Increasingly, legal scholars, state legislatures and the federal courts are examining patient privacy concerns that arise in the context of the dissemination, distribution and use of patient prescription information. However, less attention has been paid to the sharing of de-identified or encrypted patient prescription information versus identifiable patient prescription information. Though many patients may not realize it, identifiable, de-identified and encrypted patient prescription information is being used for a host of purposes other than insurance reimbursement and treatment, most notably for pharmaceutical marketing purposes. Existing state and federal laws and ethical guidelines provide some protection for the privacy of patient prescription information, but the privacy protection afforded is non comprehensive and inadequate. The existing patient privacy remedies are too narrow in scope, contain too many loopholes to avoid privacy requirements, lack strong enforcement, and/or focus more on the prescriber than the patient. Accordingly, this Article explores the need for and constructs a proposal for comprehensive federal legislation that is patient focused and empowers patients to protect their prescription information privacy, protects the privacy of de-identified or encrypted prescription information as well as identifiable prescription information, is proactive instead of reactive, and provides for strong enforcement.


Background Falls are a significant issue in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), with research demonstrating fall rates of more than 50%. Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the risk factors associated with falling in people with MS. Data Sources Mixed search methods were used, including computer-based and manual searches. Additionally, hand searches of reference lists and conference abstracts were performed. All literature published from the source's earliest date to January 2012 was included; only full-text English-language sources (or those where a translation was available) were included. Study Selection Eligibility criteria specified articles evaluating any aspect of fall risk in adults with a confirmed MS diagnosis, where the incidence of falling as determined by prospective or retrospective participant report was included. Data Extraction Data were extracted independently by 2 reviewers using a written protocol and standardized extraction documentation. Detailed assessment of each article was independently undertaken by both reviewers, including assessment of study quality using an adaptation of the Newcastle Ottawa Scale plus extraction of key data (participant characteristics, fall incidence, and outcomes). Data Synthesis The final review comprised 8 articles with a total of 1,929 participants; 1,037 (53.75%) were classified as fallers. Eighteen different risk factors were assessed within the included studies. Meta-analysis demonstrated an increase in fall risk associated with impairments of balance and cognition, progressive MS, and use of a mobility aid. Narrative review of the qualitative articles and those factors where meta-analysis was not possible also was undertaken. Limitations Variation in assessment, analysis, and reporting methods allowed meta-analysis for only 4 factors. Conclusion There is limited evidence of the factors associated with fall risk in people with MS. Further methodologically robust studies are needed.


Background: Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder that occurs due to autosomal recessive mutations in the PANK2 gene. Several of these pathogenic mutations have been identified, and ethnic differences seem to play an important role in the clinical outcomes of this disease.
Methods and Findings: Herein we present two Thai patients diagnosed with classic PKAN. The patients presented with typical features of progressive dystonia and an "eye-of-the-tiger" signal on their brain MRIs. Molecular analysis of the PANK2 gene was, therefore, performed to study the mechanism underlying this disease state.
Clinically, we observed features of generalized dystonia and dysarthria during early childhood in both patients. Brain MRIs showed a central hyperintensity surrounded by a region of hypointensity in the globus pallidus which are hallmarks of this disease. Upon molecular analysis, we identified two missense mutations: c.1475C>T (p.Ala492Val) and c.1103A>G (p.Asp368Gly) and one splice site mutation: c.982-1G>C (IVS2-1G>C) in the PANK2 gene. Interestingly, the c.982-1G>C intronic mutation has previously been reported in only one Thai patient with classic PKAN.
Conclusion: Our study demonstrates the clinical and genetic characteristics of classic PKAN in two Thai patients. Generalized dystonia and dysarthria were the main clinical features that differed from classic PKAN in Caucasians. Two unique missense mutations and one recurrent splice-site mutation were identified in Thai patients with classic PKAN.


Abstract Two human enzyme immunoassays (EIA) and one radioimmunoassay (RIA) were validated and used to measure osteocalcin (OC), bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP), and the cross-linked telopeptide domain of type I collagen (ICTP), in serum from Asian elephants (Elephas maximus). Sera from four adult females sampled on 7 consecutive days were also analyzed to assess the existence and magnitude of intraindividual day-to-day variability of the serum concentration of these markers. Sample dilution curves were parallel with assay standard curves, which demonstrated that excellent cross reactivity existed between assay antibodies and elephants marker antigens. Statistically significant inverse correlations were found between age and concentrations of all three markers: BAP, r = −0.862 (P < 0.01); OC, r = −0.788 (P < 0.002); and ICTP, r = −0.848 (P < 0.01). Strong positive correlations were found between BAP and OC (r = 0.797, P < 0.01), OC and ICTP (r = 0.860, P < 0.01), and between BAP and ICTP (r = 0.958, P < 0.01). No statistically significant intraindividual variability was found over 7 days in the four adult females for any of the markers assessed (OC: P = 0.089; ICTP: P = 0.642; BAP: P = 0.146; n = 4 in each case). The overall coefficient of variability observed in this group of animals was 10.3%, 7.4%, and 5.5% for OC, BAP, and ICTP, respectively. These results suggest a potential role for biochemical markers of bone turnover in monitoring skeletal health and bone disease in Asian elephants.


ABSTRACT Zhang, Z.; Zhao, J.; Cui, J., and Nie, H., 2018. Reliability analysis of logistics network of rail-sea intermodal transportation in internet of things environment. In: Liu, Z.L. and Mi, C. (eds.), Advances in Sustainable Port and Ocean Engineering. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 83, pp. 823–827. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The current method for the reliability analysis of the rail-sea intermodal transportation logistics network has the problem of low efficiency and high cost. This paper proposes a method of logistics network reliability analysis of rail-sea intermodal transportation based on EOQ in the Internet of things environment. Firstly, this method analyzed reliability index of sea-rail intermodal transportation logistics network and reliability requirement of sea-rail intermodal transportation network. Secondly, the method simply introduced the train operation plan of container train and the capability of material handling equipment. Finally, our method used the heuristic algorithm to compute the train operation plan of sea-rail intermodal transportation built by EOQ. Experimental result shows that the proposed method can reduce the cost of sea-rail intermodal transportation and improve the stability of intermodal transportation.


PURPOSE: To establish the prevalence of drusen in a population of over-65 year subjects residing in institutions. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A medical interview, ophthalmological examinations and midriatic retinography were performed in 392 older-than-65 year subjects living in homes for the elder (784 eyes). Each eye was reviewed by means of the Wissconsin Age-Related Maculopathy Grading System, in order to determine drusen frequency. RESULTS: Druses frequency totalled 33.3%. A great trend to symmetry was observed; bilateral in 23% of patients. The most frequent finding was multiple units (40 to 59 per eye), well defined soft drusen of 125 micrometer in size, which showed very little tendency to confluence. Twelve to 24% of macular area was affected by drusen. Subjects between ages of 65 to 74, presented the highest frequence. Drusen decreased with age from 75 years upwards. CONCLUSION: The observed drusen frequency found appear lower than those described in other studies outside our country, perhaps due to higher prevalence of media opacities. Midriatic retinography can be a good screening method for the detection of drusen.


Background/Aims: Thalassemia is one of the most common hereditary disorders in Turkey. The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of the β-thalassemia trait and abnormal hemoglobin in couples who applied for premarital screening in the third largest Turkish province of Izmir in the Aegean region. Methods: From January 2011 to March 2012, we tested 19,277 couples at the Karşıyaka Public Health Laboratory, Thalassemia Unit for the β-thalassemia trait and abnormal hemoglobin using a high-performance liquid chromatograph, a hematology analyzer. Results: The β-thalassemia trait with increased HbA2 (>3.5%) and abnormal hemoglobin was found in 4.96% (1912/38,554) and 0.53% (206/38,554) people, respectively. Of abnormal hemoglobin findings, HbS was determined in 128 people (0.33%), HbD in 50 (0.13%), HbE in 24 (0.06%), and HbC in four (0.01%). Furthermore, in 20 of the 19,277 couples (0.05%), both partners had the β-thalassemia trait and were referred to counseling. Conclusion: The prevalence of the β-thalassemia trait in the province of Izmir is high compared with other cities of Turkey. Izmir is a high-risk province for β-thalassemia and sickle-cell anemia. Therefore, premarital screening is essential to prevent new hereditary hemoglobinopaties.


Many important techniques for investigating the properties of extragalactic radio sources, such as spectral-index and rotation-measure mapping, involve the comparison of images at two or more frequencies. In the case of radio interferometric data, this can be done by comparing the CLEAN maps obtained at the different frequencies. However, intrinsic differences in images due to the frequency dependence of the radio emission can be distorted by additional differences that arise due to source variability (if the data to be compared are obtained at different times), image misalignment, and the frequency dependence of the sensitivity to weak emission and the angular resolution provided by the observations (the resolution of an interferometer depends on the lengths of its baselines in units of the observing wavelength). These effects must be corrected for as best as possible before multifrequency data comparison techniques can be applied. We consider the origins for the aforementioned factors, outline the standard techniques used to overcome these difficulties, and describe in detail a technique developed by us, based on the cross-correlation technique widely used in other fields, to correct for misalignments between maps at different frequencies.


Home appliance monitoring provides useful information about appliance usage, which can be used to better inform users about their consumption habits and promote energy conservation. However, metering all loads is cost prohibitive. Instead, many have tried to disaggregate loads from aggregate power measurements. Existing approaches that require submetering high resolution power signals of individual appliances during training and testing, are impractical and economically infeasible. In this paper, we introduce a low-cost approach for home appliance monitoring based on observations made on a single circuit. Our approach consists of three steps. First, we apply a neural network classifier to segment the input power signals. Then, we apply another classifier to label each segment as an individual appliance or multiple appliances. Finally, we iteratively disaggregate the multi-appliance segments with the classifier in the previous step. Our proposed approach is evaluated in two experiments. The first experiment uses a fully labeled public dataset consisting of 1,211 segments from 25 student bedrooms on a university campus. The second experiment uses 1,563 segments from the REDD public dataset. The evaluation shows that our approach can accurately detect those appliances that dominate energy consumption (overall accuracy of 86.6% and 91.2%, respectively). We also present an in-depth analysis of the failures and conjecture why they are harder to detect.


ABSTRACT The sequence of the citrate synthase gene (gltA) of 13 ehrlichial species (Ehrlichia chaffeensis,Ehrlichia canis, Ehrlichia muris, anEhrlichia species recently detected from Ixodes ovatus, Cowdria ruminantium, Ehrlichia phagocytophila, Ehrlichia equi, the human granulocytic ehrlichiosis [HGE] agent, Anaplasma marginale, Anaplasma centrale, Ehrlichia sennetsu, Ehrlichia risticii, andNeorickettsia helminthoeca) have been determined by degenerate PCR and the Genome Walker method. The ehrlichialgltA genes are 1,197 bp (E. sennetsu andE. risticii) to 1,254 bp (A. marginaleand A. centrale) long, and GC contents of the gene vary from 30.5% (Ehrlichia sp. detected from I. ovatus) to 51.0% (A. centrale). The percent identities of the gltA nucleotide sequences among ehrlichial species were 49.7% (E. risticii versusA. centrale) to 99.8% (HGE agent versus E. equi). The percent identities of deduced amino acid sequences were 44.4% (E. sennetsu versus E. muris) to 99.5% (HGE agent versus E. equi), whereas the homology range of 16S rRNA genes was 83.5% (E. risticiiversus the Ehrlichia sp. detected from I. ovatus) to 99.9% (HGE agent, E. equi, andE. phagocytophila). The architecture of the phylogenetic trees constructed by gltA nucleotide sequences or amino acid sequences was similar to that derived from the 16S rRNA gene sequences but showed more-significant bootstrap values. Based upon the alignment analysis of the ehrlichial gltA sequences, two sets of primers were designed to amplify tick-borneEhrlichia and Neorickettsia genogroupEhrlichia (N. helminthoeca, E. sennetsu, and E. risticii), respectively. Tick-borne Ehrlichia species were specifically identified by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns of AcsI and XhoI with the exception ofE. muris and the very closely related ehrlichia derived from I. ovatus for which sequence analysis of the PCR product is needed. Similarly, Neorickettsia genogroupEhrlichia species were specifically identified by RFLP patterns of RcaI digestion. If confirmed this technique will be useful in rapidly identifying Ehrlichia spp.


A new direction of technical steganography related to the concealment of information in the process of layer-by-layer creation (cultivation) of a solid-state object using various 3D-printing technologies is investigated. Information data are converted into a digital 3D-model of elementary physical objects that are placed inside this 3D-model of the container product. After printing, a solid object physically contains the hidden information that cannot be deleted or distorted without damaging the container product. In addition, the applied methods do not reduce the operational, aesthetic and any other properties of the finished product. The proposed complex is invariant to the method of layer-by-layer growing, that is, it can be equipped with any peripheral devices of 3D-printing of various manufacturers with any materials and principles of layer-by-layer creation.


Networked control systems (NCSs) are a kind of distributed control systems in which the data between control components are exchanged via communication networks. Because of the attractive advantages of NCSs such as reduced system wiring, low weight, and ease of system diagnosis and maintenance, the research on NCSs has received much attention in recent years. The first part (Chapter 2 – Chapter 4) of the thesis is devoted to designing new controllers for NCSs by incorporating the network-induced delays. The thesis also conducts research on filtering of multirate systems and identification of Hammerstein systems in the second part (Chapter 5 – Chapter 6). Network-induced delays exist in both sensor-to-controller (S-C) and controller-to-actuator (CA) links. A novel two-mode-dependent control scheme is proposed, in which the to-be-designed controller depends on both S-C and C-A delays. The resulting closed-loop system is a special jump linear system. Then, the conditions for stochastic stability are obtained in terms of a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) with nonconvex constraints, which can be efficiently solved by a sequential LMI optimization algorithm. Further, the control synthesis problem for the NCSs is considered. The definitions of H2 and H∞ norms for the special system are first proposed. Also, the plant uncertainties are considered in the design. Finally, the robust mixed H2/H∞ control problem is solved under the framework of LMIs. To compensate for both S-C and C-A delays modeled by Markov chains, the generalized predictive control method is modified to choose certain predicted future control signal as the current control effort on the actuator node, whenever the control signal is delayed. Further, stability criteria in terms of LMIs are provided to check the system stability. The proposed method is also tested on an experimental hydraulic position control system. Multirate systems exist in many practical applications where different sampling rates co-exist in the same system. The l2 − l∞ filtering problem for multirate systems is considered in the thesis. By using the lifting technique, the system is first transformed to a linear time-invariant one, and then the filter design is formulated as an optimization problem which can be solved by using LMI techniques. Hammerstein model consists of a static nonlinear block followed in series by a linear dynamic system, which can find many applications in different areas. New switching sequences to handle the two-segment nonlinearities are proposed in this thesis. This leads to less parameters to be estimated and thus reduces the computational cost. Further, a stochastic gradient algorithm based on the idea of replacing the unmeasurable terms with their estimates is developed to identify the Hammerstein model with two-segment nonlinearities. Finally, several open problems are listed as the future research directions.


The article has formed a system of indicators for assessing the effectiveness of the information management process in order to determine the possibility and feasibility of its use in the management of an industrial enterprise. Indicators, the calculation of which is based on internal sources of information of an industrial enterprise according to management and financial accounting data, form the basis of the information process for managing the activities of an industrial enterprise. For the analysis, the data were combined with the subject area into indicators of labor, production and financial spheres. In order to improve the process of managing an industrial enterprise, partial indicators of assessing the effectiveness of the information process of managing an industrial enterprise were calculated on the basis of the synthesis of expert assessment methods: by scores and the method of analyzing hierarchies. Based on the results of the study, priority indicators have been identified for calculating the integral indicator of ensuring the effectiveness of the information process of managing an industrial enterprise with ensuring the reliability, content, completeness and relevance of the information process. The factors that ensure the efficiency of the information process of enterprise management are identified, thanks to which it becomes possible to design in advance several approaches to organizing the future activities of an industrial enterprise.


Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of drotrecogin alfa (activated) compared with best supportive care in a UK cohort of adult intensive-care patients with severe sepsis. Methods: A systematic review of evidence on the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of drotrecogin alfa (activated) was undertaken, and a decision-analytic model was developed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of treatment in the United Kingdom. Trial data from the Recombinant Human Activated Protein C Worldwide Evaluation in Severe Sepsis (PROWESS) study have been synthesized with other data, including UK data on severe sepsis, to estimate the costs and consequences of treatment over time. Results: For patients with severe sepsis and multiple organ dysfunction, the estimates of cost per life year and cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) are £4,931 and £8,228, respectively. For patients with severe sepsis alone, the cost per life-year and cost per QALY are £5,495 and £9,161, respectively. Conclusions: Whereas the therapeutic cost for drotrecogin alfa (activated) appears high (at around £5,000 per patient) and the potential impact on the provider budget is considerable, drotrecogin alfa (activated) is clinically effective, represents a cost-effective use of resources, and is a significant advance in the treatment of severe sepsis in patients requiring intensive care.


Unique DNA-promoted Pd nanocrystals on carbon nanotubes (Pd/DNA-CNTs) are synthesized for the first time, in which through its regularly arranged PO(4)(3-) groups on the sugar-phosphate backbone, DNA directs the growth of ultrasmall Pd nanocrytals with an average size of 3.4 nm uniformly distributed on CNTs. The Pd/DNA-CNT catalyst shows much more efficient electrocatalytic activity towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with a much more positive onset potential, higher catalytic current density and better stability than other Pd-based catalysts including Pd nanocrystals on carbon nanotubes (Pd/CNTs) without the use of DNA and commercial Pd/C catalyst. In addition, the Pd/DNA-CNTs catalyst provides high methanol tolerance. The high electrocatalytic performance is mainly contributed by the ultrasmall Pd nanocrystal particles grown directed by DNA to enhance the mass transport rate and to improve the utilization of the Pd catalyst. This work may demonstrate a universal approach to fabricate other superior metal nanocrystal catalysts with DNA promotion for broad applications in energy systems and sensing devices.


Background: Pertussis is a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable respiratory infection that is endemic worldwide. There are limited data regarding the occurrence of pertussis in travelers. The objective of this study is to identify travel-related pertussis cases reported to the GeoSentinel Surveillance Network. Methods: This is a descriptive, retrospective analysis of GeoSentinel records from 25 travel/tropical medicine clinics in 16 countries. Frequencies of demographic and travel-related characteristics and symptoms of 74 cases of pertussis in travelers and new immigrants from 1999 to 2015 were analysed. Results: There were 74 probable and confirmed cases of pertussis in the GeoSentinel database; median age was 44 years, and 38 (51%) patients were female. Tourism was the most common reason for travel (41; 55%). Country of exposure was determined in 66 cases with travelers returning from India and China constituting the highest number of cases (10 cases each; 15% each). Seventy of 74 (95%) patients had respiratory symptoms, while fatigue and fever were reported by 21 (28%) and 20 (27%), respectively. Immunization status against pertussis was unknown. Most cases were reported after 2005 (69; 93%). Conclusions: Our study describes 74 cases of pertussis acquired during travel and reported to the GeoSentinel Network. Pertussis should be considered in returned travelers who present with respiratory symptoms. Surveillance and detection of imported cases are important to prevent onward transmission in the community. The pre-travel consultation provides an opportunity to verify immunization status and provide routine vaccinations such as pertussis.


Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) coupled with traffic sign recognition could lead to safer driving environments. This study presents a sophisticated, yet robust and accurate traffic sign detection system using computer vision and ML, for ADAS. Unavailability of large local traffic sign datasets and the unbalances of traffic sign distribution are the key bottlenecks of this research.  Hence, we choose to work with support vector machines (SVM) with a custom-built unbalance dataset, to build a lightweight model with excellent classification accuracy.  The SVM model delivered optimum performance with the radial basis kernel, C=10, and gamma=0.0001. In the proposed method, same priority was given to processing time (testing time) and accuracy, as traffic sign identification is time critical. The final accuracy obtained was 87% (with confidence interval 84%-90%) with a processing time of 0.64s (with confidence interval of 0.57s-0.67s) for correct detection at testing, which emphasizes the effectiveness of the proposed method.


The basic endowment insurance system for enterprise employees has already covered migrant workers in China. However, a number of migrant workers have withdrawn from insurance system in economically developed regions in recent years. And the number is on the rise. The root cause for it lies in the institutional barrier of trans-regional migration. Besides, it also closely linked to the internal contradictoriness in the endowment insurance system. This paper aims at discussing how to break the trans-regional migration obstacles of endowment insurance system and promote the current pooling account from provincial level to national level. Based on the analysis on China's basic endowment insurance system, four main problems has been found. They are county-based system and low level of pension pooling, trade-off in local governments caused by fiscal backstop, restrictions from the existing fiscal system, and implement of policies relies heavily on execution of basic-level governments. In order to solve these problems of existing endowment insurance system, establishing an integrated endowment insurance system which covers the whole Chinese citizens is further proposed. In addition, confronted with the current fact that we have a big gap of social security treatment between urban and rural areas, among different regions and among various groups, the feasible solution is to complete transformation from differential universal-type social welfare system to fair universal-type social welfare system. To promote the current pooling account from provincial level to national level, it needs to be carried forward systematically and stage by stage.


ABSTRACT This article explores how the Base Nacional Comum Curricular (National Learning Standards), entered the policy debate in Brazil and became the most important reform initiative of the Ministry of Education between 2015 and 2017. We argue that this accelerated policy process was contingent upon the practice of philanthropizing consent: foundations' use of material resources, knowledge production, media power, and informal and formal networks to garner the consent of multiple social and institutional actors to support a public policy. In other words, these foundations do not impose policies on governments; rather, they 'render technical' high-stakes political debates on pressing issues of educational equity and then influence state officials' consensus about which policies to adopt. We argue that this philanthropic influence is not simply a neoliberal, profit-maximizing scheme; rather, it is an attempt by foundation and corporate leaders to garner power and influence on different scales, and re-make public education in their own image. Although this educational policy game is in many ways participatory and widely accepted, foundations are only able to play this role due to their tremendous economic power, a direct product of the unequal global political economy, and the systematic defunding of the public sphere.


To contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools in Kenya, as in many other countries, had to temporarily close. This study investigates the extent to which lockdowns and school closures affected households and low-cost private schools (LCPS) in four urban informal settlements in Nairobi: Kibera, Korogocho, Mathare, and Viwandani. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from household heads, school heads, and key informants from August to October 2021. Our findings indicate that measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 significantly reduced household incomes, and among the coping strategies adopted by some households was to transfer learners from private schools to public schools, especially for learners in primary schools, because public primary schools do not charge tuition and enjoy government-paid teachers. The loss of income from school fees during school closure and from rent for premises, coupled with increased defaults on school fees and a significant reduction in enrollment when schools reopened, led to the permanent closure of some LCPS, and learners had to transfer to other schools. Furthermore, LCPS could not afford to pay teachers during school closures and therefore lost some when the schools reopened. A proportion of private schools opted to fill the gap with cheaper, unqualified teachers. Two main recommendations emerge from our findings. Considering increasing urbanization, especially growth of informal settlements whose residents are mainly low-income households, the government of Kenya should increase the spaces in the public schools available within and around these settlements. The majority of families in these settlements send their children to private schools because there are no government schools available near them, not necessarily because they prefer private schools to government schools. We recommend that the government provide capitation grants to children from low-income households attending LCPS. In the short run, there is a need for a recovery fund for LCPS, especially those that are at-risk of closure. Mathare 1 of dropouts percent among and percent among of of home transitioning levels tertiary of who were lack of transition secondary of secondary


Combinatorial Interaction Testing (CIT) is an effective technique that, however, requires a good tool support in order to be successfully applied. There are several tools and applications for CIT, and most of them are distributed as desktop applications or as special plugins of existing programs and require some installation procedures to be used. Software as a Service (SaaS) paradigm can be applied to CIT modeling and test generation, proving several advantages to the tester. There are already some attempts in this direction, but with some shortcomings (little editing support, for example). In this paper, we present CTWEDGE (Combinatorial Testing Web EDiting and GEneration), which defines a language for CIT models in the presence of constraints by using Xtext. It introduces a web service for editing CIT specifications and it interfaces, through a server, with other tools for test generation. CTWEDGE can improve the user experience by providing a complete environment for CIT modeling and generation on the web without sacrificing usability.


Human echinococcosis is a zoonotic larval cestode disease usually caused by Echinococcus granulosus or E. multilocularis. Infection is chronic taking years for symptoms to develop. Because diagnosis and treatment are difficult and reservoirs of infection are maintained in domestic livestock, dogs or wildlife, the disease is difficult to assess in terms of public health and requires long-term control interventions. Estimates of numbers of cystic echinococcosis cases that may occur in 2 large endemic zones, North Africa/Middle East and China/Central Asia, indicates > 423,000 and > 484,000 cases respectively. Globally, 3.6 million DALYs could be lost due to echinoc- cocosis. Echinococcosis is therefore a neglected disease which is under-reported and requires urgent attention in common with a number of other zoonoses in order to reduce morbidity and to help alleviate poverty in poor pas- toral areas of the sub-tropics and temperate zones.


California's Sierra Nevada mountains are predicted to experience greater variation in annual precipitation according to climate change models, while nitrogen deposition from pollution continues to increase. These changes may significantly affect understory communities and fuels in forests where managers are attempting to restore historic conditions after a century of altered fire regimes. The objective of this research was to experimentally test the effects of increasing and decreasing snowpack depth, increasing nitrogen, and applying prescribed fire to mixed‐conifer forest understories at two sites in the central and southern Sierra Nevada. Understory response to treatments significantly differed between sites with herb biomass increasing in shrub‐dominated communities when snowpack was reduced. Fire was a more important factor in post‐treatment species richness and cover than either snowpack addition or reduction. Nitrogen additions unexpectedly increased herbaceous species richness. These varied findings indicate that modeling future climatic influences on biodiversity may be more difficult than additive prediction based on increasing the ecosystem's two limiting growth resources. Increasing snowpack and nitrogen resulted in increased shrub biomass production at both sites and increased herb production at the southern site. This additional understory biomass has the potential to increase fuel connectivity in patchy Sierran mixed‐conifer forests, increasing fire severity and size.


We report on polarimetric maps made with HAWC+/SOFIA toward ρ Oph A, the densest portion of the ρ Ophiuchi molecular complex. We employed HAWC+ bands C (89 μm) and D (154 μm). The slope of the polarization spectrum was investigated by defining the quantity , where pC and pD represent polarization degrees in bands C and D, respectively. We find a clear correlation between and the molecular hydrogen column density across the cloud. A positive slope ( > 1) dominates the lower-density and well-illuminated portions of the cloud, which are heated by the high-mass star Oph S1, whereas a transition to a negative slope ( < 1) is observed toward the denser and less evenly illuminated cloud core. We interpret the trends as due to a combination of (1) warm grains at the cloud outskirts, which are efficiently aligned by the abundant exposure to radiation from Oph S1, as proposed in the radiative torques theory; and (2) cold grains deep in the cloud core, which are poorly aligned owing to shielding from external radiation. To assess this interpretation, we developed a very simple toy model using a spherically symmetric cloud core based on Herschel data and verified that the predicted variation of is consistent with the observations. This result introduces a new method that can be used to probe the grain alignment efficiency in molecular clouds, based on the analysis of trends in the far-infrared polarization spectrum.


Modern stainless steel melting and refining techniques now make it possible to consider nitrogen as an economic and controllable alloying addition to 18Cr-8Ni austenitic stainless steels. Studies show that nitrogen additions of up to about 0.16 percent to 18Cr-8Ni steels can result in some improved properties. Nitrogen is a strong strengthening element to 18Cr-8Ni steels and will increase yield strength by about 5.5 to 6.2 MPa (800 to 900 lb/in. 2 ) for each 0.01 percent nitrogen. Isothermal time-temperature sensitization (TTS) diagrams developed for I8Cr-8Ni steels containing about 0.05 percent carbon and up to 0.25 percent nitrogen indicate that nitrogen at least up to 0.16 percent retards intergranular carbide precipitation. Corrosion tests on isothermally sensitized or welded specimens show reduced corrosion rates with nitrogen additions consistent with the TTS data. For low-carbon 18Cr-8Ni steels, nitrogen additions up to 0.15 percent have no apparent effect on the normally excellent sensitization resistance of these steels, at least as measured by corrosion tests on isothermally heated or welded specimens. Nitrogen additions were also found to improve pitting and crevice corrosion resistance as evaluated in anodic polarization or chloride pitting/crevice corrosion tests. Stress corrosion evaluations were conducted on solution-annealed material using constrained U-bend specimens in both severe and milder environments. The results indicated that nitrogen content up to 0.16 percent did not significantly affect stress corrosion cracking susceptibility, but 0.25 percent nitrogen appeared detrimental in some environments.


Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and accumulation of iron and alpha‐synuclein; it follows a characteristic pattern throughout the nervous system. Despite decades of successful preclinical neuroprotective studies, no drug has then shown efficacy in clinical trials. Considering this dilemma, we have reviewed and organized solutions of varying importance that can be exclusive or additive, and we outline approaches to help generate successful development of neuroprotective drugs for PD: (1) select patients in which the targeted mechanism is involved in the pathological process associated with the monitoring of target engagement, (2) combine treatments that target multiple pathways, (3) establish earliest interventions and develop better prodromal biomarkers, (4) adopt rigorous methodology and specific disease‐relevant designs for disease‐modifying clinical trials, (5) customize drug with better brain biodistribution, (6) prioritize repurposed drugs as a first line approach, and (7) adapt preclinical models to the targeted mechanisms with translational biomarkers to increase their predictive value. © 2020 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society


Compared to the traditional steam catapult systems, the electromagnetic launch (EML) system with the permanent magnetic linear synchronous motor (PMLSM) has the features such as high efficiency, high power density and controllability, thus PMLSM is used in the EML system. In this paper, the long primary short secondary PMLSM used in electromagnetic launch system is designed, whose winding in the primary is divided into two sections. The control system employs two inverters and two current trackers, and the latter are adopted to track the 3-phase currents in the other section when the mover is in the cross section, so as to make the magnetic traveling field excited by the two windings move forward smoothly, and the thrust stable. With regard to the system nonlinearity and model variation, the fuzzy PI regulator is designed to adjust the mover velocity. In contrast to the conventional PI regulator, the simulation results show that the thrust is stable at section transition and the velocity reaction is quick without overshoot. The scheme proposed here is validated by the simulation results.


Background Drones are reliable tools for estimating colonial seabird numbers. Although most research has focused on methods of improving the accuracy of bird counts, few studies have evaluated the impacts of these methods on bird behavior. In this study, we examined the effects of the DJI Phantom 3 drone approach (altitude, horizontal and vertical descent speeds) on changes in the intensity of behavioral response of guano birds: guanay cormorants (Phalacrocorax bougainvilli), Peruvian boobies (Sula variegata) and Peruvian pelicans (Pelecanus thagus). The breeding and non-breeding condition was also evaluated. Methods Eleven locations along the Peruvian coast were visited in 2016–2017. Drone flight tests considered an altitude range from 5 to 80 m from the colony level, a horizontal speed range from 0.5 to 15 m/s, and a vertical descent speed range from 0.5 to 3 m/s. The intensity of the behavioral response of birds was scored and categorized as: 0-no reacting, 1-head pointing to the drone (HP), 2-wing flapping (WF), 3-walking/running (WR) and 4-taking-off/flying (TK). Drone noise at specific altitudes was recorded with a sound meter close to the colony to discriminate visual from auditory effects of the drone. Results In 74% of all test flights (N = 507), guano birds did not react to the presence of the drone, whereas in the remaining flights, birds showed a sign of discomfort: HP (47.7%, N = 130), WF (18.5%), WR (16.9%) and TK (16.9%). For the drone approach tests, only flight altitude had a significant effect in the intensity of the behavioral response of guano birds (intensity behavioral response <2). No birds reacted at drone altitudes above 50 m from the colony. Birds, for all species either in breeding or non-breeding condition, reacted more often at altitudes of 5 and 10 m. Chick-rearing cormorants and pelicans were less sensitive than their non-breeding counterparts in the range of 5–30 m of drone altitude, but boobies reacted similarly irrespective of their condition. At 5 m above the colony, cormorants were more sensitive to the drone presence than the other two species. Horizontal and vertical flights at different speeds had negligible effects (intensity behavioral response <1). At 2 m above the ground, the noise of the cormorant colony was in average 71.34 ± 4.05 dB (N = 420). No significant differences were observed in the drone noise at different flight altitudes because the background noise of the colony was as loud as the drone. Conclusions It is feasible to use the drone DJI Phantom 3 for surveys on the guano islands of Peru. We recommend performing drone flights at altitudes greater than 50 m from guano bird colonies and to select take-off spots far from gulls. Likewise, this study provides a first step to develop guidelines and protocols of drone use for other potential activities on the Peruvian guano islands and headlands such as surveys of other seabirds and pinnipeds, filming and surveillance.


OBJECTIVES
To identify the characteristics of Hong Kong Chinese women with polycystic ovarian syndrome and to compare different diagnostic criteria.

DESIGN
Retrospective study.

SETTING
Gynae-endocrinology Clinics in the Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong.

PATIENTS
Ninety Hong Kong Chinese women with polycystic ovarian syndrome who were diagnosed according to the hospital's criteria.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Prevalence of typical features of polycystic ovarian syndrome, including anovulation and hyperandrogenism (with other endocrine causes excluded), polycystic ovarian features on ultrasonography, luteinising hormone predominance, obesity, and insulin resistance.

RESULTS
Almost all (98.9%) patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome presented with anovulation, only 48.9% of them had clinical or biochemical evidence of hyperandrogenism. Typical ultrasound appearances of polycystic ovaries were observed in 86.7% of patients. Luteinising hormone predominance and insulin resistance were demonstrated in 67.8% and 40.7% of the cohort, respectively. Eight-six (95.6%) patients should have also been diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome based on the 2003 Rotterdam new criteria. About 60% of patients who screened positive for insulin resistance had normal fasting serum glucose levels. The same proportion who had full screening for insulin resistance by oral glucose tolerance tests and fasting serum glucose to insulin ratios had discordant results of these two tests.

CONCLUSIONS
The 2003 Rotterdam new diagnostic criteria for polycystic ovarian syndrome are generally applicable to the Hong Kong Chinese population. Early detection of insulin resistance in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome can be ensured by performing an oral glucose tolerance test combined with measurement of fasting serum glucose to insulin ratio.


Time is a difficult concept for parents to communicate with young children. We developed TimeBlocks, a novel tangible, playful object to facilitate communication about concepts of time with young children. TimeBlocks consists of a set of cubic blocks that function as a physical progress bar. Parents and children can physically manipulate the blocks to represent the concept of time. We evaluated TimeBlocks through a field study in which six families tried TimeBlocks for four days at their homes. The results indicate that TimeBlocks played a useful role in facilitating the often challenging task of time-related communication between parents and children. We also report on a range of observed insightful novel uses of TimeBlocks in our study.


BACKGROUND
Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic condition characterized by pain, stiffness and functional limitations. According to the OsteoArthritis Research Society International (OARSI) recommendations, patients with knee OA should undertake regular quadriceps muscle strengthening exercises. Whole body vibration (WBV) proved its effectiveness in strengthening of the quadriceps muscles and improving balance in chronic knee OA patients. To date, there are no published studies that investigated the effects of focal muscle vibration (FMV) in these patients.

AIM
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of FMV on physical functioning in patients with symptomatic knee OA.

DESIGN
Randomized controlled trial.

SETTING
Outpatient clinic, University Hospital.

POPULATION
Men and women aged 60 years or older with radiographic diagnosis of mild to moderate monolateral knee OA (Kellgren-Lawrence grade II or III) and chronic knee pain.

METHODS
Patients were randomized in two groups (treatment group and placebo control group). The treatment group received FMV treatment, according to the "repeated muscle vibration" protocol. The control group received a sham treatment. The primary outcome measure was the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). Secondary outcome measures were the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) and the Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment (POMA). Follow up evaluations were done at 3 and 6 months.

RESULTS
Fifty patients were recruited and randomly assigned to either the study or control group. There was a statistical significant difference between the two groups both for primary (WOMAC) and secondary (SPPB and POMA) outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS
In this study, FMV therapy has proven to be effective and safe in improving functioning of patients affected by mild to moderate chronic knee OA.

CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT
The use of FMV therapy might be an additional and safe tool in the conservative management of knee OA.


Pluripotency Control The transcription factors Pou5f1/Oct4, Sox2, and Nanog play central roles in pluripotency control in mammalian embryonic stem (ES) cells. The evolution of the pluripotency regulatory network and its roles during early development of nonmammalian vertebrates is unknown. Leichsenring et al. (p. 1005, published online 15 August) show that in zebrafish embryos, Pou5f1 controls priming and transcriptional activation of the first zygotically expressed genes. This mechanism for transition from the transcriptionally silent cleavage stage to the transcriptionally active blastula stage may have evolved to control the prolonged cell pluripotency state in mammalian early development and ES cells, establishing a link between zygotic gene activation and pluripotency control. Work in zebrafish provides a link between zygotic gene activation and pluripotency control. The development of multicellular animals is initially controlled by maternal gene products deposited in the oocyte. During the maternal-to-zygotic transition, transcription of zygotic genes commences, and developmental control starts to be regulated by zygotic gene products. In Drosophila, the transcription factor Zelda specifically binds to promoters of the earliest zygotic genes and primes them for activation. It is unknown whether a similar regulation exists in other animals. We found that zebrafish Pou5f1, a homolog of the mammalian pluripotency transcription factor Oct4, occupies SOX-POU binding sites before the onset of zygotic transcription and activates the earliest zygotic genes. Our data position Pou5f1 and SOX-POU sites at the center of the zygotic gene activation network of vertebrates and provide a link between zygotic gene activation and pluripotency control.


Background:
 Rochester General Hospital (RGH) is a 559 bed acute care community hosp. in Rochester, N.Y. Designated as a Stroke Center in 2003, the Hosp. discharges 850 stroke & TIA pts. annually.

 The Stroke Coalition Team consists of members of the stroke pt. care areas & supporting depts. Group's purpose- provide a collaborative forum for sharing outcomes to improve stroke care.
 Each dept. has a core group to review actionable data for their areas. The Acute Stroke Unit (7800) Team's purpose is to act on unit process improvement opportunities.
 May 2013- a negative trend with the Core Measure for pt. education was identified for the Coalition group. As a result, the 7800 leaders began investigating for root cause.
 Purpose of this QI program was to assure all pts. receive designated pt. education and documentation is complete. A secondary purpose was to improve the quality of the education.

 Methods:
 Four main barriers were identified:

 1. RNs not understanding expectations
 2. Novice RNs not comfortable in educating pts. and families
 3. Electronic Medical Record (EMR)complexity - launched 11/12
 4. Education complete but lacking documentation

 Action plan:

 1 & 2. RN education
 A.Self-learning packet (SLP) that included:
 • Requirements of pt. education
 • How to document the education
 B. 1:1 support from CNS & Nurse Manager
 C. Daily chart audits to ID further opportunities & barriers to compliance
 D. RNs educated on teaching tools:
 •Welcome binder
 • AHA/ASA brochures for Stroke/TIA/diagnostic tests
 • Pt. educational TV offerings
 •Medical/nursing database
 3. Complexity of EMR- Collaborated to make changes to the EMR templates.
 A. Automatic entry of the education template upon stroke order set
 B. Required education flagged
 C. Individualization of pt. education
 D. Standardized admission & discharge nursing notes
 4. Lack of Documentation
 A. Discharge checklists made available
 B. Chart compliance audits (decreasing to random as compliance rose)

 Results:
 Rapid turn-around achieved. Recognized as best practice by Joint Commission during the Center's 3/2014 re-designation.

 Conclusion:
 Rapid improvement possible with action upon data. Team approach allows for appropriate action to occur.

 Efforts continue to enhance compliance & pt. experience.


The most important difficulties about nanoparticles (NPs) in liquid media involve stabilizing them. So, it is necessary to modify the NPs surface by modifiers to generate an effective repulsive force between them. Dispersion of NPs will influence their application property. In this study, the authors used a kind of bioactive dicarboxylic acid as modifier. Surface-functionalized zirconia NPs were prepared using dicarboxylic acid containing different amino acids as coupling agents. Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetry analysis, and transmission electron microscopy were performed on prepared samples to show successfully modification of nano ZrO2.


Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are the preferred healthcare providers for managing the direct clinical care of patients with dysphagia. By assessing self-perceived competency during academic training, SLP graduate student clinicians may increase their understanding of their skills in dysphagia management. We modified the Dysphagia Competency Verification Tool (DCVT) to use a 5-point ordinal scale to explore how SLP graduate student clinicians' self-perception of competency in dysphagia management changes over time and to determine the impact of clinical practicum experiences. Seventy-two SLP graduate student clinicians rated their self-perceived competency for four DCVT domains. We used Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) models to analyze the statistical significance of self-perception of competency ratings for each of the DCVT domains across semesters while accounting for clinical practicum experiences. Overall, the SLP graduate student clinicians indicated an increase in DCVT scores from the beginning of their graduate training program to the time of graduation, but did not perceive themselves as Adequate on most items of the DCVT until their last semester. These results suggest that both SLP graduate student clinicians and SLP graduate training programs would benefit from using a standardized metric to assess self-perceived competence in dysphagia management. DCVT self-perceived competency ratings could inform SLP graduate student clinicians about areas of dysphagia management practice and skills that need further development, allowing them to target these specific areas and gain actual competence. Abstract Abstract Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are the preferred healthcare providers for managing the direct clinical care of patients with dysphagia. By assessing self-perceived competency during academic training, SLP graduate student clinicians may increase their understanding of their skills in dysphagia management. We modified the Dysphagia Competency Verification Tool (DCVT) to use a 5-point ordinal scale to explore how SLP graduate student clinicians' self-perception of competency in dysphagia management changes over time and to determine the impact of clinical practicum experiences. Seventy-two SLP graduate student clinicians rated their self-perceived competency for four DCVT domains. We used Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) models to analyze the statistical significance of self-perception of competency ratings for each of the DCVT domains across semesters while accounting for clinical practicum experiences. Overall, the SLP graduate student clinicians indicated an increase in DCVT scores from the beginning of their graduate training program to the time of graduation, but did not perceive themselves as Adequate on most items of the DCVT until their last semester. These results suggest that both SLP graduate student clinicians and SLP graduate training programs would benefit from using a standardized metric to assess self-perceived competence in dysphagia management. DCVT self-perceived competency ratings could inform SLP graduate student clinicians about areas of dysphagia management practice and skills that need further development, allowing them to target these specific areas and gain actual competence.


This paper describes a new high-level synthesis system based on the hierarchical production based specification (PBS). Advantages of this form of specification are that the designer does not describe the control flow in terms of explicit states or control variables, and that the designer does not describe a particular form of implementation. The production-based specification also separates the specification of the control aspects and data-flow aspects of the design. The control is implicitly described via the production hierarchy, while the data-flow is described as action computations. This approach is a hardware analog of popular software engineering techniques. The Clairvoyant system automatically constructs a controlling machine from the PBS and this process is not impacted by the possibly exponentially larger deterministic state space of the designs. The encodings generated by the constructions compare favorably to encodings derived using graph-based state encoding techniques in terms of logic complexity and logic depth. These construction techniques utilize recent advances in BDD techniques. >


In this essay, the adjectives beautiful, handsome and good-looking are investigated in order to find out if, and to what extent, the three adjectives are synonymous, as well as when, and how, they differ. The adjectives are also evaluated in relation to gender, which means that any similarities or differences regarding sex that the adjectives display are studied. The analysis is made on the basis of information found in five contemporary dictionaries, one etymological dictionary and one computerized corpus. It is shown that the three adjectives have very few synonymous uses, both as defined in the dictionaries and as suggested in the corpus. However, there are more similarities between the adjectives in the corpus samples than in the dictionary definitions where only the reference to people's appearances are defined as partly synonymous for all three adjectives. In the corpus, the adjectives might be considered synonymous (once again, only partly so), when in relation to people's looks, but more so when used about buildings, objects and animals. Both the dictionaries and the corpus data suggest that the adjectives have an unevenly distributed frequency with respect to gender: beautiful is used much more often to describe a woman than a man, and the opposite is true for handsome. The adjective good- looking, on the other hand, is considered gender-neutral in the dictionary definitions, but turns out to be more often applied to men in the corpus samples. However, it is not only in relation to frequency that the three adjectives show differences when describing the different sexes. The connotative meanings of the adjectives also display differences, so that (according to some of the dictionary definitions) for example a handsome woman is seen as having masculine features, whereas a handsome man could be seen simply as attractive, even though there are references to strong features for men as well.


Compared to other industrialized countries, the labor force participation of the elderly in the Netherlands is very low. Moreover, it has fallen very fast over recent years. We discuss the incentives for employees to retire, arising from public schemes such as social security and disability insurance, and from private arrangements, such as early retirement and occupational pensions. In general, the generous replacement rates offered by these schemes act as powerful stimuli for retirement. Although Dutch research into the retirement effects of the earnings replacing schemes for the elderly was limited until the early nineties, there is now a fast growing literature on this. This literature confirms the findings in the current paper.


Local cubemaps (LC) were introduced for the first time more than ten years ago for rendering reflections [Bjorke 2004]. Nevertheless it is only in recent years that major game engines have incorporated this technique. In this paper we introduce a generalized concept of LC and present two new LC applications for rendering shadows and refractions. We show that limitations associated with the static nature of LC can be overcome by combining this technique with other well-known runtime techniques for reflections and shadows. Rendering techniques based on LC allow high quality shadows, reflections and refractions to be rendered very efficiently which makes them ideally suited to mobile devices where runtime resources must be carefully balanced [Ice Cave Demo 2015].


In 5G networks, the Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) is considered a promising future architecture in terms of minimizing energy consumption and allocating resources effi-ciently by providing real-time cloud infrastructures, cooperative radio, and centralized data processing. Recently, given their vulnerability to malicious attacks, the security of C-RAN networks has attracted significant attention. Among various anomaly-based intrusion detection techniques, the most promising one is the machine learning-based intrusion detection as it learns without human assistance and adjusts actions accordingly. In this direction, many solutions have been proposed, but they show either low accuracy in terms of attack classification or they offer just a single layer of attack detection. This research focuses on deploying a multi-stage machine learning-based intrusion detection (ML-IDS) in 5G C-RAN that can detect and classify four types of jamming attacks: constant jamming, random jamming, deceptive jamming, and reactive jamming. This deployment enhances security by minimizing the false negatives in C-RAN architectures. The experimental evaluation of the proposed solution is carried out using WSN-DS (Wireless Sensor Networks DataSet), which is a dedicated wireless dataset for intrusion detection. The final classification accuracy of attacks is 94.51% with a 7.84% false negative rate.


Research on life skills in physical education (PE) has gained great attention in recent years. However, there is a need to translate life skills measures for PE into other languages. This research adapted the Life Skills Scale for PE (LSSPE) into Chinese and provided evidence for its validity and reliability. In Study 1, the scale was cross-culturally adapted through translation and back-translation, expert feedback, pilot testing, and scale refinement to provide evidence for the content validity of the scale. Study 2 provided evidence for the factorial validity, internal consistency reliability, and test–retest reliability of the scale by testing it with 583 students. Study 3, with 390 students, provided evidence for the nomological validity of the measure, with results showing perceived teacher autonomy support and students' basic need satisfaction were positively associated with life skills development in PE, and that controlling teaching and basic need frustration were negatively associated with life skills development. In conclusion, the results illustrate that the LSSPE can be used to evaluate Chinese-speaking students' life skills development in PE.


A new multistandard radio receiver architecture is presented to take advantage of nonuniformly controlled analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). By defining the statistical parameter related to the random sampling frequency, a time-quantized random sampling scheme is considered to design a nonuniform sampling-based software defined radio (SDR) multistandard receiver. A relaxed design is proposed for an E-GSM/UMTS/IEEE802.11a multistandard receiver. The designed baseband stage avoids the use of the automatic gain control block, relaxes the nonprogrammable antialiasing filter to the third order, and converts data with a 16-bit ADC at a 124-MHz mean sampling frequency.


The objective of this research was to study effect ofself-uniqueness, basic involvement, and perceived risk to consumer attitudes and intentions to buy fair trade goods. The sample of this research was 400 consumers who consume Starbucks in Bangkok, Thailand. The research instrument was questionnaire which consisted of 5 demographic questions, 5 behavior questions, and 26 5-likert-scale questions for self-uniqueness, basic Starbucks involvement, financial risk, social risk, Starbucks fair trade attitude, and purchase intention of Starbucks fair trade. While the usage statistical techniques are frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and structural equation model. All of Calculations was calculated by IBM SPSS Statistics 22 and IBM SPSS AMOS 22 Trial Version. It was found that most of them were female, 31 – 40, single, were employee in private company, monthly income 30,001 – 50,000 THB. As for behavior, most of samples drank 4-5 times/week, drank at 08.01–12.00,liked latte the most, cost 101–200 THB per, and came to Starbucks alone (38.50%). The results also revealed that all aspects were significant in same directions as hypotheses to the others.The factor loading for all items exceeded level of 0.7, Moreover, the AGFI, GFI, NFI, and CFI were more than 0.8. KeywordsFair Trade, Starbucks, Attitude, Intention


The present study analyzed surgical results in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) who underwent extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) or pleurectomy/decortication (P/D). Data for 44 patients who achieved macroscopic complete resection following neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by EPP (n=29) or P/D (n=15) were reviewed. Patient demographics and oncological outcomes were compared between the EPP and P/D groups. The median overall (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) times were 22 and 14 months, respectively. OS was significantly different between the EPP and P/D groups (median OS, 17 vs. 34 months; 5-year OS, 11 vs. 44%; P=0.019); no difference was noted in PFS (median PFS, 13 vs. 21 months; 5-year PFS, 11 vs. 17%; P=0.373). Univariate analysis demonstrated that epithelial histology (P=0.0003) and P/D (P=0.018) were significant favorable prognostic factors for OS. Using multivariate analysis, epithelial histology (P=0.001) remained the only significant factor. Post-recurrence survival (PRS) among all patients was significantly longer in the P/D group (median PRS, 3 vs. 20 months; 1.5-year PRS, 5 vs. 54%; P=0.003), even among patients with epithelial-type MPM (median PRS, 6 s vs. 20 months; 1.5-year PRS, 8 vs. 61%; P=0.012). Chemotherapy following recurrence (P=0.033) was significantly associated with superior PRS in multivariate analysis. Postoperative pulmonary function was significantly improved in the P/D group. In summary, P/D may be an alternative procedure to EPP for resectable MPM providing similar PFS and improved PRS.


Semantic memory is part of the long-term memory system, and there are several theories concerning this type of memory. Some of these will be described in this essay. There are also several types of neuropsychological semantic memory deficits. For example, test results have shown that patients tend to have more difficulties naming living than nonliving things, and one probable explanation is that living things are more dependent on sensory than on functional features. Description of concrete concepts is a new test of semantic memory, in which cueing is used, both to capture the maximum performance of patients, and to give insight into the access versus storage problem. The theoretical ideas and empirical results relating to this new test will be described in detail. Furthermore, other tests of semantic memory that have been commonly used will also be briefly described. In conclusion semantic memory is a complex cognitive system that needs to be studied further.


OBJECT
The dyskinetic subtype of cerebral palsy is difficult to manage, and there is no established gold standard for treatment. External rotation of the shoulder(s) is often managed nonsurgically using injections of botulinum toxin A into the external rotator muscles. This article reports a new surgical technique for managing external rotation when botulinum toxin A treatment is not sufficient or possible.

METHODS
Six patients with dyskinetic cerebral palsy underwent denervation of the infraspinatus muscle and release of the posterior part of the deltoid muscle. Postoperative questionnaires were given to the patients/caregivers, and video recordings were made both pre- and postoperatively. Preoperative and postoperative Assisting Hand Assessment was possible in only 1 case.

RESULTS
Five patients were very satisfied with their outcome. Four patients' video recordings showed improvement in their condition. One patient developed postoperative complications.

CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate that denervation of the infraspinatus muscle and posterior deltoid release can be an option for patients with dyskinetic cerebral palsy to manage external rotation of the shoulder when other treatment alternatives are insufficient.


: Most studies of the treatment of early breast cancer with conservative surgery and radiation therapy have had two major shortcomings: they have been based largely on short-term follow-up; and they have compared their short-term results only with long-term results after mastectomy. These methods greatly underestimate the actual incidence of local recurrence after breast preservation combined with radiation therapy because a significant portion (50% or more) of local recurrences after radiation treatment for early breast cancer are recognized more than five years after treatment. The effect of radiation is more accurately assessed by comparing results with conservative surgery without radiation therapy. This allows an estimate of the effect of the radiation therapy itself. Ten-year local recurrence rates after treatment of early breast cancer with mastectomy, conservative surgery with radiation therapy and conservative surgery without radiation therapy are 0-8%, 13-26% and 16-19% respectively. When breast preservation is combined with radiation therapy there is a lower incidence of local recurrence at five years, but at 10 years the results with and without radiation therapy are quite comparable. In both situations the recurrence rates are much higher than after mastectomy. The significance of this higher recurrence rate has not been fully evaluated. All reports of the treatment of early breast cancer should have at least 10 years of follow-up. Under no circumstances should any data be published which include patients followed for less than five years.


Hands-on guidance for programming the next generation of iOS appsIf you want to create advanced level iOS apps that get noticed in the App Store, start with this expert book. Written by an international software developer and consultant who has delivered winning solutions for clients all over the world, this professional guide helps you build robust, professional iOS apps at a level that satisfies the demands of clients, companies, and your own creativity. The book includes full source code and invaluable insight from the author's extensive experience. Especially helpful are numerous case studies that shed light on key topics. Explores all topics necessary to help you build professional iOS applications perfectly targeted to clients' needsCovers essential topics including creating a professional UI, networking and data processing, integrating your app, and taking it into productionIncludes sample code and sample apps, ideal for hands-on learningExamines using social media aggregators, real-time currency converters, QR scanners, customer tracking and quality payment systemProvides in-depth examples from the author's extensive career, as well as numerous case studiesTake your programming skills to an advanced level with Professional iOS Programming.


One of the objectives of the current international space programmes is to investigate the possible effects of the space environment on the crew health. The aim of this work was to assess the particular effects of simulated microgravity on mature primary neuronal networks and specially their plasticity and connectivity. For this purpose, primary mouse neurons were first grown for 10 days as a dense network before being placed in the Random Positioning Machine (RPM), simulating microgravity. These cultures were then used to investigate the impact of short- (1 h), middle- (24 h) and long-term (10 days) exposure to microgravity at the level of neurite network density, cell morphology and motility as well as cytoskeleton properties in established two-dimensional mature neuronal networks. Image processing analysis of dense neuronal networks exposed to simulated microgravity and their subsequent recovery under ground conditions revealed different neuronal responses depending on the duration period of exposure. After short- and middle-term exposures to simulated microgravity, changes in neurite network, neuron morphology and viability were observed with significant alterations followed by fast recovery processes. Long exposure to simulated microgravity revealed a high adaptation of single neurons to the new gravity conditions as well as a partial adaptation of neuronal networks. This latter was concomitant to an increase of apoptosis. However, neurons and neuronal networks exposed for long-term to simulated microgravity required longer recovery time to re-adapt to the ground gravity. In conclusion, a clear modulation in neuronal plasticity was evidenced through morphological and physiological changes in primary neuronal cultures during and after simulated microgravity exposure. These changes were dependent on the duration of exposure to microgravity.


Despite the success of therapies targeting oncogenes in cancer, clinical outcomes are limited by a residual disease that results in relapse. This residual disease is characterized by drug-induced adaptation, that in melanoma includes altered metabolism. Here, we examined how targeted therapy reprograms metabolism in BRAF-mutant melanoma cells using a genome-wide RNAi screen and global gene expression profiling. This systematic approach revealed post-transcriptional regulation of metabolism following BRAF inhibition, involving selective mRNA transport and translation. As proof of concept we demonstrate the RNA binding kinase UHMK1 interacts with mRNAs that encode metabolic proteins and selectively controls their transport and translation during adaptation to BRAF targeted therapy. Inactivation of UHMK1 improves metabolic response to BRAF targeted therapy and delays resistance to BRAF and MEK combination therapy in vivo. Our data support a model wherein post-transcriptional gene expression pathways regulate metabolic adaptation underpinning targeted therapy response and suggest inactivation of these pathways may delay disease relapse.


We assessed the effects of muscle forces on ankle joint kinetics during postural balance control of human boy. Nine male subjects (mean age of 25.8 yrs) participated in the experiment. An ankle joint model assumed ball and socket joint was used, which was capable of three dimensional rotations. A six-camera VICON system was used for motion analysis. Waist pulling system and force platform were adopted for forward sway and GRF (ground reaction force) measurement. We used linear optimization programs to calculate the variation of muscle forces and angular displacements of shank and foot segments. With the experimental data and linear programs, we could calculate joint reaction forces, and bone-on-bone forces. The results presented in this study give us the insights to understand the roles of lower limb muscles during postural balance control and ankle injury mechanism.


Previous research demonstrates two aspects of religion that affect civic activity-church participation and religious conservatism. Conservative religious beliefs and membership in conservative denominations are often associated with low levels of civic activity while church participation is said to increase civic activity. This article advances the discussion of the relationship between religion and civic participation by introducing the congregational context. Data from the 1987 Church and Community Planning Inventory show that congregations vary in their members' civic activity-congregational factors associated with conservative Christianity (high levels of biblical literalism and within-church friendships) are strongly and negatively associated with church members' activity in nonchurch organizations. At the individual level, the data show that education and participation in church activities other than religious services have particularly strong, positive effects on church members' activity in nonchurch organizations. The findings demonstrate that a conservative congregational context limits church members' activity in nonchurch organizations, potentially limiting their opportunities to build heterogeneous social networks and social capital that bridges church members to other people in their communities.


This desk-based archaeological assessment was commissioned by TEP (The Environment Partnership) on behalf of the Isle of Man Government Department of Local Government and the Environment (DoLGE) on 4 February 2008. The assessment forms part of a broader environmental impact assessment in support of a Development Order.
The site is centred on SC 344 757 and largely consists of agricultural land, with some industrial and retail units.
The assessment has been carried out by Oxford Archaeology North (OA North). The work comprised the collection and assessment of information available from documentary and other sources, both published and unpublished. A site walkover was undertaken to enhance awareness of the context and assess the site's potential to preserve archaeological remains.
The National Monuments Record (NMR) maintained by Manx National Heritage (MNH) contains no entries which fall within the area of the scheme. The assessment has been able to show that this is a partial picture and that there are a number of reasons to be cautious about the archaeological potential of the area occupied by the scheme. These include prehistoric utilisation of resources within, or in the vicinity of the scheme, the persistence of medieval features and the presence of a complex of buildings belonging to a quarterland farm unit.


The autofluorescent lipofuscin pigment A2E accumulates in retinal pigment epithelial cells with age and is particularly abundant in some retinal disorders. To generate a polyclonal antibody that recognizes this pyridinium bisretinoid molecule, we immunized rabbits with bovine serum albumin (BSA) conjugates in which the protein was linked to the A2E molecule via its pyridinium ethanolamine moiety. Analysis by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization/time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) of the A2E–BSA conjugate indicated the presence of five intact A2E molecules covalently linked to BSA, thus deeming it a suitable antigen for immunization. By immunocytochemical staining, the rabbit polyclonal antibody recognized A2E that had accumulated in cultured cells, whereas dot-blot analysis revealed binding to both A2E and A2E-rabbit serum albumin (A2E–RSA) conjugate but no cross-reactivity with various retinoids. Preimmune serum was nonreactive. In fluorescence spectroscopy studies, antibody-A2E binding was evidenced by a fluorescence increase and by a blue-shift in the emission maximum consistent with a change in A2E milieu upon antibody binding. The changes in fluorescence emission upon antibody binding could reflect several processes including restrictions on trans-cis isomerization and intersystem crossing of photoexcited A2E.


In Artificial Intelligence (AI) field, decision trees have gained certain importance due to their effectiveness in solving classification and regression problems. Recently, in the literature we see finding optimal decision trees are formulated as Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) models. This elegant way enables us to construct optimal decision trees with different error concerns. In our work, we find the optimal decision trees by employing the Column Generation (CG) approach. To do so, we first reformulated the previously proposed MILP model as a master MILP model. This master model is basically a partitioning problem of the rows in the given data set such that every We obtain the integer solutions by applying a Branch-and-Price search. Our approach of constructing decision trees is successfully tested in real-world benchmark datasets.


Decoding stimuli or behaviour from recorded neural activity is a common approach to interrogate brain function in research, and an essential part of brain-computer and brain-machine interfaces. Reliable decoding even from small neural populations is possible because high dimensional neural population activity typically occupies low dimensional manifolds that are discoverable with suitable latent variable models. Over time however, drifts in activity of individual neurons and instabilities in neural recording devices can be substantial, making stable decoding over days and weeks impractical. While this drift cannot be predicted on an individual neuron level, population level variations over consecutive recording sessions such as differing sets of neurons and varying permutations of consistent neurons in recorded data may be learnable when the underlying manifold is stable over time. Classification of consistent versus unfamiliar neurons across sessions and accounting for deviations in the order of consistent recording neurons in recording datasets over sessions of recordings may then maintain decoding performance. In this work we show that self-supervised training of a deep neural network can be used to compensate for this inter-session variability. As a result, a sequential autoencoding model can maintain state-of-the-art behaviour decoding performance for completely unseen recording sessions several days into the future. Our approach only requires a single recording session for training the model, and is a step towards reliable, recalibration-free brain computer interfaces.


MapReduce is a programming model that enables efficient massive data processing in large-scale computing environments such as supercomputers and clouds. Such large-scale computers employ GPUs to enjoy its good peak performance and high memory bandwidth. Since the performace of each job is depending on running application characteristics and underlying computing environments, scheduling MapReduce tasks onto CPU cores and GPU devices for efficient execution is difficult. To address this problem, we have proposed a hybrid scheduling technique for GPU-based computer clusters, which minimizes the execution time of a submitted job using dynamic profiles of Map tasks running on CPU cores and GPU devices. We have implemented a prototype of our proposed scheduling technique by extending MapReduce framework, Hadoop. We have conducted some experiments for this prototype by using a K-means application as a benchmark on a supercomputer. The results show that the proposed technique achieves 1.93 times faster than the Hadoop original scheduling algorithm at 64 nodes (1024 CPU cores and 128 GPU devices). The results also indicate that the performance of map tasks, including both CPU and GPU tasks, is significantly affected by the overhead of map task invocation in the Hadoop framework.


I'm a biologist. My fascination with wolves began when I was very young. Wolves are beautiful; wolves are smart; wolves tend to work together; wolves protect their young. Wolves also prey on the ill, the young, and the wounded of other species, and humans are afraid of them. Today, two of the most powerful federal agencies supporting scientific research (Health and Human Services and the Department of Energy) are headed by women, one of whom is African American. The Office of Management and Budget has a prominent female economist as its director; the chair of the National Economic Council is another outstanding female economist; in most of the science agencies, distinguished female scientists preside at the deputy and director levels; and in at least several of those agencies there are prominent minority scientists. Many national scientific societies, notably the AAAS, the American Society for Cell Biology, the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society, the American Association of Immunologists, the American Institute of Nutrition, and the American Society for Clinical Nutrition are or have recently been headed by women or minorities. In 1994, the female share of new U.S. doctorates rose to an all-time high of 46%; the number of women in science disciplines increased substantially; and although minorities are still woefully underrepresented in many areas of science, at least their overall participation has increased. Twenty-five years ago, these statistics and examples were unimaginable. Yes, more progress is needed, but why aren't we celebrating this remarkable testimony to the power of cultural and civil rights reform? Why do many women and minorities fear not only for their own careers but for the careers of those who will follow? Maybe it's because the wolves are circling. This is a time of extraordinary paradox. Just as we begin to reap the benefits that diversification of the scientific leadership of the nation is bringing us, we are also faced with a new popular perception that the tools that helped to open our doors and our eyes were wrong, that they created "preferences," not equalizers. This is a bit hard for some of us to swallow. We remember the days when a "gentleman" with a C could get a job not available to a "lady" with an A. It may be true that it is harder for the "average" male to get a job at the same level as he could two or three decades ago, but this is not because unqualified women and minorities have taken over. Rather, it is because the hard work of concerned educators, enlightened male colleagues, and others has helped to ensure the success of more qualified women and minorities than ever before. If affirmative action dies a victim of inflated rhetoric and media blitzes uninformed by data, then we need the next generation of diversity tools and we need them now. Drawing more women and minorities into science is no longer so much about righting the wrongs of the past as it is about developing talent for the next century. Recent estimates indicate that between the mid-1980s and the year 2000, the majority of growth in the labor force will come from the entry of women, people of color, and immigrants. In an international, stridently competitive "information age," we have to mobilize all of the latent talent in this new work force. Scientific leaders from diverse backgrounds, some of whom you will meet or remeet in this issue, are desperately needed because their presence will help inspire others to follow their lead. As the pressure to downsize the scientific effort increases in response to fiscal conservatism, it will be tempting to not spend money on "frills" such as special needs science education and access programs for women and minority scientists. This is a temptation we must resist. As my grandmother said when trying to teach me proper "English" tea-time manners: "It's easy to learn and practice your manners when there is plenty of food, but when food is in short supply, people forget their manners." The mark of a civilized society is the ability to do what is right in the face of challenge. In our attempts to survive as individuals, we must not forget that we have an obligation to ensure that those who follow us can also be nourished. The wolves may be circling, but scientists, whatever their gender or ethnicity, can outsmart them. Indeed, when one overcomes one's primitive fear, the wolves no longer look so threatening. Their dance is dangerous, but not lethal. [The full text of the special section is posted on Science's Next Wave along with an interactive forum that runs until 7 June 1996.]


Supposing that the UE economic conditions remain as the actual ones during the next years, there will be, besides the Euro introduction, even the enlargement towards the East. It is important to wonder if this enlargement will comport an increase or a reduction of the inner UE economic cohesion. This study gives a first possible answer to this question by the analysis of the economic "convergence" using non-parametric methods (stochastic kernel). Those methods will be firstly applied on the data of per capita GDP (expressed in PPS) of the actual European regions of EU-15, then they will be applied on the enlarged EU future set-up . The result of this analysis is a further tendency to polarisation, which is a worrying aspect that should encourage a new reinforcement of the structural and cohesive policies of the UE.


Density functional theory calculations were used to investigate the mechanisms of established hydroalkylation reactions of styrenes with 1,3-diketones that are promoted by either AuCl3/AgOTf or AgOTf catalyst systems. In the former case, our studies led us to propose an original mechanism that is initiated by the generation of highly electrophilic Au(OTf)3, which then coordinates the enol tautomer of the 1,3-diketone substrate. The ensuing highly Bronsted acidic π-complex serves to protonate the styrene to generate a relatively low-energy benzylic carbocation. Notably, this suggests that this benzylic carbocation represents the true catalytic species in the reaction, and thus, the role of the gold complex is solely to generate this active catalyst. AuCl3 alone does not serve as a good initiator for this process because it is not electrophilic enough to generate the relatively low-energy benzylic carbocation. Our investigation of the hydroalkylation facilitated by the slightly electron-deficient AgOTf catalyst revealed that an alternative mechanism predominates. Specifically, it is more likely that the reaction proceeds via a demetallation process directly mediated by the silver catalyst. We found a clear trend indicating that the electron deficiency of the metal center dictates which of these two mechanistic scenarios occurs. This article discusses these two mechanistic pathways in detail, providing key information for the experimental development of hydroalkylation processes.


The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast the predictive validity of risk tolerance questionnaires. The tested questionnaires represented measures derived from economic and psychometric theory. It was determined that questionnaires based on economic theory had similar predictive power, implying that both measures provided some degree of reliability across measures. Only the psychometric theory-based risk tolerance measure was found to be correlated to other indicators of risk tolerance. Specifically, scores on the psychometric scale were correlated with knowledge of casino games, the likelihood of gambling, financial decision making experience, and investing knowledge, as well as participant holdings of cash and equities. A key finding from this study is that the psychometric questionnaire was the only measure to predict who was more likely to participate in a risk taking game where the outcomes of the game were unknown and potentially negative. Results from this exploratory study suggest that a questionnaire developed using psychometric theory appears to offer superior predictive ability of financial risk taking, at least when compared across the measurement techniques examined in this study.


There have been many attempts for clustering categorical data such as market basket dataset. However, most of categorical clustering approaches belong to partitional clustering which requires at least one input parameter (e.g., the minimum intra-cluster similarity or the desired number of clusters). In this paper, we propose a parallelised hierarchical clustering approach for categorical data (PH-clustering) using vertical data structures. In order to minimise the impact of low support items, we devise a weighted confidence (WC) affinity function to compute the similarity between clusters. Based on our analysis of the major clustering steps, we adopt a partial local and partial global approach to reduce computation time as well as to keep network communication at minimum. Load balance issues are addressed especially during the data partitioning phase. Our experimental results on standardised market basket data show that the proposed weighted confidence affinity measure is more accurate than other contemporary affinity measures in the literature and that our parallel clustering approach provides magnitudes of time improvements over sequential clustering especially over larger data sizes. Our results also indicate that the number of items/attributes in the dataset has a more drastic impact on performance than the number of transactions/tuples.


Arytenoid dislocation is an unusual complication of endotracheal intubation. We reported a case of a 48-year-old female with arytenoid dislocation after uneventful endotracheal intubation, which was successfully treated with arytenoid reduction. The patient complained of persistent hoarseness until the fourth day after an uneventful gynecologic surgery under general anesthesia. On laryngoscopic examination, paralyzed left vocal cord with minimal arytenoid movement was observed. An anteromedial dislocation of the left arytenoid cartilage was suspected and surgical reduction was performed by the laryngologist. The hoarseness was immediately resolved after surgical intervention. Anesthesiologists should be careful not to cause laryngeal trauma in anesthetized patients. In addition, early diagnosis and prompt surgical reduction are essential for a better prognosis for arytenoid dislocation.


The Late Cretaceous Pandan Formation in Cebu Island is one of the oldest sedimentary units in the Central Philippines. The inconsistencies in geological descriptions and interpretation of the depositional environment of the Pandan Formation complicated efforts to determine the origin and tectonic history of the basement of Cebu Island. This study therefore looks into the petrological and geochemical characteristics of the Pandan Formation and their implications for the tectonic development of the Philippine Arc during the late Mesozoic. Petrographic analyses indicate significant contribution from mafic sources with additional inputs from felsic rocks, siliciclastics and metamorphic sources. Enrichment of detrital quartz from felsic volcanic and plutonic rocks, as well as from siliciclastic and metamorphic sources, has shifted the SiO2 composition of the Pandan clastics from a mafic to a more intermediate source. Whole‐rock geochemical analyses revealed low SiO2/Al2O3 = 4.21, low K2O/Na2O = 1.16, low Th/Sc = 0.13, low Th/U = 2.78, high La/Th = 4.51, significantly low REEs = ca 76.45 ppm and low LaN/YbN = 4.28. A slight negative chondrite‐normalized Eu/Eu* (0.91) anomaly and significantly high PAAS‐normalized positive Eu/Eu* (1.39) values are consistent with derivation from a young undissected magmatic arc terrane. Tectonic discrimination diagrams suggest formation in an oceanic island arc to active margin/collision zone modelled to be located at the oceanic leading edge of Australia. Rapid uplift and erosion of the magmatic arc and older allochthonous blocks gave way to the rapid deposition of the Pandan Formation in the Late Cretaceous at the subequatorial region.


Objective The disturbance of blood flow (BF) in the intrinsic microvasculature of the median nerve is closely involved in the entrapment of the median nerve. The chronic hypertension (CHt) causes interference with the endoneurial microcirculation and may lead to endoneurial edema and ischemic changes in the nerves.Methods Thirty two patients, 6 males and 26 females, aged (41.5 ± 10.2) were elected to study the change in the severity of bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) before and after suffering of CHt. All patients included in this study were subjected to the electroneurography (ENG).Results The effect of CHt on median nerve compression causes worse severity, where the effect of CHt is indicated by the severity of the CTS and the recording of nerve conduction studies. All the elected patients diagnosed with CHt in these studies are becoming more severe of CTS after 4 months. The severity of the syndrome from mild or moderate become severe in some cases after the recording of CHt. Very high significant difference (P < 0.05) of the sensory and motor nerve conduction study's parameters as distal sensory and motor latency, sensory and motor conduction velocity and amplitude between the two recordings, before and after diagnosis of CHt.Conclusion The severity of entrapment of median N (CTS) affected worse after the patients suffering from the chronic hypertensive.


Data series similarity search is an important operation and at the core of several analysis tasks and applications related to data series collections. Despite the fact that data series indexes enable fast similarity search, all existing indexes can only answer queries of a single length (fixed at index construction time), which is a severe limitation. In this work, we propose ULISSE, the first data series index structure designed for answering similarity search queries of variable length. Our contribution is two-fold. First, we introduce a novel representation technique, which effectively and succinctly summarizes multiple sequences of different length. Based on the proposed index, we describe efficient algorithms for approximate and exact similarity search, combining disk based index visits and in-memory sequential scans. We experimentally evaluate our approach using several synthetic and real datasets. The results show that ULISSE is several times (and up to orders of magnitude) more efficient in terms of both space and time cost, when compared to competing approaches.


The purpose of the present study is to observe the effect of electro-acupuncture (EA) stimulation on intracerebral neurotransmitters in a rat model of Parkinson's disease (PD), and explore the possible mechanism. We used 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) injection in medial forebrain bundle (MFB) in the right brain of Sprague Dawley (SD) rat to establish the parkinsonian rat model, and randomly divided the PD rats into model and 100 Hz EA stimulation groups (n =10 in each group). EA stimulation group received 4 courses of EA stimulation on Baihui (GV-20) and Dazhui (GV-14) acupuncture points. Moreover, ten rats were randomly selected as sham operation group, only receiving normal saline (NS) injection in MFB. Then apomorphine (APO)-induced rotational behavior in different groups was recorded, and the contents of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the brain were analyzed with high pressure/performance liquid chromatography-electrochemical detection (HPLC-ECD). The results showed that model group exhibited abnormal rotational behavior with APO treatment, suggesting the successful establishment of PD model. Compared with sham operation group, model group showed increased GABA contents in cortex and striatum, as well as decreased GABA content in ventral midbrain, on the lesioned side. EA stimulation could effectively ameliorate the abnormal rotational behavior of PD rat. Compared with the model group, EA stimulation decreased the ratio of GABA content on the lesioned side to that on unlesioned side in the cortex, while increased the ratios in the striatum and cerebellum. However, there was no difference of the ratio in the ventral midbrain among three groups. These results suggest high-frequency EA stimulation significantly improves the abnormal behavior of PD rats, which may exert through enhancing the inhibitory effect of cerebellum-basal ganglia-cortical loop on motor center.