Intravenous magnesium supplementation is often used to control cardiac arrhythmias and coronary artery vasospasm resulting from disturbances of magnesium homeostasis after coronary artery bypass surgery. Many such patients also require inotropic drug support of depressed myocardial function. However, increased serum magnesium concentrations directly depress cardiac contractility in animals and may interfere with catecholamine actions. To determine whether small intravenous doses of magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) interfere with the cardiotonic actions of epinephrine, we examined the hemodynamic effects of MgSO4 and epinephrine infusion in 17 cardiac surgical patients on their 1st postoperative day in a prospective, controlled study. In 11 patients, infusion of MgSO4 (7-mg.kg-1 bolus followed by 10 mg.kg-1.h-1 as a continuous infusion) increased serum magnesium concentrations by 44% (mean +/- standard error of the mean [SEM] of 0.8 +/- 0.1 to 1.2 +/- 0.1 mM; P less than 0.01) but had no significant effect on heart rate; mean arterial, central venous, or pulmonary arterial occlusion pressures; or cardiac output. Epinephrine infusion (30 ng.kg-1.min-1) significantly increased cardiac index (2.7 +/- 0.1 to 3.1 +/- 0.21.min-1.m-2; P less than 0.05); this effect was not altered by MgSO4 administration (n = 11). However, MgSO4 significantly blunted epinephrine's hypertensive action and prevented a significant increase in mean arterial pressure during concurrent MgSO4-epinephrine administration. Six placebo control patients were given two sequential infusions of epinephrine separated by a placebo infusion to rule out an effect of time on the hemodynamic response to epinephrine. Mean arterial pressure and cardiac index responses to epinephrine were identical before and after placebo infusion.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


This study is unique in investigating instances of Specific Learning Difficulties (Dyslexia) among mature students in British institutes of tertiary education. Despite growing awareness of this condition, it is only during the last thirty years that cases of dyslexia among adults have been distinguished from aphasia.

Assessments were conducted using a structured questionnaire, psychometric tests, measures of attainment, vocational interest and personality. Test results provided support for the view that dyslexia is characterised by a discrepancy between language skills and intellectual ability accompanied by measurable cognitive differences. Significant differences were found on tests of short term memory, while spelling difficulties were the most enduring form of written language difficulty. Differences found on measures of personality, are thought to reflect an interaction between personality and coping strategies. Most subjects had felt constrained to take Jobs with a low interest level, ie. they had compromised their vocational interests and subsequently achieved lower socio-economic status than their fathers.

The investigation into the provision made by British universities revealed that very few have any formal policy for dealing with dyslexic students. Most were unable to state what course support or examination concessions were available.

In a study of factors related to modality, dyslexic students took longer to read material and remembered less than other groups. When using multi-modal material dyslexic subjects remembered more but must reconcile improving their recall ability with the expense of spending more time. In a second study of factors thought to influence the marking of scripts It was found that higher marks were not awarded to typewritten scripts free from spelling errors. Changes in format only influenced the focus of the tutors' comments.

The conclusions are that dyslexia does not improve spontaneously, the dyslexic child is likely to become a dyslexic adult who will continue to experience difficulties with language skills, especially spelling, while the individuals educational, social and occupational ambitions are likely to be compromised because of their specific learning difficulties.


When a beneficial mutation occurs in a population, the new, favored allele may spread to the entire population. This process is known as a selective sweep. Suppose we sample n individuals at the end of a selective sweep. If we focus on a site on the chromosome that is close to the location of the beneficial mutation, then many of the lineages will likely be descended from the individual that had the beneficial mutation, while others will be descended from a dierent individual because of recombination between the two sites. We introduce two approximations for the eect of a selective sweep. The first one is simple but not very accurate: flip n independent coins with probability p of heads and say that the lineages whose coins come up heads are those that are descended from the individual with the beneficial mutation. A second approximation, which is related to Kingman's paintbox construction, replaces the coin flips by integer-valued random variables and leads to very accurate results.


In this paper we present a VERifying MONiTor (VERMONT) which is a software toolset for checking the consistency of network configurations with formally specified invariants of Packet Forwarding Policies (PFP). Correct and safe management of networks is a very hard task. Every time the current load of flow tables should satisfy certain requirements. Some packets have to reach their destination, whereas some other packets have to be dropped. Certain switches are forbidden for some packets, whereas some other switches have to be obligatorily traversed. Loops are not allowed. These and some other requirements constitute a PFP. One of the aims of network engineering is to provide such a loading of switches with forwarding rules as to guarantee compliance with the PFP. VERMONT provides some automation to the solution of this task. VERMONT can be installed in line with the control plane. It observes state changes of a network by intercepting messages sent by switches to the controller and command sent by the controller to switches. It builds an adequate formal model of a whole network and checks every event, such as installation, deletion, or modification of rules, port and switch up and down events, against a set formal requirements of PFP. Before a network update command is sent to a switch VERMONT anticipates the result of its execution and checks whether a new state of network satisfies all requirements of PFP. If this is the case then the command is delivered to the corresponding switch. Upon detecting a violation of PFP VERMONT blocks the change, alerts a network administrator, and gives some additional information to elucidate a possible source of an error. VERMONT has a wide area of applications. It can be attached to a SDN controller just to check basic safety properties (the absence of loops, black-holes, etc) of the network managed by the controller. VERMONT may be also cooperated with software units (like FlowVisor) that aggregate several controllers. In this case VERMONT checks the compatibility of PFPs implemented by these controllers. This toolset can be used as a fully automatic safeguard for every software application which implements certain PFP on a SDN controller.


At the heart of the historical and social sciences lies the remarkable gray area of learning processes. "Learning" is usually perceived as individual childhood development at home and at school and has been written about extensively. However, little is known about learning processes outside primary and secondary socialization although insight into these learning processes appears indispensable for an understanding of social changes or the lack thereof. On the basis of historical and current case studies, philosophical reflections, and critical commentaries, Mergner (1940-1999) opened up this important area through his "theory of social limits to learning," designed to explain not only why people accept or reject structures of domination but also why people trying to emancipate themselves nonetheless form and accept new structures of domination. This anthology presents Mergner's seminal work to the non-German speaking world for the first time in order to give it the wider recognition it so clearly deserves.


Laser-induced electronic excitation, absorption and relaxation are the key issues in ultra-short laser interactions with dielectric materials. To numerically analyze these processes, a detailed non-equilibrium model is developed [1] based on the kinetic Boltzmann equations without any appeal to the classical Drude model. The calculations are performed including all possible collisional processes. As a result, electron energy distributions are obtained allowing a better analysis of ultra-short laser interactions. The results reveal a remarkable effect of the laser-field on collision frequencies resulting in smaller free-carriers absorption than the one predicted by commonly used rate-equation models. In addition, our calculations clearly demonstrate laser intensity limits for the applicability of Keldysh's equation for the photoionization process [2]. Both electron-electron and electron-phonon relaxation are then examined, and the mean energy density of the electron sub-system is investigated as a function of laser fluence and pulse duration. Because efficient bond breaking requires energy, these calculations provide the required thresholds.
The dependency of the calculated fluence threshold on laser pulse duration is compared with the available experimental data. The obtained results also explain several recent pump-probe experiments. The developed model is useful for many laser applications including high precision in laser treatment, laser-assisted atomic probe analysis, and for the development of new powerful laser systems.
Furthermore, a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) solution of Maxwell's equations is numerically coupled with time-dependent electron carrier density equation for dielectric material (fused silica) with a small inclusion. The process of plasma generation near the inclusion is studied and local field distribution is obtained. The generated plasma is studied and the roles of the electron collisional frequency and the irradiated wavelength are demonstrated.

[1] N. S. Shcheblanov and T. E. Itina, Appl. Phys. A DOI: 10.1007/s00339-012-7130-0 (2012)
[2] N. S. Shcheblanov and T. E. Itina, CECAM 2015


Phenotypes are driven by regulated gene expression, which in turn are mediated by complex interactions between diverse biological molecules. Protein–DNA interactions such as histone and transcription factor binding are well studied, along with RNA–RNA interactions in short RNA silencing of genes. In contrast, lncRNA-protein interaction (LPI) mechanisms are comparatively unknown, likely directed by the difficulties in studying LPI. However, LPI are emerging as key interactions in epigenetic mechanisms, playing a role in development and disease. Their importance is further highlighted by their conservation across kingdoms. Hence, interest in LPI research is increasing. We therefore review the current state of the art in lncRNA-protein interactions. We specifically surveyed recent computational methods and databases which researchers can exploit for LPI investigation. We discovered that algorithm development is heavily reliant on a few generic databases containing curated LPI information. Additionally, these databases house information at gene-level as opposed to transcript-level annotations. We show that early methods predict LPI using molecular docking, have limited scope and are slow, creating a data processing bottleneck. Recently, machine learning has become the strategy of choice in LPI prediction, likely due to the rapid growth in machine learning infrastructure and expertise. While many of these methods have notable limitations, machine learning is expected to be the basis of modern LPI prediction algorithms.


Purpose: The lack of available guidelines for the management of prostatic abscess (PA) results in inconsistencies in its management. The most commonly used management modalities were conservative treatment with parenteral antibiotics alone, transrectal ultrasound-guided (TRUS) needle aspiration, or transurethral deroofing (TUD). The current study is a retrospective study and examines prostatic abscess cases treated by either one or more of the different modalities. We assess and compare presentation, diagnosis, management, and outcomes of prostatic abscess and we compare the outcomes of the three management modalities. Methods: We retrieved the records of all patients (n = 23) admitted to the Urology department at Al Wakra hospital with the computed tomography (CT) diagnosis of prostatic abscess from January 2013 to March 2018. Data collected included demographic, clinical, laboratory, and imaging findings, as well as management modality, duration of hospital stay, duration of follow up, outcome, and recurrence. Results: A total of nine (39.1%) patients had conservative treatment only; eight (34.8%) had TUD, and six (26.1%) had TRUS needle aspiration. The mean age was 52.7 years. Lower urinary tract symptoms and fever were the most common presentations (95.7% and 82.6%, respectively). CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis with contrast was undertaken for all patients and it showed that multiple abscesses were observed in 14 (60.9%) cases. The overall mean hospital stay was 8.45 days (range 2–21 days). We observed no recurrences for patients treated conservatively or those who undertook TUD, but three patient (50%) recurrences were noted in TRUS aspiration patients. There was no mortality across the sample. Conclusion: Early diagnosis of prostatic abscess and prompt management may have decreased the morbidity and mortality. Conservative management can succeed in subcentimeter abscesses but TUD is the definite therapy for large and multiloculated abscess. TRUS aspiration does have a role in treatment, but it has higher recurrence and longer hospital stay.


: Modern machine learning algorithms have achieved remarkable performance in a myriad of applications, and are increasingly used to make impactful decisions in the hiring process, criminal sentencing, healthcare diagnostics and even to make new scientific discoveries. The use of data-driven algorithms in high-stakes applications is exciting yet alarming: these methods are extremely complex, often brittle, notoriously hard to analyze and interpret. Naturally, concerns have raised about the reliability, fairness, and reproducibility of the output of such algorithms. This talk introduces statistical tools that can be wrapped around any "black-box" algorithm to provide valid inferential results while taking advantage of their impressive performance. We present novel developments in conformal prediction and quantile regression, which rigorously guarantee the reliability of complex predictive models, and show how these methodologies can be used to treat individuals equitably. Next, we focus on reproducibility and introduce an operational selective inference tool that builds upon the knockoff framework and leverages recent progress in deep generative models. This methodology allows for reliable identification of a subset of important features that is likely to explain a phenomenon under-study in a challenging setting where the data distribution is unknown, e.g., mutations that are truly linked to changes in drug resistance.


Contribution of infiltrating river water in the shallow groundwater formation was investigated in the Sho-gawa river alluvial fan in Toyama Prefecture, Japan. Groundwater samples from 25 bores of depth with less than ca. 50 m deep, and river and spring water samples were analyzed for hydrogen/oxygen and carbon isotopes as well as water quality. A two end-member mixing analysis based on the isotopes made it clear that infiltrating river water showed the highest contribution along the river and its contribution decreased with an increased distance from the river. The results obtained from hydrogen/oxygen isotopes and carbon isotope indicated a very similar pattern of river water contribution. However, the figures of river water contribution are inconsistent with each other; 70% in the immediate vicinity of the river to 30% at the end of a 3 km cource of flow for the hydrogen/oxygen isotopes, whereas 100% near the river to 80% for the carbon isotope. The reason why this discrepancy comes about depending on the isotopes is the focus of our future study.


Long-headed pygmy grasshoppers (genus Ophiotettix Walker, 1871) from the New Guinean region (New Guinea and adjacent islands) are taxonomically and biogeographically reviewed. For Ophiotettix and the morphologically similar genera Paraspartolus Gunther, 1939, Spartolus Stal, 1877 and Threciscus Bolivar, 1887 a new tribe is erected, Ophiotettigini trib. nov. This tribe is close to Clinophaestini Storozhenko, 2013, which is placed here also under Metrodorinae. Bufonidinae syn. rev. are regarded to be synonymous with Batrachideinae, not Cladonotinae, as previously considered. Statuses of currently known taxa of Ophiotettix are reviewed. The genus now includes 40 species, seven of them previously described: O. buergersi Bolivar, 1929, O. cygnicollis Walker, 1871, O. limosina (Snellen van Vollenhoven, 1865), O. lorentzi Bolivar, 1929, O. modesta Bolivar, 1929 stat. rev., O. scolopax Bolivar, 1929, O. westwoodi Bolivar, 1929 stat. rev. 33 new species are described and illustrated, namely: O. amberiana sp. nov., O. bewana sp. nov., O. bomberaiensis sp. nov., O. brevicollis sp. nov., O. cheesmanae sp. nov., O. depressa sp. nov., O. filiforma sp. nov., O. flyriveriensis sp. nov., O. fritzpahli sp. nov., O. hansscholteni sp. nov., O. imbiana sp. nov., O. kaitani sp. nov., O. karimuiensis sp. nov., O. katharinae sp. nov., O. luce sp. nov., O. meggy sp. nov., O. mountnokensis sp. nov., O. parvicollis sp. nov., O. projecta sp. nov., O. pulcherrima sp. nov., O. pushkari sp. nov., O. quateorum sp. nov., O. rebrinae sp. nov., O. roesleri sp. nov., O. rohwedderi sp. nov., O. sanguinea sp. nov., O. schapinae sp. nov., O. stallei sp. nov., O. storozhenkoi sp. nov., O. subbrevicollis sp. nov., O. telefominensis sp. nov., O. tenuis sp. nov., and O. toxopei sp. nov. An annotated identification key to species is provided. Antennal morphology (especially morphology of five apical segments) is diagnostically important in the taxonomy of this group and provides the best morphological character for species delimitation. Function of modified antennae is not fully understood. Differences between species exist also in head morphology, facial colouration, and morphometrics. Pygmy Giraffhoppers are a diverse group occupying most biogeographical regions of New Guinea North of the Central range, while only few species inhabit areas south of the central range.


Abstract Tricarbonyl(η6-cyclooctatetraene)metal(0) complexes of the group 6 elements were prepared by using the procedures described in the literature with some minor modifications and identified by IR and NMR spectroscopy. Their electrochemical behavior was studied by using cyclic voltammetry in dichloromethane solution containing 0.1 M tetrabutylammonium tetrafiuorob-orate as supporting electrolyte. Their oxidation and reduction potentials were measured and discussed in terms of the frontier energy levels in connection with the UV-Visible electronic ab sorption spectral data. In order to elucidate the mechanism of electrooxidation of the complexes, constant potential electrolysis was performed for one representative example, tricarbonyl(η6-cyclooctatetraene)chromium(O). The IR monitoring of the reaction showed that it is gradually converted to hexacarbonylchromium(O) upon electrolysis at constant potential.


Understanding the fate and transport of engineered and naturally-occurring nanoparticles is vital to predicting their ecological and toxicological impacts. Much of the current literature details the effects of solution conditions, such as pH and ionic strength, on aggregation and reactivity. Such work has drastically improved our ability to predict how nanoparticles could impact chemistry occurring in natural waters. Recently, a focus on how organic matter (OM) impacts chemistry occurring at the solid–liquid interface has emerged. This review focuses on summarizing major findings of how OM affects iron oxide nanoparticle reactivity, with particular focus on the underlying processes. First, we review work focused on the chemical reactivity of iron oxide nanoparticles in aqueous environments. Second, the current state of knowledge regarding the adsorption of OM onto mineral surfaces and its effects on nanoparticle aggregation and ion adsorption is presented. Third, how OM impacts chemical and solid-state transformations, oxidative/reductive reactivity, and photocatalytic activity of iron oxide nanoparticles is reviewed. Finally, we provide our vision of future research directions, with particular focus on improving our ability to predict the fate, transport, and chemical behavior of nanoparticles in complex, environmental systems.


Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were aggressively tip-ultrasonicated to produce shortened and damaged carbon nanotubes. High-resolution scanning electron microscopic analysis was performed to measure the dimensions of CNTs. Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to evaluate the damage in the sonicated CNTs. Shortened CNTs, in their pristine form (undamaged), were used for comparison with damaged CNTs. Nanocomposite bars, containing CNTs, were indented using Vickers hardness testing machine to produce sub-surface damage. Change in electrical conductivities were analysed after indentation to understand structural damage in nanocomposites having different types (i.e. damaged, shortened and pristine) of CNTs. Nanocomposites having longer and undamaged CNTs possess higher damage sensing ability as compared to nanocomposites having shortened and damaged CNTs.


The television studio play is often perceived as a somewhat compromised, problematic mode in which spatial and technological constraints inhibit the signifying and aesthetic capacity of dramatic texts. Leah Panos examines the function of the studio in the 1970s television dramas of socialist playwright Trevor Griffiths, and argues that the established verbal and visual conventions of the studio play, in its confined and 'alienated' space, connect with and reinforce various aspects of Griffiths's particular approach and agenda. As well as suggesting ways in which the idealist, theoretical focus of the intellectual New Left is reflexively replicated within the studio, Panos explores how the 'intimate' visual language of the television studio allows Griffiths to create a 'humanized' Marxist discourse through which he examines dialectically his dramatic characters' experiences, ideas, morality, and political objectives. Leah Panos recently completed her doctoral thesis, 'Dramatizing New Left Contradictions: Television Texts of Ken Loach, Jim Allen, and Trevor Griffiths', at the University of Reading and is now a Postdoctoral Researcher on the AHRC funded project, 'Spaces of Television: Production, Site and Style', which runs from July 2010 to March 2014.


The compliant quadruped robot Oncilla is used as platform to explore the benefits of the interaction between a feedforward gait and a simultaneous active stabilizing feedback controller. The chosen approach is motivated by findings in biology as well as by the advantages of modern stochastic methods. In this thesis, we present a balancing controller, a simple feedforward gait and first results of a system combining both components. The basic components can be modified in further research. The developed balancing controller is based on a common criteria for static stability, the current center of pressure (CoP) of the Oncilla. It is calculated from force data obtained from mounted OptoForce sensors and the endeffector positions calculated by a simplified forward kinematic model. Locally weighted regression is used to calculate motor commands that bring the Oncilla's CoP closer to a desired one. The static walking gait is based on analyses of the walking behavior of four-legged animals. The trajectory for each leg is further carefully hand-tuned and parameterized as a combination of sine curves. In addition, rhythmic movement primitives modulating the handcrafted gait have been applied. Finally, we explored how the final gait is influenced by combining the forward gait and the balancing controller. The tuning parameter was the amount of applied feedback, which determines how much the Oncilla relies on the gait or on the feedback. In the current setup, the balancing controller could not visibly improve the feedforward gait. This thesis provides first results towards a versatile platform allowing further experiments on the benefits of feedback for gait learning.


Abstract. We present an analysis of different sources of impact model uncertainty and combine this with probabilistic projections of climate change. Climatic envelope models describing the spatial distribution of palsa mires (mire complexes with permafrost peat hummocks) in northern Fennoscandia were calibrated for three baseline periods, eight state-of-the-art modelling techniques and 25 versions sampling the parameter uncertainty of each technique – a total of 600 models. The sensitivity of these models to changes in temperature and precipitation was analysed to construct impact response surfaces. These were used to assess the behaviour of models when extrapolated into changed climate conditions, so that new criteria, in addition to conventional model evaluation statistics, could be defined for determining model reliability. Impact response surfaces were also combined with climate change projections to estimate the risk of areas suitable for palsas disappearing during the 21st century. Structural differences in impact models appeared to be a major source of uncertainty, with 60% of the models giving implausible projections. Generalized additive modelling (GAM) was judged to be the most reliable technique for model extrapolation. Using GAM, it was estimated as very likely (>90% probability) that the area suitable for palsas is reduced to less than half the baseline area by the period 2030–2049 and as likely (>66% probability) that the entire area becomes unsuitable by 2080–2099 (A1B emission scenario). The risk of total loss of palsa area was reduced for a mitigation scenario under which global warming was constrained to below 2 °C relative to pre-industrial climate, although it too implied a considerable reduction in area suitable for palsas.


Background: The objectives were to evaluate the effect of surface treatments and waiting time before contact with dye on bleached enamel staining and surface treatments on roughness. Methods: One hundred bleached teeth were randomly assigned to G1 artificial saliva, G2 2% sodium fluoride (Flugel, Nova DFL), G3 casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate fluoride paste (MI Paste Plus, GC America), G4 rinse for bleached color maintenance (Keep White Rinse, DMC), and G5 polishing with impregnated disks (SuperBuff Disk, Shofu). Fifty specimens were immersed in coffee immediately after treatment; the others 1 h after. Color difference (ΔE) was evaluated with a spectrophotometer (Vita EasyShade) and roughness (Ra, Rq) with an optical profilometer (NewView 7300). Effects were analyzed with two-way ANOVA, Friedman, and Kruskal–Wallis test (P < 0.05). Results: Surface treatments (P = 0.878), waiting time (P = 0.105), and interaction (P = 0.145) were not significant to bleached color maintenance. Roughness was different among the evaluation time points (2nd evaluation >1st evaluation >3rd evaluation) (P < 0.001); not among surface treatments (G1, G2, G3, G4, G5) (P > 0.05). Conclusions: Surface treatments were similar to saliva for bleached enamel color maintenance. Immediate or 1-h postponed contact with coffee did not affect bleached enamel color. Bleaching increased enamel roughness; surface treatments and artificial saliva decreased it.


A contribution to the lichen flora of Turkey is provided. A total of 206 taxa, of which 2 are subspecies and 4 are variety, from 102 different stations in the Turkish provinces of Gumushane, Erzincan and Bayburt. 8 of which are new records for the lichen flora of Turkey. These are Acarospora nitrophila H. Magn., Immersaria cuproatra (Nyl.) Cabotayud & Rambold., Lecidea berengeriana (Massal.) Nyl., Placodiopsis tenella (Nyl.) Zahlbr., Pleopsidium flavum (Bellardi) Korber., Ramalina arabum (Ach.) Mey. ex Flot., Sarcogyne fallax H. Magn., Teloschistes contortublicatus (Ach.) Clauz. et Rond.


As far back as the Early Modern period, Swedish Reformation centenaries were exploited politically. Instead of Martin Luther, the liberation from Denmark (1521) and the Declaration of the Swedish Reformation (1593) were celebrated. From 1817 and 1830, Reformation centenaries were celebrated in a more continental form, but the Confessio Augustana-Celebration was combined with the clebration of Sweden's 'apostle' St.Ansgar. Because many of Luther's writings were not translated into Swedish until the 19th century, this became the century of reading Luther in Sweden. The Reformation centenary 1917 was celebrated throughout Sweden but simultaneously, a new Bible translation was introduced that departed significantly from the traidtions of the Luther Bible. Tow years later, Luther's Small Catechism was abandoned as the foundation of Religious Education in schools. The construction of a Swedish 'Special Path' for the interpretation of the Reformation continued into the 1920s and onwards. The most important commemoration of the Reformation was celebrated in German Lutzen, where a Gustav-Adolf-Chapel had been consecrated on November 6th, 1907. On November 6, 1942, in the heart of the Second World War, Archbishop Erling Eidem preached in the chapel, saying that the celebration should not be autonomous or arrogant, as if the people of Swedish, Nordic, or Germanic origin were superior to any other people or race in the world. Two days later, Dr. Eidem introduced the new Swedish rector in Berlin with a sermon on Romans 1:16 ('...to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.'). In Sweden, the celebrations were used to demonstrate the Swedish consensus on the Christian and the Swedish way (1941), which was understood in Swedish Reformation history as a middle course, 'to be interpreted' as the middle coruse between National Socialism and Communism (1943). Thus, Swedish Church history was exploited for both ecumenical and political purposes. it was not democracy, but religious and cultural unity that was being emphasized. A result of the 1993 Swedish Reformation Centenary was that the Church of Sweden portrayed itself as being on a particular ecumenical 'Special Path', as being Lutheran without Luther. In contrast to the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church, which has been able to combine ecumencial openness with conefessional lutheranism, the Church of Sweden has emphasized its uniqueness in such a way that could risk ecclesiastical isolation on an international level. Although lacking the old national rhetoric, the emphasis on the Swedish 'Special Path' has achieved the same result as the old antional glorification within both the peace initiatives as well as in ecumenical work. As an interpretation of the German Reformation, this pathway is highly questionable. (Less)


Psychological Outcomes of Prototypicality in Marginalized Group Members Rebecca I. Mohr Social psychologists have long been interested in judgments of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination towards people with marginalized identities. However, the majority of past social psychological studies have focused on understanding how perceivers view one dimension of marginalized identity in isolation from other marginalized identities. Specifically, past studies typically focus on the group members who are believed to be the most prototypical of marginalized groups in order to examine processes associated with discrimination (e.g., using Black men as targets when studying prejudice towards Black people). Because previous work largely examines the perceptions and experiences of prototypical marginalized group members, our understanding of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination is incomplete. I report five studies that use the intersectional invisibility framework as a scaffold to explore how perceivers' judgments of prototypical versus non-prototypical group members differ. In Study 1, I explore how non-prototypical marginalized group members are represented in the media relative to their prototypical counterparts. Study 2 measures how explicit perceived stereotypes of prototypical and non-prototypical marginalized group members differ. Study 3 investigates how perceivers make attributions about prototypical and non-prototypical marginalized groups. Studies 4 and 5 examine how perceivers detect discrimination towards prototypical and non-prototypical marginalized group members. These studies empirically demonstrate that non-prototypical marginalized group members are perceived differently than their prototypical counterparts. These differences are associated with downstream consequences including reduced representation in popular culture and enhanced perceiver attention towards non-prototypical group members when compared to their prototypical counterparts.


Hopf's technique was used to measure maximal and minimal motor nerve conduction velocities, and the percentage of fibres with intermediate velocity, in the posterior tibial nerve in patients with myotonic dystrophy. A reduction of maximal and minimal conduction velocities was found. The distribution of fibres with intermediate velocity was nearly identical to that of the control group and the dispersion values were normal. These data do not support the hypothesis that a primary disturbance of the motor neurons is responsible for the muscle changes in myotonic dystrophy. The reduction of the motor nerve conduction velocity, which was an inconstant finding, should not be considered an indication of a neurogenic aetiology of myotonic dystrophy, but only one of the many disorders of a multisystem disease.


Passive time reversal (pTR) is a low complexity receiver scheme that uses multichannel probing for time signal refocusing, thus reducing time spreading and improving inter-symbol interference. Recognizing that signals traveling through different paths are subject to arrival-angle-related Doppler displacements, this letter proposes a further improvement to pTR that applies correcting frequency shifts optimized for beams formed along each specific path arrival angle. The proposed channel equalizer is tested with real data, and the results show that the proposed approach outperforms both pTR and the modified pTR channel combiners providing an MSE gain of 4.9 and 4.2 dB, respectively.


This study aims to explore the mechanical properties of hybrid glass fiber (GF)/sisal fiber (SF)/chitosan (CTS) composite material for orthopedic long bone plate applications. The GF/SF/CTS hybrid composite possesses a unique sandwich structure and comprises GF/CTS/epoxy as the external layers and SF/CTS/epoxy as the inner layers. The composite plate resembles the human bone structure (spongy internal cancellous matrix and rigid external cortical). The mechanical properties of the prepared hybrid sandwich composites samples were evaluated using tensile, flexural, micro hardness, and compression tests. The scanning electron microscopic (SEM) images were studied to analyze the failure mechanism of these composite samples. Besides, contact angle (CA) and water absorption tests were conducted using the sessile drop method to examine the wettability properties of the SF/CTS/epoxy and GF/SF/CTS/epoxy composites. Additionally, the porosity of the GF/SF/CTS composite scaffold samples were determined by using the ethanol infiltration method. The mechanical test results show that the GF/SF/CTS hybrid composites exhibit the bending strength of 343 MPa, ultimate tensile strength of 146 MPa, and compressive strength of 380 MPa with higher Young's modulus in the bending tests (21.56 GPa) compared to the tensile (6646 MPa) and compressive modulus (2046 MPa). Wettability study results reveal that the GF/SF/CTS composite scaffolds were hydrophobic (CA = 92.41° ± 1.71°) with less water absorption of 3.436% compared to the SF/CTS composites (6.953%). The SF/CTS composites show a hydrophilic character (CA = 54.28° ± 3.06°). The experimental tests prove that the GF/SF/CTS hybrid composite can be used for orthopedic bone fracture plate applications in future.


I would entirely agree with the authors that a common site for abdominal wall pain is just medial to the Linea Semilunaris. However, despite review of the cases there is no doubt that some patients suffer from abdominal wall pain which can not be explained by entrapment of the anterior cutaneous branches of the intercostal nerves. The precise aetiology of these remaining cases remains obscure but may in part be due to 'trigger points' which have arisen in the muscles of the anterior abdominal wall. The aetiology of these 'trigger points' is uncertain but the fact that they respond to injections of local anaesthetic undoubted. Again, the key is the accurate placement of the needle. N C GALLEGOS Surgical Registrar Department of Surgery University College London


The UK Department for Transport's Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) invited transport authorities to bid for funds to support investment packages that balance transport, economic growth and demand management. This paper will describe the work carried out in Leeds to support development of the Transport for Leeds TIF programme. It will show how the development aspirations of the city were utilised to enable a package of "objective-led" schemes to be prioritised in order to maximise GVA growth, within available funding constraints. The paper will outline the situation in Leeds now and the expected changes in future years. Like many cities, Leeds faces a future in which it expects to see significant growth in housing and jobs. This growth will bring with it rising transport crowding and congestion, and the possibility that congestion will constrain employment growth, especially in the central area, which contains roughly one quarter of the city's jobs. The paper will describe the principles used to develop transport strategies. Transport supports economic growth by enabling employers to recruit a workforce and by providing them with access to customers and suppliers. The demand for transport and the economic value of new transport is therefore bound up with the spatial distribution of housing and employment in the city and beyond it. A land use and transport model (Steer Davies Gleave's Urban Dynamic Model, or UDM) was built to simulate the relationships between employment, households, land and transport up to 2030. In the first place it was used to demonstrate what was likely to happen if no action was taken. This produced a picture of rising congestion and crowding on the transport system as population and employment grew. It also showed how the recruitment catchment of employers in the central area would shrink in future years as the costs of commuting to the centre increased.The model is populated largely by readily available data and has a short (30 minute run time). It proved to be a very useful strategic tool, to test and refine various policies and proposals. It should be seen as an essential first step before embarking on expensive and resource intensive multimodal modelling. Spatial analysis highlighted corridors and areas where improvements in connectivity to the city centre and other growth locations would be most effective in supporting the creation of new jobs. A transport strategy was identified to maximise the beneficial impacts of investment against the key objectives. Potential transport interventions were developed in the light of this strategy, and tested in the UDM to assess their likely impact on a range of measures, including jobs, GVA, mode shares and carbon dioxide. Individual high performing interventions were then packaged together based on affordability levels and retested using the UDM. The paper will illustrate the benefit of using a strategic land use and transport interaction model in identifying: the need for and the spatial focus of transport investment; the importance of being able to quantify the dynamic relationships between employment and housing growth and accessibility; and the likely scale of the impact of different transport investments on employment growth, carbon emissions and accidents (as well as more conventional outputs such as trip levels, and distributions and mode shares). It will explain how a prioritised package of investment was identified and draw conclusions on the wider lessons learned from this work that might be applicable elsewhere. In particular, it will consider what lessons have been learned that can be applied in the planning and investment context that has arisen since this work was completed, with severely reduced funding and an emphasis on supporting economic growth and employment.


Background: Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) microarrays are used for genome-wide evaluation of copy number variations (CNV) of known prognostic significance; however, unannotated variants of uncertain significance (VUS) are frequently present. To identify potentially actionable targets, we retrospectively analyzed VUS loci using CGH data from 192 cases of cancer or genetic disorders treated at TTUHSC. Methods: DNA was hybridized onto CytoSure Constitution V3 arrays, scanned with the Agilent microarray D scanner, and analyzed by CytoSure Interpret Software. Results: We found 794 distinct CNVs, the most frequent being 14q32.22 (112 rearrangements), 14q11.2 (100), 8p11.2 (98), 15q11.1-q11.2 (83), and 8p23.1 (77). In particular, 8p11.22 alterations were found in many pediatric tumors, with gain/loss ratio of 4.7. Linkage of TACC1, TM2D2, KAT6A and ADAM32 was indicated by a similar 5-year survival rate of 75.3% (n = 253), which was greater than in unaltered cases (62.2%, n = 15,809 cases) in The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Conclusion: Knockdown of genes occurring at variants of uncertain significance (VUS) loci may help identify new therapy targets.


The melanic forms of Biston betularia and Gonodontis bidentata are common in northwest England. Kettlewell suggested that such morphs are better camouflaged from birds that seek them as food while they rest by day on exposed surfaces blackened by air pollution. He demonstrated that in an urban area the carbonaria melanic of B. betularia survived longer than the relatively conspicuous non-melanic typical form, and that this situation was reversed in an unpolluted area. Capture-recapture methods can be used to estimate daily survival rates and size of natural populations. These techniques were applied to Biston betularia at two localities and Gonodontis bidentata at five localities in northwest England and north Wales. The methods of Fisher & Ford (1947), Jolly (1965), Manly (1973) and Seber (1973) were used to analyse field data. Daily survival rates of the morphs, their expectations of life and their relative fitnesses were estimated. The rate of loss (1-survival rate) is a complex parameter including death and permanent emigration. There was no evidence for differential rates of movement of the morphs of a species, so differences in loss are due to selective death of morphs, probably arising as a result of predation by birds. In the study area the data for Biston betularia, together with the results of Bishop (1972) for seven other localities, present an unequivocal picture. There is a significant regression of the estimated fitness of typical relative to carbonaria at a locality and the frequency of typical in samples from that locality. Previous work has shown a strong correlation between the frequency of typical and the number of lichen taxa present on oak trees. There is no similar regression of fitness on frequency for Gonodontis bidentata although at Rusholme, central Manchester the evidence suggests that the non-melanic morph is at a disadvantage to the nigra form. The selective forces maintaining the polymorphism for nigra in G. bidentata are poorly understood. The density of populations of Gonodontis bidentata ranged from about 4:00 000 moths/ km $^2$ per flying season in south Liverpool to about 8000 moths/km $^2$ per season in central Manchester. Corresponding figures for B. betularia are probably less than 1000 moths/km $^2$ per season. That species appears to be highly mobile, a substantial fraction of adult males leaving the area where they developed. The evidence available for G. bidentata suggests that it is very much less mobile. The differences in density and movement affect the relative rates of gene flow in the two species.


Physicists from MIPT and the Russian Quantum Center, joined by colleagues from Saratov State University and Michigan Technological University, have demonstrated new methods for controlling spin waves in nanostructured bismuth iron garnet films via short laser pulses. Presented in Nano Letters, the solution has potential for applications in energy-efficient information transfer and spinbased quantum computing.


Conclusions In this study, we highlighted the benefits of using a combination of well-characterized TMAs, a fast, optimized 8-plex mIHC protocol, and a detailed analysis pipeline to characterize the immune-response in a broad range of cancer types and samples, leading to a better understanding of the TME as well as a streamlined workflow for further translational studies. Results Immune cell counts and phenotypes were identified using automated analysis for cores within the tumor and within the tumor margin using a panel characterizing a range of immune cell populations, and compared across each tissue type. Deep phenotyping was performed for each core to identify unique profiles for each tissue type, with a workflow optimized for high-throughput analysis of rich-content TMAs. Methods Each slide comprised 144 cores (1 mm) and included duplicate cores for each case (1 from invasive margin; 1 from tumor center) from 11 different tumor types including breast cancer (ER+, Her2+, TNBC), NSCLC (squamous, adenocarcinoma), SCLC, CRC, pancreatic, gastric, hepatic and esophageal cancers. TMA sections were stained using the UltiMapper I/O Immuno8 panel, which includes markers for CD3, CD4, CD8, FOXP3, CD68, PD-1, PD-L1, and a pan-CK/SOX10 cocktail as a tumor indicator. The stained TMAs were scanned at 20X magnification on a fluorescence whole slide scanner. To provide accurate marker colocalization data, marker images were aligned using the UltiStacker software, using the nuclear counterstain images as references from multiple rounds of imaging. Image analysis was performed using Visiopharm software and generated total and negative cell phenotype counts, cell density in tumor and stroma, as well as spatial interactions maps in each of the 288 cores in the TMA set. Background Multiplex immunohistochemistry (mIHC) and associated data analysis methods are rapidly becoming invaluable tools to improve our understanding of the complex tumor micro-environment (TME) and accelerate the discovery of novel immunotherapy targets. These techniques can enable the accurate phenotyping of the immune response and checkpoint expression in the spatial context of the tumor. The goal of this study was to identify the populations of immune cells (T-cytotoxic, T-helper, T-reg, and macrophages), their functional status, as well as their interactions with the tumor, in a range of samples and indications using a carefully designed multi-tumor Tissue Micro-Array (TMA) set of 2 slides from TriStar.


After a single administration of pyrogenal (0.2 and 5 mkg/kg) and hydrocortisone (100 mg/kg) histological changes in the rabbit thymus have been studied and compared with the level of 11-oxycorticosteroids (11-OCS) in blood of the animals under investigation. Hydrocortisone, while producing a considerable rise in the level of 11-OCS, increases the number of degenerating cells, inhibits mitotic activity and decreases the amount of lymphocytes per stipulated area unit in the cortical substance. Changes produced in the thymus after pyrogenal administration are similar to those produced by hydrocortisone administration but are pronounce much weaker, that is connected with concentration of corticosteroids circulating in blood.


Turkey berry (Solanum torvum Swartz) is one of medicinal plants and indigenous vegetables which grows abundantly in Indonesia. It has been known to have antibacterial activity against some pathogen bacteria, including Bacillus cereus. The aim of this study was to determine turkey berry's metabolites that have antibacterial activity by TLC method. The dried turkey berry was extracted by eight different combinations of methanol and water. These extracts were then divided into two parts: for antibacterial activity analysis and for TLC analysis. Extract with good antibacterial activity and showed more spots in TLC was further identified by two-dimentional TLC. The Rf score of this extract was also compared with reference compounds. F1 extract which was extracted by methanol:water (1:0) showed the highest diameter of inhibition. It also had more TLC spots than other extracts. F1 extract was then chosen to be identified by two dimentional TLC. It showed 14 sub-spots which have maximum absorption at 200400 nm. Some sub-spots of F1 extract also showed similar Rf score with reference compounds. Based on its TLC profile, F1 extract contain saponin, gallic acid, quercetin, myricetin, kaempferol, and apigenin. However, since TLC has limited resolution, it is possible that F1 contains other flavonoids and phenolic acids that may also responsible for its antibacterial activity.


Recent research in MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) and wireless communication has enabled tracking of continuous objects, including fires, nuclear explosions and bio-chemical material diffusions. This paper proposes an energy-efficient scheme that detects and tracks different dynamic shapes of a continuous object (i.e., the inner and outer boundaries of a continuous object). EBCO (Efficient Boundary detection and tracking of Continuous Objects in WSNs) exploits the sensing capabilities of sensor nodes by automatically adjusting the sensing range to be either a boundary sensor node or not, instead of communicating to its neighboring sensor nodes because radio communication consumes more energy than adjusting the sensing range. The proposed scheme not only increases the tracking accuracy by choosing the bordering boundary sensor nodes on the phenomenon edge, but it also minimizes the power consumption by having little communication among sensor nodes. The simulation result shows that our proposed scheme minimizes the energy consumption and achieves more precise tracking results than existing approaches.


Background and Aims: Caudal anaesthesia is one of the most commonly used regional anaesthetic technique in providing peri- and post-operative analgesia. It can serve as the sole anesthetic or can be an adjuvant to general anaesthesia. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical efficacy of the caudal block of 0.25% Ropivacaine with Tramadol or Dexmedetomidine as an adjuvant in paediatric infraumbilical surgeries. Methods: In this prospective, randomised, double-blinded comparative study, sixty children of either gender, in the age group of 1-8 years and scheduled for elective infra umbilical surgeries were randomly divided into two groups of thirty each. Children in Group D received a caudal epidural injection of 1ml/kg 0.25% ropivacaine with 2µg/kg dexmedetomidine while Group T received a caudal epidural injection of 1ml/kg ropivacaine with 2mg/kg tramadol. The primary outcome variable was the duration of time to rescue analgesia. The secondary outcome variables were onset of action, residual motor block, sedation score and adverse effects. Results: Results were statistically analysed using student's t- test. Mean time of rescue analgesia in group D was 718.00 ± 100.06 min i.e. 11 hours 58 minutes and in group T was 467.33± 68.94 min i.e. 7 hours 47 minutes. (P<0.001). Pain scores measured at regular intervals post operatively were lower in D group as compared to T group. Rescue analgesia requirement was more in group T as compared to group D. Haemodynamic changes and side effects were comparable between the groups Conclusion: Caudal dexmedetomidine with Ropivacaine provides longer duration of post-operative analgesia as compared to caudal Tramadol with Ropivacaine.


The Sanbagawa belt is one of the most famous subduction-related high-pressure (HP) metamorphic belts in the world, and the metamorphic facies series of the belt reaches the eclogite facies. Sanbagawa eclogites are found within coarse-grained mafic-ultramafic masses (Iratsu type) and their surrounding fine-grained mafic, pelitic, and siliceous schists (Seba type) in central and eastern Shikoku, southwest, Japan (Aoya & Endo, 2017 JGSJ). However, the regional extent of the eclogite facies region (eclogite unit) has not yet been established because most were overprinted by lower-pressure assemblages during the exhumation stage. In order to document the eclogite facies metamorphic features of the belt, we recently conducted comprehensive petrological studies of the pelitic schists in the Asemi-gawa region of central Shikoku (Taguchi & Enami, 2014a, 2014b JMPS; Taguchi et al., 2019 JMG). Our previous studies have revealed that a new eclogite unit exists in a limited high-grade area of this region and is composed primarily of pelitic schists. A number of petrological studies have been conducted on the mafic lithology of this region (e.g. Otsuki & Banno, 1990 JMG; Aoki et al. 2009 Lithos; Uno et al., 2015 CMP). However, none of these works recognize the presence of a definitive eclogitic indicator (omphacite, jadeite) within the mafic lithologies, which contrasts with the other eclogite units of Shikoku. This hinders the reliable reconstruction of the extent of the eclogite facies metamorphism in the Sanbagawa belt. Based on an integrated petrological and mineralogical approach, this study reports that mafic schist with garnet + omphacite + quartz paragenesis was first discovered in the Asemi-gawa region. The mafic schist occurs as thin layers within pelitic schist of the albite–biotite zone. This rock includes abundant garnet porphyroblasts up to 5 mm in diameter and shows prograde-type compositional zoning with no textural or compositional break. Omphacite in the mafic schist only occurs as inclusions in garnet, and albite is the major Na phase in the matrix, suggesting that the mafic schist represents highly retrogressed eclogite. The omphacite in the sample displays a strong Raman peak at 678 cm -1 , and concomitant Raman peaks are all consistent with those of the reference omphacite Raman spectrum. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations showed that the selected area electron diffraction pattern of the omphacite is compatible with the common P2/n omphacite structure. The combination of Raman geothermobarometries and conventional thermodynamic calculations gives peak (pressure–temperature) P–T conditions of 1.7–2.0 GPa and 440–540 °C for the mafic schist. The peak P–T values are comparable to those of the schistose eclogitic rocks (Seba type) in other Sanbagawa eclogite units of Shikoku. These findings suggest that most of the schistose eclogites and associated metasedimentary rocks along the Sanbagawa subduction zone probably share similar simple P–T histories.


Failure to maintain protein homeostasis (proteostasis) leads to accumulation of unfolded proteins and contributes to the pathogenesis of many human diseases. Accumulation of unfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) elicits unfolded protein response (UPR) that serves to attenuate protein translation, and increase protein refolding or degradation. In contrast to UPR in the ER, the regulatory molecules operative in cytosolic responses and their potential relation to ER stress are not well elucidated. Aggresome-like induced structures (ALIS) have been described as transient aggregation of ubiquitinated proteins in the cytosol. In this study, we show that cells respond to inflammation, infection or ER stress by cytosolic formation of ALIS, indicating that ALIS formation represents an early event in cellular adjustment to altered proteostasis that occurs under these conditions. This response was aided by rapid transcriptional upregulation of polyubiqutin-binding protein p62. NF-ĸB and mTOR activation were also required for ALIS formation. Importantly, we show a cross talk between UPR in the ER and cytosolic ALIS. Down-regulation of ER UPR in XBP1 deficient cells increases cyotosolic ALIS formation. Furthermore, lysosomal activity but not macroautophagy is responsible for ALIS clearance. This study reveals the underlying regulatory mechanisms of ALIS formation and clearance, and provides a previously unrecognized common adaptive mechanism for cellular responses against inflammation and ER stress.


ABSTRACT
Genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM) refers to a collection of symptoms resulting from diminished hormonal, primarily estrogenic stimulation to the vulvovaginal or lower urinary tract and may affect up to 50% of postmenopausal women. Symptoms, which are typically progressive and unlikely to resolve spontaneously, may include, but are not limited to, vulvovaginal dryness, burning or irritation, dyspareunia, or urinary symptoms of urgency, dysuria or recurrent urinary tract infection. These symptoms are typically progressive and unlikely to resolve spontaneously. Diagnosis is clinical. Telemedicine may play a role in diagnosis, initiation of treatment, and follow-up of women with GSM. Effective treatments include moisturizers and lubricants, local hormonal therapy with estrogen or dehydroepiandrosterone, and oral selective estrogen receptor agonists. Laser or radiofrequency procedures, although currently utilized, are being studied to comprehensively understand their overall effectiveness and safety. Additionally, the influence and effect of the vaginal microbiome, as well as potential of treatment via its manipulation, is being studied. We performed a literature search of PubMed, Google Scholar, and Ovid with search terms of vulvovaginal atrophy and GSM and reviewed major US Society Guidelines to create this narrative review of this topic. The literature suggests that healthcare providers can make a significant impact of the health and quality of life of women by being proactive about discussing and providing interventions for GSM. A systematic approach with consideration of current guidelines and attention to developing protocols for interventions should be employed.
Video Summary:http://links.lww.com/MENO/A702.


OBJECTIVE
To examine long-run growth in the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) industry and potential factors influencing its trajectory.

DATA SOURCES
National data for all Medicare-certified ASCs (1990-2015) and outpatient discharge records from the state of Florida in 2007.

STUDY DESIGN
We documented the number of ASCs in the United States over time and decomposed the trend into underlying ASC market entry and exit behavior. We then examined the plausibility of 2008 Medicare payment reforms to influence the trend changes.

DATA EXTRACTION METHODS
Data on ASC openings and closures are obtained from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Provider of Service files. Secondary data on ASC volume in Florida are obtained from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
The number of ASCs in the United States grew 5%-10% annually between 1990 and 2007 but by 1% or less beginning in 2008. This change coincided with substantive reductions in Medicare payments for key ASC services. The annual number of new ASCs was as much as 50% lower following the payment change.

CONCLUSIONS
ASCs are an important competitor for outpatient services, but growth has slowed dramatically. Sharp changes in new ASC entry align with less generous Medicare fees.


Deformation of Titanium alloys close to optimal superplastic condition i.e. near superplastic regime of deformation leads to significant change in microstructures.VT-9 titanium alloy was used in order to find out those parameters of microstructure which are varying significantly during near superplastic regime of deformation. Tensile tests were carried out at 930°C up to fracture with a constant strain rate of 5*10-4 s-1 and a jump wise varying strain rate of 1*10-4 s-1 & 5*10-4 s-1 .The microstructural parameters of both air-cooled and water quenched portion i.e. size of alpha phase, percentages of alpha phase and parameter of non-uniaxiality of alpha phase were found to change significantly during near superplastic regime of deformation. It has been found that in the near superplastic regime of deformation percentage of α-phase decreased from 90% to 13%. As the β-transus temperature of this alloy is 970°C, this significant change in percentage of α-phase is attributed to deformation induced phase transformation. Optical microscopes, micro Vickers hardness test, XRD, FESEM have been used to characterize the microstructure of the material.


Nine HA genes of influenza A (H1N1) viruses originating from swine which were detected in 2009 in Jakarta, Indonesia, were characterized in this study. Nasopharyngeal and/or pharyngeal samples were extracted to obtain viral RNA genomes. Amplification of the HA segment was performed by using the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and followed by nested PCR in cases of RT-PCR negative. DNA sequencing was performed by using eight overlapping primers. All the Jakarta strains were closely related to vaccine strain A/California/07/2009. Nine amino acid changes were found in the Jakarta strains, and 5 (P100S, S220T, G239D, R240Q, and I338V) of those were unique to all Jakarta strains with respect to strain A/California/07/2009 used to produce vaccine. An I338V substitution was detected in a cleavage site of HA and no amino acid changes were detected in potential sites for N-linked glycosylation. For seven sites (positions 131, 158, 160, 183, 187, 222, and 227) playing an important role in viral attachment to host receptor, none of the expected amino acid changes was detected; however, a S220T substitution close to amino acid 222 was found in all the Jakarta strains. All amino acid changes potentially affect the pathogenicity of the viruses and the efficacy of strain A/California/07/2009 in neutralizing the Jakarta strains.


The importance of fungal attack to acarina has been observed but not yet on Tetraychus kanzawai. When infected mite, either within in a same species or even in a different species of entomopathigenic probably have similar signs and simptoms to mites. Characteristic of entomopathogenic fungus to Tetranychus kanzawai was investigated. Three selected isolates of Metarhizium aniopliae, from Philippines and Indonesia were evaluated. The following aspects were investigated: (1) Bioassay tes of virulence, (2) Koch Postulate and (3) Infection process on each fungus against mite. Virulence of Metarhizium anisopliae was 1.4 X 103, 7.2 X 102 , 5 X 102 PIB per ml on Ma4, Ma5 and Ma6, respectively. On Koch Postulates, Reinoculation and reisolation of all seven isolates from infected T. kanzawai showed definite signs of infection. This demonstrated its entomopathogenic capacity. In this experiment, adult mites were sprayed with 108 per ml concentrations of conidia observed under light microscope and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The result found T. kanzawai was very susceptible to three isolates M. anisopliae. In the end of the trials, fungal growth was detectable as early as 2 until 4 days of observation. Infection process with microphotograph and Scanning Electro Microscopy showed attachment, germination and penetration, extrusion and conidiogenesis fungal form.


In this paper, we propose a method that evaluates the content of a text summary using a machine learning approach. This method operates by combining multiple features to build models that predict the PYRAMID scores for new summaries. We have tested several single and "Ensemble Learning" classifiers to build the best model. The evaluation of summarization system is made using the average of the scores of summaries that are built from each system. The results show that our method has achieved good performance in predicting the content score for a summary as well as for a summarization system.


The presented work is a part of the ongoing effort on the development of high performance bio-based composites with enhanced durability, under static and dynamic mechanical loading including the exposure to elevated humidity. The impact of relative humidity on the performance of cellulosic fibers (natural and regenerated), bio-based resins and their composites was studied. The material performance was rated against the data for glass fiber epoxy, as the reference. The comparison of water absorption results for unreinforced resins and for composites showed that the cellulosic reinforcement is primarily responsible for the transport and uptake of moisture in the composites. The effect of chemical treatment on the cellulosic fibers, as a protection against moisture, was evaluated. However, the treatment did not improve the moisture resistance in composites significantly. Quasi-static tensile tests revealed that some of the bio-based resins and their composites performed very well and comparable to the composites of synthetic epoxy, even at high humidity. However, any structural material is supposed to hold mechanical loads over a long service time and most often in harsh environmental conditions. Hence, tension-tension fatigue tests were performed on the fiber bundles as well as on the composites. The fibers of choice as the reinforcement for further mechanical testing were regenerated cellulose fibers (RCF), mainly owing to the stable geometry and properties. Due to the high nonlinearity of RCF, the fatigue tests were limited in number and the focus was on analyzing the mechanisms underlying the fatigue behavior rather than on constructing S-N curves. Strain evolution of the bio-based composites during the dynamic fatigue was very similar to that observed in the static fatigue (creep). It confirmed the strong influence of viscoelastic and viscoplastic phenomena on the overall performance of the material under the rapid loading conditions in fatigue. Since the durability of composites greatly depends on the material¿s ability to stand the internal damages (e.g. debonding, microcracking, delaminations), the interfacial properties in the bio-based composites were addressed. To investigate the fracture toughness of bio-based composites, the double cantilever beam (DCB) tests were carried out, under static and dynamic loading. Moreover, the DCB results were utilized as a measure of the fiber chemical treatment¿s efficiency to improve the adhesion between RCF and the resin. The nonlinearity of RCF strongly influenced the results obtained from DCB tests, which complicated the analysis regarding the effectiveness of the fiber surface treatment. Nevertheless, this study brings forward the issues that have to be dealt with, in order to characterize and predict the performance of these composite materials with highly nonlinear reinforcing fibers. Overall, the results presented in this thesis give an insight into the behavior of bio-based composites, at various environments and under different types of mechanical loading. Based on these findings, the potential use of these materials in structural applications can be assessed


A fundamental design principle of the Internet is best effort packet delivery. The term "best effort" means that the network will do its best to deliver packets, but without any guarantees. In other words, if a problem occurs, the data are discarded. As long as most Internet applications and services require error-free data delivery and proper sequencing, providing reliable transmission of data from source to destination has become an important issue in the Internet. It is worthwhile to note that error control mechanisms, implemented at the lower layers of the protocol stack, cannot fully replace end-to-end error control, since the end-to-end functionality cannot be achieved in a hop-by-hop manner. The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), a transport layer protocol, provides transparent transfer of data between application layer entities and releases them from any concern with the detailed way in which reliable delivery of data is achieved. To provide reliability, TCP detects errors or lost data and triggers retransmission until the data are correctly and completely received. TCP is also responsible for ensuring that the sending rate is appropriate for the capabilities of the receiving host (flow control), as well as avoiding introducing too much data into the network, which could cause buffers in some bottleneck routers to overflow and start dropping packets (congestion control). This is done by regulating the rate at which the sending host transmits data. It should be emphasized that the current stability of the Internet mainly depends on TCP congestion control mechanisms, while various queue management algorithms, implemented in routers, are helpful but play a less crucial role in practice. Due to such benefits as end-to-end error control and rate adaptation, TCP is heavily used throughout the Internet: about 90% of today's Internet traffic is carried by TCP. Since TCP controls the vast majority of bytes and packets transmitted over the Internet, predicting TCP behavior and optimizing its performance is extremely important for satisfying user needs and providing quality of service in the Internet. In protocol analysis and design, analytical modeling has proven to be a powerful and cost-effective tool for studying the behavior of a communication protocol across the entire parameter space of different operating conditions and protocol parameter settings. Therefore, the research presented in this thesis is concentrated on improving the existing analytical models and developing new ones. The first part of the thesis is focused on analytical modeling of TCP performance in wired networks, capturing various aspects of TCP behavior in different scenarios. The second part is dedicated to TCP performance modeling in wired-cum-wireless networks. The developed models provide a general framework for TCP performance evaluation in a wide range of environments and conditions.


Introduction: Atypical antipsychotic drugs are effective in the treatment of bipolar disorder. Studies have shown that atypical antipsychotic drugs are more superior to typical antipsychotic in term of neurocognitive function, negative symptoms and extrapyramidal side effects. Both aripiprazole and quetiapine are atypical antipsychotic drugs that are effective and commonly used in all phases of bipolar disorder treatment. Objective: The aim of this study is to examine and compare the clinical outcomes of aripiprazole and quetiapine in bipolar disorder patients. Method: This was a retrospective cohort study among patients from psychiatric unit, University Malaya Medical Center. Prescription records dated between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2014 for psychiatric unit were extracted. The data of the subjects with prescription of the two atypical antipsychotic, namely aripiprazole and quetiapine was extracted. The outcome measures were the co-prescription of antihypertensive drugs, antidiabetic drugs and lipid lowering drugs. Results: A total of 58 subjects were recruited, 11 were on aripiprazole and 47 were on quetiapine. Statistical analysis has shown that both aripiprazole and quetiapine do not have any association with compliance to the medication and also follow up. Study also revealed that there is no association between the aripiprazole and quetiapine group with the metabolic side effects that were measured such as systolic or diastolic blood pressure, waist circumference, weight, glucose level and body mass index. Conclusion: This study has shown that both aripiprazole and quetiapine were similar in terms of metabolic side effect, compliance to medications and follow up.  Please click PDF below to download the full paper...


In this first chapter Gary Stidder and Sid Hayes provide their rationale for writing a second edition of this book and the impetus for undertaking this task.They refer to the ways in which physical education can be an alienating experience for some pupils and why issues of equity and inclusion are important factors for teachers to consider. They outline some of the pertinent issues associated with equity and inclusion in physical education and the rationale for each chapter selection. They briefly highlight the introduction of key UK government landmark policies in relation to education, bringing to the fore changes in education since 1988, and conclude with an exploration of the rhetoric and reality of inclusion within physical education during the last decade.


According to the 2016 Household Projections report, England's housing stock could reach 28 million households by 2039 with approximately one fifth being new constructions. A significant proportion of these newly built dwellings may face a high risk of overheating as a result of the combined effects of climate change and more stringent building thermal efficiency standards, if not appropriately designed. Reliable methods for predicting indoor overheating risk are required to avoid potentially negative impacts of excess indoor temperature exposure on occupant thermal comfort and wellbeing while simultaneously minimising the use of mechanical ventilation and cooling. Building Energy Simulation (BES) software are widely used in the building construction industry to estimate the overheating risk of new developments. CIBSE's recently released methodology for predicting overheating in new dwellings aims to achieve consistency between existing prediction methods currently applied by building designers and engineers. BES tools are abstract representations of reality and large differences in model outputs are often observed between tools. The level of overheating risk predicted through the CIBSE method may hence depend on the choice of software and its underlying assumptions. Such an effect could directly impact CIBSE's efforts in creating a standardised procedure across the industry. This research project utilised inter-model comparison along with sensitivity analysis to investigate the differences in overheating risk prediction between two commonly used software packages, EnergyPlus and IES VE. The sensitivity analysis resulted in a total of nine variations of the single-aspect, high-rise flat, simulated in each software. Looking at individual models, there was a general agreement between either software's predictions and the literature's suggestions on the factors that may be driving overheating. Measures such as increased thermal mass, external shading, north-facing direction and cross-ventilation lowered the predicted risk. However, discrepancies between software were observed with only two EnergyPlus models successfully meeting both overheating criteria, compared to all the IES VE models. This work therefore concludes that the choice of BES tool could greatly impact the predicted risk of overheating.


E-learning and military rules across battlefields
Andrei-Emil Moise
Hyperion University, Calarasi Street, Bucharest, Romania

It is undoubtly true for any for any advised reader, that in all conflicts, either of internal or external nature certain rules need to obeyed. While most nations, if not all, agree that such limitations are required in order to protect both combatants and the civilian population of unnecessary torment, few chose to act in sharing to those interested the very set of law principles that should govern armed conflicts. Here is an area where e-learning can and should come in more and more effective. Some countries, the more unfortunate ones, financially speaking, tend to justify the most gruesome acts committed by their armed forces as a direct result of lack of information regarding humanitarian law. Such excuses should not be tolerated in any circumstance and, by the use of technology and the learning systems being upgraded and implemented every day errors and the thin excuse of blissfulness
Perhaps such use is not the most common of e-learning techniques but it is nonetheless of utmost importance. In support of these things i shall bring opinions of renowned authors which are willing to award the media-technology ways of the present the most important role in the development of society in all it's domains. If we are to take those informations and rally them for but a second to the necessity of veridical data on all battlefields we are to discover how the most vital data (the ones regarding the protection and safekeeping of human lives) are to find the most beneficial way of traveling and being carried across the world nowadays.


Diagnosing problems in large-scale, distributed applications runningin cloud environments requires investigating different sources ofinformation to reason about application state at any given time. Typical sources of information available to developers and operatorsinclude log statements and other runtime information collectedby monitors, such as application and system metrics. Just as importantly, developers rely on information related to changes to the source code andconfiguration files (program code) when troubleshooting. This information is generally scattered, and it is up to the troubleshooterto inspect multiple implicitly-connected fragments thereof. Currently, different tools need to be used in conjunction, e.g., logaggregation tools, source-code management tools, and runtime-metricdashboards, each requiring different data sources and workflows. Notsurprisingly, diagnosing problems is a difficult proposition. In this paper, we propose Context-Based Analytics, an approach that makes the links between runtime informationand program-code fragments explicit by constructing a graph based on anapplication-context model. Implicit connections between informationfragments are explicitly represented as edges in the graph. We designeda framework for expressing application-context models and implemented a prototype. Further, we instantiated our prototype framework with an application-contextmodel for two real cloud applications, one from IBM and another from a major telecommunications provider. We applied context-based analytics to diagnose twoissues taken from the issue tracker of the IBM application and foundthat our approach reduced the effort of diagnosing these issues. In particular, context-based analytics decreased the number of required analysis steps by 48% and the number ofneeded inspected traces by 40% on average as compared to a standard diagnosis approach.


The structure and magnetic properties of fcc-Fe/Cu (100) superlattices have been investigated by the first-principles total energy calculation based on density functional theory (DFT). Through the optimization of the structure of Fe/Cu superlattices, it has been found that the interlayer spacing of Cu layers is contracted while the interlayer spacing of Fe layers is expanded. There are no obviously changes of Fe/Cu interfaces for Fe3Cu3 and Fe3Cu5 models. The layer spacing for Fe3Cu5 changes larger than that of Fe3Cu3 model, which results to a slightly larger magnetic moment of FeCu5 than that of Fe3Cu3 model. We also analyze the density of state near the Fermi surface and calculate spin asymmetry factor of each layer in Fe/Cu systems. Based on the two-current model, we evaluate the magnetoresistance ratio 21.8% for Fe3Cu3 and 22.8 % for Fe3Cu5 system.


In this paper, we examine the role of affect regulation in the stammering, nearly spasmodic attempts of chronically Hospitalized =and to communicate trauma. An extended study of 26 videotaped interviews, completed in Israel in 2002 and in 2003 provided a corpus from which the conceptual model for understanding trauma-related affects, the "affect propeller," could be used and further developed. This model was initially based on videotaped interviews with 40 Holocaust survivors and 12 survivors from the Rwandan genocide 1994. An overall impression of the narratives studied was that extended memory gaps, lack of visible affect, the warding-off of questions, and the avoidance of certain themes seem to be remarkably more common than in non-hospitalized Holocaust survivors. Two categories of trauma-related affects were identified as reflecting this difference: affect imploding and affect encasement


The purpose of this project was to characterize and explore many different properties of conflict resolution and moral development as possible using qualitative empirical approaches which explored childrens' concepts of problem solving and reasoning. The objective of the study was to address how children cheat in games, and the efficacy of Rock-Paper-Scissors in conflict resolution. This study built upon Jean Piaget's theory of moral development in children, extending his concepts into the sphere of rules and transgressions. The study was designed to analyze the stages in Piaget's theory pertaining to the levels of moral development and how children interact in successful conflict resolutions with regard to the stages of development. The study also incorporates an analysis of the game Rochambeau, or Rock-paper-Scissors, which is often used to solve small disputes between people. The research technique, naturalistic observation, was based on observing subjects in their natural environment. This type of research is well suited for situations where conducting lab research is unrealistic, cost prohibitive, or would unduly affect the subject's behavior. The experiment was carried out during a daytime program provided by Child and Family Services of the Upper Peninsula, Inc., in the summer of 2014. RUNNING HEAD: Conflict Resolution and Moral Development in Early Childhood Biang 3


The study on the inverse problems in the ultrasonic nondestructive testing (NDT) has a wide application field in various industries. An error function based inversion algorithm is introduced to determine the parameters of three-layered plates from the measured velocity of multi-mode Lamb waves. A mixed-spectral estimation is proposed to combine FFT with AR model for exact determination of the ultrasonic phase velocity. Experiments are performed using two conventional angle probes as transmitter and receiver on the same surface of three-layered laminates. Inverse analyses of one parameter (thickness) and two parameters (longitudinal and transverse wave velocities in a layer, or thickness of two layers) of three-layered laminates are made. The experimental results show that the inverse approach is in good agreement with the actual value.


OBJECTIVE
This study sought to assess the cost-effectiveness of 7 treatment strategies for treatment-refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in adults.

METHODS
A model was developed to evaluate treatment alternatives for adults (18-64 years old) that consisted of 2 parts: a decision analytic model and a Markov model. The decision analytic model stratified 7 outpatient treatment strategies, and the Markov model accumulated benefits and costs across the life expectancy of a simulated cohort of individuals. The model was parameterized with probabilistic and deterministic parameters from the literature and an outcomes database to perform a Monte Carlo simulation of a hypothetical cohort of 100,000 adults with OCD to estimate net health benefits (NHBs), costs, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for each treatment strategy. OCD was considered treatment refractory in adults with an OCD diagnosis who failed first-line therapies. Encounters took place from 2012 to 2015, and the analyses were performed from November 2016 to February 2017.

RESULTS
Partial hospitalization with step-down to intensive outpatient treatment was the most cost-effective of the 7 strategies, with an estimated ICER of $7,983 and mean (SD) NHB of 10.96 (0.53) quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) remaining. This result was 2.2 QALYs greater than that of the trial-based antidepressant and cognitive-behavioral therapy (ADM + CBT) strategy. Three additional ADM + CBT strategies were estimated not to be statistically significantly different from each other. These 4 ADM + CBT strategies outperformed both pharmacotherapy-only strategies.

CONCLUSIONS
Treatment strategies that include higher-intensity CBT, with effectiveness outcomes that approached efficacy estimates, were superior to real-world CBT strategies. However, given the limited availability of high-quality CBT, especially through use of commercial insurance networks, specialized treatment programs offer greater effectiveness than real-world therapies in achieving wellness for this severe patient population.


Background and the purpose of the study: Recent studies have indicated the role of apoptosis and angiotensin in the pathogenesis of bleomycin induced-pulmonary fibrosis. Losartan, an angiotensin type 1 receptor (AT1R) antagonist, has ameliorated apoptosis and fibrosis from bleomycin. In this study, alterations in the expression of apoptosis-regulatory genes (bcl-2 and bax) were investigated in different cells of lung tissue of mice treated with bleomycin in the presence of losartan. Methods: Losartan (10 mg/kg, i.p.) was given to mice two days before administration of bleomycin (3 U/kg) and throughout the test period. After two weeks, lung tissues of mice were evaluated for fibrosis by biochemical measurement of collagen deposition and semiquantitative analysis of pathological changes of the lung. The expression of bcl-2 and bax was assessed by immunohistochemical assay using biotin-streptavidin staining method on paraffin-embedded lung tissues. Results and major conclusion: Pre-treatment with losartan significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the increase in lung collagen content and also inhibited the histological changes induced by bleomycin. Immunohistochemical studies showed that losartan significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the bax/bcl-2 expression ratio in the alveolar epithelial cells, lymphocytes, macrophages and interstitial myofibroblasts. Losartan also inhibited the bcl-2 upregulation which was educed by bleomycin in neutrophils. By reduction of bax/bcl-2 ratio as a determinant of susceptibility of a cell to apoptosis, losartan exerted protective effects on the alveolar epithelial cells that may be important in the amelioration of pulmonary fibrosis. These results may help to better understanding of the role of angiotensin II and apoptosis in pulmonary fibrosis.


Background: The Western Australian Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness study commenced in 2008 to evaluate a new program to provide free influenza vaccine to all children aged 6 to 59 months. We aimed to assess the protective effect of inactivated influenza vaccination in these children. Methods: We conducted a prospective case–control study in general practices and a hospital emergency department, testing all eligible patients for influenza and a range of other common respiratory viruses. Influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) against laboratory-confirmed influenza was estimated with cases defined as children with an influenza-like illness who tested positive and controls as those with an influenza-like illness who tested negative for influenza virus. We calculated VE using the adjusted odds ratio from multivariate logistic regression. As a surrogate marker for adequate specimen collection, we explored the difference in VE point estimates defining controls as children in whom another respiratory virus was detected. Results: A total of 75 children were enrolled from general practices and 214 through the emergency department, with 12 (27%) and 36 (17%), respectively, having laboratory-confirmed influenza. Using all the influenza-negative controls, the adjusted VE was 58% (95% confidence interval, 9–81). When controls were limited to those with another virus present, the adjusted VE was 68% (95% confidence interval, 26–86). Conclusions: VE estimates were higher when controls included only those children with another respiratory virus detected. Testing for other common respiratory viruses enables the control group to be restricted to those for whom an adequate sample is likely.


During a breaking operation of charging current with a disconnecting switch (DS) in SF6 gas-insulated switchgear (GIS), the occurrence of a fault to ground from the DS contact by a restriking surge was reported to be observed. The flashover voltage in this case, is appreciably lower than the normal withstand voltage to the ground. It has been clarified through high-speed photography with an image converter camera that the flashover is caused by a streamer generated during restriking between the DS contacts. In this respect, with the objective of confirming these phenomena in a simulated power system, two synthetic test circuits were constructed by using 550kV DS's. Verification tests were carried out to confirm the equivalence between these two test circuits. The DS's subjected to test withstood a surge voltage of 2.3pu-the maximum voltage obtained by simulating calculations of various GIS configurations.


We address the question of how to communicate among distributed processes valuessuch as real numbers, continuous functions and geometrical solids with arbitrary precision, yet efficiently. We extend the established concept of lazy communication using streams of approximants by introducing explicit queries. We formalise this approach using protocols of a query-answer nature. Such protocols enable processes to provide valid approximations with certain accuracy and focusing on certain locality as demanded by the receiving processes through queries. A lattice-theoretic denotational semantics of channel and process behaviour is developed. Thequery space is modelled as a continuous lattice in which the top element denotes the query demanding all the information, whereas other elements denote queries demanding partial and/or local information. Answers are interpreted as elements of lattices constructed over suitable domains of approximations to the exact objects. An unanswered query is treated as an error anddenoted using the top element. The major novel characteristic of our semantic model is that it reflects the dependency of answerson queries. This enables the definition and analysis of an appropriate concept of convergence rate, by assigning an effort indicator to each query and a measure of information content to eachanswer. Thus we capture not only what function a process computes, but also how a process transforms the convergence rates from its inputs to its outputs. In future work these indicatorscan be used to capture further computational complexity measures. A robust prototype implementation of our model is available.


Abstract : The General Rotorcraft Aeromechanical Stability Program (GRASP) was developed to analyse the steady-state and linearized dynamic behavior of rotorcraft in hovering and axial flight conditions. Because of the nature of problems GRASP was created to solve, the geometrically nonlinear behavior of beams is one area in which the program must perform well in order to be of any value. Numerical results obtained from GRASP are compared to both static and dynamic experimental data obtained for a cantilever beam undergoing large displacements and rotations caused by deformations. The correlation is excellent in all cases.


Three months after colectomy for severe ulcerative colitis, an 18-year-old male presented with a multisystem illness characterized by fever, arthralgias, hypertension, and declining renal function. A diagnosis of polyarteritis nodosa was made histologically and confirmed angiographically. Clinical and pathological findings suggest that the patient had 2 separate illnesses. Potential implications of this unique association are briefly discussed.


: The work deals with the results of surgical management of 61 patients with temporal-lobe epilepsy. The indications for the use of various types of operative interventions in this pathological condition are discussed. Positive results of treatment were obtained in 90.8--80.65% of cases. Deterioration in the patients' condition was not noted. It is emphasized that indications for surgical treatment must be determined as early as possible.


Different mechanical pulp fines were characterized chemically and the role of chemical composition in determining their papermaking properties was evaluated. The chemical composition (surface and bulk lignin, carbohydrates and extractives) of the fines varied widely. There were indications that variations, at least to some extent, were connected to the differences in the physical properties of fines. Correlations between the chemical components of the fines from different processes and sheet properties were not found; conversely in the refining of a TMP pulp, the chemical and physical properties of the fines produced developed simultaneosly, contributing e.g. to sheet strength. It was shown that sheet properties were not determined by any single physical or chemical property of fines alone, but that sheet characteristics are formed by a combination of several factors. It was concluded that the surface content of extractives and hemicelluloses as well as the proportion of the fibrillar material were the most important characteristics contributing to the tensile strength of a fines sheet.


As fossil fuels and other forms of carbon-based resources become increasingly scarce and environmentally detrimental, renewable sources of energy have progressively become the subject of green research. Because of its chemical and structural properties, lignocellulosic biomass has shown great promise in becoming a potential alternative to carbon-based fuels. The heterogeneous nature of the biomass produces numerous sustainable chemical fuels and resources when thermally degraded. To better understand and optimize these processes, mathematical modeling of microstructural changes, induced by pyrolysis, is the focus of this work. Although similar, pyrolysis research has been conducted over the years, most of these approaches have been continuum-based. Typically, such methods are effective when analyzing macrostructural changes. However, continuum-based approaches become less effective when studying changes in the microstructure of biomass. This work utilizes discrete element method (DEM) as an alternative platform to simulate pyrolysis-induced changes. A DEM-based approach allows individual particles within a cross-section of biomass microstructure to be tracked and analyzed.


: Using MRI survey, 163 patients with various brain pathology of vascular genesis were studied. Vascular dementia according to NINDS-AIREN classification was diagnosed in 15% of patients. Cognitive disturbances in other patients did not reach a level of dementia. A control group comprised 61 subjects without rough structural changes on MRI and cognitive dysfunction. Motor disorders were estimated according to classification of J. Nutt et al. (1993), quantitative static changes were registered using computer stabilography. The results of the study showed that postural instability occurs in 100% of patients with vascular brain pathology. A degree of its expression elevated in direct proportion to the expression of cognitive disturbances, reaching a maximum in patients with dementia.


Background The androgen receptor (AR) expression and the CAG repeat length within the AR gene appear to be involved in the carcinogenesis of male breast carcinoma (MBC). Although phenotypic differences have been observed between MBC and normal control group in AR gene, there is lack of correlation analysis between AR expression and CAG repeat length in MBC. The purpose of the study was to investigate the prognostic value of CAG repeat lengths and AR protein expression. Methods 81 tumor tissues were used for immunostaining for AR expression and CAG repeat length determination and 80 normal controls were analyzed with CAG repeat length in AR gene. The CAG repeat length and AR expression were analyzed in relation to clinicopathological factors and prognostic indicators. Results AR gene in many MBCs has long CAG repeat sequence compared with that in control group (P = 0.001) and controls are more likely to exhibit short CAG repeat sequence than MBCs. There was statistically significant difference in long CAG repeat sequence between AR status for MBC patients (P = 0.004). The presence of long CAG repeat sequence and AR-positive expression were associated with shorter survival of MBC patients (CAG repeat: P = 0.050 for 5y-OS; P = 0.035 for 5y-DFS AR status: P = 0.048 for 5y-OS; P = 0.029 for 5y-DFS, respectively). Conclusion The CAG repeat length within the AR gene might be one useful molecular biomarker to identify males at increased risk of breast cancer development. The presence of long CAG repeat sequence and AR protein expression were in relation to survival of MBC patients. The CAG repeat length and AR expression were two independent prognostic indicators in MBC patients.


The competitive performance of neural machine translation (NMT) critically relies on large amounts of training data. However, acquiring high-quality translation pairs requires expert knowledge and is costly. Therefore, how to best utilize a given dataset of samples with diverse quality and characteristics becomes an important yet understudied question in NMT. Curriculum learning methods have been introduced to NMT to optimize a model's performance by prescribing the data input order, based on heuristics such as the assessment of noise and difficulty levels. However, existing methods require training from scratch, while in practice most NMT models are pre-trained on big data already. Moreover, as heuristics, they do not generalize well. In this paper, we aim to learn a curriculum for improving a pre-trained NMT model by re-selecting influential data samples from the original training set and formulate this task as a reinforcement learning problem. Specifically, we propose a data selection framework based on Deterministic Actor-Critic, in which a critic network predicts the expected change of model performance due to a certain sample, while an actor network learns to select the best sample out of a random batch of samples presented to it. Experiments on several translation datasets show that our method can further improve the performance of NMT when original batch training reaches its ceiling, without using additional new training data, and significantly outperforms several strong baseline methods.