This study evaluated the usefulness of vertical distraction osteogenesis (VDOG) using a non-vascularized bone fragment prepared by an osteotomy with preservation of the lingual cortical bone in the posterior mandible. Thirteen surgical sites in 9 patients with insufficient vertical bone height were treated by means of a track-type distractor. After a two week latency period, distraction was started, and after 8 weeks of consolidation the distractor was removed. Four weeks later, fixtures were placed in the distracted regions. Radiological evaluation was carried out with CT images, taken before implant surgery and after removal of the distractor. Vertical bone height and CT values were analyzed. Distraction effect and bone formation were evaluated on cross-sectional dental CT images. Bone formation was clinically evaluated at each surgical point. Distraction ranged from 2.7 to 9.2 (mean 5.03+/-1.66) mm, and CT value ranged from 102.5 to 160.3 (mean 127.4+/-21.1). As for the surgical findings of bone formation, fixtures could be placed in almost all distraction regions, except for two cases of immature bone formation that required minor secondary bone grafts with simultaneous fixture placement. Bone formation promoted by VDOG with a free bone fragment was similar to that with conventional methods despite the temporary arrest of blood supply. We concluded that VDOG with preservation of the lingual cortical bone plate reliably augmented vertical bone for implant treatment in the posterior mandible.


In many real-world domains, learning from imbalanced data sets is always confronted. Since the skewed class distribution brings the challenge for traditional classifiers because of much lower classification accuracy on rare classes, we propose the novel method on classification with local clustering based on the data distribution of the imbalanced data sets to solve this problem. At first, we divide the whole data set into several data groups based on the data distribution. Then we perform local clustering within each group both on the normal class and the disjointed rare class. For rare class, the subsequent over-sampling is employed according to the different rates. At last, we apply support vector machines (SVMS) for classification, by means of the traditional tactic of the cost matrix to enhance the classification accuracies. The experimental results on several UCI data sets show that this method can produces much higher prediction accuracies on the rare class than state-of-art methods.


The small size of neuronal dendrites and spines combined with the high speed of neurophysiological signals, such as transients in membrane potential or ion concentration, necessitates that any functional study of these structures uses recording methods with both high spatial and high temporal resolutions. In this regard, conventional two-photon microscopy, in combination with fluorescent indicators sensitive to physiological parameters, has proved to be only a partial solution by providing neardiffraction-limited spatial resolution even when imaging structures deep inside light-scattering tissue. This is because the relatively slow beam-scanning methods used in most conventional twophoton microscopes severely limit the extent to which functional data can be recorded. Here, we detail developments to create high-speed two-photon imaging systems that overcome this limitation and discuss important considerations that must be taken into account when attempting to construct such systems.


Abstract The aim of this paper is to place Richard Dawkins' book The God Delusion (2006) within a particular literary genre and, by so doing, to account for certain features of its written style, to identify its structuring claims and to offer an explanation for the popularity it has enjoyed with a broad readership. By offering a description of this kind, I hope to avoid engaging in the polemics which the book both offers and has elicited; the argument is situated at another level. My proposal may seem a surprising one: Dawkins' work comes within a spectrum that includes in its modern forms both science fiction and fantasy literature, a spectrum that uses the products of science to think with, in order to explore human dilemmas. In a word, this is a modern theodicy. I shall begin by sketching out the notion of thinking with science, before turning to characteristic stylistic features of Dawkins' work, and then examining the core claims of the book in the perspective outlined. I shall offer some concluding remarks, but there is little to be said about the author's argument with respect to religion or faith; his topic is a pretext for another kind of exercise.


The repertoire of spliceosomal components containing mutations associated with diseases is expanded to include a small nuclear RNA. The excision of noncoding intron sequences from primary transcripts, also called mRNA splicing, is a central step in eukaryotic gene expression. This process is necessary for producing functional mRNA molecules and thus for the viability of cells and organisms. Although many disease-associated mutations affect splicing factors or the sites where splicing occurs, only a few mutations have been identified in the core components of the spliceosome, an RNA-protein complex that carries out splicing. These mutations occur in the protein constituents of the spliceosome (1). On pages 238 and 240 of this issue, He et al. (2) and Edery et al. (3) identify human disease-causing mutations in a gene that encodes a small nuclear RNA (snRNA) constituent of the spliceosome. These mutations in the U4atac snRNA are associated with microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type I (MOPD I), also known as Taybi-Linder syndrome (TALS). This rare disorder causes severe intrauterine and postnatal growth retardation, multiple developmental defects in various organs, and death within 3 years after birth. The findings provide important genetic tools for diagnosing the disease and for counseling mutation carriers in affected families, but also have implications for understanding splicing diseases in general.


Most bladder tumors have complex genomes characterized by a high mutation burden as well as frequent copy number alterations and chromosomal rearrangements. Alterations in DNA repair pathways—including the double-strand break (DSB) and nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathways—are present in bladder tumors and may contribute to genomic instability and drive the tumor phenotype. DNA damaging such as cisplatin, mitomycin C, and radiation are commonly used in the treatment of muscle-invasive or metastatic bladder cancer, and several recent studies have linked specific DNA repair pathway defects with sensitivity to DNA damaging-based therapy. In addition, tumor DNA repair defects have important implications for use of immunotherapy and other targeted agents in bladder cancer. Therefore, efforts to further understand the landscape of DNA repair alterations in bladder cancer will be critical in advancing treatment for bladder cancer. This review summarizes the current understanding of the role of DNA repair pathway alterations in bladder tumor biology and response to therapy.


psychiatry, and the editors are to be congratulated for successfully accom plishing this in a book that is practical, eclectic and written to a consistently high standard. Established authorities co-author their areas of expertise —¿ an international overview (Mayou), somatisation (Bass), psychological reactions to physical illness (Maguire); liaison issues in the old and the young are reviewed in separate chapters. †̃¿ Basic skills' is a gem that should be set reading, and the last chapter, †̃¿ Research in liaison psychiatry', is stuffed full of ideas for worthwhile, feasible projects for trainees. I have two criticisms; the editors took a bold (and I believe correct) decision to sacrifice comprehensiveness in favour of primary aims, which meant organic psychia tric states were excluded with trainees being referred to other texts. In retaining delib crate self-harm and combining it with substance misuse and eating disorders, Sharpe & Peveler have produced a well cooked dog's dinner: trainees should stick with their Hawton & Catalan, and in the next edition deliberate self-harm should either go the same way as organic disorders or be regarded asa meal in its own right. My other criticism concerns the section headed †̃¿ Managing complex situations', which occu pies six pages at the end of the chapter on treatment. I realise the book is an introduc tion, but it is the difficult situation that particularly troubles the trainee, senior help is not always instantly on hand and interim holding decisions may have to be taken: such cases are the topics raised by trainees in our supervision sessions. It would have been useful to have had more about the principles and controversies that are involved. However, the strengths of this book far outweigh its weaknesses. For a general text on liaison psychiatry I would recommend this volumes as the best buy now.


The FIFA series occupies an important position in the panorama of football-themed sports video games. Over the years, the Californian company EA Sports has expanded the ludic offerings of its series, including an increasing number of licenses with players and teams from all over the world, technically perfecting the audio-visual apparatus and adding various game modes to give users a simulation more and more like real football. The simulation concept is also the main theme of this essay: based on the insights of important exponents in the academic field of game studies and beyond (such as Gonzalo Frasca, Aki Jarvinen, Gianfranco Pecchinenda, Seth Giddings and others), the article will focus on simulation within the video games of the FIFA series and will identify three possible declinations: the techno-ludic simulation, the receptive simulation and the temporal simulation. The essay aims to demonstrate that these declinations, although linked to different semantic cores, are concretely related to offer a playful, receptive and socio-cultural experience parallel to that of real football. The union of the aforementioned declinations will lead in conclusion to the precise definition of football simulation.


Our goal is to recover the 3D shape and pose of dogs from a single image. This is a challenging task because dogs exhibit a wide range of shapes and appearances, and are highly articulated. Recent work has proposed to directly regress the SMAL animal model, with additional limb scale parameters, from images. Our method, called BARC (Breed-Augmented Regression using Classification), goes beyond prior work in several important ways. First, we modify the SMAL shape space to be more appropriate for representing dog shape. But, even with a better shape model, the problem of regressing dog shape from an image is still challenging because we lack paired images with 3D ground truth. To compensate for the lack of paired data, we formulate novel losses that exploit information about dog breeds. In particular, we exploit the fact that dogs of the same breed have similar body shapes. We formulate a novel breed similarity loss consisting of two parts: One term encourages the shape of dogs from the same breed to be more similar than dogs of different breeds. The second one, a breed classification loss, helps to produce recognizable breed-specific shapes. Through ablation studies, we find that our breed losses significantly improve shape accuracy over a baseline without them. We also compare BARC qualitatively to WLDO with a perceptual study and find that our approach produces dogs that are significantly more realistic. This work shows that a-priori information about genetic similarity can help to compensate for the lack of 3D training data. This concept may be applicable to other animal species or groups of species. Our code is publicly available for research purposes at https://barc.is.tue.mpg.de/.


The reaction between gas-phase ozone and monolayers of the unsaturated lipid 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, POPC, on aqueous solutions has been studied in real time using neutron reflection and surface pressure measurements. The reaction between ozone and lung surfactant, which contains POPC, leads to decreased pulmonary function, but little is known about the changes that occur to the interfacial material as a result of oxidation. The results reveal that the initial reaction of ozone with POPC leads to a rapid increase in surface pressure followed by a slow decrease to very low values. The neutron reflection measurements, performed on an isotopologue of POPC with a selectively deuterated palmitoyl strand, reveal that the reaction leads to loss of this strand from the air-water interface, suggesting either solubilization of the product lipid or degradation of the palmitoyl strand by a reactive species. Reactions of (1)H-POPC on D(2)O reveal that the headgroup region of the lipids in aqueous solution is not dramatically perturbed by the reaction of POPC monolayers with ozone supporting degradation of the palmitoyl strand rather than solubilization. The results are consistent with the reaction of ozone with the oleoyl strand of POPC at the air-water interface leading to the formation of OH radicals. The highly reactive OH radicals produced can then go on to react with the saturated palmitoyl strands leading to the formation of oxidized lipids with shorter alkyl tails.


One objective of this paper is to examine the trends and changes in crop production before and after the implementation of the partial market liberalization policies starting in the early 1990s. Another objective of the paper is to assess agricultural production performance and its implications for household food security. These issues are examined on the basis of the Crop Forecast Survey (CFS) data, Post Harvest Survey (PHS) data, Central Statistical Office (CSO) price data, data from the Agricultural Market Information Centre (AMIC) at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries (MAFF), and other data.


Climate change is one of the main challenges facing many countries, particularly developing countries, because of its negative impact on their various ecosystems and their socio-economic development, which very often leads them down a slow descent into poverty. This is because climate change can manifest itself in different forms such as climate variability and extreme events (droughts, epidemics, floods, storms and hurricanes), which can affect biodiversity and cause many human and animal diseases and deaths. In fact, the evolution of ecosystems is dependent on climate and environmental change and appears to be closely associated with many emerging or re-emerging diseases. In general, the ecosystems considered to be most exposed to climate change are those located in and around the intertropical convergence zone in particular. They are believed to be closely linked to the occurrence of several emerging diseases, particularly vector-borne diseases. For years, the Republic of Haiti has been experiencing the adverse effects of these global changes with a marked disruption of its rainfall pattern and prolonged periods of drought as well as a pronounced increase in temperatures even in high altitude areas. Although there is evidence that climate change is increasing the frequency of vector-borne diseases and may contribute to increasing the virulence of their pathogens, there are very few studies conducted in Haiti on the relationship between climate change and vector-borne diseases. The purpose of this chapter is to define the interrelationships between climate change and vector-borne diseases in Haiti by identifying avenues of research to better understand the effects of climate change on public health and to make appropriate recommendations to decision-makers to ensure proper management.


Recent studies in a number of laboratories have characterised many of the properties of a major pea albumin (designated PMA or PA2: subunit Mr∼26 000) which is not readily degraded in the cotyledon upon germination. In the present report, some of the physicochemical properties of this protein have been studied in greater detail. A non-helical structure, stable at high pH, is evident. Of special significance is the presence of a single free sulphydryl group, although studies reported elsewhere show that the protein consists of four copies of a strongly conserved repeated sequence. It is postulated that this free sulphydryl group in PA2 (5–10% of total pea seed protein) causes polymerisation through disulphide interchange and thereby is a likely source of partial insolubility in protein isolates following an initial alkaline extraction.


Despite the significant impact of laws and policies surrounding controlled substances, few classes in the typical law school curriculum focus on either basic legal doctrines or broader scholarship in this field. This gap in law school curricula is especially problematic given the shifts in the landscapes of legalized cannabis and hemp, as well as the range of legal and policy responses to the recent opioid crisis. To better understand how law schools currently approach these issues and to identify how drug policy and law could be better incorporated into law school curricula, we conducted two surveys of all accredited law schools in the U.S. and hosted a workshop of legal scholars who work in this space. The surveys and workshop were designed to identify law school courses currently taught and the primary obstacles to teaching this subject matter. The results show that the vast majority of law schools do not teach courses touching on drugs or the evolving legal structures around cannabis, and this is true even for law schools located in states with legalized cannabis markets.


The gene for fatty acid binding proteins (I-FABP) in golden pompano Trachinotus ovatus larvae was cloned and analyzed from hatch to 18 days-post hatch (DPH). The I-FABP gene (GenBank accession: MF034871) of golden pompano is composed of 815 bp with an open reading frame of 399 bp, encoded in one amino acid with a molecular weight of 15.24 kDa. The predicted amino acid sequence of I-FABP genes from golden pompano showed high similarity and identity with Japanese sea bass Lateolabrax japonicus (97% and 87.9%, AOW69620.1). The highest tissue expression of I-FABP genes was found in the intestine, followed by the eye on 18 DPH. During the ontogenetic development, the expression of I-FABP genes remained at a low level during the first five days, and reached the highest level on 12 and 18 DPH. The expression of I-FABP genes was not significantly affected by environmental temperature on 12 DPH, but was significantly affected by the temperature on 18 DPH. Nutrition enhancement with algae containing high fatty acids significantly affected the expression of I-FABP genes. The highest expression was observed in the non-enriched treatment, but the lowest expression was in the Nannochloropsis feeding treatment. Results of the present study indicate that the expression of the I-FABP gene varies with environmental temperature and nutritional conditions during the ontogenetic development of golden pompano larvae. The expression of I-FABP genes may be potentially used as an indicator for assessing nutrient supply and functional development of the digestive system in fish larvae.


The properties of strange hadrons, i.e. of kaons and hyperons, in the nuclear medium are discussed in connection with neutron star properties and relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Firstly, the relevant medium modifications of a kaon in a medium as provided by heavy-ion collisions is critically examined within a coupled channel calculation. We demonstrate, that particle ratios for kaons are not a sensitive probe of in-medium effects while the K– flow is more suited to pin down the Koptical potential in dense matter. Secondly, the interaction between hyperone is studied and may form bound etates which can be produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Signals for the detection of strange dibaryons by their decay topology and/or in the invariant mass spectra are outlined.


Revenue sharing contract is an effective mechanism in supply chain coordination. However, whether or not it works when participants of the supply chain members have their own preferences on the risk attitude is an important research issue. This paper investigates this kind of issues. The retailer faces a risk preference measured by the exponential utility function and the supplier as a Stackelberg leader provides a revenue sharing contract for that retailer. The retailer then decides to place an order from the supplier according to his risk preference and random demand. We assume that the supplier known the retailer's market information and its risk preference. Under this business situation, we find that the revenue sharing contract still can coordinate the supply chain in different contract parameters. However, the contract parameters can affect the supply chain total profit and the splitting of profit between the supplier and the retailer. The result of this paper can supplement the supply chain coordination research literature considering decision-maker's risk attitude, and also be effective to support decision-maker to set incentive mechanisms or respond to the incentives. Keywords-Supply Chain Risk Mangement; Revenue Sharing; Expected Untility Theory Corresponding
  Author,
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  Zhong
  YAO,
  Tel:
  8610-‐82317802;
  Fax:
  8610-‐82328037. CIE42 Proceedings, 16-18 July 2012, Cape Town, South Africa © 2012 CIE & SAIIE 34-2


Widespread use of 3D artwork has necessitated the need for managing digital rights of content owners due to illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) distribution of artwork, which has been one of the major sources of revenue loss for the art industry. Existing Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems attempt to provide an anti-piracy framework that restricts the use of content to its rightful user. However, limitations of technology have consequently led to solution designs that are either very restrictive (i.e. device-limiting or usage restrictions) or only succeed in discouraging unlawful distribution by employing tracing mechanisms.
The objective of this dissertation is to contribute towards DRM implementations to ensure fair rights management such that the needs of both the authors and consumers are balanced. The proposed biometric-based watermarking scheme allows DRM systems to enforce copyright protection by imposing individual-limiting usage rights, thereby eliminating any device dependency or usage restrictions.
The proposed technique embeds the identity of the consumer in the form of a voice print, into the graphic content. This voice print serves as a watermark and is created by using a statistical model (Gaussian Mixture Model) representation of the consumer's voice sample. Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients, representing feature vectors of the speaker from the speech signal, are used to generate the statistical model. Comparison of the embedded watermark with feature vectors extracted from a newly acquired voice sample from the consumer enable the biometric-based DRM system to verify the authenticity of the consumer for legitimate access and usage of the 3D artwork. The scope of this dissertation is limited to 3D mesh models.


There is increasing use of coordinated and multiple views for the study of complex data. We discuss the use of multiple coordinated views as an aid to navigation and orientation through three-dimensional virtual environments. Such virtual environments have many applications including military, medical and educational uses. We determine whether there is an ease of navigation and orientation arising from offering users multiple views.


Various starvation conditions cause adhesive growth of haploid cells or pseudohyphae formation of diploid cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. For the genetic Sigma1278b background, these morphological changes depend on the expression of the gene encoding the cell wall glycoprotein Flo11p, which is increased during nutritional limitations. Deletion of the genes encoding the transcriptional coactivators Rsc1p or Gcn5p impairs FLO11 transcription, which consequently leads to a loss of both haploid invasive growth and diploid pseudohyphae development upon glucose and nitrogen limitation, respectively. In contrast, amino acid starvation induces FLO11-dependent adhesive growth of the rsc1Delta and gcn5Delta strains although FLO11 transcription remains very low. The double deletion strain rsc1Deltaflo11Delta, however, does not grow adhesively, suggesting that the adhesion of the rsc1Delta strain at amino acid starvation is still FLO11-dependent. The FLO11prom-lacZ-encoded beta-galactosidase activities of the rsc1Delta and gcn5Delta mutant strains increase manifold upon amino acid starvation. It is therefore concluded that low levels of FLO11 transcripts are essential and sufficient for derepression of FLO11 expression and adhesive growth during amino acid starvation. A posttranscriptional control is assumed to be behind this phenomenon that permits the increased FLO11 expression from low FLO11 transcript abundances.


Human skin and hair can simultaneously feel pressure, temperature, humidity, strain, and flow—great inspirations for applications such as artificial skins for burn and acid victims, robotics, and vehicular technology. Previous efforts in this direction use sophisticated materials or processes. Chemically functionalized, inkjet printed or vacuum‐technology‐processed papers albeit cheap have shown limited functionalities. Thus, performance and/or functionalities per cost have been limited. Here, a scalable "garage" fabrication approach is shown using off‐the‐shelf inexpensive household elements such as aluminum foil, scotch tapes, sticky‐notes, napkins, and sponges to build "paper skin" with simultaneous real‐time sensing capability of pressure, temperature, humidity, proximity, pH, and flow. Enabling the basic principles of porosity, adsorption, and dimensions of these materials, a fully functioning distributed sensor network platform is reported, which, for the first time, can sense the vitals of its carrier (body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and skin hydration) and the surrounding environment.


Abstract The new genus Silobia M. Westb. & Wedin is proposed for the Acarospora smaragdula group, which is taxonomically and nomenclaturally revised in Sweden. The proposed taxonomy results from our former molecular phylogeny, together with morphological and anatomical investigations and analysis of secondary metabolites. Seven species are recognized in Sweden in this paper: Silobia dilatata sp. nov., S. myochroa sp. nov., S. rhagadiza comb. nov., S. rufescens comb. nov., S. scabrida comb. nov., S. smaragdula comb. nov. and S. tangerina sp. nov. Acarospora alberti, A. amphibola, A. isortoquensis, A. murina and A. undata are recognized as synonyms of S. smaragdula, Acarospora verruciformis as a synonym of S. scabrida and A. scyphulifera as a synonym of S. rhagadiza. The following names are lectotypified: Acarospora amphibola, A. amphibola f. testacea, A. lesdainii, A. lesdainii var. subochracea, A. murina, A. scyphulifera f. subdiscreta, Endocarpon smaragdulum, Lecanora rhagadiza and Sagedia rufescens. Acarospora scyphulifera is neotypified. Acarospora fusca is excluded from the Swedish checklist as the specimen was found to belong to S. rufescens. A key to the species is presented.


Knowledge of fortified centres of the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria through historical documentsThis paper offers suggestions for the knowledge of fortified centres of the Tyrrhenian coast of Northern Calabria, through a critical reading of ancient graphic representations of this territory. The exegetical reading of these ancient landscapes has been supported by the notes extracted from literary sources and data deduced from analytical procedures conducted on the assets. The essential characters of the fortresses and the areas surrounding castles have been identified, recognizing the dynamics of settlements, explaining their formal, functional and constructive characters, and verifying the signs of permanence and variance through time. In the surveyed area, the castles are commonly located on hilltops, overlooking the sea and controlling the territory and villages. Because of its dense defence fabric, made of manors and towers, this area can be seen as one of the most representative of the whole Region. The study of this heritage is essential for the comprehension of the historical and architectural characters of the area, and therefore for the enhancement of the built landscape of the entire Mediterranean basin.


A regular circle-valued Morse function on the knot complement C(K) = S^3\K is a
 function f from C(K) to S^1 which separates critical points and which behaves nicely in a
 neighborhood of the knot. Such a function induces a handle decomposition on the knot
 exterior E(K) = S^3\N (K), with the property that every regular level surface contains a
 Seifert surface for the knot. We rearrange the handles in such a way that the regular
 surfaces are as simple as possible. To make this precise the concept of circular width for
 E(K) is introduced. When E(K) is endowed with a handle decomposition which realizes the
 circular width we will say that the knot K is in circular thin position. We use this to
 show that many knots have more than one non-isotopic incompressible Seifert surface. We
 also analyze the behavior of the circular width under some knot operations.


The problem and the solution. Since the events of September 11, 2001, and Hurricane Katrina during the summer of 2005, the words crisis and disaster evoke images of families stranded on causeways turned islands, surrounded by what little property they could carry; houses smashed by killing winds; and skyscrapers crumbling out of the sky. Disastrous events, such as fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, terrorist incidents, and chemical spills, cause the loss of resources, destruction of property, financial hardship, and death. During these events, local, state, and federal governments commit large numbers of resources, time, and money to mitigate the consequences of the disaster.To manage the response to these events, leaders of public safety organizations and agencies such as fire and police departments, emergency medical services, and health-care organizations, public works departments, private industry, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) descend on the disaster site.These leaders are required to make high consequence decisions with incomplete or inaccurate information, ill-defined goals, and the pressures of time and a constantly changing situation by drawing on their training and experience. This article positions scenario planning and scenario-based training as two cutting-edge methods for organizational leaders to understand better their environments so as to avoid disastrous events and to put in place efficient and effective plans for coping if disaster should strike.


Abstract: The horned guan (Oreophasis derbianus) is an endangered species with small and seriously fragmented wild populations. Breeding efforts during the last decade have maintained a slowly increasing captive population with the potential to play an important role in the recovery of the species. Clinical hematology and biochemistries are powerful tools to diagnose and monitor diseases in captive birds. Therefore, establishing hematologic and plasma biochemistry reference values will improve the medical management of this species. This study determines the reference values for 9 hematologic and 15 plasma biochemical variables for 27 male and 12 female, apparently healthy, captive horned guans from three institutions. Differences related to age, sex, and husbandry were identified but were usually small and clinically insignificant. These results should improve veterinary care of captive individuals of this species and provide comparative data for other species of cracids.


Miyoshi myopathy is an autosomal recessive distal myopathy with predominant involvement of the posterior calf muscles attributed to mutations in the dysferlin gene. We report a 26-year-old male, born of nonconsanginous parentage. He noticed weakness and atrophy of leg muscles with inability to walk on his heels. The creatine kinase concentration was high. The electromyography showed myopathic pattern and the muscle biopsy disclosed dystrophic changes with absence of dysferlin. Miyoshi myopathy may be distinct among the hereditary distal myopathies. There are only few reported cases of Miyoshi myopathy in the world literature. In India only 12 cases were reported who had classical features of Miyoshi myopathy. Our's is a typical case of Miyoshi myopathy, with an affected twin sister as well. He also had "calf heads on a trophy sign" on physical examination, which is considered to be pathognomonic of this disease.


Whether hyperinsulinemia causes insulin resistance or vice versa is controversial. The development of hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance was tracked in the cafeteria-fed rat to determine which occurred first. After 3 days of cafeteria feeding the rats were obese, manifested a small but significant decrease in fasting glucose levels, and showed no change in fasting insulin levels, basal hepatic glucose production (HGP), insulin binding to hepatic membranes, and glucose utilization during a euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp, but the rats did demonstrate an increased glucose disappearance rate associated with an enhanced insulin response to intra-arterial glucose and hepatic insulin resistance during the clamp. After 7 days of cafeteria feeding, the results were similar except that fasting hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia, an enhanced basal HGP, and decreased insulin binding developed. After 6 wk of cafeteria feeding, both hepatic and peripheral insulin resistances were present. After 7 days of cafeteria feeding in rats given streptozotocin or etomoxir, an inhibitor of free fatty acid (FFA) oxidation, hepatic insulin resistance persisted despite elimination of hyperinsulinemia and reduction of FFA oxidation. These data do not support a causal role for either hyperinsulinemia or enhanced lipolysis of hypertrophied fat stores and subsequent FFA oxidation in the liver in the development of hepatic insulin resistance in this animal model of obesity.


Objective: Schizophrenia is a neuropsychiatric disease which affects individuals, family members and society.
Although many studies have been carried out on the etiopathogenesis of schizophrenia, the condition is not
entirely understood. In this study, it has been aimed to measure prostaglandin (PG) metabolite levels in patients
with schizophrenia. Methods: The present study measured prostaglandin metabolite levels in 50 schizophrenia
patients and 50 healthy volunteers who were matched for age, sex and smoking is similar in terms of, at least two
years of patient. Measurements were also taken of 13,14-dihydro-15-keto-PGF2α (PGFM) and 13,14-dihydro-15-
keto PGE2 (PGEM). The measurements were performed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
which is a more sensitive device. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using Student's t Test, Chi Square
Test, Kruskal-Wallis Test and Mann-Whitney Test. Findings: In the patient group, the PGEM level
(0.0807±0.014, t=3.490, p=0.001) and the PGFM level (0.0613±0.0128, t=-7.486, p=0.000) were both significantly
lower than in the control group (PGEM 0.0907±0.0146; PGFM 0.0793±0.0113). Discussion: These results
suggest that a disorder in phospholipid metabolism may be important in the etiopathogenesis of schizophrenia.


1. In the Netherlands, agri-environment schemes are an important tool for halting the ongoing decline of meadow birds and, in particular, waders breeding on wet meadows. The effectiveness of the main scheme, postponed mowing, is heavily debated because it does not result in higher breeding densities. Recently, agri-environmental collectives have become involved in the co-ordination of scheme applications and additional measures have been introduced. One of them is per-clutch payment: farmers are paid per wader clutch without being restricted in their farming practices. 2. We evaluated the effectiveness of the combination of the two measures, postponed mowing and per-clutch payment, by determining the number of birds and territories on 12.5-ha plots where both measures (on average 1.6 ha postponed mowing and 10.9 ha per-clutch payment) were being implemented. Conventionally managed grasslands served as controls. Additionally, on a field with postponed mowing and a paired control field, we measured a number of environmental factors that might influence wader distribution. 3. On plots operating a combination of postponed mowing and per-clutch payment, more territories of all bird species were found and more redshanks Tringa totanus were observed. The same pattern occurred on fields with per-clutch payment alone. On fields with postponed mowing alone, we found more territories of the most abundant wader species but on conventional fields we observed more lapwings Vanellus vanellus. 4. The positive effects of postponed mowing on wader territories were probably caused by small differences in soil moisture and groundwater level between the two field types, as inclusion of these factors in a general linear model rendered all scheme effects insignificant. 5. Postponed mowing affected the form and amount of fertilizer applied to the fields as well as available nitrogen, but none of the other environmental factors that were measured. Additional analyses identified groundwater depth, penetration resistance and prey density (earthworms, Lumbricidae, and leatherjackets, Tipulidae larvae) as the main factors determining wader density. 6. Synthesis and applications. Our results show that conservation measures consisting of postponed mowing and per-clutch payment implemented by agri-environment collectives do not support a higher abundance of waders but do support marginally higher breeding densities of waders compared to conventional farms. These results are probably due to differences in soil moisture and groundwater depth. The effectiveness of agri-environment schemes directed towards conservation of waders might be enhanced by including raised groundwater levels into scheme prescriptions.


This study examined the effectiveness of a college career course designed to increase career self-efficacy and career exploration. Participants were 271 undergraduate students from a university in Taiwan with a 125-year history. A quasi-experimental longitudinal study was conducted to compare students who completed high-intensity action-based homework assignments (experimental group, n = 74) with a quasi-control group of students who were assigned low-intensity action-based homework (n = 197). Participants in both groups were given questionnaires assessing career self-efficacy and career exploration at the first and eighteenth weeks of the course. Repeated measure analyses were conducted to examine possible differences in the responses of both groups at the beginning and end of the course. The results indicated that students of both groups who completed the career course showed increased career self-efficacy and career exploration. Although the results confirmed that high-intensity action-based homework could better enhance the students' career exploration than low-intensity action-based homework, there was no difference between the two groups in terms of enhanced career self-efficacy. Interestingly, the control group exhibited higher career self-efficacy and career exploration after attending the course than did the experimental group. Implications and suggestions for career course lectures and further research are discussed.


There have been a number of advancements in discrete resistor technologies over recent years and, although there have been numerous reports dealing with these developments individually; there is currently no literature available which provides an overall review of these improvements.
This chapter presents a summary of existing discrete resistor technologies such as wirewound, metal oxide, thick film and thin film. The key performance properties of each group are discussed and some recent improvements to manufacturing techniques and materials are presented, together with specific applications and potential future developments.
Some of the specific areas discussed include; tailoring of wirewound and metal oxide resistor designs and materials for pulse and fusing applications and modifications to thick film resistor patterns and trimming rules to increase power handling and pulse and high voltage performance. The properties and applications of thick film on steel technology and current sense resistors are then discussed before finally an in depth review of existing thin film resistor materials and a potential new low resistivity system is given.


This paper investigates the efficiency of two consolidation processing techniques prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS) and hot pressing (HP) which allow obtaining fully dense nanostructured materials. FeCr powders were sintered by using spark plasma sintering (SPS) and hot pressing (HP) sintering techniques over sintering temperature up to 1000oC. The microstructures of the sintered end-products were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). X-rays diffraction line profile analysis was adopted to analyze the crystallite size of starting and sintered FeCr using Williamson–Hall method. The density of the sintered specimens was measured by using the Archimedes method. The result indicated that the dense specimen with relative similar density and approaching the equilibrium state obtained in shorter time and lower sintering temperature by spark plasma sintering compared to conventional hot pressing. The FeCr specimen prepared by SPS showed more effective to retain nanocrystalline and better mechanical properties than those prepared by HP. The diffraction investigation revealed that the grain growth was not significant in SPS process compared to HP, which would enhance the mechanical properties of the SPS sintered FeCr.


Switching crop type and consequently changing irrigation and fertilization regimes lead to alterations in deep percolation and solute concentrations of pore water. Herein, observations from the deep vadose zone and model simulations demonstrate the changes in water, chloride, and nitrate fluxes under a commercial greenhouse following the change from tomato to lettuce cropping. The site, located above a phreatic aquifer, was monitored for 5 years. A vadose‐zone monitoring system was implemented under the greenhouse and provided continuous data on both temporal variations in water content and chemical composition of the pore water at multiple depths in the deep vadose zone (up to 20 m). Following crop switching, a significant reduction in chloride concentration and dramatic increase in nitrate were observed across the unsaturated zone. The changes in chemical composition of the vadose‐zone pore water appeared as sequential breakthroughs across the unsaturated zone, initiating at land surface and propagating down toward the water table. Today, 3 years after switching the crops, penetration of the impact exceeds 10 m depth. Variations in the isotopic composition of nitrate (18O and 15N) in water samples obtained from the entire vadose zone clearly support a fast leaching process and mobilization of solutes across the unsaturated zone following the change in crop type. Water flow and chloride transport models were calibrated to observations acquired during an enhanced infiltration experiment. Forward simulation runs were performed with the calibrated models, constrained to tomato and lettuce cultivation regimes as surface boundary conditions. Predicted chloride and nitrate concentrations were in agreement with the observed concentrations. The simulated water drainage and nitrogen leaching implied that the observed changes are an outcome of recommended agricultural management practices.


Models for the detection and the discrimination of low-contrast signals by human observers typically assume that the observer is limited by the filtering action of the visual system and by the noisy character of its processing. For some models both the filtering and the noise can be represented by a noise in the stimulus domain, the input equivalent noise of the model. We derive some formulas for computing this noise, describe the calculation of a sample, and discuss some implications of this approach.


Objective: Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) can be due to mutations in LDLR, PCSK9, and APOB. In phenotypically defined patients, a subset remains unresponsive to lipid‐lowering therapies and requires low density‐lipoprotein (LDL) apheresis treatment. In this pilot study, we examined the genotype/phenotype relationship in patients with dyslipidemia undergoing routine LDL apheresis. Design: LDLR, APOB, and PCKS9 were analyzed for disease‐causing mutations in seven patients undergoing routine LDL apheresis. Plasma and serum specimens were collected pre‐ and post‐apheresis and analyzed for lipid concentrations, Lp(a) cholesterol, and lipoprotein particle concentrations (via NMR). Results: We found that four patients harbored LDLR mutations and of these, three presented with xanthomas. While similar reductions in LDL‐cholesterol (LDL‐C), apolipoprotein B, and LDL particles (LDL‐P) were observed following apheresis in all patients, lipid profile analysis revealed the LDLR mutation‐positive cohort had a more pro‐atherogenic profile (higher LDL‐C, apolipoprotein B, LDL‐P, and small LDL‐P) pre‐apheresis. Conclusion: Our data show that not all clinically diagnosed FH patients who require routine apheresis have genetically defined disease. In our small cohort, those with LDLR mutations had a more proatherogenic phenotype than those without identifiable mutations. This pilot cohort suggests that patients receiving the maximum lipid lowering therapy could be further stratified, based on genetic make‐up, to optimize treatment. J. Clin. Apheresis 29:256–265, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Abstract. Climate warming may cause mountain snowpacks to melt earlier, reducing summer streamflow and threatening water supplies and ecosystems. Few observations allow separating rain and snowmelt contributions to streamflow, so physically based models are needed for hydrological predictions and analyses. We develop an observational technique for detecting streamflow responses to snowmelt using incoming solar radiation and diel (daily) cycles of streamflow. We measure the 20th percentile of snowmelt days (DOS20), across 31 watersheds in the western US, as a proxy for the beginning of snowmelt-initiated streamflow. Historic DOS20 varies from mid-January to late May, with warmer sites having earlier and more intermittent snowmelt-mediated streamflow. Mean annual DOS20 strongly correlates with the dates of 25 % and 50 % annual streamflow volume (DOQ25 and DOQ50, both R2 = 0.85), suggesting that a one-day earlier DOS20 corresponds with a one-day earlier DOQ25 and 0.7-day earlier DOQ50. Empirical projections of future DOS20 (RCP8.5, late 21st century), using space-for-time substitution, show that DOS20 will occur 11 ± 4 days earlier per 1 °C of warming, and that colder places (mean November–February air temperature, TNDJF <−8 °C) are 70 % more sensitive to climate change on average than warmer places (TNDJF > 0 °C). Moreover, empirical space-for-time based projections of DOQ25 and DOQ50 are about four and two times more sensitive to earlier streamflow than those from NoahMP-WRF. Given the importance of changing streamflow timing for headwater resources, snowmelt detection methods such as DOS20 based on diel streamflow cycles may constrain hydrological models and improve hydrological predictions.


Experimental and theoretical studies have shown that nonmagnetic semiconductor-metal hybrid structures can exhibit a very large magnetoresistanceeffect, the so-called extraordinary magnetoresistance (EMR) effect. The EMR can be useful in magnetic-field sensors and read heads. We show that the sensitivity of a linear hybrid structure can be further enlarged by using an optimized configuration of currentleads and voltage probes. Strikingly, we find that the EMR and the Hall effect cooperate and thereby improve the performance. Our findings also explain the origin of the recently reported sensitivity increase in a nanostructured EMR device obtained via interchanging one lead and one probe [J. Moussa et al., J. Appl. Phys.94, 1110 (2003)].


The study of migration is the key importance not only in Demography but also in Population Studies. Migration is the primary stage of development. Migration is related to development, urbanization, industrialization as well as technological advancement. The aim of this study is to observe the effects of socio-economic and demographic factors on male migrants. The sample data of 700 respondents was collected by multi-stage sampling technique at Meherpur Sadar thana at Meherpur district, Bangladesh. In this paper, logit regression model has been used to determine the influential factors of migration. The study shows that the most of the male migrants are migrated due to services. The analysis indicated that age, place of birth, occupation, monthly income and land property have significant effects on causes of migration among the selected variables in the case of considering dependent variable as causes of migration. Whereas on the other hand, place of birth, monthly income, type of family and land property have significant effects on the type of migration. Moreover, using the cross validation predictive power (CVPP) criterion and R2 , the shrinkage coefficient (.) is constructed. The shrinkage coefficient determines the adequacy of the model.


1. Control of zoonotic disease is difficult to achieve when populations of multiple hosts, particularly wildlife, become persistently infected. Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is one such disease: its causative agent, Mycobacterium bovis, infects cattle, humans and multiple wildlife species including European badgers Meles meles. 2. In Britain, from 1974 to 1998 various strategies for the control of cattle TB involved culling badgers in the immediate vicinity of TB-affected herds. However, patterns of association between cattle and badgers had not been investigated at a local scale. 3. Using data from the Randomized Badger Culling Trial, an ongoing large-scale study of TB dynamics and control, we investigated local geographical associations between M. bovis infection in badgers and cattle. 4. Mycobacterium bovis infections were locally clustered within both badger and cattle populations. 5. We show, for the first time, that M. bovis infections in badgers and cattle are spatially associated at a scale of 1-2 km. Badgers and cattle infected with the same strain type of M. bovis are particularly closely correlated. These observational data support the hypothesis that transmission occurs between the two host species; however, they cannot be used to evaluate the relative importance of badger-to-cattle and cattle-to-badger transmission. 6. Synthesis and applications. The close associations between M. bovis infections in cattle and badgers suggest that localized badger culling could reasonably be expected to reduce the risks of cattle TB infection; however, experimental culls have found no such beneficial effects over the time-scale on which they were tested. This demonstrates the difficulty of predicting the outcome of management interventions, and reinforces the need for well-designed empirical assessments of future control strategies.


Exposure and adaptation models provide competing perspectives of the environmental influence on the development of addictive disorders. Exposure theory suggests that the presence of environmental toxins (e.g., casinos) increases the likelihood of related disease (e.g., gambling-related disorders). Adaptation theory proposes that new environmental toxins initially increase adverse reactions; subsequently, symptoms diminish as individuals adapt to such toxins and acquire resistance. The authors describe a new public health regional exposure model (REM) that provides a tool to gather empirical evidence in support of either model. This article demonstrates how the strategic REM, modified to examine gambling exposure, uses standardized indices of exposure to social phenomena at the regional level to quantify social constructs.


Abstract. Estimations from meteorological stations over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) indicate that since the 1980s the surface-sensible heat flux has been decreasing continuously, and modeling studies suggest that such changes are likely linked to the weakening of the East Asian Monsoon through exciting Rossby wave trains. However, the spatial and temporal variations in the surface-sensible and latent heat fluxes over the entire TP remain unknown. This study aims to characterize the spatial and seasonal variability of the surface-sensible and latent heat fluxes at 0.5° over the TP from 1984 to 2007 by synthesizing multiple data sources including ground measurements, reanalysis products, and remote-sensing products. The root mean square errors (RMSEs) from cross validation are 14.3 Wm−2 and 10.3 Wm−2 for the monthly fused sensible and latent heat fluxes, respectively. The fused sensible and latent heat-flux anomalies are consistent with those estimated from meteorological stations, and the uncertainties of the fused data are also discussed. The associations among the fused sensible and latent heat fluxes and the related surface anomalies such as mean temperature, temperature range, snow cover, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in addition to atmospheric anomalies such as cloud cover and water vapor show seasonal dependence, suggest that the land–biosphere–atmosphere interactions over the TP could display nonuniform feedbacks to the climate changes. It would be interesting to disentangle the drivers and responses of the surface-sensible and latent heat-flux anomalies over the TP in future research from evidences of modeling results.


Purpose: Numerous studies have demonstrated an association of depression and (to a lesser extent) anxiety with lost productivity/work disability, but less is known about the nature of this association. This study applies an environmental model of disability to investigate the role of work-related environmental factors in the association between depression and anxiety and lost productivity. Methods: 436 call centre employees from 10 organisations completed a self-report survey assessing current DSM-IV depressive and anxiety symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire), work disability (absent days, presenteeism-days at work ill, Work Limitations Questionnaire), and psychosocial work environment (Effort-Reward Imbalance, Organisational Justice). Six-month follow-up surveys have been collected and 12-month follow-up is underway. Results: Lost productivity was common in this sample of call centre employees, with half absent at least one day in the prior month, half coming in to work while unwell on at least one day, and limitations in various work abilities for around 15% of the time. Ten percent reported a depressive or anxiety condition: probable major or minor depression, panic symptoms, or generalized anxiety symptoms. Persons with depression/ anxiety (versus not) were more than twice as likely to report absenteeism and four times as likely to attend work while unwell, and were limited in work ability for 20% of the time. After adjusting for work-related environmental factors, these parameters were reduced by around 10% and 16% for absenteeism and presenteeism, respectively. These findings will be discussed in the light of preliminary data from the 6-month follow-up surveys. Conclusions:Work-related environmental factors are a non-trivial correlate of work disability. Clinical interventions to reduce the impact of mental disorders in the workplace may need to be supplemented with public health interventions targeting psychosocial aspects of the workplace.


This paper focuses on replication in DHT based structured overlay networks, and presents a theoretical framework for optimal replication in such networks with respect to query frequency. In particular, we determine the optimal replication factor for query-adaptive load balancing, and a topology specific placement strategy for an important class of DHT networks. We also provide a taxonomy of replication strategies in existing systems, discussing them with respect to this optimal scheme, and sketch further issues relevant for implementing this scheme in DHT networks. a.. keywords: Query-adaptivity, Optimal replication, Load-balancing, Distributed Hash Tables


We present molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations of surface tension of aqueous ionic solutions of different concentrations for two different salts with different anion size:  NaCl and NaF at 300 K in explicit water molecules. Our MD results agree quite closely with the experimental results. In particular, our MD results predict that the salt with a larger anion (NaCl) shows a smaller increase in surface tension than the salt with a smaller anion (NaF). To check the limits of applicability of the solvent primitive model (SPM), we solve exactly the system with the approximation that the solvent (water) is a background dielectric continuum using MD simulations. Compared with explicit water MD simulations, SPM gives qualitatively incorrect results for the dependence of surface tension on the type of salt. More precisely, with the solvent as a dielectric continuum, an NaCl solution shows a larger increase in surface tension than does an NaF solution. Strong water structuring around the solvated ions is the propo...


For a company to compete in today's market, it needs to invest in developing project management tools to help improve its materials, products and production processes, reducing costs and continually improving its activities. This article aims to present the preliminary study performed to implement a custom semantic model in a technology company, which will enable the analysis and diagnosis of the production model to check nonconformities and to track information and materials, aiming at improving its production process and thereby raising its level of competition in the market. The preliminary study corresponds to the first of two phases of project development, which consists of the study carried out in the company to identify improvement needs for implementation of the analysis and diagnosis tool in the production process. For this, a tool development model is being developed with the mapping and the proposal of the model with its implementation strategy. Thus, it was verified that there is a disconnected traceability between the company sectors, information lost at the end of each process step, which eventually increases the time spent in each process phase. To solve this problem, resources were selected that, when integrated, will allow the integration of resources that were not previously connected in the company, in addition to reducing the time spent to close the cycle: connect, collect, analyze and act, making the response of production process activities in real time, seeking the optimization of production.


This paper provides a critical evaluation of an alternative measure of reporting conservatism introduced by Dichev and Tang (2008). Although there is substantial interest in research on accounting conservatism, there is no consensus among researchers on the most appropriate measure of conservatism in empirical studies. Dichev and Tang (2008) introduce a new measure of conservatism, which they believe to be a 'natural and practical measure of conservatism (p. 1441).' However, the econometric properties of this measure have not been fully evaluated, and previous studies have not provided evidence of this measure's construct validity. Based on a parsimonious model of conservatism, I find that the Dichev and Tang (2008) measure is increasing in the conservatism parameter. However, although this measure produces well-specified test statistics that generate Type 1 errors according to researchers' specifications, it generates tests of low power that lead to relatively high Type 2 errors. Next, I use actual data to provide evidence consistent with the construct validity of this measure. Finally, I suggest an alternative measure by using the reverse regression specification of the Dichev and Tang (2008) model. Results from simulations suggest that this alternative measure is feasible and is slightly superior to the Dichev and Tang (2008) measure in terms of test power.


Introduction: Numerous studies have shown that the mere talking about negative experiences has positive effects on physical and mental health. In this context, it is shown that the verbal expression of emotional words plays an important role in order to benefit from the health effects of telling narratives. However, people with a high degree of alexithymia have an impaired ability to express emotional experiences verbally. Thus, people with a high degree of alexithymia would have difficulties to benefit from the health effects of talking about negative experiences. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relation between the degree of alexithymia and the verbal emotional expression during the recall of sad memories. Therefore, the use of negative emotional words and the vividness of sad memories are considered. Method: Participants are 35 Dutch students between 18 and 39 years. The participants were asked to recall four categories of memories: sad, angry, happy and neutral memories. The data were recorded with a camera and a voice recorder. In addition, the data were transcribed and then analyzed with the Linguistic inquiry and word count (LIWC). Furthermore, the participants filled in their demographic data and the 20-Item Toronto alexithymia scale (TAS-20). The TAS-20 measures the degree of alexithymia. For the analyses, descriptive, correlation analyses, the Wilcoxon-test and Univariate ANOVA repeated measures were executed. Results: The findings indicate no difference between both sad memories. Differences were found between the numbers of negative words in sad memories and neutral memories. No significant correlations could be found between the degree of alexithymia, the number of negative emotional words and the vividness of sad memories. Discussion: Differences in study findings can be possibly explained through a difference in procedure, sample characteristics and investigated variables. With respect to the findings that no statistically significant relations were found between the degree of alexithymia and the vividness of sad memories, an explanation can be found in the intensity of memories. It is shown that the intensity determines the vividness of the memory. Moreover, no statistically significant relation could be found between the degree of alexithymia and the number of negative emotional words in sad memories. A possible explanation can be found in the difference of procedures between the current study and other studies. Recommendations for further studies include the investigations of intensity in place of vividness. Furthermore, the people who transcribed the data should speak the same native language such the participants. In addition, a sample with participants with a higher degree of alexithymia should be used in order to get more significant results. Moreover, the non-verbal aspect of emotional expression related to the degree of alexithymia should be considered in further studies. For the practice of psychotherapy, further research should investigate how the promotion of emotional word use can foster the ability of emotional processing for people with a high degree of alexithymia.


Abstract The aim of this study was to identify 58 Candida sp. strains isolated from animals using the Chromatic Candida test, the API 20 C AUX system, and polymerase chain reaction - restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The Chromatic Candida test was able to identify only C. albicans and C. krusei. The API 20 C AUX system and PCR-RFLP had similar specificity for the identification of Candida strains. In case of both methods, Candida albicans was the most frequently isolated species - 22 (37.93%) strains, followed by Candida krusei - 17 (29.31%) strains, Candida famata - 10 (17.24%) strains, Candida parapsilosis - five (8.62%) strains, and Candida kefyr - four (6.89%) strains. PCR-RFLP represents a reliable, quick and relatively inexpensive genotyping method, recommended for rapid identification of Candida spp.


Abstract Atmospheric CO2 level arising is an indisputable fact in the future climate change, as predicted, it could influence crops and their herbivorous insect pests. The growth and development, reproduction, and consumption of Spodoptera litura (F.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) fed on resistant (cv. Lamar) and susceptible (cv. JLNMH) soybean grown under elevated (732.1 ± 9.99 μl/liter) and ambient (373.6 ± 9.21 μl/liter) CO2 were examined in open-top chambers from 2013 to 2015. Elevated CO2 promoted the above- and belowground-biomass accumulation and increased the root/ shoot ratio of two soybean cultivars, and increased the seeds' yield for Lamar. Moreover, elevated CO2 significantly reduced the larval and pupal weight, prolonged the larval and pupal life span, and increased the feeding amount and excretion amount of two soybean cultivars. Significantly lower foliar nitrogen content and higher foliar sugar content and C/N ratio were observed in the sampled foliage of resistant and susceptible soybean cultivars grown under elevated CO2, which brought negative effects on the growth of S. litura, with the increment of foliar sugar content and C/N ratio were greater in the resistant soybean in contrast to the susceptible soybean. Furthermore, the increment of larval consumption was less than 50%, and the larval life span was prolonged more obvious of the larvae fed on resistant soybean compared with susceptible soybean under elevated CO2. It speculated that the future climatic change of atmospheric CO2 level arising would likely cause the increase of the soybean yield and the intake of S. litura, but the resistant soybean would improve the resistance of the target Lepidoptera pest, S. litura.


Scholars have proposed Milan, Pisa and/or Bologna as possible locations for the copying of the inner gatherings (II–IV) of the manuscript Modena, Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, α.M.5.24 (Mod A) and have argued that some of the compositions might have originated in the circle of Archbishop of Milan Pietro Filargo. Yet evidence based on Mod A9s repertory and the scant biographies of its composers is insufficient for determining the manuscript's origin. To solve this problem, I look at Mod A as a cultural artifact, attributing its illumination to the Master of 1411, an illuminator active in Bologna from 1404 to 1411, or to his assistant, both associated with the manuscript workshop of the Olivetan abbey of San Michele in Bosco, on the outskirts of medieval Bologna. The Master of 1411 might have been Giacomo da Padova, an illuminator documented there between 1407 and 1409. Iconographical analysis shows that the illuminator of Mod A possessed considerable knowledge of Paduan culture before the fall of the ruling Carrara family in 1405. This knowledge is apparent in his use of an astrological allusion to Carrara heraldry in his decoration of the song Inperial sedendo . His illumination of a Gloria by Egardus with the figure of Saint Anthony of Padua implies a familiarity with Padua9s musical institutions. Mod A may have been illuminated when the papal entourage of John XXIII visited San Michele in Bosco in the fall of 1410, although further compositions were added after the illuminator had finished his work. This conclusion invites scholars to consider afresh the social context that might have fostered the compilation of the repertory in the inner gatherings of Mod A.


Apple recently revealed its deep perceptual hashing system NeuralHash to detect child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on user devices before files are uploaded to its iCloud service. Public criticism quickly arose regarding the protection of user privacy and the system's reliability. In this paper, we present the first comprehensive empirical analysis of deep perceptual hashing based on NeuralHash. Specifically, we show that current deep perceptual hashing may not be robust. An adversary can manipulate the hash values by applying slight changes in images, either induced by gradient-based approaches or simply by performing standard image transformations, forcing or preventing hash collisions. Such attacks permit malicious actors easily to exploit the detection system: from hiding abusive material to framing innocent users, everything is possible. Moreover, using the hash values, inferences can still be made about the data stored on user devices. In our view, based on our results, deep perceptual hashing in its current form is generally not ready for robust client-side scanning and should not be used from a privacy perspective.1


In wireless sensor networks, the certainty of the data created by a node can change due to many reasons such as drained energy, outer factors. In addition dynamic physical environment and hardware failures (broken sensor etc.) might cause sensors to produce erred or incomplete data. Therefore raw wireless sensor network data reflects an approximate observation of the monitored environment and it can be faulty or partially wrong. Wireless sensor network applications that are used in military and health systems are used in critical decision-making. To make a healthy decision and to analyze the data correctly, the end users have to know the uncertainty level of the collected data. As a result, a model that can represent the uncertainty associated with different types of sensor data in varying models is needed. There has been some efforts of modeling uncertainty in database community. We aim to develop an uncertaintymodeling framework to aid decision-making. The methodology that we will use in this work is as follows (1) developing an uncertainty model by referring to database literature (2) designing the algorithms and equations (3) modeling finite state machines to characterize the behavior of the nodes and the transitions between different uncertainty states (4) improving a distributed architecture that defines the actions taken by the network based on the uncertainty levels (such as omitting a node with a low uncertainty level and replacing it) (5) calculating the energy and memory requirements of our architecture by carrying simulations. We have done previous work on trust computation of wireless sensor networks. In this position paper, we give a general overview of the planned research.


The employment of a Schiff base ligand 2-((2-(hydroxymethyl)phenylimino)methyl)phenol (H2L) in the synthesis of LnIII–CoIII clusters is reported. Four isomorphous hexanuclear clusters of compositions [Ln4Co2(μ3-OH)2(NO3)4(CH3COO)4L4(DMF)2]·2C2H5OH [H2L = 2-((2-(hydroxymethyl)phenylimino)methyl)-6-methoxyphenol; Ln = Dy (1), Eu (2), Gd (3), Tb (4)] have been prepared under solvothermal conditions. The centrosymmetric hexanuclear metallic core is composed of a defect-dicubane Ln4 moiety and two CoIII ions which are linked to the defect-dicubane unit through two alkoxo groups and two phenoxido groups. This structure gives a chair-like topology. The magnetic properties of 1–4 were studied. The Dy4 unit of 1 exhibits slow magnetic relaxation behavior. The Ueff for 1 of 41.9 K is a relatively high value among those reported for Dy4 SMMs with defect-dicubane cores. This value is also much higher than those reported for [DyIII4CoIII2] SMMs. This work further illustrates that hydroxide-containing Schiff bases are very effective ligands for designing 3d–4f-based SMMs.


Flexible, slender structures like cables, hoses or wires can be described by the geometrically exact Cosserat rod theory. Due to their complex multilayer structure, consisting of various materials, viscoplastic behavior has to be expected for cables under load. Classical experiments like uniaxial tension, torsion or three-point bending already show that the behavior of e.g. electric cables is viscoplastic. A suitable constitutive law for the observed load case is crucial for a realistic simulation of the deformation of a component. Consequently, this contribution aims at a viscoplastic constitutive law formulated in the terms of sectional quantities of Cosserat rods. Since the loading of cables in applications is in most cases not represented by these mostly uniaxial classical experiments, but rather multiaxial, new experiments for cables have to be designed. They have to illustrate viscoplastic effects, enable access to (viscoplastic) material parameters and account for coupling effects between different deformation modes. This work focuses on the design of such experiments.


We show that the nitrate storing vacuole of the sulfide-oxidizing bacterium Candidatus Allobeggiatoa halophila has an electron transport chain (ETC), which generates a proton motive force (PMF) used for cellular energy conservation. Immunostaining by antibodies showed that cytochrome c oxidase, an ETC protein and a vacuolar ATPase are present in the vacuolar membrane and cytochrome c in the vacuolar lumen. The effect of different inhibitors on the vacuolar pH was studied by pH imaging. Inhibition of vacuolar ATPases and pyrophosphatases resulted in a pH decrease in the vacuole, showing that the proton gradient over the vacuolar membrane is used for ATP and pyrophosphate generation. Blockage of the ETC decreased the vacuolar PMF, indicating that the proton gradient is build up by an ETC. Furthermore, addition of nitrate resulted in an increase of the vacuolar PMF. Inhibition of nitrate reduction, led to a decreased PMF. Nitric oxide was detected in vacuoles of cells exposed to nitrate showing that nitrite, the product of nitrate reduction, is reduced inside the vacuole. These findings show consistently that nitrate respiration contributes to the high proton concentration within the vacuole and the PMF over the vacuolar membrane is actively used for energy conservation.


The 2018 perihelion passage of comet 46P/Wirtanen afforded an opportunity to measure the abundances and spatial distributions of coma volatiles in a Jupiter-family comet with exceptional spatial resolution for several weeks surrounding its closest approach to Earth (Δmin ∼0.078 au on UT December 16). We conducted near-infrared spectroscopic observations of 46P/Wirtanen using iSHELL at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility on UT 2018 December 18 in direct coordination with observations using the newly upgraded NIRSPEC-2 instrument at the W. M. Keck Observatory, and securely detected fluorescent emission from CH3OH, C2H6, and H2O. This coordinated campaign utilizing the two premier near-infrared facilities in the northern hemisphere enabled us to sample distinct projections of the coma into the plane of the sky simultaneously, and provided an unprecedented view into the inner coma of 46P/Wirtanen near closest approach. We report rotational temperatures, production rates, and abundance ratios (i.e., mixing ratios) for all sampled species and compare our iSHELL results to simultaneous (or near-simultaneous) measurements taken with NIRSPEC-2. We demonstrate the extraordinary synergy of coordinated measurements using iSHELL and NIRSPEC-2, and advocate for future cometary studies that jointly leverage the capabilities of these two facilities.


Thermoplastic starch properties depends of plastification process. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of concentration of glycerol and water on plastification, glass transition temperature (Tg) and tensile properties of thermoplastic waxy starch (TPWS). Formulations were extruded in the following concentrations of starch/glycerol/water: 70/30/0 (TPWS 0%); 70/25/5 (TPWS 5%); 70/20/10 (TPWS 10%) weight percentage. Crystalline peaks in WAXS diagrams and native grains present in SEM micrographs showed that the TPWS 0% and 5% were not sufficient to promote total plastification of the waxy starch, and TPWS 10% showed the higher starch plastification. Tg measurements by DMTA were 30 oC to TPWS 0%, 23 oC to TPWS 5% and 40 oC to TPWS 10%. These results showed that glycerol and water had effect plasticizer in TPWS 5% and antiplasticizer in TPWS 10%. Mechanical tensile results showed that higher tensile strength was observed in the systems with more effective starch plastification.


This article examines a particular set of texts in an early fifteenth-century religious anthology composed by the Yorkshire gentleman Robert Thornton. Together with other religious prose and verse, Thornton copied a number of Middle English and Latin texts, on the subject of devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, into the folios of what is now Lincoln Cathedral MS 91. The article demonstrates the uniqueness of this set of Holy Name texts in late medieval England, both in terms of individual items and the combination of material. Some of these texts, namely those written by the English mystic Richard Rolle, were controversial in their treatment of the Name of Jesus, and contained claims for which some of Rolle's followers were criticised by the early fifteenth century. I argue that their controversial content does not easily accord with scholarly characterisations of Thornton's collecting impulses as conservative and spiritually unambitious. The article also discusses how Thornton copied other, more conservative, statements, that aimed to control Rollean Holy Name enthusiasm; in this case by that other great English mystical writer, Walter Hilton. I argue that this juxtapostion of enthusiastic and cautious statements points to practices of compilation and religious reading that were profoundly dialogic, bringing contradictory material together for use by Thornton's household in their daily devotions that opened up a range of possible practices. Examination of the other religious texts within Lincoln MS 91 suggests some likely responses to the Holy Name material that Thornton copied. The article finishes with discussion of Thornton's literary networks and how the diaologic nature of his literary practices would have involved complex social relationships with a range of clerical and lay agents. It asks how Thornton's own agency might have worked in collaboration with clerical advisers who sought to guide, but did not control, his reading.


In this work we discuss the limitations of the localized transmission of electromagnetic energy at microwaves. The nondiffractive features of localized pulses are evaluated in terms of the main spot size over both the propagating and the transverse axis. By defining an original theoretical framework, we show that, even in the nondispersive case, it is not always possible to efficiently confine electromagnetic pulses. Results show that the considered fractional bandwidth plays a key role in the confinement properties of such pulses, posing well-defined constraints to the practical realization of localized pulses in the microwave range.


This paper proposes a new method to embed data in binary images, including scanned text, figures, and signatures. The method manipulates "flippable" pixels to enforce specific block- based relationship in order to embed a significant amount of data without causing noticeable artifacts. Shuffling is applied before em- bedding to equalize the uneven embedding capacity from region to region. The hidden data can be extracted without using the orig- inal image, and can also be accurately extracted after high quality printing and scanning with the help of a few registration marks. The proposed data embedding method can be used to detect unau- thorized use of a digitized signature, and annotate or authenticate binary documents. The paper also presents analysis and discus- sions on robustness and security issues.


It is evident from this work and from the work of others that organisms having diphtheroidal morphology are wide-spread in their distribution in the human body. They are readily isolated from miscellaneous skin lesions, probably thriving better in pathological soils as saprophytes than in normal skin, although they can be obtained quite easily from the latter. Various strains can also be cultivated from the air, at least in this environment. Aside from the air and superficial parts of the human body, diphtheroids have frequently been isolated from the deeper regions. Hoag, working on general paresis and certain conditions of the lung, cultivated 199 diphtheroids, the majority of which were from the lungs and respiratory tract, also in some instances from the liver and spleen. He considered 146 of these isolations to be identical and classified them as organism x. Robertson, McRae, and Jeffry likewise in cases of dementia paralytica isolated what they considered an identical strain which was closely related to the Klebs-Loeffler bacillus, from the inflamed ileum, stomach, tonsils or pharynx, bronchi, lung, and brain. They differentiated their organism from Bacillus hoffmanni and Bacillus xerosis. The fact that these organisms have a somewhat unusual morphology, resembling as they do an organism of known pathogenicity, namely. Bacillus diphtheriœ, should form no basis for assuming that they, too, are apt to possess these qualities. When we consider the number of simple bacillary contaminators analogous to such organisms as Bacillus anthracis, Bacillus typhosus, etc., we can readily see how frequently this occurs. The majority of the diphtheroids isolated by us stai??? by Gram's method; nearly all fail to resist the standard acid-fast methods, although use of the very low strengths of mineral acids allows the fixed stain to remain in whole or in part. There is consequently nothing unique in their tinctorial properties. These bacillary strains differ considerably in their powers of cultivation. While the majority grow readily upon the ordinary laboratory foodstuffs, others require special products for their growth and still others cannot be grown even where special effort has been made. The fact that many strains grow slowly no doubt enhances their consideration as disease producers, as it seems to argue their difficult adaptation from their preëxisting site to an artificial environment. This reasoning does not apply when we consider the numerous causal agents that can so readily be cultivated directly from the diseased tissue, and again the fact that many saprophytes in their natural habitat are incapable of growth in vitro (figure 1). The most striking of the biological features of these cultures is their wide range of pigment production. While many are white or creamy white, the majority range from a canary yellow to a distinct crimson, and one of the cultures recovered from a leper was a very deep dusky red or garnet. Numerous combined shades of yellow and pink, including such colors as salmon and orange, were present. Some cultures were distinctly pink, others varied in depth of color to a crimson. While many cultures of identical colors were obtained, the majority of strains showed some slight variance of shade. While, of course, the inoculation of diphtheroidal cultures produces varying degrees of localized inflammation if employed in sufficient dosage, probably for the two-fold reason of acting as a foreign body and liberating proteolytic substances, still the diphtheroids isolated in the past have never been able to reproduce the clinical picture of the various diseases from which they were cultivated. The apparent reproduction of lesions in general paresis, in hepatic cirrhosis, and in leprosy does not form an ultimate postulate for the acceptance of organisms as specific etiological entities. This is evidenced by the fact that certain known saprophytic organisms when used as controls are capable of producing the same results. It seems clear that organisms as broadly distributed as the diphtheroids should be suspected as contaminators when met in experiments bearing upon etiology. They should be viewed primarily in the same light as the staphylococcus and the various known contaminating bacteria. It is apparent that this type of organism has been regarded too much from the standpoint of pathogenicity. It is, of course, probable that among this large group there may be a few pathogenic types.


Tissue hypoxia, especially in the splanchnic area, is still considered to be an important cofactor in the pathogenesis of multiple organ failure. Thus, in the treatment of septic shock the specific effects of ino-tropic drugs on the splanchnic perfusion are of particular interest. To give strict recommendations for monitoring and for therapeutic strategies in the treatment of gastrointestinal failure in patients with sepsis is difficult not only due to the lack of data on clinical outcome and organ dysfunction, but also due to some limitations in the methods applied to assess splanchnic perfusion and oxygenation. A reasonable approach in the management of splanchnic underperfusion in septic patients includes: Measurement of gastric mucosal pH or CO2-gap because it is the only method for the assessment of splanchnic perfusion which can be useful in the clinical routine. Adequate volume loading likely is the most important step in the supportive treatment of patients with septic shock. Unfortunately, what kind of fluids, endpoints, and monitoring techniques should be used is still controversial. Nevertheless, techniques allowing us to achieve and tightly control volume loading and regional perfusion, e.g. the measurement of pHi or CO2-gap, may be helpful. Patients with high DO2 have had better outcome. However, measurement of parameters assessing global and regional oxygenation may be superior than to guide therapy by DO2. To maximize DO2 by the use of very high dosages of catecholamines can be harmful. The recommendation to use dobutamine as catecholamine of first choice seems to be justified. In critically ill patients, no negative effects of norepinephrine on regional perfusion have been demonstrated provided the patient is adequately volume resuscitated and the DO2 is normal or slightly elevated. Therefore, after volume resuscitation and treatment with dobutamine, norepinephrine should be used for achieving an adequate perfusion pressure. Epinephrine and dopamine should be avoided because they seem to restribute blood flow away from the splanchnic region. There are no convincing data yet to support the routine use of low dose dopamine or dopexamine in patients with sepsis. These recommendations are limited by the lack of outcome studies and optimal methods for the assessment of splanchnic perfusion/oxygenation.


A cohesive society is not only characterised by the availability of basic services and facilities, but also promotes economic equality and inclusion, democracy, and social solidarity. Forced displacement due to disasters and conflict constantly disrupt the path to a sustainable and cohesive society. Displaced communities often struggle with a lack of access to livelihood and a lack of financial independence and social and family stability. With these challenges, a lack of provision of basic services and facilities will create a competition for housing, health, and education between the displaced and host communities. Additionally, the economic competition for jobs and the role of international aid in terms of fairness create social tension between the displaced and the host. Likewise, multiple aspects weaken the social cohesion between displaced and host communities. Within this context, we investigated approaches to enhance social cohesion following disaster-induced and conflict-induced displacement. With the identification of this research need, the research team of the project titled REGARD (REbuild-inG AfteR Displacement) conducted 47 in-depth interviews in four partner countries (U.K., Sweden, Estonia, and Sri Lanka) with community representatives, social support networks, agency networks, officials, etc. Moreover, focus group discussions were conducted with community members in Sri Lanka. The collected data were analysed through a qualitative data analysis procedure. The findings present eight approaches to strengthen the social cohesion between displaced and host communities. These eight approaches include the adequate provision of basic services and facilities without limiting the capacity of the host, support services aimed at local integration, economic integration between the displaced and host, and social cohesion through the built environment.


Osteoblasts undergo a process of proliferation and differentiation and are responsible for bone formation. In this study, we examined the relation between NF-kappaB, a key transcription factor in bone metabolism, and osteoblast maturation. NF-kappaB activity and expression of p50, a subunit of NF-kappaB, decreased during development of osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells. The secretion of IL-6 by osteoblast, which in combination with soluble IL-6 receptor induces conversion of fibroblasts to alkaline phosphatase-positive cells, also increased. p50 antisense oligonucleotide increased IL-6 mRNA expression. These results suggest that p50 regulates transcription of IL-6 and indirectly controls osteoblast maturation.


The description of families of production systems usually relies on the use of variability modelling. This aspect of modelling is gaining increasing interest with the emergence of Industry 4.0 to facilitate the product development as new requirements appear. As a consequence, there are several emerging modelling techniques able to apply variability in different domains. In this paper, we introduce an approach to establish product system families in AutomationML. Our approach is based on the definition of feature models describing the variability space, and on the assignment of presence conditions to AutomationML model elements. These conditions (de-)select the model elements depending on the chosen configuration. This way, it is possible to model a large set of model variants in a compact way using one single model. To realize our approach, we started from an existing EMF-based AutomationML workbench providing graphical modelling support. From these artifacts, we synthesized an extended graphical modelling editor with variability support, integrated with FeatureIDE. Furthermore, we validated our approach by creating and managing a production system family encompassing six scenarios of the Pick and Place Unit Industry 4.0 demonstrator.


Escalation of commitment refers to the tendency to persist with or even intensify losing courses of action. In this study, we examined whether authentic and contrived dissent reduces escalation in group decision making. Participants first individually indicated their preference on how to allocate money between two alternatives. Based on these individual preferences, homogeneous and heterogeneous three-person groups were formed. In addition, group discussion was either structured by assigning one group member to play the role of a devil's advocate or was not structured. Results revealed that escalation tendencies over multiple decisions were reduced in heterogeneous groups that used the devil's advocacy procedure. The rationality of this behavior is discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Mixed-halide perovskites (MHPs) have attracted attention as suitable wide-band-gap candidate materials for tandem applications owing to their facile band-gap tuning. However, when smaller bromide ions are incorporated into iodides to tune the band gap, photoinduced halide segregation occurs, which leads to voltage deficit and photoinstability. Here, we propose an original post-hot pressing (PHP) treatment that suppresses halide segregation in MHPs with a band gap of 2.0 eV. The PHP treatment reconstructs open-structured grain boundaries (GBs) as compact GBs through constrained grain growth in the in-plane direction, resulting in the inhibition of defect-mediated ion migration in GBs. The PHP-treated wide-band-gap (2.0 eV) MHP solar cells showed a high efficiency of over 11%, achieving an open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 1.35 V and improving the maintenance of the initial efficiency under the working condition at AM 1.5G. The results reveal that the management of GBs is necessary to secure the stability of wide-band-gap MHP devices in terms of halide segregation.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Background: Excimer laser coronary angioplasty (ELCA) uses an ultraviolet laser catheter for the treatment of coronary artery disease. ELCA has been used for various coronary lesions, but current safety and frequency of use are unknown. Methods: We performed a retrospective, registry-based study of ELCA use during coronary interventions reported to the National Cardiovascular Data Registry/CATH percutaneous coronary intervention registry from 2009 to 2018 (n=6 043 596 total interventions evaluated). The primary safety end point was the combination of any perforation, dissection, tamponade, or death. ELCA use per 10 000 interventions was evaluated for the study duration. Subgroups of interest were identified including in-stent restenosis lesions, saphenous vein graft lesions, chronic total occlusions, and thrombotic lesions. Results: A total of 19 688 lesions were identified with ELCA use (0.3% of all lesions). The rate of ELCA use increased across the study period from 14 ELCAs performed per 10 000 interventions in 2009 to 70 ELCAs performed per 10 000 interventions in 2018. The primary safety end point occurred in 4.2% of lesions and was higher than in cases where no ELCA was used (3.0% P<0.001). After adjusting for baseline differences among the subgroups who received ELCA, the in-stent restenosis group had the lowest rate of complications (odds ratio, 0.51 [95% CI, 0.42–0.63]), followed by the saphenous vein graft group (odds ratio, 0.72 [95% CI, 0.5–1]). The chronic total occlusion group had a higher risk for complications (odds ratio, 2.01 [95% CI, 1.61–2.40]). Conclusions: The use of ELCA has remained low but has increased in recent years. Complications are significantly higher when ELCA is used, but this effect is variable with respect to lesion subtype. ELCA is frequently used to treat in-stent restenosis with a low risk of complication. ELCA use during chronic total occlusion interventions is associated with a 2-fold increased risk of complications. Together these findings provide guidance for lesion selection to optimize safety with ELCA use.


Purpose:Lungtumor breathing motion is a function of both the breathing depth (tidal volume) and breathing rate (airflow). Treatment planning for lungtumors will require a patient‐specific tumor motion model. An understanding of the patient's typical breathing cycle will be critical to accurate treatment planning predictions for linear‐accelerator gating or tracking. This work examines patient‐breathing characteristics to determine the patterns and stability of the breathing cycle. Method and Materials: A total of 34 patients (with and without lungcancer) were scanned with a previously described 4DCT protocol under synchronized tidal breathing monitoring. We examined the scatter plot of air flow against tidal volume for the entire scan session. A 2D histogram was then generated by calculating the frequency of data points falling into each tidal volume‐airflow window. The 2D histogram depicted the probability that the patient breathed at certain tidal volume and air flow window. We evaluated the breathing consistency of the three patients with multiple scans. Results: There was no significant differences in the breathing period (P=0.11) or in the peak‐to‐peak amplitude (P=0.22) between patients with lungcancers and patients with upper‐abdomen cancers. The 2D histogram revealed two different breathing patterns: patients who spent more time breathing at the end of exhalation (20 patients), exhibiting a characteristic volume‐flow curve, and patients who spent the majority of time inhaling and exhaling (14 patients). The latter patients did not spend any appreciable amount of time between successive breaths. For the three patients with two sessions, the mean frequency difference between corresponding tidal volume‐airflow windows was <0.3%. Conclusion: We characterized patient breathing by examining the tidal volume‐airflow plot and histogram. The results showed two different breathing patterns suggesting that not all patients are appropriate for gated radiotherapy. All three patients showed high consistency in two scan sessions. Supported by NIH R01CA96679.


Meshless element of Hamilton canonical equation was established in this paper by combining the modified Hellinger-Reissner variational principle for elastic material and radial point interpolation functions. Using Multiquadric (MQ), Gaussian (EXP) and thin plane spine (TPS), the astringency of meshless methods and the effects of the dimensionless shape parameters on the maximum displacement were investigated by the numerical examples of the single or the cross-lay laminated plates. And all of the numerical results of displacement w were compared with that of MSC. Nastran This study introduced the advantages of meshless finite element method into semi-analytic solution of Hamilton canonical equation, and a new semi-analytic method was presented for Hamilton canonical equation.


Preliminary study of the damaged royal names and images in KV-23—the tomb of Tutankhamun's successor Ay—conducted a number of years ago and more recent consideration of the data from that research have enabled an understanding of the mechanics of the damnatio leveled against the monument. This research has also enabled the formation of conclusions regarding some of the symbolic aspects of the destruction. Although the details of the recovered evidence are those of a singular event in a particular tomb, the principles of the mechanics and symbolism underlying the destruction have broader application to our understanding of the process of damnatio in ancient Egypt, though many unanswered questions remain.