programming concepts such as the order of operations, sym- bolic representations, and functional abstraction. The observations show that children understood and applied concepts such as sorting, sequential operations, and functional abstraction. However, children struggle with giving directions to the object which highlights a spatial awareness limitation. Finally, we link the observations to Piaget's theory and his limitations to thoughts for children in this age. We find that some of Piaget's limitations such as egocentrism can explain a few observed behaviors. However, a few limitations contradict our observations such as the irreversibility and transductive reasoning.


We present Adaptive Memory Networks (AMN) that processes input-question pairs to dynamically construct a network architecture optimized for lower inference times for Question Answering (QA) tasks. AMN processes the input story to extract entities and stores them in memory banks. Starting from a single bank, as the number of input entities increases, AMN learns to create new banks as the entropy in a single bank becomes too high. Hence, after processing an input-question(s) pair, the resulting network represents a hierarchical structure where entities are stored in different banks, distanced by question relevance. At inference, one or few banks are used, creating a tradeoff between accuracy and performance. AMN is enabled by dynamic networks that allow input dependent network creation and efficiency in dynamic mini-batching as well as our novel bank controller that allows learning discrete decision making with high accuracy. In our results, we demonstrate that AMN learns to create variable depth networks depending on task complexity and reduces inference times for QA tasks.


Plating thickness uniformity can become increasingly difficult to control when migrating from four inch to six inch wafers, especially when plating through-wafer vias with non-cyanide gold bath solution. The standard tooling provided on our four inch plating equipment did not scale adequately for the larger wafer size and still maintain good process control. The solution implemented at Skyworks changes the plating solution delivery to the wafer surface to provide better process control and better plating uniformity. This process qualification was part of a Six Sigma team effort to help ensure timely project success.