S U M M A R Y We determine anisotropy of a rock sample from laboratory measurements of Pand S-wave traveltimes using weak-anisotropy approximation and parametrization of the medium by a special set of anisotropy parameters. For the traveltime inversion, we use first-order velocity expressions in the weak-anisotropy approximation, which allow to deal with P and S waves separately. Each wave is described by 15 anisotropy parameters, 9 of which are common for both waves. The parameters allow an approximate construction of separate Por common S-wave phase-velocity surfaces. Common S-wave concept is used to simplify the treatment of S waves. In order to obtain all 21 anisotropy parameters, Pand S-wave traveltimes must be inverted jointly. The proposed inversion scheme has several advantages. As a consequence of the use of weak-anisotropy approximation and assumed homogeneity of the rock sample, equations used for the inversion are linear. Thus, the inversion procedure is non-iterative. In the approximation used, phase and ray velocities are equal in their magnitude and direction. Thus, analysis whether the measured velocity is the ray or phase velocity is unnecessary. Another advantage of the proposed inversion scheme is that, thanks to the use of the common S-wave concept, it does not require identification of S-wave modes. It is sufficient to know the two S-wave traveltimes without specification, to which S-wave mode they belong. The inversion procedure is tested first on synthetic traveltimes and then used for the inversion of traveltimes measured in laboratory. In both cases, we perform first the inversion of P-wave traveltimes alone and then joint inversion of Pand S-wave traveltimes, and compare the results.


Grain distribution center is the pivot of a grain logistics system. To define the location of grain logistics distribution center is the key of grain logistics system analysis. In this paper, according to the characteristics and requirements in the selection of the location, a mathematical model applied to the location selection was established on the basis of lowest transportation cost. Genetic Algorithm was then used to solve the model, and the optimal solution of the model was obtained by selecting the encode method and genetic operator correctly, thus verifying the correctness of the model. The instance demonstrates that the algorithm can effectively get the grain logistics center optimal solution.


Correspondence to: Dr Jawad M Khan, University Department of Medicine, City Hospital, Birmingham B18 7QH, UK; jawad.khan@ swbh.nhs.uk _________________________ H ypertension, currently defined as a blood pressure . 140 mm Hg (systolic) and/or . 90 mm Hg (diastolic), is a common problem. In a western adult population the prevalence of hypertension exceeds 20%. The prevalence of hypertension increases with age and is higher in ethnic minority groups in the UK. In the Health Survey for England (2001) the prevalence of hypertension was 3.3% in those aged , 40 years, 27.9% in those aged between 40–79 years, and 49.9% in those aged 80 years and older. The two main ethnic origin groups within the UK are the Afro-Caribbean and South Asians. The majority of studies have reported a higher prevalence and significantly higher mean blood pressure levels among both Afro-Caribbean populations and South Asians compared to their white counterparts. In a south London community based study, compared with whites, age and sex standardised prevalence ratios for hypertension were 2.6 in people of African descent and 1.8 in those of South Asian origin. However, average blood pressure varies between different subgroups of South Asians, being highest in Sikhs, similar to whites in Muslims, and intermediate in Hindus. In addition, Indians have higher blood pressures, Pakistanis lower blood pressures, with Bangladeshis having even lower blood pressures than the native white population.


Spatial and spatio-temporal phenomena are commonly modelled as Gaussian processes via the geostatistical model (Gelfand & Banerjee, 2017). In the geostatistical model the spatial dependence structure is modelled using covariance functions. Most commonly, the covariance functions impose an assumption of spatial stationarity on the process. That means the covariance between observations at particular locations depends only on the distance between the locations (Banerjee et al., 2014). It has been widely recognized that most, if not all, processes manifest spatially nonstationary covariance structure Sampson (2014). If the study domain is small in area or there is not enough data to justify more complicated nonstationary approaches, then stationarity may be assumed for the sake of mathematical convenience (Fouedjio, 2017). However, relationships between variables can vary significantly over space, and a 'global' estimate of the relationships may obscure interesting geographical phenomena (Brunsdon et al., 1996; Fouedjio, 2017; Sampson & Guttorp, 1992).
In this thesis, we considered three non-parametric approaches to flexibly account for non-stationarity in both spatial and spatio-temporal processes. First, we proposed partitioning the spatial domain into sub-regions using the K-means clustering algorithm based on a set of appropriate geographic features. This allowed for fitting separate stationary covariance functions to the smaller sub-regions to account for local differences in covariance across the study region. Secondly, we extended the concept of covariance network regression to model the covariance matrix of both spatial and spatio-temporal processes. The resulting covariance estimates were found to be more flexible in accounting for spatial autocorrelation than standard stationary approaches. The third approach involved geographic random forest methodology using a neighbourhood structure for each location constructed through clustering. We found that clustering based on geographic measures such as longitude and latitude ensured that observations that were too far away to have any influence on the observations near the locations where a local random forest was fitted were not selected to form the neighbourhood.
In addition to developing flexible methods to account for non-stationarity, we developed a pivotal discrepancy measure approach for goodness-of-fit testing of spatio-temporal geostatistical models. We found that partitioning the pivotal discrepancy measures increased the power of the test.


Introduction: Emotional disturbances such as depression, anxiety and stress play an important role in the management of diabetes mellitus since their presence can adversely affect glycemic control, quality of life and compliance with medications. Despite this, emotional disturbances are consistently under-diagnosed and undertreated by physicians in general practice. Objectives: This study aims to determine the prevalence and severity of emotional disturbances among diabetic patients Methodology: This is a cross sectional study conducted on a sample of 200 patients with diabetes mellitus attending the diabetic clinic at the Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan, Pahang state, Malaysia. The prevalence and severity of depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms were assessed in those diabetic patients by using the self-rating Bahasa Malaysia version of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-42). Results: The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among diabetic patients was 13.5%, 28%, 11% respectively. Most of the patients with emotional disturbances had moderate depression and anxiety symptoms. However, stress symptoms were mild. Although females showed higher prevalence of emotional disturbances, only anxiety was significantly higher than males. Conclusion: Diabetic patients are at risk to develop psychiatric illnesses in the form of depression, anxiety and stress. Anxiety symptoms were more prominent than depression and stress in diabetic patients.


Robot swarms are envisioned in applications such as surveillance, agriculture, searchand-rescue operations, and construction. The decentralized nature of swarm intelligence has three key advantages over traditional multi-robot control algorithms: it is scalable, it is fault tolerant, and it is not susceptible to a single point of failure. These advantages are critical to the task of persistent surveillance where a number of target locations need to be visited as frequently as possible. Unfortunately, in the real world, the autonomous robots that can be used for persistent surveillance have a limited battery life (or fuel capacity). Thus, they need to abandon their surveillance duties to visit a battery swapping station (or refueling depot) a.k.a. depots. This down time reduces the frequency of visitation. This problem can be eliminated if the depots themselves were autonomous vehicles that could meet the (surveillance) robots at some point along their path from one target to another. Thus, the robots would spend less time on the 'charging' (or refueling) task. In this thesis we present decentralized control algorithms, and their results, for three stages of the persistent surveillance problem. First, we consider the case where the robots have no energy constraints, and use a decentralized approach to allow the robots choose the best target that they should visit next. While the selection process is decentralized, the robots can communicate with all the other robots in the swarm, and let them know which is their chosen target. We then consider the energy constraints of the robots, and slightly modify the algorithm, so that the robots visit a depot before they run out of energy. Lastly, we consider the case where the depots themselves can move, and communicate with the robots to pick a location and time to meet, to be able to swap the empty battery of a robot, with a fresh one. The goal of persistent surveillance is to visit target locations as frequently as possible, and thus, the performance measurement parameter is chosen to be the median frequency of visitation for all target locations. We evaluate the performance of the three algorithms in an extensive set of simulated experiments.


Over the last five centuries, North-East England's River Tyne went largely with the flow as it rode with us on a rollercoaster from technologically limited early modern oligarchy, to large-scale Victorian 'improvement', to twentieth-century deoxygenation and twenty-first-century efforts to expand biodiversity. Studying five centuries of Tyne conservatorship reveals that 1855 to 1972 was a blip on the graph of environmental concern, preceded and followed by more sustainable engagement and a fairer negotiation with the river's forces and expressions as a whole and natural system, albeit driven by different motivations. Even during this blip, however, several organisations, tried to protect the river's environmental health from harm.

This Tyne study offers a template for a future body of work on British rivers that dislodges the Thames as the river of choice in British environmental history. And it undermines traditional approaches to rivers as passive backdrops of human activities. Departing from narratives that equated change with improvement, or with loss and destruction, it moves away from morally loaded notions of better or worse, and even dead, rivers. The book fully situates the Tyne's fluvial transformations within political, economic, cultural, social and intellectual contexts. With such a long view, we can objectify ourselves through our descendants' eyes, reconnecting us not only to our past, but also to our future.

Let us sit with the Tyne itself, some of its salmon, a seventeenth-century Tyne River Court Juror, some nineteenth-century Tyne Improvement Commissioners, a 1920s biologist, a twentieth-century Tyne angler, shipbuilder and council planner and some twenty-first-century Tyne Rivers Trust volunteers. Where would they agree and disagree? How would they explain their conceptualisation of what the river is for and how it should be used and regulated? This book takes you to the heart of such virtual debates to revive, reconnect and reinvigorate the severed bonds and flows linking riparian places, issues and people across five centuries.


A description is given of a novel member of the yeast genus Pichia that was recovered 13 times in the Sonoran Desert from necrotic tissue of cereoid cacti. Most of the isolates came from organ-pipe cacti. The new yeast occurs in the cactus "rot pockets" in the haploid condition and is heterothallic. Upon mixing of appropriate mating types, zygotes developed with hat-shaped ascospores. Physiologically, the haploid strains resemble Candida tenuis, but this species has a different habitat and shares only 9.2% of its nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid base sequences with P. mexicana. The sexual state is physiologically similar to P. stipitis and an as yet undescribed cactus-specific species of the genus Clavispora, but their deoxyribonucleic acid sequence complementarity is less than 7% compared with P. mexicana. The base composition of the nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid of P. mexicana ranged from 42.2 to 43.0 mol% guanine plus cytosine (five strains). The type strain of P. mexicana is UCD-FST 76-308A (= ATCC 42175 = CBS 7066) and the complementary mating type is UCD-FST 76-391B (= ATCC 42176 = CBS 7067).


Currently there are several computer algorithms available for aligning two biological sequences. When more than two sequences are to be aligned, however, pairwise comparisons using these methods rarely lead to a consistent alignment of the sequences. One obvious solution to this problem is to compare all the sequences simultaneously. Here we present an algorithm for the simultaneous comparison of three biological sequences. The algorithm is an extension of the method developed by S. B. Needleman and C. D. Wunsch, but it decreases the almost prohibitively long computing time required by a direct naive extension to a practical level: it takes time proportional to the cube of the mean sequence length, in comparison to the fifth power time taken by the direct extension. Simultaneous comparison not only gives a consistent alignment of the three sequences, but it could also reveal homologous residues in the sequences that might be overlooked by the pairwise comparisons. As an example of the application of the algorithm, three copper-containing proteins, plastocyanin, stellacyanin, and cucumber basic blue protein, are compared.


Based on our recently developed theory of absolute and convective instabilities of spatially varying unbounded and semi–bounded flows and media with algebraically decaying tails, we develop in this paper a linear stability theory for continuous fronts whose tails have similar decay asymptotics at infinity. It is assumed that the base state of the front, W(x), tends to constant states, WR and WL ≠ WR, when x → ∞ and x→ −∞, respectively, and the tails, RR(x) and RL(x), in the governing equation linearized about W(x) decay as |x|−α, when x → ±∞, respectively, where α is sufficiently large. No restrictions on the rate of variability of the tails in the finite domain are imposed. The Laplace–transformed problem, Z x (x,ω)Z(x,ω)+G(x,ω),x∈, governing the perturbation dynamics of the front is treated by using the decompositions of the fundamental matrix of the system obtained by us previously, Φ(x,ω)= B R (x,ω) e R(ω)x[ B R (0,ω) ] , with the asymptotics B R (x,ω)=I+o( x -∈ ),∈>0, when x → ∞, and Φ(x,ω)= B L (x,ω) e A L (ω)x [ B L (0,ω) ] -1 , with the asymptotics BL(x,ω) = I + O(|x|−ε), when x → −∞ where I is the identity matrix. Here, Z(x,ω) denotes the Laplace–transformed perturbation, x ∈ R is the spatial coordinate, ω ∈ C is a frequency (and a Laplace transform parameter), G(x, ω) is the source function, AR(ω) = limx→∞ A(x,ω) and AL(ω) = limx→−∞ A(x,ω) ≠ AR(ω). The principal part of the analysis is the formulation of conditions equivalent to the boundary conditions of decay for Z(x,ω), when x → ±∞, derived by applying a result due to Kato (1980 Perturbation theory for linear operators). The boundary–value problem for Z(x,ω) is solved formally. Its solution has the form similar to that obtained in Brevdo (2003 Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A459, 1403–1425). The absolute and convective instabilities of, and signalling in, the front are studied by applying to the solution the treatments in the above papers, whereas new elements present due to the different limits in ±∞ of the matrix A(x,ω) are taken account of. We express the stability results in terms of the dispersion relation functions, Dn(ω), for the global normal modes, for the corresponding regions, Rn⊂ C, n ≥ 1, the dispersion relation functions of the associated uniform states, DR0(k, ω) = det[ikI −AR(ω)] and DL0(k, ω) = det[ikI − AL(ω)], and the singularities of the matrices BR(x,ω) and BL(x,ω), and of the projectors PR+(ω) and PL−(ω) related to the operators AR(ω) and AL(ω), respectively. Since all of the above objects controlling the instabilities are essentially global properties of the front, it is argued that the concept of local stability cannot be consistently defined for the fronts treated. A procedure for computing the instabilities is outlined.


Abstract: We have recently found that there is a proximo‐distal delay in the recovery of neurotoxic esterase (NTE) following inhibition along the sciatic nerve of the hen. To determine whether this delay could be due to a requirement for the transport of newly synthesized NTE from the cell body, we investigated the transport of NTE by measuring the rate of accumulation of activity at either one or two ligations. Although rapid turnaround of accumulated protein confounds calculation of the transport rate, it appeared that NTE is transported down the hen sciatic nerve at a rate close to 300 mm/day. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) was found to be transported at a rate of about 500 mm/day, which is close to the expected rate of fast axoplasmic transport in the chicken. The relatively rapid turnaround of NTE compared with the retrograde transport rate precluded the estimation of a retrograde transport rate. A model is presented that accounts for turnaround as a result of exchange between mobile and stationary transport pools. Exchange of NTE between pools may account for the rapid turnaround of NTE described in this paper and for the proximo‐distal delay in recovery as a dilution of newly synthesized NTE in the anterograde fast transport pool by inhibited protein as it travels down the nerve.


Calculus has two parts: differential and integral calculus. Historically, differential calculus
was concerned with finding lines tangent to curves and with calculating extrema (i.e., maxima
and minima) of curves. Integral calculus has its roots in attempting to determine the areas of
regions bounded by curves or in finding the volumes of solids. The two parts of calculus are
closely related: The basic operation of one can be considered the inverse of the other. This
result is known as the fundamental theorem of calculus and goes back to Newton and Leibniz,
who were the first to understand its meaning and to put it to use in solving difficult problems


Our experiments in TRECVID 2010 include participation in the semantic indexing and known-item search tasks. In the semantic indexing task we implemented SVM-based classifiers on five different low-level visual features extracted from the keyframes. In addition to the main keyframes provided by NIST, we also extracted and analysed additional frames from longer shots. The feature-wise classifiers were fused using standard and weighted geometric mean. We submitted the following four runs: • PicSOM_geom: Geometric mean of five features, all keyframes. • PicSOM_wgeom: Weighted geometric mean of five features, all keyframes. • PicSOM_2geom-mkf: Geometric mean of two "best" features, main keyframe only. • PicSOM_2geom-max: Geometric mean of two "best" features, all keyframes. The runs 2geom-max and wgeom obtained the highest MIAP scores (with essentially the same score, 0.0697 vs. 0.0694). Overall, using more keyframes always improved the results substantially. Our weighting approach improved the result over the standard geometric mean. However, by using only two features in fusion without weighting we achieved a similar result. In the known-item search task we submitted two automatic and two interactive runs: • PicSOM_1: Text search + concept detectors with distribution • PicSOM_2: Text search + concept detectors with rank • PicSOM_3: Interactive with detail view ("normal") • PicSOM_4: Interactive without detail view ("fast") Our automatic runs used text search with a single video-level index containing all the ASR text plus the title, description and subjects from the meta data. In addition we used automatic selection of concepts based on matching keywords in the query text. We tried two approaches for combining the concept detector outcomes with the text search results. They both recieved very similar scores (0.264 vs. 0.260 in mean reciprocal rank). Our interactive runs were with a very simple setup: the results of the PicSOM_1 automatic run were presented in order in a set of screens through which the user should browse to find the correct result. When a promising video was found, the user could examine a detailed view from which he or she could access the oracle service. We also tried a faster variant of the system where the user could make quicker decisions and use the oracle directly from the overview screen. The fast version received lower user satisfaction score (5.0 vs 6.0) but higher performance (0.455 vs 0.318 in mean reciprocal rank).


In this paper, we consider analytic initial conditions with finite energy, whose complex spatial continuation is a superposition of a smooth background flow and a singular field. Through explicit calculation in the complex plane, we show that under some assumptions, the solution to the 3-D Euler equation ceases to be analytic in the real domain in finite time. *This research was partly supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under NASA Contract No. NAS1-19480 while the author was in residence at the Institute for Computer Applications in Science and Engineering (ICASE). Additional support was provided by the Department of Energy (DEFG02-92ER14270.)


In this paper, we consider the effect of co-adaptive learning on the training and evaluation of real-time, interactive machine learning systems, referring to specific examples in our work on action-perception loops, feedback for virtual tasks, and training of regression and temporal models. Through these studies we have encountered challenges when designing and assessing expressive, multimodal interactive systems. We discuss those challenges to machine learning and human-computer interaction, proposing future directions and research.


Airways responsiveness to leukotriene (LT) C4, LTD4, LTE4, histamine, and methacholine have been studied in eight asthmatic and six normal subjects. Airways responsiveness to each bronchoconstrictor agonist was assessed by constructing cumulative dose-response curves, and the dose that produced a 35% decrease in specific airways conductance (PD35) was obtained by linear interpolation. Airways of subjects with asthma were approximately 14-, 15-, 6-, 9-, and 219-fold more responsive to histamine, methacholine, LTC4, LTD4, and LTE4, respectively, than were normal subjects. Thus, there was a substantially augmented level of hyperresponsiveness to LTE4 in bronchial asthma, which was not observed for the other bronchoconstrictor agents, when compared to normal subjects. In contrast to LTC4 and LTD4, as histamine and methacholine responsiveness increase, the dose ratio of histamine to LTE4 (PD35 histamine/PD35 LTE4) and the dose ratio of methacholine to LTE4 also tended to increase. This suggests that as the nonspecific airways responsiveness increases, the relative potency of LTE4 also increases, whereas potency of LTC4 and LTD4 decrease. These results suggest that the mechanism of the bronchoconstriction induced by LTE4 may be distinct from that produced by LTC4 or LTD4 in subjects with asthma. This may reflect leukotriene subtype receptor heterogeneity in asthmatic airways.


Global workspace access is considered as a critical factor for the ability to report a visual target. A plausible candidate mechanism for global workspace access is coupling of slow and fast brain activity. We studied coupling in EEG data using cross-frequency phase–amplitude modulation measurement between delta/theta phases and beta/gamma amplitudes from two experimental sessions, held on different days, of a typical attentional blink (AB) task, implying conscious access to targets. As the AB effect improved with practice between sessions, theta–gamma and theta–beta coupling increased generically. Most importantly, practice effects observed in delta–gamma and delta–beta couplings were specific to performance on the AB task. In particular, delta–gamma coupling showed the largest increase in cases of correct target detection in the most challenging AB conditions. All these practice effects were observed in the right temporal region. Given that the delta band is the main frequency of the P3 ERP, which is a marker of global workspace activity for conscious access, and because the gamma band is involved in visual object processing, the current results substantiate the role of phase–amplitude modulation in conscious access to visual target representations.


The influence of a crystallographic symmetry break on the morphology of precipitates during the coherent precipitation of a trigonal phase in a close packed hexagonal matrix is analyzed. It is pointed out that in spite of the isotropy of the stress free strain of the precipitate in the basal plane, the existence of an extra elastic constant in the precipitate (associated to the loss of symmetry) induces a morphological evolution from a shape having a symmetry of revolution around the threefold axis to a needle-like one oriented along the compact directions in the basal plane. These general considerations are applied to the case of zêta zirconium hydrides the crystallography of which has been recently identified to be coherent with that of the alpha Zr matrix. The influence of symmetry break and elastic heterogeneity on precipitation morphology has been numerically addressed by using different approaches. An analytical approximation to the elastic energy based on Eshelby equivalent inclusion method allows obtaining a qualitative criterion to determine the occurrence of a shape bifurcation of zêta hydrides.


Objective. Investigate the effects of L-carnitine as a potential means of reducing the incidence of ascites in broilers and its relationship with physiological and biochemical paramaters. Material and methods. One-day-old 300 male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were used in the trial. The group without L-carnitine supplementation (0) was assigned as control and the groups that received 100, 150, 200 and 250 mg/L L-carnitine supplementation in water were assigned as treatment groups. The trial was completed in 35 days. Results. L-carnitine supplementation did not have any significant effect on live weight gain, feed consumption, water consumption and feed conversion ratio. Levels of blood plasma and hemogram parameters HDL, Triglyceride, CK, RBC and MCH were significantly affected by L-carnitine (p<0.05). Blood gas parameter pH value was significantly affected by L-carnitine supplementation in the broilers with ascites. Blood gas pH value significantly increased with 100 mg/L L-carnitine supplementation compared to that of control (p<0.05). While blood pH was 7.21 in the animals with ascites, it was determined as 7.48 in healthy animals. Concentrations of SO2 and ctO2 were higher in healthy animals, while ctCO2P and hemoglobin concentrations were higher in ascitic animals (p<0.05). Conclusions. Ascites mortality rates starting from the control group were calculated respectively as %; 20.00, 18.33, 26.67, 28.33 and 28.33%. 76.71% of total ascites deaths were in the 5th week. It was concluded that low doses of L-carnitine supplementation may have positive effects in the broilers grown at high altitude.


Cheatgrass (CG; ), an introduced winter annual grass, is an aggressive invader of the sagebrush community in the Western United States. Because of its greater flammability, mature CG constitutes a fire hazard leading to repeated wildfires. One fuel-reduction strategy is livestock grazing. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of urea, molasses, or a combination of urea and molasses supplementation of a CG-based diet on digestibility, microbial fermentation, bacterial protein synthesis, and nutrient flow using a dual-flow continuous culture system. Eight fermenters were used in a replicate 4 × 4 Latin square design with four 10-d experimental periods. Experimental treatments (DM basis) were 1) forage only (CON), 2) CG plus urea alone (URE; 1.36% urea), 3) CG plus molasses alone (MOL; 15.9% molasses), and 4) CG plus urea and molasses combined (URE+MOL; 1.28% urea plus 19.3% molasses). Each fermenter was fed 72 g/d of DM, and data were analyzed using the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS (SAS Inst. Inc., Cary, NC). The true digestibilities of NDF and ADF were not affected by diets ( > 0.05). Molasses-containing diets had greater true digestibility of OM ( = 0.02). However, true digestibility of CP was increased when molasses was fed alone ( < 0.01). Molasses-containing diets had lower pH ( < 0.01) and greater VFA concentrations ( < 0.01) compared to those of the other diets. The URE+MOL diet resulted in a greater VFA concentration ( < 0.01). Propionate concentration increased ( < 0.01), whereas acetate concentration decreased ( < 0.01) when molasses alone or in combination with urea was added to the diets. Supplying molasses alone resulted in greater ( = 0.03) total branched-chain VFA compared to the other diets. The concentration of NH-N and total N flow increased ( < 0.01) in response to urea supplementation and was greater ( < 0.01) when urea alone was supplemented in the diet. On the other hand, molasses-supplemented diets yielded more non-ammonia N ( < 0.01) and bacterial N ( = 0.04). Supplementation had no effect ( = 0.83) on bacterial efficiency. Results from this study indicate that the addition of urea and molasses in a CG-based diet could improve nutrient supply to animals, notably VFA supply and microbial N supply; however, in the levels tested in this study, it did not improve CG utilization as assessed by NDF digestion.


Background A clinical pharmacy service is provided to a 192 bed nursing care home for the elderly on a hospital site in Vienna, Austria. In total 28% of residents have dysphagia and need their oral medicines reformulated prior to administration. Purpose To raise nurses' awareness of the issues related to these off-license methods of drug administration and to minimise associated risks. Materials and methods A presentation was given for nurses on drug administration to patients with dysphagia. After the presentation a non-disguised questionnaire consisting of 16 questions was used. Fourteen closed-ended questions, one open-ended question and one question using a rating scale from one to five were asked. The data obtained were analysed quantitatively. A specially designed form and the drug charts were used to collect data on residents with dysphagia. A pharmacist evaluated the appropriateness of the methods used to present the prescribed medicines based on most up-to-date evidence. Administration and prescribing advice were given through a pharmacy medication check service to health care professionals (HCPs). Results A total of 54 HCPs attended the presentation and 50 questionnaires were returned resulting in a response rate of 93%. 84% of these HCPs administer drugs and for 80% it was a relevant topic. Two third of HCPs need 1–3 h daily for drug administration to dysphagia patients. The majority of answers showed that risks such as cross contamination, treatment failure and adverse drug reactions due to pharmacokinetic changes were identified in current clinical practice. Specific administration advice for HCPs was given for 148 of 443 (33%) prescribed medicines. 26 medicines had to be changed to an alternative and for 13 medicines a more appropriate formulation was recommended. Conclusions This project shows that there was need to improve the drug management of patients with dysphagia. The HCPs welcomed the presentation on this topic and the introduction of a pharmacy medication check service to support them with administration advice and to minimise risk for patients. No conflict of interest.


The mixed structures of bainite matrix, austenite and nodular graphite were obtained in nodular cast iron treated by controlled cooling and austempering in electric oven instead of nitrate salt bath. The relations between bainitic morphology and mechanical properties were investigated. Experimental results show that, the nodular cast iron treated by controlled cooling in water bath and austempering has microstructures of upper bainite and austenite, the mechanical properties fluctuate greatly due to its relatively narrow temperature region in processing. The consistency of mechanical properties of lower bainite nodular cast iron is superior to upper bainite nodular cast iron. The comprehensive mechanical properties of lower bainite nodular cast iron are improved by tempering. However, the brittleness increases greatly when martensite appears in mixed structures, while good mechanical properties can still be obtained by tempering at elevated temperatures.


In the past few years significant progress has been made in the design and implementation of reflective middleware platforms—i.e., platforms that, through reflection, can be flexibly configured, and run-time adapted/ reconfigured, especially in terms of non-functional properties like timeliness, resourcing, transactional behaviour, and security. Recently, we have initiated a project that investigates applying our previous reflective middleware work to the demanding and novel—for reflective middleware—area of programmable networking environments. In general, these environments offer the capability to inject code into network nodes so that their forwarding behaviour can be tailored on behalf of individual organisations, applications, or users. The fact that programmable networking software operates in a complex, Multilanguage and OS, environment and has strong requirements for dynamic deployment, 24x7 operation, managed software evolution, high performance, QoS/ resource management, adaptivity and security, makes it an ideal testing ground for the reflective middleware approach [Schmid,02].

In this position paper we outline salient characteristics of programmable networking environments and discuss how our particular reflective middleware approach, which employs a component-based architecture as one of its central tenets, offers the potential for more deployable, more flexible, and more evolvable programmable networking infrastructures. The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. First, §2 briefly surveys our previous work on reflective middleware, and §3 briefly characterises programmable networking environments. Next, §4 outlines our approach, and §5 discusses our progress to date. Finally, §6 analyses related work (in programmable networking, in component-based systems, and in reflective middleware), and §7 presents our conclusions and indicates areas of planned future work.


The point of view of the extraordinary growth of fertility in Russia is widespread in the Russian expert community and media space. This increase is believed to be indicative of the positive results of the special financial measures taken by the State after 2006 in order to stimulate the birth rate.Do demographers have strong bases to support the increased optimism that demonstrated today by politicians and administrators of different levels? According to the author, there are some positive developments, but their significance is quite insufficient to face the pink glasses on the future of Russian fertility and reproduction of population of the country.With this paper, the author continues his previous long-term research in the field of in-depth demographic analysis of Russian fertility involving the latest official statistical data for 2014. The paper provides an overview of the trends of key fertility indicators in a few decades, as well as develops some methodological issues of the cohort fertility analysis in order to obtain more reliable projections.The article consists of two interrelated parts.In the first part, presented in the previous issue, the author examines period fertility indicators (for calendar years), taking into account the latest changes in the structural characteristics of the Russian model of fertility that have occurred over the past several decades.In the second part of the article, which presented in this issue of the Journal, the author analyses cohort fertility indicators of generations of women, whose the actual and the expected reproductive activity has occurring in the second half of the XX - the first decades of the XXI century.


We report on the design and characterization of a novel analytical sensing system for the detection and discrimination of various detergents. Our sensor system could play a key role in the development of more efficient and environmentally-friendly washing machines by enabling the measurement of residual detergents. The sensing device comprises of a dual shear horizontal surface acoustic wave (SH-SAW) resonator device housed in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic chamber. Unmetalized and electrically shorted device configurations were used to analyze synthetic samples of liquid detergents of different concentrations. The sensor system correctly classified all three detergents without the need for an additional biological or chemical coating. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Electronic tongue; surface acoustic wave; SH-SAW sensor; detergents; principal component analysis


A theory is presented for the time-dependent breakdown of a network of spring (fuse) elements where the probability of breaking an element under load-sigma is sigma-eta. For all eta, it predicts the system-size scaling of the number of broken elements at breakdown round in simulations. The breakdown is shown to be percolationlike for eta less-than-or-equal-to 2 but is due to the dominance of one large growing crack, despite the absence of a failure threshold, for eta textgreater 2. This transition in fracture behavior and in scaling at eta textgreater 2 is found to be directly related to the dependence of crack tip stress enhancement on the square root of crack size.


The modelling of multi-phase water flow is an important modern-day design tool used by engineers to develop practical systems which are beneficial to society . Multi-phase water flow can be found in many important industrial applications such as large scale conventional and nuclear power systems, heat transfer machinery, chemical process plants, and other important examples. Because of many inherent complexities in physical two-phase flow processes, no generalised system of equations has been formulated that can accurately describe the two-phase flow of water at all flow conditions and system geometries. This has led to the development of many different models for the simulation of two-phase flow at specific conditions. These models vary greatly in complexity. The simplest model that can be used to simulate two-phase flow is termed the homogeneous equilibrium (HEM) two-phase flow model. This model has been found useful in investigations of choking and flashing flows, and as an initial investigative model used before the formulation of more complex models for specific applications. This flow model is fully defined by three conservation equations, one each for mass, momentum and energy. To close the model, an equation of state (EOS) is required to deliver system pressure values. When solving the HEM, a general practice is to employ an equation of state that is derived from a fundamental expression of the second law of thermodynamics. This methodology has been proven to deliver accurate results for two-phase system simulations. This study focused on an alternative formulation of the equation of state which was previously developed for the time dependent modelling of HEM two-phase flow systems, termed the rate form of the equation of state (RFES). The goal of the study was not to develop a new formulation of the EOS, but rather to implement the RFES in a transient simulation model and to verify that this implementation delivers appropriate results when compared to the conventional implementation methodology. This was done by formulating a transient pipe and reservoir network model with the HEM, and closing the model using both the RFES and a benchmark EOS known to deliver accurate system property values. The results of the transient model simulations were then compared to determine whether the RFES delivered the expected results. It was found that the RFES delivered sufficiently accurate results for a variety of system transients, pressure conditions and numerical integration factors.


Objective: The most important predictive parameter for the biological behavior of urothelial carcinomas except depth of invasion is the histological grade of the tumor. However, crucial discordances arise between pathologists because of subjectivity in histological grading schemes and these discordances cause difficulties especially in lowgrade tumors. The number of studies aiming to predict the risk of recurrence and progression in urothelial carcinomas has therefore increased in recent years. Our aim in this study was to evaluate the relation of histopathological and clinical characteristics of urothelial carcinomas with proliferation and apoptosis markers and to determine predictive parameters for their biological behavior. Material and Method: This study included 84 previously diagnosed cases of urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder. immunohistochemical expressions of Ki-67, p53, bcl-2, and bax were examined in each case. Results: Expressions of Ki-67 and p53 determined a significant relationship between pathological stage and histological grade of the cases. There was no significant relationship between the other apoptotic markers (bcl-2, and bax) and clinical or morphological parameters. Conclusion: We concluded that the evaluation of Ki-67 and p53 expression combined with pathological stage and histological grade may give more accurate information about the biological behavior of urothelial carcinomas of the urinary bladder.


Recently Agriculture Department of Liguria Region had supported studies and researches on the timber quality of living trees in local coppice chestnut forests, with the prospect to produce also timber for structural use. Under some ad-hoc funds a 30 years old coppice forest in the high Bormida Valley, never thinned after the last utilization, has been chosen for sampling. 18 selected trunks were felled and the assortment called "Uso Fiume" (UF) was chosen, getting 49 beams (cross-section from 12¥12 to 24¥24 cm), by way of saw-mill operations The UF-beam is a structural element, derived from Italian tradition. Such elements are used in Italian buildings over the time, in substitution to structural sawn timber, principally for roofing. The UF-beam is a square edged log with wane; more precisely it is a full log, edged on four sides, maintaining boxed heart and an approximately central pith. Today the features of such a beam is established according to the specific Italian standard UNI 11035-3 for spruce and fir and to the CUAP (Common Understanding of Assessment Procedure) n. 03.24/22 for chestnut and conifers. The beams were visually graded according to the Visual Strength Grading procedure and the physical and mechanical properties (density, modulus of elasticity-MOE and modulus of rupture- MOR) were determined according to the standard requirements (EN 408, EN 384, ISO 3131), disregarding the moisture content: the mechanical tests were performed with wood in green state (moisture content M.C.>30%) because it is the actual condition of use in building, due to the very low permeability of the chestnut heartwood which entails long seasoning time of large cross section beams. The study showed very high yields considering the stems-to-beams volume ratio, close to 70%. Characteristics values of the sample resulted: char. density 􀀀 􀀀􀀀kg/m³, char. modulus of elasticity E0,mean 10,3 GPa and char. bending strength fm,k 28,5 MPa. These results can be considered very promising because the data match the Strength Class D24 (EN 338), the same Class as full cross-section chestnut beams (at M.C.=12%).


The fluid excitation induced by the labyrinth seal would deteriorate the stability of turbomachinery shaft. Developing an accurate and rapid prediction approach is crucial for the analysis of the fluid excitation rotordynamics of the labyrinth seal. The objective of this study is to analyze the applicability of leakage models using Bulk-Flow method and investigate the factors affecting the rotordynamic characteristics of the labyrinth seal. An elliptical orbit for rotor whirling was assumed in the one-control-volume Bulk-Flow model considering an isentropic process to predict the frequency-dependent rotordynamic coefficients of the labyrinth seal. The optimal leakage model was determined by comprehensively analyzing the applicability of 72 leakage models. Employing the optimal leakage model in the Bulk-Flow method, the effects of sealing clearance, pressure ratio, preswirl ratio and rotational speed on the rotordynamic characteristics of the labyrinth seal were investigated. The conclusions show that the Bulk-Flow method has an average prediction error of around 10% for the leakage flow rate, cross-coupled stiffness and direct damping when equipped with the optimal leakage model. Increasing preswirl ratio has a significantly destabilizing effect on the rotor stability, while the influence of increasing rotational speed is strongly related to preswirl direction. The effective damping of the labyrinth seal is sensitive to the inlet pressure, but insensitive to the outlet pressure and sealing clearance. The crossover frequency is almost impervious to the inlet pressure, outlet pressure and sealing clearance.


This paper presents a robust optimal controller design for unknown nonlinear systems from a perspective of robust adaptive dynamic programming (robust-ADP). The proposed methodology has several novel features. First, the class of nonlinear systems studied in the paper allows for the presence of dynamic uncertainties with unmeasured state and uncertain system order/dynamics. Second, in the absence of the dynamic uncertainty, the online policy iteration technique developed in this paper can be viewed as an extension of the existing ADP method to affine continuous-time nonlinear systems with completely unknown dynamics. Third, the theory of approximate/adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) is integrated for the first time with tools from modern nonlinear control theory, such as the nonlinear small-gain theorem, for robust optimal control design. It is shown that, with appropriate robust redesign, the robust-ADP controller asymptotically stabilizes the overall system. A practical robust-ADP-based online learning algorithm is developed in this paper, and is applied to the robust optimal controller design for a two-machine power system.


Introductions: Joint replacements have considerably improved the quality of life of patients with damaged joints. Over the past 30 years, there has been much effort and investigations in ways to repair damages in joints, including knee and hip joints. Materials for joint production have also been developed. Many improvements have been made in the joint replacement materials to increase their biocompatibility and longevity. This study is aimed at evaluating the in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility of Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy and UHMWPE polymer used in total hip replacements. Methods: Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy and UHMWPE polymer were carefully washed with sterile distilled water then autoclaved. The materials were used directly or indirectly to evaluate pyrogens, endotoxins, animal cell cytotoxicity, gene mutation, animal cell transformation, DNA synthesis, immunogenicity, histology reactions, and immune response. All assays were performed according to ISO10993 guidelines. Results: The results showed that Ti6Al-4V titanium alloy and Chirulen 1020 UHMWPE polymer satisfied all criteria for implantable materials.


There is a common misconception that culture in the Gulf must be entirely newly imported and artificial. Architect Mona El Mousfy and architect and researcher Sharmeen Syed, who have both been engaged as architects for the Sharjah Art Foundation Art Spaces project and the Sharjah Biennial, challenge the notion of 'constructed heritage' at Sharjah in UAE. They show Sharjah to be a highly adaptive, historically multiethnic city that is characterised by its cultural fluidity.


Neoplastic overgrowth depends on the cooperation of several mutations ultimately leading to major rearrangements in cellular behaviour. The molecular crosstalk occurring between precancerous and normal cells strongly influences the early steps of the tumourigenic process as well as later stages of the disease. Precancerous cells are often removed by cell death from normal tissues but the mechanisms responsible for such fundamental safeguard processes remain in part elusive. To gain insight into these phenomena I took advantage of the clonal analysis methods available in Drosophila for studying the phenotypes due to loss of function of the neoplastic tumour suppressor lethal giant larvae (lgl). I found that lgl mutant cells growing in wild-type imaginal wing discs are subject to the phenomenon of cell competition and are eliminated by JNK-dependent cell death because they express very low levels of dMyc oncoprotein compared to those in the surrounding tissue. Indeed, in non-competitive backgrounds lgl mutant clones are able to overgrow and upregulate dMyc, overwhelming the neighbouring tissue and forming tumourous masses that display several cancer hallmarks. These phenotypes are completely abolished by reducing dMyc abundance within mutant cells while increasing it in lgl clones growing in a competitive context re-establishes their tumourigenic potential.
Similarly, the neoplastic growth observed upon the oncogenic cooperation between lgl mutation and activated Ras/Raf/MAPK signalling was found to be characterised by and dependent on the ability of cancerous cells to upregulate dMyc with respect to the adjacent normal tissue, through both transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms, thereby confirming its key role in lgl-induced tumourigenesis. These results provide first evidence that the dMyc oncoprotein is required in lgl mutant tissue to promote invasive overgrowth in developing and adult epithelial tissues and that dMyc abundance inside versus outside lgl mutant clones plays a key role in driving neoplastic overgrowth.


OBJECT
To determine the acute and long-term effects of a therapeutic dose of brain radiation in a primate model, the authors studied the clinical, laboratory, neuroimaging, molecular, and histological outcomes in rhesus monkeys that had received fractionated whole-brain radiation therapy (WBRT).

METHODS
Twelve 3-year-old male primates (Macaca mulatta) underwent fractionated WBRT (350 cGy for 5 days/week for 2 weeks, total dose 3500 cGy). Animals were followed clinically and with laboratory studies and serial magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. They were killed when they developed medical problems or neurological symptoms, lesions appeared on MR imaging, or at study completion. Gross, histological, and molecular analyses were then performed. Nine (82%) of 11 animals that underwent long-term follow up (> 2.5 years) developed neurological symptoms and/or enhancing lesions on MR imaging, which were defined as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), 2.9 to 8.3 years after radiation therapy. The GBMs were categorized as either unifocal (three) or multifocal (six), and were located in the supratentorial (six), infratentorial (two), or both (one) cranial regions. Histological examination revealed distant, noncontiguous tumor invasion within the white matter of all nine animals harboring GBMs. Novel interspecies comparative genomic hybridization (three animals) uniformly showed deletions in the GBMs that corresponded to chromosome 9 in humans.

CONCLUSIONS
The high rate of GBM formation (82%) following a therapeutic dose of WBRT in nonhuman primates indicates that radioinduction of these neoplasms as a late complication of this therapy may occur more frequently than is currently recognized in human patients. The development of these tumors while monitoring the monkeys' conditions with clinical and serial MR imaging studies, and access to the tumor and the entire brain for histological and molecular analyses offers an opportunity to gather unique insights into the nature and development of GBMs.


The most efficient sequence of targeted agents for metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients has yet to be identified. Whether the sequence of sorafenib and sunitinib really matters is controversial and not answered clearly until now. This meta-analysis aims to estimate the efficacy of receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors sorafenib-sunitinib and sunitinib-sorafenib for metastatic renal cell carcinoma, on the outcome of first-line progression-free survival, second-line progression-free survival, total progression-free survival and overall survival. We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library and ClinicalTrails.gov for eligible studies. Data were analyzed using random or fixed effects model depending on the heterogeneity of the eligible studies. Heterogeneity across studies were analyzed using Q and I2 statistics. Of 902 identified studies, ten were qualified in our analysis (N = 1732 patients). Sorafenib-sunitinib yielded no statistically significant benefit in first-line progression-free survival (fixed effects; HR = 0.95; 95%CI 0.75-1.21; p = 0.702), total progression-free survival (random effects; HR = 0.92; 95%CI 0.71-1.19; p = 0.531) and overall survival (fixed effects; HR = 0.89; 95%CI 0.72-1.09; p = 0.257), compared with sunitinib-sorafenib. Second-line progression-free survival was longer for sorafenib-sunitinib than sunitinib-sorafenib (fixed effects; HR = 0.55; 95%CI 0.44-0.68; p = 0.000). Sequential therapies with sorafenib and sunitinib is well tolerated and efficient in mRCC. However, there are no evidence supported that sorafenib–sunitinib has the superiority to sunitinib-sorafenib in sequence. The ideal sequence of targeted agents requires further elucidation.


Our goal is for agents to optimize the right reward function, despite how difficult it is for us to specify what that is. Inverse Reinforcement Learning (IRL) enables us to infer reward functions from demonstrations, but it usually assumes that the expert is noisily optimal. Real people, on the other hand, often have systematic biases: risk-aversion, myopia, etc. One option is to try to characterize these biases and account for them explicitly during learning. But in the era of deep learning, a natural suggestion researchers make is to avoid mathematical models of human behavior that are fraught with specific assumptions, and instead use a purely data-driven approach. We decided to put this to the test -- rather than relying on assumptions about which specific bias the demonstrator has when planning, we instead learn the demonstrator's planning algorithm that they use to generate demonstrations, as a differentiable planner. Our exploration yielded mixed findings: on the one hand, learning the planner can lead to better reward inference than relying on the wrong assumption; on the other hand, this benefit is dwarfed by the loss we incur by going from an exact to a differentiable planner. This suggest that at least for the foreseeable future, agents need a middle ground between the flexibility of data-driven methods and the useful bias of known human biases. Code is available at this https URL.


The human MHC has been shown to be associated with susceptibility to a large number of diseases. Within the MHC class III region, which consists of a ~1,100kb segment of DNA located between the class I and class II multigene families, at least 38 genes have been identified, some of which could be involved in disease susceptibility. Analyses of the homologous mouse H-2S region have localised two loci responsible for susceptibility to experimental autoimmune orchitis, Orch-1 , and corticosteroid-induced cleft palate, Cps-1 , to an ~100kb segment of DNA. The characterisation of four genes located within the homologous region of the human MHC class III region is described here. The G7 gene is a novel gene located 58kb telomeric of the HSP70-Hom locus. G7 has been sequenced at the cDNA and genomic levels. The G7 gene, which contains 27 exons that span ~22kb of DNA, is expressed as an ~3kb mRNA. This mRNA was shown to be present at low levels in all of the cell types analysed, and was most abundant in monocytes and macrophages. Sequence analysis of cDNA clones revealed that the G7 mRNA contains two alternatively spliced exons which alter the putative G7 protein at the C-terminus. The different mRNA species encode putative protein products of 747 and 788 amino acids. The putative G7 proteins appear to be intracellular although their function remains to be determined. However, the putative G7 protein sequences do share significant similarity with bacterial DNA mismatch repair proteins and other similar proteins in yeast, mouse and man. A Pvull RFLP associated with the G7 gene was shown to result in a potential Thr → Ala amino acid substitution in ~25% of the haplotypes analysed. The G7b gene is another novel gene which is located between the HSP70-Hom and valyl-tRNA synthetase (VARS2) genes and may be homologous to other genes elsewhere in the human genome. G7b has been sequenced at the cDNA and genomic levels. The G7b gene contains 5 exons that span ~10kb. The G7b gene expressed an ~0.9kb mRNA that was present in all of the cell types analysed and was most abundant in monocytes and macrophages. The G7b cDNA clones encode a putative G7b protein of 95 amino acids. Polyclonal antisera have been raised against the putative G7b protein which detected an ~5kDa protein in U937 cell lysates. Therefore, the putative G7b protein appears to be an intracellular protein for which the function remains to be determined. However, the putative G7b protein shares significant sequence similarity to the human small ribonucleoprotein Sm-D for which autoantibodies are present in patients with SLE. A new gene G7c located between the G7 and valyl-tRNA synthetase (VARS2) genes has been identified as a result of the presence of non-repetitive sequence in the intergenic region that were shown to be conserved between species. Exon trapping analysis has identified two discrete exons from within this region. The mouse homologue of the human HSP70-Hom gene, Hsc70t , is a potential candidate gene for the Orch-1 locus. As a result it was been sequenced in H-2 congenic mouse strains known to be resistant and susceptible to experimental autoimmune orchitis. Sequence polymorphism was detected although this did not correlate with resistance or susceptibility to the disease.


Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) is a major worldwide public health problem. Biolarvicide is a strategy to suppress the incidence of DHF. Bitter melon fruit contains biochemical constituents such as alkaloid, saponin, flavonoid, steroid, and momordicine which have larvicidal effect. This study was aimed to know the effectivity of bitter melon fruit extract as a larvicide of Aedesaegypti larva. The design of this study was experimental. The sample of this study was bitter melon fruit extract. There were 4 concentrationsof bitter melon extract used i.e., 0,8%, 1,6%, 3,2%, 6,4%, and negative control. This study used bioassay method with 20 instar III and IV larvas of Aedesaegypti put into container and were incubated for 24 hours. According to result of Kruskall-Wallis test (p = 0,005) there was a signifcant difference effectof bitter melon extractonthe mortality of Aedesaegypti larva. The result of Mann-Whitney test showed that there was asignifcant difference in the effectivity among the concentrationsof bitter melon extract being compared and control solution. The result of probit analysis showed that LC50 and LC90 values were 1,207% and 2,759%, respectively. According to this study, bitter melon fruit extract has larvicide effectonthe mortality of Aedesaegypti.


The work presents the results of experimental investigation into the effect of neutron irradiation on thin-film magnetic field Hall sensors. It is shown that sensors based on InSb/i-GaAs heterostructures are promising for application under radiation conditions in thermonuclear reactor magnetic diagnostics systems. At the same time, the presence of buffer layers in InAs/i-GaAs heterostructures makes this material unfit for application under neutron flux conditions.


This study illustrates how electronic data interchange (EDI) could be used in conjunction with organizational transformation to generate phenomenal gains in organizational efficiency and effectiveness. It reviews the current literature on information-technology-enabled organizational transformation to identify key variables for measuring organizational change. It employs the case research method to examine TradeNet, a well-established EDI system in Singapore. It discusses how the Trade Development Board (TDB) of Singapore has taken advantage of the TradeNet opportunity to drastically transform its own organizational structure, business processes, business network, and business scope. The organizational transformation that accompanied TradeNet implementation resulted in significant gains for both the public and the private sector in Singapore. TDB and other public-sector organizations gained in terms of increased productivity in carrying out their organizational functions. The trading community, comprising the private-sector organizations, benefited in terms of increased competitiveness. Change-point analyses carried out on annual organizational and performance figures confirmed the productivity increases at TDB. Analyses of the results of questionnaires administered to TradeNet participants confirmed the increased competitiveness experienced by the trading community. Noteworthy lessons from this study, important for EDI implementation, are a willingness to change existing mindset, to institute radical transformation, to leverage knowledge and technology, and to foster win-win situations. This study demonstrates that the use of IT, or EDI in particular, for organizational transformation could lead to phenomenal gains.


Lodging in the form of resort hotels are needed in tourist areas such as Lake Toba, to provide a place to rest as well as recreational areas, Tuktuk Siadong Village is one of the villages in Simanindo District which has many recreational areas. The design of resort hotels in the area of Lake Toba must consider the characteristics of traditional buildings around, responsive to tourism potential, and responsive to the climate. These considerations are used to create a resort hotel that has it has characteristics and attracts tourists to visit and stay overnight. The method used in this design is the glass box method by collecting data related to design. The data obtained is then analyzed to find the right hotel resort concept for the design area, namely the concept of Tropical Architecture. They are designing resort hotels in this area as a form of support for government programs in advancing Lake Toba Tourism and advancing the regional economic sector.


Denitrifying communities were detected in the water column of the Colombian Pacific Basin, with oxygen levels between 6 and 56 µM. They were analyzed by Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (TRFLP) of functional genes nitrite reductase ( nir S) and nitrous oxide reductase ( nos Z), and by pyrosequencing the gene nos Z. These genes are responsible for the production and consumption of the greenhouse gas N 2 O. The TRFLP analysis indicated that throughout the Colombia current, the composition of the nir S-type denitrifying community was more homogeneous than the nos Z-type community. The nos Z-type community presented the highest richness (up to 11 TRF) and diversity (Simpson Index 1/D = 4.85 and Shannon Index = 0.76) of terminal restriction fragments, as well as the higher richness of operational taxonomic units-OTUs (up to 71), obtained via pyrosequencing. Out of 84% of OTUs, 48% were assigned to the genus Pseudomonas , and 36% to environmental clones. These results indicate the presence of a nir S-community inhabiting the Colombian Pacific Basin, with low diversity and mostly restricted within 300 m depth. The nos Z-community showed similar richness and diversity of TRFs and OTUs to that reported for the South Pacific Ocean. These results demonstrate that although both denitrifying communities are present in the area, these communities differ in structure and dominance compared to previous reports for other denitrifying microorganisms.


The results of fundamental and applied studies of blood-brain barrier had been conducted by authors during the last 10 years are summarized in the publication. The molecular anatomy of barrier microvessels, as well as promising markers of BBB and other proteins involved in barrier functions are discussed. Via in vitro experiments with endothelial cells of cerebral microvessels we characterized the basic conditions required for adequate BBB modeling. The in vivo data of BBB permeability for macromolecules in normal and different pathological process is including radiation injury, hyperosmotic shock, and nervous tissue ischemia are properly described. A particular attention was focused upon the experimental studies of the permeability and functional reorganization of barrier endothelium during tumor neoangiogenesis. We detected a dramatically increased permeability of neoplastic microvessels both for horseradish peroxidase/serum albumin and labeled monoclonal antibodies. The increased tumor permeability for IgG and the overexpression of target antigens in tumor tissue and peritumoral zone make possible the targeted delivery of diagnostics and therapeutic agents into the tumor by means of monoclonal antibodies.


INTRODUCTION: Studies on eosinophilic gastroenteritis have identified broad spectrums of disease. We aimed to characterize subtypes of disease and ascertain outcomes of each group. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study from a large tertiary medical center including 35 patients diagnosed with eosinophilic gastroenteritis from 2007 to 2018. We defined 2 groups of patients based on clinical and laboratory findings at presentation. Severe disease was defined as having weight loss at time of presentation, hypoalbuminemia at presentation, serosal disease involvement, or anemia at diagnosis. The remaining patients were labeled as mild disease group. We collected and compared demographic data, clinical features, laboratory findings, an allergy history, and disease course of both cohorts. RESULTS: Among 35 patients with eosinophilic gastroenteritis, 18 patients met the criteria for severe disease and 17 patients for mild disease. Of the patients with severe eosinophilic gastroenteritis, 6 (38%) had remission without chronic symptoms, whereas 10 (63%) had chronic symptoms requiring chronic medical therapy. Of the mild group, 12 patients (80%) had disease remission without chronic medications. An allergy history was more common in the severe disease group (83%) compared with the mild disease group (45%). Prednisone and open capsule budesonide were the most commonly used treatment medications in both groups. DISCUSSION: Patients with eosinophilic gastroenteritis may be characterized into 2 forms. Patients with weight loss at time of presentation, hypoalbuminemia at presentation, serosal disease involvement, or anemia at diagnosis were associated with a chronic disease course requiring chronic medications.


Abstract The transcription factors C/EBPα and C/EBPβ belong to the leucine-zipper C/EBP (CCAAT/enhancer binding protein) family of DNA-binding proteins. C/EBPα and C/EBPα are expressed in the liver and are implicated in the control of transcriptional events following sepsis. It is hypothesized that inhibition of C/EBPα gene expression following sepsis may lead to some of the phenotypic features we recognize as sepsis syndrome such as decreased visceral protein (albumin) synthesis. In this study we demonstrate that C/EBPα mRNA accumulation is transiently inhibited 12 hr following peritoneal insult, consistent with previous data. However, we demonstrate that (1) there is increased binding of hepatic nuclear protein to the C/EBPα DNA response element 48 hr following insult, (2) a marked increase in C/EBPα protein is observed 48 hr following CLP insult compared with no increase in hepatic C/EBPα protein at 12 hr postinsult, (3) the increase in hepatic C/EBPα protein at 48 hr following cecal ligation and puncture is not associated with an increase in C/EBPα mRNA accumulation, (4) the increase in hepatic C/EBPα protein is associated with an increase in C/EBPβ protein, and (5) hepatic albumin mRNA accumulation is decreased at 12 and 48 hr following insult and does not correlate with the C/EBPα protein synthesis. We conclude that the possible role of the transcription factor C/EBPα with respect to decreased albumin gene expression following sepsis must be reevaluated.


BACKGROUND
Clinical guidelines differ regarding their recommended blood glucose targets for patients with type 1 diabetes and recent studies on patients with type 2 diabetes suggest that aiming at very low targets can increase the risk of mortality.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the effects of intensive versus conventional glycaemic targets in patients with type 1 diabetes in terms of long-term complications and determine whether very low, near normoglycaemic values are of additional benefit.

SEARCH METHODS
A systematic literature search was performed in the databases The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE and EMBASE. The date of the last search was December 2012 for all databases.

SELECTION CRITERIA
We included all randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that had defined different glycaemic targets in the treatment arms, studied patients with type 1 diabetes, and had a follow-up duration of at least one year.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two review authors independently extracted data, assessed studies for risk of bias, with differences resolved by consensus. Overall study quality was evaluated by the 'Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation' (GRADE) system. Random-effects models were used for the main analyses and the results are presented as risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for dichotomous outcomes.

MAIN RESULTS
We identified 12 trials that fulfilled the inclusion criteria, including a total of 2230 patients. The patient populations varied widely across studies with one study only including children, one study only including patients after a kidney transplant, one study with newly diagnosed adult patients, and several studies where patients had retinopathy or microalbuminuria at baseline. The mean follow-up duration across studies varied between one and 6.5 years. The majority of the studies were carried out in the 1980s and all trials took place in Europe or North America. Due to the nature of the intervention, none of the studies could be carried out in a blinded fashion so that the risk of performance bias, especially for subjective outcomes such as hypoglycaemia, was present in all of the studies. Fifty per cent of the studies were judged to have a high risk of bias in at least one other category.Under intensive glucose control, the risk of developing microvascular complications was reduced compared to conventional treatment for a) retinopathy: 23/371 (6.2%) versus 92/397 (23.2%); RR 0.27 (95% CI 0.18 to 0.42); P < 0.00001; 768 participants; 2 trials; high quality evidence; b) nephropathy: 119/732 (16.3%) versus 211/743 (28.4%); RR 0.56 (95% CI 0.46 to 0.68); P < 0.00001; 1475 participants; 3 trials; moderate quality evidence; c) neuropathy: 29/586 (4.9%) versus 86/617 (13.9%); RR 0.35 (95% CI 0.23 to 0.53); P < 0.00001; 1203 participants; 3 trials; high quality evidence. Regarding the progression of these complications after manifestation, the effect was weaker (retinopathy) or possibly not existent (nephropathy: RR 0.79 (95% CI 0.37 to 1.70); P = 0.55; 179 participants with microalbuminuria; 3 trials; very low quality evidence); no adequate data were available regarding the progression of neuropathy. For retinopathy, intensive glucose control reduced the risk of progression in studies with a follow-up duration of at least two years (85/366 (23.2%) versus 154/398 (38.7%); RR 0.61 (95% CI 0.49 to 0.76); P < 0.0001; 764 participants; 2 trials; moderate quality evidence), while we found evidence for an initial worsening of retinopathy after only one year of intensive glucose control (17/49 (34.7%) versus 7/47 (14.9%); RR 2.32 (95% CI 1.16 to 4.63); P = 0.02; 96 participants; 2 trials; low quality evidence).Major macrovascular outcomes (stroke and myocardial infarction) occurred very rarely, and no firm evidence could be established regarding these outcome measures (low quality evidence).We found that intensive glucose control increased the risk for severe hypoglycaemia, however the results were heterogeneous and only the 'Diabetes Complications Clinical Trial' (DCCT) showed a clear increase in severe hypoglycaemic episodes under intensive treatment. A subgroup analysis according to the baseline haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) of participants in the trials (low quality evidence) suggests that the risk of hypoglycaemia is possibly only increased for patients who started with relatively low HbA1c values (< 9.0%). Several of the included studies also showed a greater weight gain under intensive glucose control, and the risk of ketoacidosis was only increased in studies using insulin pumps in the intensive treatment group (very low quality evidence).Overall, all-cause mortality was very low in all studies (moderate quality evidence) except in one study investigating renal allograft as treatment for end-stage diabetic nephropathy. Health-related quality of life was only reported in the DCCT trial, showing no statistically significant differences between the intervention and comparator groups (moderate quality evidence). In addition, only the DCCT published data on costs, indicating that intensive glucose therapy control was highly cost-effective considering the reduction of potential diabetes complications (moderate quality evidence).

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
Tight blood sugar control reduces the risk of developing microvascular diabetes complications. The evidence of benefit is mainly from studies in younger patients at early stages of the disease. Benefits need to be weighed against risks including severe hypoglycaemia, and patient training is an important aspect in practice. The effects of tight blood sugar control seem to become weaker once complications have been manifested. However, further research is needed on this issue. Furthermore, there is a lack of evidence from RCTs on the effects of tight blood sugar control in older patient populations or patients with macrovascular disease. There is no firm evidence for specific blood glucose targets and treatment goals need to be individualised taking into account age, disease progression, macrovascular risk, as well as the patient's lifestyle and disease management capabilities.


The RNA content in the perineural oligodendroglia cells was studied with the help of cytophotometer in 6 humans aged from 75 to 85 in cortical fields 4, 10 and 21. The volume of oligodendrogliocytes in the third layer of fields 4, 10 and 21 is respectively equal to 55,6+/-1,25; 52,46+/-1,03 and 43,25+/-1,05 mum3. Since the RNA concentration in oligodendrogliocytes of any size has proved to be practically the same, the general amount of RNA per a cell of the oligodendroglia is directly proportional to its volume.


Over the last few years, a real impulse has been given in France to the development of inter-municipal institutions, as a result of the 1999 local government act. In order to meet the changing needs of urban areas, the act has created a new kind of inter-municipal authority, the communaute d'agglomeration, provided with extended powers in local management and planning, including the organization of public transport services. Due to the success of this new form of cooperation, the institutional structure of urban transport has rapidly changed: between 1998 and 2003, 60% of the French inter-municipal authorities acting as transport authorities have changed their legal status, moving from specialized forms of cooperation toward more integrated structures (with the communautes d'agglomeration representing 40% of the total in 2003). Based on the study of such processes in five French urban areas (Rennes, Saint-Etienne, Valenciennes, Caen and Saint-Brieuc), we discuss the consequences of these transformations on public transport policy. This article depicts a variety of configurations concerning the role played by public transport in the building of urban areas' governance. In all the cities studied, whether or not local authorities have decided to keep a separate organization for public transport, transport issues tend to come second to territorial political strategies. This evolution takes various forms: urban transport areas have to adapt to the spatial perimeter of new inter-municipal institutions; public transport authorities reinforce their technical expertise; debates on public transport are more systematically territory-related. This growing territorialized concern for public transport does not result in more integrated policy. In particular, most of the new communautes d'agglomeration did not take responsibility for roads and parking management (which are optional competencies). This shows that the sector-based fragmentation of policies related to urban mobility rests upon established practises and representations that the creation of more integrated forms of local government is not (yet) sufficient to challenge.


Solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) is a ubiquitous neoplasm that arises most commonly from the pleura. SFT arising within lung parenchyma (intrapulmonary SFT) has been rarely reported and is therefore not well recognized. We present a clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical study of 24 cases of primary intrapulmonary SFT. Patients' ages ranged from 44 to 83 years (mean, 58 y). None of the patients had evidence or history of a similar tumor elsewhere. Tumor size ranged from 2.3 to 22 cm (mean, 8.5 cm). On the basis of the degree of cytologic atypia, cellularity, mitotic activity, and areas of necrosis, the lesions were divided into low-grade, intermediate-grade, and high-grade histology. Twenty-one tumors showed the conventional features of SFT of low-grade histology (<5 mitoses per 10 high-power fields), with alternating bands of rope-like collagen flanked by a bland-appearing spindle cell proliferation. Hemangiopericytic, angiofibromatous, and a neural-like plexiform growth pattern were also observed. Five of 21 cases showed an "adenofibromatous" appearance imparted by entrapped normal airspaces at the advancing edges of the lesion. One intermediate-grade tumor showed overall increased cellularity with plump, pleomorphic nuclei, 5 to 10 mitoses per 10 high-power fields, and focal areas of classic SFT. Two cases showed high-grade features at initial presentation, with areas resembling a pleomorphic high-grade sarcoma admixed with foci of conventional, low-grade SFT. Immunohistochemical staining analyses performed in 13 cases showed positivity of the tumor cells for CD34, bcl-2, and CD99 in the majority of cases tested. Clinical follow-up was available in 18 patients, with long-term follow-up (>5 y) in 6. Fourteen (14/18) patients were alive and well without evidence of disease 1 month to 14 years after initial diagnosis. Three patients died of their tumors after 4, 5, and 7 years; in 2 of them the initial tumor was of low-grade histology, but the recurrence/metastases showed a high-grade histology; the third fatal case showed a tumor with high-grade histology at initial diagnosis. One patient with intermediate-grade histology also had chest wall metastases at 5 years but was subsequently lost to follow-up. The results of our study indicate that although tumors with overtly malignant histologic features can be expected to behave as high-grade sarcomas, tumors with bland-appearing morphologic features at presentation may also follow an aggressive behavior. Adequate excision with close clinical follow-up, thus, appears to be the most prudent course of action for the management of primary intrapulmonary fibrous tumors.


Attempts to construct, in vitro, systems which imitate parts of the photosynthetic process serve two purposes. First, they may confirm, or not confirm, structures and mechanisms proposed on the basis of analyses of the living system. Second, they may lead to a purely photochemical system for the capture and storage of solar energy. For the latter purpose, the most interesting part of the photosynthetic process is photosystem II, in which water is split by visible light into oxygen and a reduced material. The principal stages of the process are probably (a) light harvesting and trapping, (b) electron transfer from chlorophyll to a quinone, and (c) oxidation of water via an intermediate containing manganese. Each of these three processes has now been reproduced to some extent in vitro but the light harvesting antenna efficiencies are lowered by concentration quenching. Recent progress, including kinetic investigations in the picosecond region and theoretical studies of energy transfer in the antenna are described.


The Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997 (RA 8435), mandated a shift toward cost effective and sustainable irrigation technologies, and one of these is the shallow tubewell. The economic attractiveness of STWs (shallow tubewells) and low level of utilization of shallow aquifer resources offer the best opportunities for Philippine agriculture. A survey was conducted to determine the status and evaluate the performance of drilling rigs distributed to different RFUs (Regional Field Units) to facilitate installation of STWs distributed by the Department of Agriculture. The survey covered a total of nine (9) regions, including CAR, Regions I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, and XIII with 255 units visited and the operators interviewed. The DA had procured the following drilling rig models: IRRI, Modified IRRI, KDR-1 and KDR-2 which were all direct-circulation hydraulic rotary type. From the 255 units visited, 8 % (20) were maintained and supervised by regional field units; 55 % (141) were issued to Local Government Units; 23 % (58) were issued to farmer's cooperatives; 14 % (36) were issued to other entities such as National Irrigation Administration (NIA), farmer's associations or groups, local drillers, and irrigators association. The total number of wells drilled by all the rigs covered in the survey was 8,160 with an average of 38 wells drilled per all rig. Based from the survey, 70% (175) were still functional while 30% (80) were considered as non-functional. The average drilling cost charged was Php 6,968. Based from the results of the survey, it could be noted that the respective agencies have the necessary hardware to facilitate installation of STWs. Support in terms of proper maintenance and training on proper well drilling and installation would be needed to sustain operations of the drilling rigs. Keywords: shallow tubewells (STW), drilling rig, STW installation


In this paper, it is shown the relationship between coverage in water and sanitation, and hydric disease's incidence. There are synthesized the situations of the more affected regions and there are presented the Millennium Development Goals on the subject. Briefly, there are summarized the social cost/benefit analysis applicable to public projects, and it is studied the particular case of its application to the Millennium Development Goals in water and sanitation.


The article discusses the potential of Deleuze-Guattarian philosophy for studying disability. It draws on empirical research comprising interviews with and ethnographic observations regarding the visually impaired people, in which the concept of assemblage is used as a sociological tool to analyse the continuity and discontinuity of disability. An assemblage is made up of heterogenic, rhizomatic, and often unpredictable connections, both organic and inorganic and linguistic and material, that continuously transform each other. An assemblage is never finished but is always complete, which gives rise to the question of the relationship between a whole and its parts, thus challenging the perception of disability as a lack and making it possible to think of disability in an affirmative sense. Disability can thus be analysed as a dynamic phenomenon that acquires its concrete contours in specific situations and to consider its discursive and material character. Thus, the concept of assemblage captures both the stability and the fluidity of disability and focuses on connections that maintain and decompose it. On the one hand, disability represents hegemonic discourses about health and the body, while on the other hand, it is a breeding ground for subversive processes.


We investigate almost-dual-like solutions of the WDVV equations for which the metric, under the standard definition, is degenerate. Such solutions have previously been considered in [21] as complex Euclidean v-systems with zero canonical form but were not regarded as solutions since a non-degenerate metric is required for a solution. We have found that, in every case we considered, we can impose a metric and hence recover a solution. We also found that for the deformed A_n(c) family (first appearing in [8]) with the choice of parameters that renders the metric singular we can also recover a solution. The generalised root system A(n-1,n) (as it appears in our notation) has zero canonical form but we found that by restricting the covectors we can again recover a solution which we generalise to a family with (n+1) parameters which we denote as P_n.

We next look at extended v-systems. These are root-systems which possess the small orbit property (as defined in [36]) which we then extend into a dimension perpendicular to the original system. We then impose the v-conditions onto these systems and obtain 1-parameter infinite families of v-systems. We also find that for the B_n family we can extend into two perpendicular directions.

We then go on to look at a generalisation of the Legendre transformations (which originally appeared in [13])which map solutions to WDVV to other solutions. We find that such transformations are generated not only by constant vector fields but by functional vector fields too and we find a very simple rule which such vector fields must obey. Finally we link our work on extended v-systems and on generalised Legendre transformations to that on extended affine Weyl groups found in [16] and [17].


We conducted high-precision Sr and Nd isotopic measurements in bulk chondrites using a complete sample digestion technique. Our new data indicate that enstatite and ordinary chondrites possess uniform and small, but resolvable, Sr and Nd isotopic deviations from terrestrial rocks. In contrast, the Sr isotope ratios varied across different classes of carbonaceous chondrites (CM, CO, and CV). The deviation of data from the s-process mixing line in Sr–Nd isotopic space likely resulted from the incorporation of calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs) into carbonaceous chondrite parent bodies. Planetary-scale Sr and Nd isotopic heterogeneities among terrestrial rocks, enstatite, ordinary chondrites, and CAI-subtracted carbonaceous chondrites suggest a heterogeneous distribution of s-process-enriched materials in the early solar system, probably caused by nebular thermal processing. The observed Sr and Nd isotopic variation across the CAI-subtracted carbonaceous chondrites cannot be explained solely by nebular thermal processing, but is likely attributable to s-process-depleted silicate grains that repeatedly circulated among the early solar system. These grains were transferred and incorporated at varying degrees into the formation region of the parent bodies of individual carbonaceous chondrites.


This work concerns with the study of coatings to inhibit the ingress of water and also the use of lithium nitrate to modify the swelling properties of the ASR reaction products. In order to accomplish these objectives concrete samples extracted from a Portuguese structure affected by internal expansive reactions were treated with six different coatings and subjected to natural and accelerated environments. In order to study the modifications produced by lithium nitrate in the expansive properties of ASR products, different test conditions were used namely the application of lithium by immersion and electrical migration. In this work we present the results of the application of these treatments namely by the evaluation of the mechanical, physical, microstructural and electrical properties.


Monomethylmercury (MeHg+ and its complexes; hereafter referred to as MeHg) in the intracellular environment is known to be predominantly bonded to thiol-containing biomolecules, but the actual identities of these target biomolecules remain unknown. While binding with glutathione acts as a detoxification mechanism for MeHg, binding with L-cysteine is thought to be the main pathway of MeHg transport across the blood–brain barrier. Here we report a HPLC-ICP-MS method that is capable of separating and analyzing MeHg-cysteine complexes (MeHgCys; charges are neglected for simplicity) and MeHg-glutathione complexes (MeHgGlu), as well as MeHgX (X = H2O, OH−, or Cl−) and inorganic HgX, with detection limits at the sub-micromolar levels. The method was successfully applied for the determination of MeHg speciation in a dogfish muscle sample after enzymatic hydrolysis with trypsin, and provided the first analytical evidence for the presence and dominance of MeHgCys in fish muscle.


Background: Penetrating thoracoabdominal stab wounds may cause diaphragmatic and abdominal organ laceration. However, 15-20% of these cases who are stable and managed by conservative treatment might have hidden diaphragmatic injuries, which could ultimately lead to chronic diaphragmatic hernia. Therefore, a safe and exact diagnostic method for the detection of occult diaphragmatic injuries is very valuable. In this study we have assessed the diagnostic value of thoracoscopy in occult diaphragmatic injuries resulting from penetrating thoracoabdominal stab wounds. Methods: From March 2005 to O ctober 2007 , 30 hemodynamically stable patients with penetrating thoracoabdominal injuries, not requiring emergent exploration, were enrolled in this study. All subjects underwent thoracoscopy to evaluate probable diaphragmatic injury. Diaphragmatic injuries were repaired via thoracoscopy or laparatomy. All patients were evaluated for chronic diaphragmatic hernia by CT -scan six months later. Results: The mean patient age was 26.2 years, with a male/female ratio of 5:1 . Using thoracoscopic exploration, we observed five (16.7%) hidden diaphragmatic injuries, three (9.9%) of which were repaired using the thoracoscopic approach and two (6.6%) by laparatomy. Lung parenchymal laceration was seen in two patients (6.6%) , for whom the repair was performed using thoracoscopy. Intra-abdominal injury was seen in one patient (3.3%) , which was repaired by laparatomy. After thoracoscopy, there were no complications or evidence of chronic diaphragmatic hernia in the chest and abdominal CT -scans performed six months later. Therefore, the diagnostic accuracy of thoracoscopy in occult diaphragmatic injuries in our study was 100% . Conclusion: With its high degree of diagnostic accuracy, low degree of invasiveness, as well as its utility in treatment, we recommend thoracoscopy for all clinically stable patients with penetrating thoracoabdominal stab wounds. Abstract


Archean provinces are presently characterized by low heat flow, with an average of 41 mW m -2 , less than the global continental average (56 mW m -2 ). The range of regionally averaged heat flow values in Archean Provinces (18-54 mW m -2 ) is narrower than in younger terranes. At the end of the Archean, when crustal heat production was double the present, surface heat flow varied over a range (≈45-90 mW m -2 ) as wide as that presently observed in Paleozoic Provinces. For the present-day vertical distribution of radio-elements, high heat production during the Archean is insufficient to account for elevated lower crustal temperatures. High temperature-low pressure metamorphism conditions require additional heat input, for example by emplacement of large volumes of basaltic melts, crustal thickening or larger concentrations of radio-elements in the lower crust. In the Archean, with a crust thicker than 40 km or with the radio-elements uniformly distributed throughout a 40 km thick crust, the lower crust was near melting and, with an effective viscosity ≈10 19 Pa s, it could not sustain the stress due to crustal thickening. Long-term crustal stability requires the enrichment of the upper crust in radio-elements through melt extraction from the lower crust. After root emplacement, thermal conditions in cratons remained far from equilibrium for 1-2 Gy. Depending on the mechanism of root formation, temperature at 150 km might only be 150 K higher than present, implying that the lithospheric mantle remained sufficiently cold and strong to preserve Archean features. In thick continental lithosphere, temperatures in the crust and deep in the continental root are effectively decoupled for a long time.


Fish allergy is associated with moderate to severe IgE-mediated reactions to the calcium binding parvalbumins present in fish muscle. Allergy to multiple fish species is caused by parvalbumin-specific cross-reactive IgE recognizing conserved epitopes. In this study, we aimed to produce cross-reactive single chain variable fragment (scFv) antibodies for the detection of parvalbumins in fish extracts and the identification of IgE epitopes. Parvalbumin-specific phage clones were isolated from the human ETH-2 phage display library by three rounds of biopanning either against cod parvalbumin or by sequential biopanning against cod (Gad m 1), carp (Cyp c 1) and rainbow trout (Onc m 1) parvalbumins. While biopanning against Gad m 1 resulted in the selection of clones specific exclusively for Gad m 1, the second approach resulted in the selection of clones cross-reacting with all three parvalbumins. Two clones, scFv-gco9 recognizing all three parvalbumins, and scFv-goo8 recognizing only Gad m 1 were expressed in the E. coli non-suppressor strain HB2151 and purified from the periplasm. scFv-gco9 showed highly selective binding to parvalbumins in processed fish products such as breaded cod sticks, fried carp and smoked trout in Western blots. In addition, the scFv-gco9-AP produced as alkaline phosphatase fusion protein, allowed a single-step detection of the parvalbumins. In competitive ELISA, scFv-gco9 was able to inhibit binding of IgE from fish allergic patients' sera to all three β-parvalbumins by up to 80%, whereas inhibition by scFv-goo8 was up to 20%. 1H/15N HSQC NMR analysis of the rGad m 1:scFv-gco9 complex showed participation of amino acid residues conserved among these three parvalbumins explaining their cross-reactivity on a molecular level. In this study, we have demonstrated an approach for the selection of cross-reactive parvalbumin-specific antibodies that can be used for allergen detection and for mapping of conserved epitopes.


Trapping and manipulation of microscale and nanoscale particles is demonstrated using the sole action of hydrodynamic forces. We developed an automated particle trap based on a stagnation point flow generated in a microfluidic device. The hydrodynamic trap enables confinement and manipulation of single particles in low viscosity (1-10 cP) aqueous solution. Using this method, we trapped microscale and nanoscale particles (100 nm-15 mu m) for long time scales (minutes to hours). We demonstrate particle confinement to within 1 mu m of the trap center, corresponding to a trap stiffness of similar to 10(-5)-10(-4) pN/nm.


Essential oils are aromatic oils extracted from the leaves, stems, peels, petals, and roots of aromatic plants grown in nature or grown in organic methods and have various medical effects as natural substances. The essential oil extracted from Camellia japonica seeds exhibits various functional properties; however, its tyrosinase inhibitory activity has not been investigated extensively. This study is performed to investigate the chemical composition and tyrosinase inhibitory activity of Camellia japonica seed essential oil (CJS-EO). Hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane (42.36%) and octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (23.28%) are the two primary components of CJS-EO, as identified via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The inhibitory activities of CJS-EO and positive control arbutin are further evaluated against mushroom tyrosinase. The results show that CJS-EO and arbutin inhibit tyrosinase activity. Moreover, CJS-EO significantly inhibits melanogenesis in the α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone-treated group, and a significant amount of melanin is suppressed. To ascertain the cause of the CJS-EO tyrosinase inhibitory effect and melanin reduction effect, genetic and protein analyses are performed. Based on our results, we tentatively conclude that CJS-EO can inhibit melanocytes from harmful factors such as tyrosinase-related protein. These results demonstrate that CJS-EO possesses potent antityrosinase activity and may be a good skin-whitening agent.