This paper introduces the Masked Voxel Jigsaw and Reconstruction (MV-JAR) method for LiDAR-based self-supervised pre-training and a carefully designed data-efficient 3D object detection benchmark on the Waymo dataset. Inspired by the scene-voxel-point hierarchy in downstream 3D object detectors, we design masking and reconstruction strategies accounting for voxel distributions in the scene and local point distributions within the voxel. We employ a Reversed-Furthest-Voxel-Sampling strategy to address the uneven distribution of LiDAR points and propose MV-JAR, which combines two techniques for modeling the aforementioned distributions, resulting in superior performance. Our experiments reveal limitations in previous data-efficient experiments, which uniformly sample fine-tuning splits with varying data proportions from each LiDAR sequence, leading to similar data diversity across splits. To address this, we propose a new benchmark that samples scene sequences for diverse fine-tuning splits, ensuring adequate model convergence and providing a more accurate evaluation of pre-training methods. Experiments on our Waymo benchmark and the KITTI dataset demonstrate that MV-JAR consistently and significantly improves 3D detection performance across various data scales, achieving up to a 6.3% increase in mAPH compared to training from scratch. Codes and the benchmark are available at https://github.com/SmartBot-PJLab/MV-JAR.


A linear analysis is presented for pulse shapes produced by a spatial and temporal delta-function disturbance of cyclotron-resonance-maser modes for the case where the initial equilibrium state is free of radiation. A pinch-point analysis based on the theory of R.J. Briggs (1964) and A. Bers (1983) is employed. Numerical and analytical techniques are developed for the straightforward calculation of pinch-point coordinates in a reference frame moving with arbitrary velocity in the axial direction. Examples analyzed include the absolute instability in the waveguide operating mode, in higher harmonics of the operating mode, and in lower-frequency waveguide modes when the operating mode is a higher-order waveguide mode. Effects of waveguide wall resistance on pulse shapes and the effectiveness of such resistance in suppressing or reducing the growth rates of absolute instabilities are also analyzed. >


The present paper describes the antibiotic related activities of Hungarian adult intensive care units (ICUs) and their parent hospitals, specially focusing on the role of hospital pharmacists. Information was gathered by a structured questionnaire, which was sent to the head of ICU departments by post and by email. The multidisciplinary team of authors developed and validated the questions. Results were compared to recommendations set up by the Antibiotic Resistance Prevention And Control (ARPAC) project. Minimal requirements appointed by the ARPAC have not been fulfilled by many aspects: multidisciplinary hospital commitees were not realized and the activity of these committees in antibiotic guideline developments was not satisfactory. Continuous education and calculation of standardized antibiotic use was rarely performed at ICUs. The role of pharmacist remained marginal in every field. All these findings suggest the need for appointment of a responsible, multidisciplinary antibiotic manamement team including also a pharmacist.


Slicing is an essential building block of 5G networks and beyond. Different slices mean sets of traffic demands with different requirements, which need to be served over separated or shared network resources. Various service chaining methods applied to support slicing lead to different network load patterns, impacting the QoS experienced by the traffic. In this paper, we analyze QoS properties applying a theoretical model. We also suggest appropriate parameter setting policies in slice-aware service function chaining (SFC) algorithms to increase QoS. We evaluate several metrics in different analysis scenarios to show the advantages of the slice-aware approach.


Berk and Green (2004) argue that, in equilibrium, mutual fund performance is not informative about the skill of the fund managers. Hence, instead of studying mutual fund performance, we study stock recommendations of prominent money managers made at the prestigious Barron's Roundtable. The 3,472 buy recommendations, from 1968 to 2019 (52 years), on average, earn economically meaningful and statistically significant 4.1% excess returns over the 30 trading days immediately following the Roundtable meetings. To study the skill level across decades, we divide the 52-year-long time-series into four equal 13-year-long periods and find that excess returns are similar for each of the four periods and are statistically significant. Overall, we conclude that money managers are skillful, and that skill has not diminished over the decades.


Summer 2005. As the soft afternoon light began to spill through the venetian-blind-lidded windows, the discussion drew to a close. I was conducting a fieldwork interview at the time with an eminent female professor, the principal investigator on one of the largest longitudinal studies of aging and cognitive decline ever undertaken. As part of my own Wellcome Trust-funded research project into issues surrounding the creation and use of human tissue collections, I was investigating how donated organs are employed in biomedical research, not only in the United Kingdom but also as part of much larger collaborative global biomedical research projects. With the tape recorder silenced, the woman scientist, who I now considered a valued colleague, perhaps even friend, began to initiate a new line of conversation. Was I aware, she asked, that neuropathological research was often comparative, but that one of the difficulties for researchers was that of securing access to normal, rather than diseased, brain tissue? Or that this normal brain tissue was in short supply because so few younger persons had made a commitment to donate their brains for research? Given my interest in the issue she wondered aloud if I had ever given the matter any thought and whether I might wish to take away a brain donation card for further perusal? Having once been a blood donor, and the holder of an organ transplant card, and having been at times variously described as a born pragmatist and a Virgoan hyperrationalist, I would have sworn that such a suggestion would hold no perils for me. And yet as the card was pushed across the faux-wood desktop my heart-if not my brain-seemed to skip a beat. The first thing that struck me was the picture of the microscope on the card. As uninvited images of (somehow always) male scientists expectantly peering down the scope in their laborious, but gallant, search for cures to unspeakable diseases began to crowd my subconscious, I found myself wondering, How could this request possibly be refused? And yet the idea that I could donate my brain (in which resided . . . what exactly, I asked myself?) to a brain bank where it might sit in contented solitude (aside from the other companionable brains) for months or years until it was employed for a very worthwhile, if utilitarian, purpose filled me . . . not with dread but with perhaps a kind of ill-defined existential angst. How curious that "I" would continue to exist after "I" had died. No, I chided myself, that didn't make sense. Let's start again and put it another way: Where, in all that, would "I" be? All the thoughts, memories, joys, and fears I had ever experienced were-I believed this at least-archived in the synaptic filigree of that organ. But how, if at all, were they inscribed into the architecture of the gray matter itself? What is the relationship between "self" (biological or psychic) and identity? What was "me," anyway?-in what does my identity reside? My body, my mind-or perhaps just my history? I would be dead and gone, anyway, my brain no longer of use to me or anyone else, so why should they not have it? Still, the brain donation card languishes in my desk drawer, not forgotten, but not signed either. What made my feebleness even more shameful was the fact that I also knew that in literally hundreds of unremarkable suburban homes across Britain existed a group of women: not young, strong women like me, but extremely elderly and frail women (those so readily described by the tabloids as pensioners, housewives, and "old dears") whom, I discovered to my surprise, had found the courage to do willingly what I could not-to donate their brains for biomedical research. These women had lived lives that were both remarkable and unremarkable-some had been homemakers all their lives; others had pursued careers as secretaries, librarians, factory workers (one in the John Players cigarette factory for some forty-six years), and senior civil servants. …


: Computed tomography (CT), ultrasonography, sialography, and 99mTc scintigraphy were applied before operation to 108 patients with parotid masses. The results of each technique and the combined study of them were compared with the pathological diagnosis. Ultrasonography was found to be a very effective diagnostic aid in determining the presence of space-occupying lesion in the parotid. CT was the best technique to provide adequately reliable informations regarding the location of the tumor and the relationship between tumor and surrounding tissues. For diagnosing the nature of tumors, ultrasonography combined with sialography was reliable. 99mTc scintigraphy was better than other techniques in diagnosis of adenolymphoma. The diagnostic accuracy of combined diagnosis (90.7%) was higher than those of ultrasonography (83%), CT (80.5%), sialography (79%), and 99mTc scintigraphy (13.9%) alone. The advantage of combined diagnosis was particularly obvious for the diagnosis of low-grade malignant tumors.


Maintenance is a complex, extensive and important issue in terms of its impact on the quality of manufactured products or services provided in all areas of industry. The importance of predictive maintenance for the industry in the 21st century is crucial. However, the right approach to maintenance management is often underestimated in many companies today, although it can have a very positive effect on the company's efficiency. Using the example of a practical application, the paper includes a comparison of three main maintenance concepts – classical (reactive), planned, predictive through the simulation software Witness. Maintenance concepts are compared in terms of their ability to solve and eliminate failures that occur in production facilities during operation.


Efficient automated detection of flux-transient, re-occurring flux-variable, and moving objects is increasingly important for large-scale astronomical surveys. We present braai, a convolutional-neural-network, deep-learning real/bogus classifier designed to separate genuine astrophysical events and objects from false positive, or bogus, detections in the data of the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), a new robotic time-domain survey currently in operation at the Palomar Observatory in California, USA. Braai demonstrates a state-of-the-art performance as quantified by its low false negative and false positive rates. We describe the open-source software tools used internally at Caltech to archive and access ZTF's alerts and light curves (kowalski ), and to label the data (zwickyverse). We also report the initial results of the classifier deployment on the Edge Tensor Processing Units that show comparable performance in terms of accuracy, but in a much more (cost-) efficient manner, which has significant implications for current and future surveys.


Copy number alterations (CNAs) are hallmarks of cancer, which are now been routinely measured by different techniques and used for diagnostic and prognostic purpose. Efficient and accurate detection of the breakpoint positions in heterogeneous cancer sample measured with intrinsic random noise and subjected to technical and biological biases is a challenging practical and methodological problem. To improve the CNA estimates, the authors present the probabilistic approach for breakpoints detection that gives confidence masks (the system of local segmentation profiles with confidence probabilities) tuned using experts estimates. The authors show that the asymmetric exponential power distribution matches well the uncertainties (jitter) in the breakpoint locations. The confidence upper and lower boundary masks for the breakpoint location are built using this function. The confidence masks are then tuned based on the medical expert annotations of the training set of the breakpoints obtained by the standard circular binary segmentation (CBS) algorithm. Comparison of modified confidence masks and experts annotations on the testing set of CNA profiles of neuroblastoma showed improvement of the CNA estimates.


Metabolomics has become increasingly popular in recent years for many applications ranging from clinical diagnosis, human health to biotechnological questioning. Despite technological advances, metabolomic studies are still currently limited by the difficulty of identifying all metabolites, a class of compounds with great chemical diversity. Although lengthy chromatographic analyses are often used to obtain comprehensive data, many isobar and isomer metabolites still remain unresolved, which is a critical point for the compound identification. Currently, ion mobility spectrometry is being explored in metabolomics as a way to improve metabolome coverage, analysis throughput and isomer separation. In this review, all the steps of a typical workflow for untargeted metabolomics are discussed considering the use of an ion mobility instrument. An overview of metabolomics is first presented followed by a brief description of ion mobility instrumentation. The ion mobility potential for complex mixture analysis is discussed regarding its coupling with a mass spectrometer alone, providing gas-phase separation before mass analysis as well as its combination with different separation platforms (conventional hyphenation but also multidimensional ion mobility couplings), offering multidimensional separation. Various instrumental and analytical conditions for improving the ion mobility separation are also described. Finally, data mining, including software packages and visualization approaches, as well as the construction of ion mobility databases for the metabolite identification are examined.


A review is given of some of the literature on the effect of different amorphous silicas on the lungs, with emphasis on the type collected in the ferrosilicon industry. Animal experiments indicate that amorphous silica gives a fairly strong initial lung reaction which, however, has little or no tendency to progress, and thus differs significantly from crystalline silica. Most of the reported cases of silicosis among workers exposed to amorphous silica in the ferrosilicon industry have either been transient lung changes or connected to exposure to crystalline silica. Workers exposed only to precipitated amorphous silica do not seem to be at any significant risk. Amorphous silica transforms easily to cristobalite at temperatures much lower than the reported stable temperature range (1470 to 1710°C). It then represents a silicosis hazard if inhaled. Provisional administrative norms (AN) [corresponding to threshold limit values (TLVs)] are suggested.


The objective of this study was to determine the instantaneous arterial blood pressure by the peripheral bio-impedance. To achieve this goal, the equation of Ben Salah and Flaud, initially meant to determine the instantaneous aortic pressure according to the signal of thoracic bioimpedance, was successfully applied for the determination of the instantaneous arterial pressure according to the signal of peripheral bio-impedance. The problem was that this equation depends directly on systolic and diastolic pressures which were manually obtained by an electronic sphygmomanometer. Yet the objective was to determine the instantaneous arterial blood pressure without having to measure beforehand diastolic and systolic pressures by the electronic sphygmomanometer. To solve this problem, interpolation function linking respectively the pulse pressure to the impedance variation (with 2,97% error for the determination of the systolic pressure) and the diastolic pressure to the basic impedance were determined (with an error close to zero for the determination of the diastolic pressure). With the proposed method, for each new measurement on a subject we acquire its bioimpedance signal, and then use the interpolation functions to deduce its diastolic and systolic pressures and then, using the Ben Salah equation, in real time, to determine its instantaneous arterial blood pressure.  The bio-impedance signal processing, the user interface and the display were managed by LabVIEW.

 Key words: Instantaneous arterial pressure, cubic spline interpolation, bioimpedance, electric plethysmography, LabVIEW.


A sample caching subsystem (SCS) concept that provides transfer and storage of core and soil samples for planetary missions has been developed. The SCS could be carried on a rover and a rover arm-mounted coring tool could acquire samples and deposit the samples in the SCS. The SCS would transfer the samples into a sample container, with each sample in a separate sleeve. Important to the SCS design is the ability to seal each sleeve, and the sample with it, to isolate it from other samples and from the external environment. Sealing of the samples will allow for maintaining the integrity of organic materials over many years thereby allowing the samples to be analyzed in later missions or after a return trip to Earth.


The human multidrug resistance protein 2 (MRP2/ABCC2), expressed on the bile canalicular membrane, mediates the multispecific efflux of several organic anions, including conjugates of glucuronate, sulfate, and glutathione. Expression of MRP2 can be altered in response to environmental stimuli such as cholestasis and jaundice. We previously reported that MRP2 mRNA expression levels are decreased in the nontumorous part of hepatitis C virus‐infected human liver tissues, and that inflammatory cytokines inhibit MRP2 expression in human hepatic (HepG2) cells. We investigated the molecular mechanisms by which inflammatory cytokines modulate MRP2 gene expression in hepatic cells. Treatment of human hepatic cells with interleukin‐1β (IL‐1β) or tumor necrosis factor α resulted in a decrease in the protein and mRNA levels of MRP2. IL‐1β inhibited the transcriptional activity of MRP2 promoter constructs by 40%, and this inhibition of MRP2 promoter activity was mediated through the interferon stimulatory response element (ISRE). Electrophoretic mobility shift assays with IL‐1β‐treated nuclear extracts showed a decrease in the formation of DNA protein complexes, specifically those including interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3). Expression of recombinant human IRF3 increased MRP2 promoter activity. Treatment with a specific extracellular signal‐regulated kinase inhibitor relieved IL‐1β‐induced MRP2 mRNA downregulation and abrogated the binding of IRF3 to the ISRE element. In conclusion, IL‐1β induces downregulation of the MRP2 gene by inactivating IRF3 binding to ISRE on the MRP2 promoter in human hepatic cells; this inactivation is accomplished via interference with the extracellular signal‐regulated kinase pathway. (HEPATOLOGY 2004;39:1574–1582.)


The setting behavior of fast-setting calcium phosphate cement (FSCPC) with mineral phase of bone was investigated to evaluate the possible value of the CPC for medical and dental application. Various aspects of the setting behavior such as setting time, mechanical strength and phase change of cement with time were measured by the Vicat needle method, diametral tensile strength measurement, and quantitative powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, respectively. The change of microstructure during the setting process was observed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The setting time of the CPC was 10-15min. As a result of its fast setting, set specimens of FSCPC showed high mechanical strength. Powder XRD analysis revealed faster conversion of FSCPC into HAP. SEM observation showed that the specimens are mainly formed with micropores and crystallites, and the phase composition of the set specimens is mainly low-crystallinity HAP at last.


Abstract Following the development of a framework for critical stylistics (Jeffries 2010) and the explication of some of the theoretical assumptions behind this framework (Jeffries 2014a, 2014b, 2015a, 2015b), the present article attempts to put this framework into a larger theoretical context as a way to approach textual meaning. Using examples from the popular U.S. television show, The Big Bang Theory, I examine the evidence that there is a kind of textual meaning which can be distinguished from the core propositional meaning on the one hand and from contextual, interpersonal meaning on the other. The specific aim, to demonstrate a layer of meaning belonging to text specifically, is set within an argument which claims that progress in linguistics can better be served by adherence to a rigorous scientific discipline.


We describe the design, synthesis and fluorescent profile of a family of self-calibrating dyes that provide ratiometric measurements of fluid viscosity. The design is based on covalently linking a primary fluorophore (reference) that displays a viscosity-independent fluorescence emission with a secondary fluorophore (sensor) that exhibits a viscosity-sensitive fluorescence emission. Characterization of fluorescent properties was made with separate excitation of the units and through Resonance Energy Transfer from the reference to the sensor dye. The chemical structures of both fluorophores and the linker length have been evaluated in order to optimize the overall brightness and sensitivity of the viscosity measurements. We also present an application of such ratiometric dyes for the detection of membrane viscosity changes in a liposome model.


Salinity and temperature measurements have been made beneath Ronne Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Access to the seawater was gained by hot-water drilling through 562 m of ice at a site 300 km from the ice front. The ice column is composed of 516 m of meteoric-origin ice, underlain by 31 m of consolidated saline ice, with a further 15 m of unconsolidated slush at the base. The 360-m-deep water column beneath the ice shelf consists broadly of a 210-m layer of Ice Shelf Water (ISW) at a potential temperature of −2.30°C and salinity 34.53, overlying a 100-m-thick layer of modified Western Shelf Water (−2.03°C, 34.64). The layers are separated by a weak 50-m-thick pycnocline. Isotopic analyses of water samples support this interpretation of the water types. Comparison of the data with published oceanographic observations from the shore lead indicate that the source of the water is either the western Berkner shelf or north of the ice front in the Ronne Depression. The measurements from the drill site broadly match predictions from a simple plume model of the sub-ice-shelf water circulation. In that model the basal slope of the ice shelf plays a central role in determining the properties of the ISW plume. With the exception of the upper few tens of meters the temperature and salinity of the entire water column vary by about 0.04°C and 0.03 on tidal timescales, and there is evidence for a longer-term drift, presumably connected with shifts in the larger-scale circulation. There is also much variability from internal wave activity. The salinity and deuterium budgets indicate that the meltwater fraction in the ISW observed at the drill site was between 5.3 and 6.5‰, in reasonable agreement with values previously found for ISW in the open ocean.


What are the timeless truths on which great institutions are built? Which beliefs and stratagems separate the best organizations from the rest? Jac Fitz-enz and the prestigious Saratoga Institute explored those questions during the four years of in-depth research at more than 1,000 companies. The result is this extraordinary book documenting the most enduring "best practices" in human asset management. Fitz-enz takes you inside successful organizations to see precisely how they handle change management, cost reduction, employee turnover, productivity and quality improvement, and other universal challenges. Your explorations are not limited to domestic operations; they cross borders and cultures to look at best practices around the world. As you learn about the eight practices, you'll gain insights into your own organization and discover ways to make significant improvements. You'll get quantifiable proof that the strategic management of human assets and a focus on long-term principles - as opposed to reengineering and other short-term tactics - are the only sure routes to becoming one of "the best."


OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study was to determine the effects of blood contamination and hemostatic agents on shear bond strength (SBS) of brackets and bond failure.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study material consisted of 57 freshly extracted human premolar and randomly divided into four groups: Group I, control group (n0 = 14); Group II, contamination with blood (n = 13); Group III, contamination with epinephrine ( n = 14); and Group IV, contamination with Ankaferd blood stopper (ABS) ( n = 16). After the bracket bonding procedure, all bonded teeth thermal cycled in deionized water at 5 ± 2°C to 55 ± 2°C for 500 cycles. SBS was applied using a universal test machine.

RESULTS
According to Kruskal-Wallis test significant differences were found among the groups P < 0.05. Furthermore, significant differences were recorded between groups with Mann-Whitney U statistical test with Bonferroni correction (P = 0.0083).

CONCLUSIONS
Examples contaminated with blood showed a statistically significant lower in vitro SBS than those contaminated with epinephrine, ABS, and control groups.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE
In impacted tooth surgical operations, blood contamination poses a substantial risk of bond failure in bonding attachments applications to the impacted teeth. Epinephrine and ABS may be used on surgical exposed impacted teeth operation for the prevention of blood contamination.


BACKGROUND
Many dentists or hygienists provide scaling and polishing for patients at regular intervals, even for those at low risk of developing periodontal disease. There is debate over the clinical and cost effectiveness of 'routine scaling and polishing' and the optimal frequency at which it should be provided for healthy adults.A 'routine scale and polish' treatment is defined as scaling or polishing, or both, of the crown and root surfaces of teeth to remove local irritational factors (plaque, calculus, debris and staining), which does not involve periodontal surgery or any form of adjunctive periodontal therapy such as the use of chemotherapeutic agents or root planing. Routine scale and polish treatments are typically provided in general dental practice settings. The technique may also be referred to as prophylaxis, professional mechanical plaque removal or periodontal instrumentation.This review updates a version published in 2013.

OBJECTIVES
1. To determine the beneficial and harmful effects of routine scaling and polishing for periodontal health.2. To determine the beneficial and harmful effects of routine scaling and polishing at different recall intervals for periodontal health.3. To determine the beneficial and harmful effects of routine scaling and polishing for periodontal health when the treatment is provided by dentists compared with dental care professionals (dental therapists or dental hygienists).

SEARCH METHODS
Cochrane Oral Health's Information Specialist searched the following databases: Cochrane Oral Health's Trials Register (to 10 January 2018), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (the Cochrane Library, 2017, Issue 12), MEDLINE Ovid (1946 to 10 January 2018), and Embase Ovid (1980 to 10 January 2018). The US National Institutes of Health Trials Registry (ClinicalTrials.gov) and the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform were searched for ongoing trials. No restrictions were placed on the language or date of publication when searching the electronic databases.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised controlled trials of routine scale and polish treatments, with or without oral hygiene instruction, in healthy dentate adults without severe periodontitis. We excluded split-mouth trials.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two review authors screened the results of the searches against inclusion criteria, extracted data and assessed risk of bias independently and in duplicate. We calculated mean differences (MDs) (or standardised mean differences (SMDs) when different scales were reported) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for continuous data. We calculated risk ratios (RR) and 95% CIs for dichotomous data. We used a fixed-effect model for meta-analyses. We contacted study authors when necessary to obtain missing information. We rated the certainty of the evidence using the GRADE approach.

MAIN RESULTS
We included two studies with 1711 participants in the analyses. Both studies were conducted in UK general dental practices and involved adults without severe periodontitis who were regular attenders at dental appointments. One study measured outcomes at 24 months and the other at 36 months. Neither study measured adverse effects, changes in attachment level, tooth loss or halitosis.Comparison 1: routine scaling and polishing versus no scheduled scaling and polishingTwo studies compared planned, regular interval (six- and 12-monthly) scale and polish treatments versus no scheduled treatment. We found little or no difference between groups over a two- to three-year period for gingivitis, probing depths, oral health-related quality of life (all high-certainty evidence) and plaque (low-certainty evidence). The SMD for gingivitis when comparing six-monthly scale and polish treatment versus no scheduled treatment was -0.01 (95% CI -0.13 to 0.11; two trials, 1087 participants), and for 12-monthly scale and polish versus no scheduled treatment was -0.04 (95% CI -0.16 to 0.08; two trials, 1091 participants).Regular planned scale and polish treatments produced a small reduction in calculus levels over two to three years when compared with no scheduled scale and polish treatments (high-certainty evidence). The SMD for six-monthly scale and polish versus no scheduled treatment was -0.32 (95% CI -0.44 to -0.20; two trials, 1088 participants) and for 12-monthly scale and polish versus no scheduled treatment was -0.19 (95% CI -0.31 to -0.07; two trials, 1088 participants). The clinical importance of these small reductions is unclear.Participants' self-reported levels of oral cleanliness were higher when receiving six- and 12-monthly scale and polish treatments compared to no scheduled treatment, but the certainty of the evidence is low.Comparison 2: routine scaling and polishing at different recall intervalsTwo studies compared routine six-monthly scale and polish treatments versus 12-monthly treatments. We found little or no difference between groups over two to three years for the outcomes of gingivitis, probing depths, oral health-related quality of life (all high-certainty evidence) and plaque (low-certainty evidence). The SMD for gingivitis was 0.03 (95% CI -0.09 to 0.15; two trials, 1090 participants; I2 = 0%). Six- monthly scale and polish treatments produced a small reduction in calculus levels over a two- to three-year period when compared with 12-monthly treatments (SMD -0.13 (95% CI -0.25 to -0.01; 2 trials, 1086 participants; high-certainty evidence). The clinical importance of this small reduction is unclear.The comparative effects of six- and 12-monthly scale and polish treatments on patients' self-reported levels of oral cleanliness were uncertain (very low-certainty evidence).Comparison 3: routine scaling and polishing provided by dentists compared with dental care professionals (dental therapists or hygienists)No studies evaluated this comparison.The review findings in relation to costs were uncertain (very low-certainty evidence).

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
For adults without severe periodontitis who regularly access routine dental care, routine scale and polish treatment makes little or no difference to gingivitis, probing depths and oral health-related quality of life over two to three years follow-up when compared with no scheduled scale and polish treatments (high-certainty evidence). There may also be little or no difference in plaque levels over two years (low-certainty evidence). Routine scaling and polishing reduces calculus levels compared with no routine scaling and polishing, with six-monthly treatments reducing calculus more than 12-monthly treatments over two to three years follow-up (high-certainty evidence), although the clinical importance of these small reductions is uncertain. Available evidence on the costs of the treatments is uncertain. The studies did not assess adverse effects.


Abstract As the name suggests, the shape-memory effect refers to a phenomenon wherein a material when mechanically deformed and then heated "remembers" and returns to its preset shape. Associated with this behavior is the superelastic/ pseudoelastic effect whereby large and completely recoverable strains are generated (i.e., the strains are generated and recovered mechanically rather than thermally). Both of these effects are associated with "martensite" transformation, a first-order displacive transformation usually related to the hardening of steel. When a nickel-titanium (NiTi) shapememory alloy is mechanically loaded, a stress-induced cubic (austenite) phase to monoclinic (martensite) phase transformation can result in macroscopic strains as high as 8%. On unloading, the martensite becomes unstable and transforms back to austenite with a concomitant macroscopic strain recovery. This phenomenon is called the superelastic/pseudoelastic effect and finds application in, for example, mobile phone antennae, cardiovascular stents, and guidewires [11. By recording neutron-diffraction spectra during external loading, we can investigate this reversible stress-induced austenite-to-martensite transformation in situ. Such data can provide quantitative phase-specific information on the elastic strain, texture, and volume-fraction evolution. The basic principle of such measurements for strain determination involves using the lattice-plane spacing of grains within the crystal structure as internal strain gauges. For texture, the relative intensities of the diffraction peaks are considered, and for phase volume fraction, an integrated intensity of peaks corresponding to a specific phase is used.


Background & Aim: Historically, comfort has been an optimal outcome in caring of hospital patients though, the concept of comfort from patients' perspective is rarely assessed. The aim of this study was to explore hospitalized Medical-Surgical patients' experiences and perceptions regarding of comfort and discomfort. Material & Method: A qualitative approach using grounded theory was adopted in this study. The data collected by semi-structured interviews and participants' observation, from a purposive sample of 31 medical-surgical patients, with 11 patients' accompanied relatives who were subjected to questions and constant comparative analysis. This study was conducted in five large teaching and semi-private hospitals in Iran. Result: Date analysis covered a number of themes obviously included discomfort. In fact, experiencing discomfort was so persistent in the data, that it formed several categories including "physical, psychosocial and environmental discomfort". Self help and organizing of informal caring web, and seeking help from others, were the participants' main strategies to deal with discomfort. Conclusion: The finding indicated that hospitalization of patients is not always necessarily equivalent to effective deal with caring and therapeutic needs. Patients experience a lot of distress related to hospital's policies, regulations and priorities. Patients can have active role for discomfort management. In addition, it is highlited the roles of patients' relative and care-givers in hospitals. Therefore, without cooperation of care-givers (patients' relatives), the quality of nursing care could be disturbed seriously.


Homozygous or compound heterozygous protein S (PS) deficiency is very rare in the population; only 8 patients from 6 different families have been reported. On the other hand, the factor V Leiden (FVL) mutation is a frequent cause of inherited prothrombotic disorder. Here the authors report a case of patient with severe PS deficiency associated with the FVL mutation who has had purpura fulminans since the age of 10 days. She is the first child of a consanguineous marriage. Her father is double heterozygous for PS deficiency and FVL mutation and has recurrent thrombosis. This is the first case of severe PS deficiency combined with the FVL mutation. This suggests the need for complete evaluation of patients with purpura fulminans for thrombotic factors.


No occupational exposure limit exists for antineoplastic drugs. The main objective of this study was to describe environmental contamination with cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, and methotrexate in pharmacy and patient care areas of Canadian hospitals in 2013. The secondary objective was to compare the 2013 environmental monitoring results with previous studies. Six standardized sites in the pharmacy and six sites on patient care areas were sampled in each participating center. Samples were analyzed for the presence of cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, and methotrexate by UPLC-MSMS. The limit of detection (LOD) in pg/cm2 was 1.8 for cyclophosphamide, 2.2 for ifosfamide, and 7.5 for methotrexate. The 75th percentile of cyclophosphamide concentration was compared between the 2013, 2008–2010, and 2012 studies. Thirty-six hospitals participated in the study and 422 samples were collected. Overall, 47% (198/422) of the samples were positive for cyclophosphamide, 18% (75/422) were positive for ifosfamide, and 3% (11/422) were positive for methotrexate. In 2013, the 75th percentile value of cyclophosphamide surface concentration was reduced to 8.4pg/cm2 (n = 36), compared with 9.4pg/cm2 in 2012 (n = 33) and 40pg/cm2 (n = 25) in 2008–2010. The 75th percentile for ifosfamide and methotrexate concentration remained lower than the LOD. The 2013 study shows an improvement in the surface contamination level, and a plateau effect in the proportion of positive samples.


Building a mobile service robot for home and office environments that incorporates skilled interaction capabilities is a challenging task. The control system has to consider various demands: first, it has to manage unstructured and dynamic environments. Second, as humans are around, aspects of safety are of particular importance. This implies that the system has to be highly reactive. Third, the robot also has to be capable of carrying out dialogs to be taught or instructed. Altogether, this requires a highly integrated control framework. In this paper we present an agent-based architecture for our mobile robot BIRON in order to realize sophisticated human-robot interaction. The architecture is built in a modular fashion and controlled by a central execution supervisor using an event queue to handle asynchronous events. This execution supervisor contains an augmented finite state machine which is specified in XML and thus is highly generic. Similarly, the communication between all modules is based on XML. The overall system, therefore, is easily maintainable and extensible, as the architecture's design allows us to add new modules to the system without requiring major modifications on existing components.


What is the difference between a speculator and a gambler? This simple question, reminiscent of an old joke, lies at the heart of one of the most fraught issues within the American economy. And with it come more questions, equally distressing: how can we tell the difference between a good investment and a bad one, and encourage the former while guarding against the latter? If we can't prevent over-speculation, what moral code can be applied when it leads to the loss of thousands of people's savings, jobs, and security? The aftermath of the 2007 financial crisis prompted many of these questions, butthis is not by any means the first time they have been raised, nor will it be the last. In Speculation, author Stuart Banner offers a sweeping historical examination of this debate, showing that, not only have courts always struggled to draw a line between investment and gambling, but that the passionate arguments produced on all sides have almost certainly been made before. While many today argue that we need to prohibit certain risky transactions, others respond by citing the benefits of robust markets and the dangers of over-regulation. This debate has been a perennial feature of American history, and many of these same sentiments have been expressed, on both sides, after every financial downturn since the 1790s. The Panic of 1837, the speculative boom of the roaring twenties, and the real estate bubble of the early 2000s are all emblematic of the difficulty in differentiating sober from reckless speculation. These episodes have generated deep ambivalence, yet Americans' faith in investment and - by extension - the stock market has always rebounded quickly after even the most savage downturns. Indeed, the speculator on the make is a central figure in the folklore of American capitalism. Engaging and accessible, Speculation: A History synthesizes a complicated but important dilemma that intersects with critical themes at the heart of the nation - the ability of our courts to ensure justice and protection; the fallibility of our economy's promise of financial success; the moral conundrum inherent in valuing those who produce goods over those who speculate, and yet enjoying the fruits of speculation. The history of this struggle will not only prove invaluable for improving today's economy, but will also impact how we understand a fundamental aspect of the American identity.


This paper evaluates the performance of a proposed large-scale ATM multipoint switching system designed from a new technological perspective. The use of wafer-scale integration (WSI) technology is proposed which allows the entire system to be implemented on a single silicon wafer. Wafer-scale technology offers significant potential advantages such as higher reliability and performance with reduced power and cost, and is well-suited to switching systems. WSI permits us to consider this new design which would not be practical in a system using conventional technologies.


Abstract—Quick growth of electronic commerce in developed countries means that developing nations must change in their commerce strategies fundamentally. Most organizations are aware of the impact of the Internet and e-Commerce on the future of their firm, and thus, they have to focus on organizational factors that have an effect on the deployment of an e-Commerce strategy. In this situation, it is essential to identify organizational factors such as the organizational culture, human resources, size, structure and product/service that impact an e-commerce strategy. Accordingly, this research specifies the effects of organizational factors on applying an e-commerce strategy in the Namakin food industry. The statistical population of this research is 95 managers and employees. Cochran's formula is used for determination of the sample size that is 77 of the statistical population. Also, SPSS and Smart PLS software were utilized for analyzing the collected data. The results of hypothesis testing show that organizational factors have positive and significant effects of applying an e-Commerce strategy. On the other hand, sub-hypothesizes show that effectiveness of the organizational culture and size criteria were rejected and other sub-hypothesis were accepted.


Waste plastic utilization and wastewater treatment are the two most serious challenges on the path to urbanization and industrialization, due to the limited fossil fuel resources, ever-increasing energy demands, and severe environmental pollution. The conversion of waste plastics into high value-added carbon nanomaterials has become a promising way to utilize waste plastics; however, most current studies are limited to single component waste plastic; besides, little attention has been paid to porous carbon nanosheets (PCNSs). Herein, a facile approach was established to prepare PCNSs by the carbonization of real-world mixed waste plastics on organically-modified montmorillonite and subsequent KOH activation. The morphology, microstructure, textural property, phase structure, surface element composition, and thermal stability of the PCNSs were investigated. The PCNSs showed high specific surface area (2315 m2 g−1) and large pore volume (3.319 cm3 g−1) with high purity (>99.6%). More importantly, the PCNSs exhibited fast adsorption (about 95% of methylene blue (MB) was removed during the first 10 min of adsorption), an unprecedented adsorption capacity of 769.2 mg g−1 (higher than most of reported adsorbents), and excellent recyclability (after ten cycles, an adsorption capacity of 692.0 mg g−1 remained and 90 wt% of the PCNS was reclaimed) for MB from wastewater. This was attributed to the high specific surface area and large pore volume of the PCNS, and due to multiple adsorption mechanisms, including pore filling, hydrogen bonding, and π–π and electrostatic interactions between MB and the PCNS. It is believed that this work not only provides a novel potential way to utilize waste plastics, but also presents a facile sustainable approach to synthesize PCNSs, which will be an ideal candidate for various applications.


Objective To study the relationship between physiological indices and kinematic indices during braking events of different intensities. Background Based on mental workload theory, driving and other task demands may generate changes in physiological indices, such as the driver's heart rate and skin conductance. However, no attempts were made to associate changes in physiological indices with changes in vehicle kinematics that result from the driver attempts to meet task demands. Method Twenty-five drivers participated in a field experiment. We manipulated braking demands using roadside signs to communicate the speed (km/h) before braking (50 or 60) and the target speed for braking (30 or to a complete stop). In an additional session, we asked drivers to brake as if they were responding to an impending collision. We analyzed the relationship between the intensities of braking events as measured by deceleration values (g) and changes in heart rate, heart rate variability, and skin conductance. Results All physiological indices were associated with deceleration intensity. Especially salient were the differences in physiological indices between the intensive (|g| > 0.5) and nonintensive braking events. The strongest relationship was between braking intensity and skin conductance. Conclusions Skin conductance, heart rate, and heart rate variability can mirror the mental workload elicited by varying braking intensities. Application Associating vehicle kinematics with physiological indices related to short-term driving events may help improve the performance of driver assistance systems.


Author(s): Hessler, Robert R | Abstract: This study treats asellote isopods of the family Desmosomatidae from benthic samples takengon, or in the vicinity of, a transect between Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and the islands of Bermuda. Samples came from a depth range of 20-5,100 meters and represent the continental shelf, slope, and rise, the abyssal plain beneath the Sargasso Sea, and the Bermuda Rise.Thirty-nine species have been found in this region, and all but ten of them are new. Nearly the full range of morphologies known to exist in the family is represented. Study of this material revealed the necessity for a complete revision of the family. Fifteen genera belonging to two subfamilies are recognized. This classification reflects a basic evolutionary pattern within the family. The Desmosomatinae n. subf. includes the most primitive genera and those genera in which the first pereopod has become reduced and attenuated. The Eugerdellatinae n. subf. contains genera whose first pereopod has become robust and raptorial or chelate.The large number of individuals in single species from some of the samples has allowed close examination of development, sexual dimorphism, and individual variation. Eugerda tetarta n. sp. is described in detail from these points of view. In the female there are three manca and three juvenile stages. These are followed by two or three cycles of reproductive maturity in which each brooding stage is preceded by a preparatory one. Molting into the preparatory stage is accompanied by growth, but none is exhibited as the animal achieves brooding condition.Males are first distinguishable at the third manca stage. This stage is followed by two juvenile and one preparatory stage in which the male looks like the female except for the usual differences in the second antenna and pleopods I and II. Profound metamorphosis accompanies the ecdysis into the copulatory stage, and as a result the mature male bears little resemblance to the female. The adaptive meaning of these changes is discussed.Analysis of several specimens from one station reveals little individual variation. Differences in the shape of body and limb segments are usually too subtle to be detected in visual inspection. Variation in setal count is slight and tends to be allometric.Our knowledge of geographic distribution must be regarded as fragmentary because adequate samples are lacking from most oceans. Present information indicates that nearly all the genera are cosmopolitan or will prove to be so. Species, on the other hand, have limited distributions. Only seven have been found in more than one ocean or sea. The limited distribution of species is undoubtedly related to the absence of dispersive stages in development.The Desmosomatidae is primarily a cold-water group. Typically its members occur in shallow water only at high latitudes. In those rare cases where species have been found in shallow warm water, the annual range of temperature change is slight. On the transect, the distribution of desmosomatids in water shoaler than 200 meters is limited to the outer portion of the shelf, thus avoiding the main effects of the pronounced temperature fluctuations along this part of the coast. All species show some degree of zonation with depth. Only two display depth ranges extending beyond 2,500 meters. A few species exhibit polar emergence.All species found on the transect are fully described and illustrated. The descriptions of previously known species are based on transect material, not on the original types.


Title/Aim: Developing a comprehensive, integrated and contemporary recovery oriented dual diagnosis service, within the environment of primary and continuing care in Cork, Ireland.
Background: The mental health services and addiction services, generally function independently of one another. Where an individual experienced mental ill health and addiction simultaneously, access to appropriate services was compromised. In this, no specific service was locally available.
Objectives:
 To engage stakeholders in PAR's methodological framework to facilitate a clear pathway to services
 To engage stakeholders in a critical reflective process of inquiry
 To enact pragmatic developments in service delivery that demonstrates positive outcomes for clients
 To contribute to learning, knowledge development and new ways of knowing
Methodology: Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodologies were adapted to a Health Service Executive (HSE) organisational context, where three research cycles (phases) of inquiry enabled the development of a new dual diagnosis (mental health and addiction) service. Methods employed included, field notes, journaling, individual interviews, participant observation and case studies.
Pragmatism was employed as the most suitable guiding theoretical perspective that underpinned the inquiry process.
Findings:
Cycle One demonstrated that emerging percepts shaped the formation of required service developments, leading to the emergence of a practical theory.
Cycle Two included the implementation of service developments initiated in Cycle One. Findings demonstrated participant perspectives of the evolving service, while stakeholders developed the service's operational policy. The service developments were embedded further, contributing to service sustainability. New percepts emerging, contributed collectively to further refinement of the practical theory.
Cycle Three included practice transformation, where representatives from relevant organisational-hierarchical tiers participated in the implementation of the new dual diagnosis service. Some percepts ended upon implementation, while others modified the practical theory further. Findings from participants' case studies demonstrated application of the theory in practice.
Contribution to knowledge and service development: In this study, PAR has demonstrated efficacy as a transforming agent through new ways of doing – evident in the design, construction and implementation of a dual diagnosis service. Within this inter-relational process, a co-constructed perceptual framework and a new way of knowing has emerged. The three Cycles of this inquiry have exhibited how (a) the social validity criteria of comprehensibility, truth, rightness and authenticity were present, and (b) how the research claims made were validated, and can therefore be upheld.


There are a wide variety of animal reservoirs of the zoonotic bacterium Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii), and ticks may play a significant role in the natural transmission cycle of this pathogen. Recently, domestic dogs have been implicated as reservoirs of C. burnetii. Dogs are the primary hosts of Rhipicephalus sanguineus (R. sanguineus), and C. burnetii has previously been detected in these ticks. The objectives of this study were to identify and record R. sanguineus ticks collected from dogs in Australia, and to investigate the prevalence of C. burnetii in these ticks. Subsequent to this, the bacterial microbiome of R. sanguineus ticks was investigated. The IS1111a transposase element gene was targeted using qPCR to detect C. burnetii DNA in R. sanguineus. The Ion Torrent™ Next-Generation Sequencing platform was used to sequence bacterial 16S rDNA in the ticks. In this study, 2,577 R. sanguineus ticks were morphologically identified and recorded in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. There was no positive detection of C. burnetii in a subset of 31 R. sanguineus ticks by qPCR. Next-generation sequencing of the universal bacterial 16S rRNA gene revealed that a Coxiella sp. was present in 53/59 (90%) tick pools. The sequences were compared to GenBank submissions and a 100% match was obtained to a Coxiella sp. from R. sanguineus in the Philippines. A phylogenetic analysis of this Coxiella sp. showed that it does not group with the pathogenic C. burnetii. This Coxiella sp. may be a non-pathogenic endosymbiont of R. sanguineus, and future investigations could aim to assess the role of Coxiella endosymbionts in R. sanguineus, and whether this bacterium causes cross-reactivity in immunologic assays used for the diagnosis of Q fever in people.


This work considers a distributed source coding (DSC) problem where L encoders observe noisy linear combinations of K correlated remote Gaussian sources with K ≤ L, and separately transmit the compressed observations to the decoder to reconstruct the remote sources subject to a sum-distortion constraint. This DSC problem can be viewed as a generalization of the quadratic Gaussian CEO problem with only one remote source; it is also an extension of Oohama's latest work with correlated Gaussian remote sources, where the number of remote sources equals the number of observations. For our new DSC problem, we first provide general inner and outer rate regions, followed by a tighter outer rate region when the transform matrix between the sources and the encoders is semi-orthogonal. We then give a sufficient condition - in the form of capping the target distortion under certain threshold - for our inner and outer rate regions to match. When K = 1, both our inner and outer regions specialize to known result for the Gaussian CEO problem; with K = L and identity transform, our inner and outer regions degenerate to those provided by Oohama, however, our sufficient condition is more relaxed in the sense of allowing more matching cases.


The book's primary intention is to serve as a roadmap for professionals working in developing countries interested in the Nexus Water–Energy–Food–Ecosystems (WEFE) approach. The book shows a multi-disciplinary approach, showcasing the importance of the proper use of Nexus WEFE when implementing certain development programs in regions around the globe. It can be presented as a manual for an individual that either wishes to implement intervention projects following the NEXUS approach or students interested in cooperation and development. The book begins with a general explanation of the theoretical concepts and implementation processes of Nexus WEFE and continues with case studies, explaining the importance of proper implementation and potential drawbacks and solutions to them. This book has a particular focus on the European Union cooperation policies when implementing such an approach in developing countries.
 ISBN: 9781789062588 (paperback)
 ISBN: 9781789062595 (eBook)
 ISBN: 9789276310914 (EC)


Introduced by Kiefer and Wolfowitz \cite{KW56}, the nonparametric maximum likelihood estimator (NPMLE) is a widely used methodology for learning mixture odels and empirical Bayes estimation. Sidestepping the non-convexity in mixture likelihood, the NPMLE estimates the mixing distribution by maximizing the total likelihood over the space of probability measures, which can be viewed as an extreme form of overparameterization.
In this paper we discover a surprising property of the NPMLE solution. Consider, for example, a Gaussian mixture model on the real line with a subgaussian mixing distribution. Leveraging complex-analytic techniques, we show that with high probability the NPMLE based on a sample of size $n$ has $O(\log n)$ atoms (mass points), significantly improving the deterministic upper bound of $n$ due to Lindsay \cite{lindsay1983geometry1}. Notably, any such Gaussian mixture is statistically indistinguishable from a finite one with $O(\log n)$ components (and this is tight for certain mixtures). Thus, absent any explicit form of model selection, NPMLE automatically chooses the right model complexity, a property we term \emph{self-regularization}. Extensions to other exponential families are given. As a statistical application, we show that this structural property can be harnessed to bootstrap existing Hellinger risk bound of the (parametric) MLE for finite Gaussian mixtures to the NPMLE for general Gaussian mixtures, recovering a result of Zhang \cite{zhang2009generalized}.


A preference test on feed and nutrient intakes were conducted on four male (1.25±0.08 kg) and four female (1.21±0.15 kg) lesser mouse deer (Tragulus javanicus) in captivity. Each animal was kept in individual cages placed in a well-ventilated animal house. The experiment was conducted in two weeks, where the first week was for adaptation to the feeds and the second week for measurements of nutrient intake, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen balance. The feeds offered were kangkong (Ipomoea aquatica), long bean (Vigna sinensis) and french bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) as roughages and proteinaceous feeds; sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) and carrot (Daucus carota) as carbohydrate-rich feeds; and commercial rabbit pellet (0.3 cm diameter and 0.5 cm long) as a complete feed. The dry matter (DM) content of each feed in the order mentioned above was 7.1, 6.1, 3.9, 18.5, 6.2 and 87.6%, respectively. Long bean had the highest protein (CP) content (29.7%), while sweet potato had the lowest (6.2%). The CP contents of other feeds were within the range of 14.2 -25.1%. Among the feeds, carrot had the lowest energy content (3.83 kcal/g) and long bean the highest (4.67 kcal/g). When fresh weight of the feed was considered, the male mouse deer consumed sweet potato the most (86.3±12.90 g/d), but the female had a high preference for carrot (79.2±9.76 g/d). The other feeds were consumed in lesser amounts. However, in terms of DM of the feed, the amount of commercial pellet consumed was the highest for both male (45.0±5.10%) and female (44.7±7.38%) mouse deer, followed by sweet potato (33.1±4.43% and 22.4±7.73% for male and female, respectively), Significant (p<0.05) differences in DM, organic matter (OM) and gross energy (GE) intakes were observed between male and female mouse deer. The male consumed higher amount of DM, OM and GE than the female. The total DM intake was 40.7±2.24 g/d/kg W0.75 for male and 35.9±1.72 g/d/kg W0.75 for female mouse deer. Percentage digestibilities of DM, OM, CP and GE were within 72.7-80.8% and were not significantly different between male and female mouse deer. However, male mouse deer had significantly (p<0.05) higher digestible DM, OM and GE intakes than the female. Both male and female mouse deer were in positive nitrogen balance (0.6 g N/d/kg W0.75). The male mouse deer gained 7.6±3.45 g/d, while the female gained 4.3±2.40 g/d.


We give three new parallel sorting algorithms on a mesh-connected computer with wraparound connections (i.e. a torus). These three algorithms, with the minimum queue size of 1, sort n/sup 2/ random input data items into a blocked snakelike row major order, a row major order, and a snakelike row major order, in 1.5n+o(n), 2n+o(n), and 2n+o(n) average steps, respectively. These results improve the previous results of 2n+o(n), 2.5n+o(n), and 2.5n+o(n), respectively. In addition, we prove that the distance bound n on a torus is an average-time lower bound independent of indexing schemes of sorting random input data items on it. >


Abstract Previous studies have proposed that large, stemmed obsidian artefacts from the Willaumez Peninsula region, Papua New Guinea, might have circulated as 'valuables.' To evaluate how the value of these artefacts was created, an integrated characterisation and technological study was conducted on Type 1 retouched blades from Garua Island. A staged production system using obsidian from both local and imported sources was identified. Although the final shape and size of the artefacts are nearly identical, imported and local obsidian were treated in different ways. Partially trimmed cores of non-local obsidian were imported to Garua Island, where the final stages were completed alongside the complete reduction sequence using local obsidian. We argue that these objects acquired their meaning as valuables partly because they represented successful management of the social relations required to acquire raw material and complete the staged production process.


In order to describe and analyze the quantitative behavior of stochastic processes, such as the process followed by a financial asset, various discretization methods are used. One such set of methods are lattice models where a time interval is divided into equal time steps and the rate of change for the process is restricted to a particular set of values in each time step. The well-known binomial- and trinomial models are the most commonly used in applications, although several kinds of higher order models have also been examined. Here we will examine various ways of designing higher order lattice schemes with different node placements in order to guarantee moment-matching with the process.In order to describe and analyze the quantitative behavior of stochastic processes, such as the process followed by a financial asset, various discretization methods are used. One such set of methods are lattice models where a time interval is divided into equal time steps and the rate of change for the process is restricted to a particular set of values in each time step. The well-known binomial- and trinomial models are the most commonly used in applications, although several kinds of higher order models have also been examined. Here we will examine various ways of designing higher order lattice schemes with different node placements in order to guarantee moment-matching with the process.


Pathfinding for a single agent is the problem of planning a route from an initial location to a goal location in an environment, without colliding with any obstacles. Multi-agent pathfinding (MAPF) also aims to plan such routes for each agent such that no two agents collide with each other. MAPF is an intractable problem, because agents must avoid the collision with each other. We study a generalized version of MAPF (GMAPF) in the context of robotics (i.e., autonomous warehouses), where multiple robots must visit some locations (e.g., to collect some items) on the way to their destinations without colliding with any obstacles in the environment. In this thesis, we introduce a novel method to solve GMAPF problems using the expressive logic-based language of Answer Set Programming (ASP) and the efficient ASP solvers. Moreover, to ensure that the robots follow collision-free trajectories, we introduce an intelligent method for feasibility checks and their integration to our ASP-based approach to GMAPF. To further improve the scalability of our method to solve hybrid GMAPF problems, we introduce a hierarchical method to handle problem instances over large environments. Based on that, we introduce a greedy algorithm handle instances with large number of robots We experimentally evaluate our methods over randomly generated problem instances, to show the scalability of our hierarchical and greedy methods, and usefulness of ASP-based hybrid pathfinding.


The revised edition of How to Locate Anyone, Anywhere, written by a successful private investigator, provides proven techniques that will enable you to conduct your own search. The reference features comprehensive listings of federal, state, and local agencies to aid you in finding a person's whereabouts, including birth parents of adoptees, chapters devoted to searching for missing children, an index of valid Social Security numbers, runaway hot lines, genealogical libraries and new material on using computers and the Internet.


An effort is ongoing to develop a biotic ligand model (BLM) that predicts copper (Cu) toxicity in estuarine and marine environments. At present, the BLM accounts for the effects of water chemistry on Cu speciation, but it does not consider the influence of water chemistry on the physiology of the organisms. We discuss how chemistry affects Cu toxicity not only by controlling its speciation, but also by affecting the osmoregulatory physiology of the organism, which varies according to salinity. In an attempt to understand the mechanisms of Cu toxicity and predict its impacts, we explore the hypothesis that the common factor linking the main toxic effects of Cu is the enzyme carbonic anhydrase (CA), because it is a Cu target with multiple functions and salinity‐dependent expression and activity. According to this hypothesis, the site of action of Cu in marine fish may be not only the gill, but also the intestine, because in this tissue CA plays an important role in ion transport and water adsorption. Therefore, the BLM of Cu toxicity to marine fish should also consider the intestine as a biotic ligand. Finally, we underline the need to incorporate the osmotic gradient into the BLM calculations to account for the influence of physiology on Cu toxicity. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2012;31:230–238. © 2011 SETAC


Fish have a tendency to accumulate water pollutants. This tendency can lead to health consequences for fish consumers. In the 1960s, hundreds -- possibly thousands -- of fishermen and their wives in the Minamata and Niigata areas in Japan were poisoned from contaminated fish (1). Inorganic mercury had been discharged into the sea, where it had been transformed into methylmercury, which accumulated in fish and shellfish. In addition to severe neurotoxic effects in adults, there was also prenatal brain damage in fetuses. Later, it was discovered that the methylmercury contamination of the fish was not an exceptional incident, but rather a phenomenon occurring in many mercury-contaminated lakes, rivers, and coastal areas. Moreover, it was found that the fish species at the top of the marine food chains may contain high methylmercury levels even far out at sea. The Baltic Sea is a marine environment that was heavily polluted with mercury. Thus subjects with high intake of fish from some coastal areas have a considerable methylmercury load. But it became evident already in the 1960s that the contamination of Baltic fish was more complex. Hence fat fish such as salmon and herring contained high levels of DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) and its metabolites. Furthermore, subjects with a high intake of such fish had a manifold increase in the blood levels of these agents (2). As DDT is efficiently excreted into human milk, there was great concern about the exposure to breast-fed infants. But methylmercury and DDT was only the beginning. Thus the Swedish chemist Soren Jensen, while studying the bioaccumulation of DDT, found high levels of what was later identified as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), which had been widely used, for example, in electrical equipment (3). As in the cases with other contaminants, it soon turned out that other areas in the world were also heavily contaminated, for example, the Great Lakes. The toxic potency of these compounds to humans was revealed when they caused mass poisoning due to the contamination of rice oil in 1968 in Japan and in 1979 in Taiwan (4). Soon, the analytical chemists revealed new unpleasant facts. The fat fish from the Baltic Sea also harbored many compounds belonging to the chemical families polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF) and dibenzo- para -dioxins (PCDD). In the case of the most prevalent of the PCDF -- 2,3,4,7,8-pentachlorodibenzofuran (PeCDF) -- the main source was probably incineration, for others it was pollution from the paper and pulp industry, which used chlorine for bleaching. For the other congeners, many different sources contributed. PCDD have a bad reputation because they are distributed to the fat tissue, have a slow elimination rate, and the most toxic congener -- 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo- para -dioxin (TCDD) -- is the most toxic compound synthesized by mankind (5). One impressive trait of TCDD is its extremely varying toxicity in different species. This variation makes the toxicologic evaluation as to human risks very uncertain. However, TCDD has caused several cases of human poisoning. In addition, there was widespread exposure of the armed forces and general population in connection with herbicide use in the Vietnam war, and a major outbreak among the general population at the industrial accident in 1976 in Seveso, Italy. Furthermore, PCDD/PCDF are excreted in breast milk. Other congeners of the PCDD/PCDF group also have similar effects, but with extremely varying potency. It is supposed that the effect is mediated through binding to the cytoplasmic Ah receptor. Thus there was a need to establish a summary index of all similar congeners. Hence the toxic equivalency factor concept was established on the basis of experimental data. The combined content of PCDD/PCDF, for example, in foods, can thus be expressed as TCDD equivalents (TEQ). PCB contain congeners -- the coplanar non- and mono- ortho - PCB, which have TCDD-like effects. Thus TEQ from PCB may be added to those from PCDD/PCDF, although this is far from all of the truth about PCB toxicity, because some congeners have other effects, which are probably mediated through other mechanisms. It turned out that subjects who consumed high amounts of fish from the Baltic Sea had increased levels of PCDF/PCDD in their blood (6). Furthermore, they had increased concentrations of several PCB congeners, including coplanar ones (7, 8). In fact, as to the total TEQ in blood, the PCB made the greatest contribution. Moreover, it was obvious that fish was a major source of these compounds in the Swedish population, although subjects who never ate fish also had a load. This issue contains a paper verifying the importance of fat fish from the Baltic Sea as a main source of human exposure to PCDD/PCDF and PCB (9). Among Swedish fishermen, who have a high intake of fish, those fishing in the Baltic Sea had much higher blood levels of these compounds than those fishing in the North Sea (including Kattegatt and Skagerrak), in which the fish are less contaminated. Of course, a main issue is whether this dietary exposure is of any toxicologic relevance. It is important to stress that we do not know. PCDD are well known to cause cancer, reproductive effects, and immunosuppression in experimental studies. PCB have similar effects. Thus these effects are the ones that should primarily be considered. Hence it is interesting that a cohort study of fishermen from the Baltic and the North Sea, which also appears in this issue (10), indicates some differences in cancer morbidity. Thus the Baltic fishermen had an increased incidence of stomach and skin cancer and increased mortality from multiple myeloma. Obviously, these data, though interesting, do not allow conclusions to be drawn about a causal relationship between dietary exposure to contaminants in fish and tumor induction. The skin cancer may well be due to exposure to ultraviolet light. Moreover, the other findings may be due to multiple inference. In addition, there is a possibility of confounding. Hence the contaminants of the fish consumed are probably not the only difference between the two cohorts of fishermen. Thus firm conclusions must await further studies. However, it is interesting to note that myelomas have been reported in the general population exposed at Seveso (11). Furthermore, Baltic fishermen's wives seem to have an increased risk of breast cancer (12), a tumor which has also been associated with PCB exposure in other investigations. Moreover, other studies may indicate additional adverse health effects. Thus there are some indications of an association between the intake of fat fish from the Baltic Sea and immunologic effects (13, 14). Moreover, the wives of Baltic fishermen (who also have a high intake of fish), more often give birth to infants with low birthweight than do the wives of North Sea fishermen (15). This finding is particularly interesting since decreased birthweight was also reported for women who eat fish from Lake Michigan, which is contaminated with PCB, presumably in combination with many other agents (16). Furthermore, the Lake Michigan children possibly showed some effects on mental development (4). The PCB exposure (other pollutants were not assessed) of the Lake Michigan women corresponded to an intake of only 54 µg·d-1 (though the estimate is very rough). If this is applied to the consumption of fat fish from the Baltic Sea, it would correspond to only a few meals per week. Furthermore, because of the slow elimination of PCDD/PCDF and some PCB, any such consumption before a pregnancy would influence the exposure of the fetus and the breast-fed infant. Thus the interpretation of the shaky toxicologic and epidemiologic information has great practical implications. Fish is an important food. It is a major source of, for example, selenium (17,18) and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (19). The Baltic fishermen had low mortality from coronary heart disease (10), and this low mortality may be associated with the positive aspects of fish intake. It is tragic that a food as important as fish has been affected by pollution to a such a degree that authorities even consider recommendations restricting its intake. One light in the darkness is the fact that the restrictions, enforced in Sweden and other countries for the use of DDT and PCB, seem to have been effective. Thus during the last few decades, the concentrations of DDT and its metabolite DDE have decreased dramatically in the blood of Baltic fishermen (8). Such a decrease has also occurred for PCB in Swedish breast milk (20). Furthermore, it seems that the levels of some PCDD/PCDF congeners have also decreased in breast milk, possibly as a result of the reduction of chlorine bleaching in the paper and pulp industry, which partly occurred already before the awareness of the problem. On the other hand, there are probably many other pollutants yet to be detected, once the analytical techniques are available. There is, for example, toxaphene contamination of the fish. Furthermore, recently, a new group of pollutants was identified in fish, as well as in the blood of Baltic fishermen -- polychlorinated naphthalenes (21). Hence it is important that skilled analytical chemists and environmental toxicologists continue to identify and assess the toxicity of pollutants in fish.


Autophagy is a vital basic phenomenon that widely exists in eukaryotic cells. As one type of programmed cell death, autophagy has gained much more attention in the past few years. Recent studies suggest that the alterations in autophagy are associated with the genesis and development of cancers. It can affect cell apoptosis, angiogenesis, and treat‐ ment of tumor. Others' and our studies have found that some herbal medicines can in‐ duce autophagic cell death in cancer cell models. As herbal medicines are very important recourses for drug discovery and lead compounds of anticancer drugs, we have summar‐ ized the role of autophagy in inhibitive effect of natural products in cancer cell growth and metastasis. Finally, we present summary and critical comments on problems in cur‐ rent autophagy study and its future prospect.


Drawing on the past literature on four retail service areas: content management, customer management, multi-channel management, and visitor traffic management, this research offers an empirical analysis of the relationships between these four service areas and the online sales performance of Web retailers. Using data from an independent source on the profiles as well as operational and sales performances of the top-ranked Web retailers, we map the retailers' online features into a unified conceptual framework that incorporates the above four broad areas, and empirically study their direct implications on online sales performance. The results show that the retailers' efforts in content, customer, and multi-channel management features have a significant positive impact on their online sales. However, while retailers expend considerable efforts on attracting visitors to their retail Web sites, our result is inconclusive regarding whether or not the visitor traffic management features have an impact on retailers' sales performance.


: Electrodermal activity (EDA) is considered to be an effective metric for measuring changes in the arousal level of people. In this paper, the phasic component of EDA data from players is analyzed in relation to their reported experience from a standardized questionnaire, when interacting with a couple of virtual reality games that featured two different input devices: the HTC Vive and Leap Motion controllers. Initial results show that there are no significant differences in the phasic component data, despite having significant differences in their respective player experience. Furthermore, no linear correlations are found between the phasic component data and the evaluated experience variables, with the only exception of negative affect which features a weak positive correlation. In conclusion, the phasic component of EDA data has here shown a limited correlation with player experience and should be further explored in combination with other psychophysiological signals.


I ntroduction:Inflammatory Myopathies are a group of acquired diseases in which most important finding is subacute progressing symmetrical proximal muscle weakness and fatigue with mononuclear cells infiltration in the muscle tissue along with degeneration and regeneration of muscle fibers and elevation of the muscle enzymes. In nonspecific myositis, the important point is the prominent infiltration of the macrophages rather than lymphocytes in the muscle tissue, and intact fibers with infiltration are less common. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective and descriptive study, files and pathological slides of patients with myositis, hospitalized in the neurologic ward of Ghaem hospital or outpatients visited the neuropathology center from 1996 to 2006, were again evaluated. This study was approved by the local ethics. Results:Overall, 39 patients with inflammatory myopathy diagnosis admitted during this period, of which were 56.4 males and 43.6 females. The average age of the women and men was 31 and 35.5 years respectively. Dysphagia was see in 33.3, tenderness and muscle pain in 41, Reynoud�s phenomen in 7.6, elevated muscle enzymes in 82, lung involvement in 5.1, heart involvement in 5.1, positive ANA in 5.1 and elevated ESR in 53.8 of the patients. Thirty-nine patients were evaluated in the neuropathology ward and amoung this group 36 cases had nonspecific myositis and 3 patients had polymyositis. Conclusion:In this study it is shown that polymyositis is a rare disease, and the presence of inflammation in muscle biopsy, elevated muscle enzymes and weakness of girdle muscles are not necessary for the polymyositis diagnosis confirmation. However, most of these cases are nonspecific myositis which will not respond to corticosteroid therapy.


Investigators who have studied hyperthermic response of spontaneous animal tumors have reported complete remission for variable periods of 15 to 38% of tumors treated. Normal tissue complications were minimal. Long-term control appears more likely if irradiation is combined with hyperthermia, but information is lacking to date to confirm this. Dose-response assays of radiation alone have been done which would make comparisons with hyperthermia and radiation more meaningful. Probabilities for increasing tumor control without significantly increasing normal tissue response can be estimated better from such assays. Spontaneous tumors in companion animals have advantages over rodent tumor systems of relatively larger treatment fields; longer follow-up times are possible, and serial monitoring of a variety of clinical data can be done. Experience of investigators using these tumors has shown that animal owners and referring veterinarians are most cooperative in reasonable, humane approaches to experimental cancer therapy.


This study examines how social engagement in an online learning environment (OLE) can transform teachers' perceptions of their own pedagogical practices. Data was collected over a ten-month period, as a group of five teachers at an international school in Hong Kong were learning to use Moodle to create blended learning environments. Participants ranged from new teachers in their first year of work, to experienced teachers with over ten years on the job. The data examined in this paper came from an online semi-structured interview. The findings indicate that teachers with more teaching experience may have more confidence to use OLEs in a constructivist way. In this study, OLEs, especially with the use of Web 2.0 tools, were expected to provide a process for negotiation of student control and expression in a way that motivates students and supports learning.


The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the flow of horticultural products from farmers to consumers. It causes the delivery of vegetables to be hampered, especially in Jabodetabek, which is the center of vegetable consumption. Therefore, a new marketing strategy is needed involving e-commerce to meet people's need for vegetables. This study discusses the buying behavior of vegetables through e-commerce in Jabodetabek and analyzes the role of e-commerce platforms to empower farmers in Indonesia. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative with two data sources, primary data obtained from questionnaires filled out by 153 respondents and secondary data obtained from literature studies. The results showed that 50.33 percent of respondents prefer to shop for vegetables through e-commerce, and 51.63 percent think online vegetable shopping services are better than offline or conventional shopping. The majority of people choose to buy vegetables online through e-commerce because of concerns about the spread of the COVID-19 virus. However, vegetable purchasing behavior is still in the introduction stage. E-commerce plays a role in making it easier for people to get the needs of quality vegetables at competitive prices. Empowering farmers to produce high-quality products is very important in increasing consumer repurchase intentions and improving the welfare of farmers in Indonesia.


Wyeomyia (Dendromyia) luteoventralis is redescribed from females, males, larvae and pupae collected at the type locality, in Brazil, and compared to the closely related species. At least six species - Wy. luteoventralis, Wy. ypsipola, Wy. testei, Wy. trifurcata, Wy. complosa and Wy. jocosa - appparently, belong to a monophyletic group, the subgenus Dendromyia. All other species previously included in Dendromyia are hereby excluded from this subgenus and retained in genus Wyeomyia without subgeneric placement.


IMPORTANCE
Critical illness results in disability and reduced health-related quality of life (HRQOL), but the optimum timing and components of rehabilitation are uncertain.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effect of increasing physical and nutritional rehabilitation plus information delivered during the post-intensive care unit (ICU) acute hospital stay by dedicated rehabilitation assistants on subsequent mobility, HRQOL, and prevalent disabilities.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
A parallel group, randomized clinical trial with blinded outcome assessment at 2 hospitals in Edinburgh, Scotland, of 240 patients discharged from the ICU between December 1, 2010, and January 31, 2013, who required at least 48 hours of mechanical ventilation. Analysis for the primary outcome and other 3-month outcomes was performed between June and August 2013; for the 6- and 12-month outcomes and the health economic evaluation, between March and April 2014.

INTERVENTIONS
During the post-ICU hospital stay, both groups received physiotherapy and dietetic, occupational, and speech/language therapy, but patients in the intervention group received rehabilitation that typically increased the frequency of mobility and exercise therapies 2- to 3-fold, increased dietetic assessment and treatment, used individualized goal setting, and provided greater illness-specific information. Intervention group therapy was coordinated and delivered by a dedicated rehabilitation practitioner.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
The Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI) (range 0-15) at 3 months; higher scores indicate greater mobility. Secondary outcomes included HRQOL, psychological outcomes, self-reported symptoms, patient experience, and cost-effectiveness during a 12-month follow-up (completed in February 2014).

RESULTS
Median RMI at randomization was 3 (interquartile range [IQR], 1-6) and at 3 months was 13 (IQR, 10-14) for the intervention and usual care groups (mean difference, -0.2 [95% CI, -1.3 to 0.9; P = .71]). The HRQOL scores were unchanged by the intervention (mean difference in the Physical Component Summary score, -0.1 [95% CI, -3.3 to 3.1; P = .96]; and in the Mental Component Summary score, 0.2 [95% CI, -3.4 to 3.8; P = .91]). No differences were found for self-reported symptoms of fatigue, pain, appetite, joint stiffness, or breathlessness. Levels of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress were similar, as were hand grip strength and the timed Up & Go test. No differences were found at the 6- or 12-month follow-up for any outcome measures. However, patients in the intervention group reported greater satisfaction with physiotherapy, nutritional support, coordination of care, and information provision.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Post-ICU hospital-based rehabilitation, including increased physical and nutritional therapy plus information provision, did not improve physical recovery or HRQOL, but improved patient satisfaction with many aspects of recovery.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
isrctn.com Identifier: ISRCTN09412438.


Sehonghong Shelter is a site of considerable importance to southern African archaeology by reason of its rock paintings, a few of which were interpreted by a Bushman informant with knowledge of the art in 1879, and because of its long sequence of Later and Middle Stone Age assemblages with good organic preservation reaching back to 57000 years ago. This paper briefly summarises the history of archaeological research at the site, but focuses on its historical importance as a centre for the last generations of Bushmen to live in the Lesotho highlands. Historical accounts relating them to the site are discussed, the events surrounding the death there of the Bushman leader Soai described, and the implications of recently published oral histories indicating a post-Soai persistence of Bushman occupation considered. The paper ends by underlining the urgent necessity of further investigation of the site's remaining, and threatened, rock art and the importance of extending archaeological research to include the history of the local Basotho communities.


Electronic applications are nowadays converging under the umbrella of the cloud computing vision. The future ecosystem of information and communication technology is going to integrate clouds of portable clients and embedded devices exchanging information, through the internet layer, with processing clusters of servers, data-centers and high performance computing systems. Even thus the whole society is waiting to embrace this revolution, there is a backside of the story. Portable devices require battery to work far from the power plugs and their storage capacity does not scale as the increasing power requirement does. At the other end processing clusters, such as data-centers and server farms, are build upon the integration of thousands multiprocessors. For each of them during the last decade the technology scaling has produced a dramatic increase in power density with significant spatial and temporal variability. This leads to power and temperature hot-spots, which may cause non-uniform ageing and accelerated chip failure. Nonetheless all the heat removed from the silicon translates in high cooling costs. Moreover trend in ICT carbon footprint shows that run-time power consumption of the all spectrum of devices accounts for a significant slice of entire world carbon emissions.
This thesis work embrace the full ICT ecosystem and dynamic power consumption concerns by describing a set of new and promising system levels resource management techniques to reduce the power consumption and related issues for two corner cases: Mobile Devices and High Performance Computing.


This book is the sequel to Robert Forman's well-received collection, The Problem of Pure Consciousness (Oxford, 1990). The essays in the earlier volume argued that some mystical experiences do not seem to be formed or shaped by the language system-a thesis that stands in sharp contradistinction to deconstruction in general and to the "constructivist" school of mysticism in particular, which holds that all mysticism is the product of a cultural and linguistic process. In The Innate Capacity, Forman and his colleagues put forward a hypothesis about the formative causes of these "pure consciousness" experiences. All of the contributors agree that mysticism is the result of an innate human capacity, rather than a learned, socially conditioned and constructive process. The innate capacity is understood in several different ways. Many perceive it as an expression of human consciousness per se, awareness itself. Some hold that consciousness should be understood as a built-in link to some hidden, transcendent aspect of the world, and that a mystical experience is the experience of that inherent connectedness. Another thesis that appears frequently is that mystics realize this innate capacity through a process of releasing the hold of the ego and the conceptual system. The contributors here look at mystical experience as it is manifested in a variety of religious and cultural settings, including Hindu Yoga, Buddhism, Sufism, and medieval Christianity. Taken together, the essays constitute an important contribution to the ongoing debate about the nature of human consciousness and mystical experience and its relation to the social and cultural contexts in which it appears.


In recent times, development of nanofluid insulation for power transformers is a hot research topic. Many researchers reported the enhancement in dielectric characteristics of nano modified mineral oils. Considering the drawbacks of petroleum based mineral oil, it is necessary to understand the dielectric characteristics of nanofluids developed with natural ester based oils. Palm oil has better insulation characteristics comparable to mineral oil. However very few research reports is available in the area of nanofluids based on palm oil. Partial discharge (PD) is one of the major sources of insulation performance degradation of transformer oil. It is essential to understand the partial discharge(PD) characteristics by collecting huge data base of PD performance of nano modified palm oil which will increase its confidence level for power transformer application. Knowing these facts, in the present work, certain laboratory experiments have been performed on PD characteristics of nano SiO2 modified palm oil at different electrode configurations. Influence of concentration of nano filler material on the PD characteristics is also studied. Partial discharge inception voltage, Phase resolved partial discharge (PRPD) pattern, PD signal time-frequency domain characteristics, PD signal equivalent timelength-bandwidth mapping, Weibull distribution statistical parameters of PRPD pattern, skewness, repetition rate and phase angle variations are evaluated at different test conditions. From the results of the experiments conducted, we came to understand that PD performance of palm oil is considerably enhanced with the addition of nano-SiO2 filler at 0.01%wt and 0.05%wt concentration. Significant reduction in PD inception voltage, repetition rate, Weibull shape parameter and PD magnitude are noticed with addition of SiO2 nanofillers in palm oil. These results will be useful for recommending nano modified palm oil for power transformer applications.


PURPOSE
Monocarboxylate transporters (MCT) are proton-coupled integral membrane proteins that control the influx and efflux of endogenous monocarboxylates such as lactate, acetate and pyruvate. They also transport and mediate the clearance of drugs such as valproate and gamma-hydroxybutyrate. CD147 functions as ancillary protein that chaperones MCT1 and MCT4 to the cell membrane. There is limited data on the maturation of MCT and CD147 expression in tissues related to drug distribution and clearance. The objective of the present study was to quantify hepatic MCT1, MCT4, and CD147 mRNA, whole cell and membrane protein expression from birth to sexual maturity.

METHODS
Liver tissues were collected from male and female Sprague Dawley rats at postnatal days (PND) 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, 18, 21, 28, 35, and 42 (n = 3 - 5). Hepatic mRNA, total and membrane protein expression of MCT1, MCT4, and CD147 was evaluated via qPCR and western blot.

RESULTS
MCT1 mRNA and protein demonstrated nonlinear maturation patterns. MCT1 and CD147 membrane protein exhibited low expression at birth, with expression increasing three-fold by PND14, followed by a decline in expression at sexual maturity. MCT4 mRNA had highest expression at PND 1, with decreasing expression towards sexual maturity. In contrast, MCT4 membrane protein exhibited minimal expression from birth through weaning before a 10-fold surge at PND35, whereupon there was a sharp decline in expression at PND42. There was a significant positive correlation between MCT1 and CD147 whole cell and membrane expression, while MCT4 membrane expression demonstrated a weak negative correlation with CD147.

CONCLUSION
Our study elucidates the transcriptional and translational maturation patterns of MCT1, MCT4 and CD147 expression, with isoform- dependent differences in the liver. Changes in transporter expression during development may greatly influence drug distribution and clearance in pediatric populations.


Osteoporosis is a serious health concern affecting millions of Americans, with many patients going undiagnosed and untreated. Fractures due to osteoporosis and fracture-related complications are the most clinically relevant and costly consequences of this disorder. The Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX®), released by the World Health Organization (WHO) in February 2008, is a major achievement in helping determine which patients may be candidates for pharmacological therapy for osteoporosis. This Web-based algorithm, which has been incorporated into some dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) reporting software, calculates the 10-year probability of major osteoporotic fracture (clinical vertebral, hip, forearm, or humerus) and the 10-year probability of hip fracture in men and women based on easily obtained clinical risk factors and bone mineral density (BMD) of the femoral neck (optional). The National Osteoporosis Foundation updated its U.S. guidelines in February 2008 to incorporate FRAX and recommends that all postmenopausal women and men aged ≥50 years with a hip or vertebral fracture, a T-score ≤-2.5 at the femoral neck or spine (excluding secondary causes), or low bone mass (T-score between -1.0 and -2.5) and a 10-year probability of hip fracture ≥3% or of major osteoporosis-related fracture ≥20% (based on FRAX) should be considered candidates for drug therapy. Despite its demonstrated clinical utility, FRAX has limitations and should not be used in all situations. Acceptance and clinical use of FRAX may help identify men and women at increased risk for osteoporotic fracture, but implementing the tool into clinical practice may be a challenge for busy physicians.