1. The oxidation of glutamine by kidney-cortex mitochondria from normal and acidotic rats was not inhibited by avenaciolide, which did inhibit glutamate uptake and oxidation. The oxidation of glutamine by these mitochondria was always greater than that of glutamate. Direct measurements of the metabolism of [1-14C]glutamine in the presence of glutamate, and of [1-14C]glutamate in the presence of glutamine, demonstrated that the uptake and metabolism of external glutamate is insufficient to account for the observed rate of glutamine uptake and metabolism. Thus the postulated glutamine/glutamate antiport does not play a quantitatively important role in the metabolism of glutamine by renal mitochondria. 2. Rapid swelling of these mitochondria was observed in iso-osmotic solutions of L-glutamine and L-glutamyl-gamma-monohydroxamate but not in D-glutamine or L-isoglutamine (1-amido-2-aminoglutaric acid). Thus a relatively specific glutamine uniport exists in these mitochondria. 3. The utilization of glutamine was increased about 3-fold in mitochondria from chronically acidotic rats. Thus mitochondrial adaptations play an important part in the renal response to metabolic acidosis.


Structural Biology in Immunology, Structure/Function of Novel Molecules of Immunologic Importance delivers important information on the structure and functional relationships in novel molecules of immunologic interest. Due to an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the immune system, the approach to the treatment of many immune-mediated diseases, including multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease has been dramatically altered. Furthermore, there is an increasing awareness of the critical role of the immune system in cancer biology. The improved central structure function relationships presented in this book will further enhance our ability to understand what defects in normal individuals can lead to disease.

 Describes novel/recently discovered immunomodulatory proteins, including antibodies and co-stimulatory or co-inhibitory molecules

 Emphasizes new biologic and small molecule drug design through the exploration of structure-function relationship

 Features a collaborative editorial effort, involving clinical immunologists and structural biologists

 Provides useful and practical insights on developing the necessary links between basic science and clinical therapy in immunology

 Gives interested parties a bridge to learn about computer modeling and structure based design principles


PURPOSE
Fibroblasts are functionally diverse and fibroblastic cells with smooth muscle-like characteristics (myofibroblasts) regulate smooth muscle activity in certain tissues. The presence of myofibroblasts has been reported in the bladder with important implications for normal function and detrusor overactivity. We assessed fibroblastic cell characteristics to discern features suggesting a myofibroblast phenotype in normal or neuropathic human detrusor.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 25 control samples were obtained from cadaveric organ donors or patients with a mean age of 42.3 years investigated for hematuria and compared with samples from 18 patients with a mean age of 37.4 years with neurogenic detrusor overactivity. Morphology, phenotypic expression of various markers and the ultrastructure of each fibroblastic cell visible in multiple sections from each specimen was evaluated by 2 independent assessors.

RESULTS
Fibroblastic cells were observed throughout the smooth muscle and connective tissue. They were located peripherally on muscle fascicles and had a polar stellate appearance with processes ramifying in interfascicular planes and muscle. They possessed vimentin-like immunoreactivity and weak c-kit-like immunoreactivity but not desmin or alpha-smooth muscle actin-like immunoreactivity. Ultrastructurally they showed dilated rough endoplasmic reticulum with a moderately electron dense amorphous content and prominent golgi complexes. Nuclei had clumped peripheral heterochromatin. There were extensive flattened processes that lacked basal laminae. There was no specific contact with nerve fibers or smooth muscle. Neuropathic bladder samples did not differ overtly from those of controls.

CONCLUSIONS
The detrusor possesses an extensive network of fibroblastic cells and processes. No evidence of myofibroblast differentiation was discerned in normal or neuropathic detrusor, although a minority subpopulation or regional variability in cellular phenotype could not be excluded.


We describe our work in learning definitions for particular relations that exist between pairs of pages in hypertext. This work is applicable to the tasks of information extraction from the Web, and resource finding in the Web. Our approach to learning relation definitions combines a statistical text-learning method with a relational nile learner. This approach is well suited to learning in hypertext domains because its statistical component allows it to characterize text in terms of word frequencies, whereas its relational component is able to describe how neighboring documents are related to each other by the hyperlinks that connect them. We believe that this approach is applicable to other link-analysis tasks that involve characterizing relations between nodes in a graph, especially in cases where there are potentially large numbers of attributes describing the nodes and edges of the graph.


The conversion to Christianity was a key cultural process that saw the transformation of Europe from classical to medieval world. The growth of the Church has been closely linked with the development of other key institutions, such as the state. It has also been highlighted as a factor in changing attitudes to issues such as the body, time and landscapes. While the study of conversion in the early medieval world has increasingly become a focus for both historians and archaeologists, there has been a lack of engagement with the methodological and theoretical problems underpinning any attempt to explore the archaeology of belief. This book, illustrated with case studies and examples drawn from a range of sources, including the 'Celtic' west, Anglo-Saxon England, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, tackles some of these important issues. In particular it explores two under-theorised aspects of conversion: the relationship between archaeology and belief, and an attempt to re-centre the 'pagan' as a key element in the conversion process.


The ability to perform fast retrieval from a database of 3D models is becoming a growing necessity as the number of models in circulation is rapidly increasing. Several of the many existing methods dealing with this problem consider similarity measures based on visual appearance. This idea of comparing models using their respective silhouettes performs well on a number of benchmarks, but comes with a few inherent limitations, the biggest of which is that at the time of comparison all possible rotational alignments between two models need to be considered. In this paper we present two retrieval algorithms based on a silhouette representation. The first method shows how model similarity can be computed using fast harmonic matching techniques, and the second method reduces the problem to fast vector differencing using rotation-invariant properties of the representations.


Over the past 100 years, the study of environmental influences on human physical growth and development has focused on the influences of social and economic factors; family and household characteristics; urbanization/modernization; nutrition; and features of the physical environment such as altitude, temperature and climate. Continuing in this tradition are current investigations into the roles of pollutants and other aspects of the human-made environment in affecting patterns of human growth and development, specifically the timing of sexual maturation and the development of obesity. Some of the methodological problems in conducting such studies are presented, as are results from an ongoing investigation among one Native American community that show relationships of pollutants to sexual maturation, overweight/obesity and thyroid system function which can impact growth and maturation.


Leaking comprises observable behavior or statements that signal intentions of committing a violent offense and is considered an important warning sign for school shootings. School staff who are confronted with leaking have to assess its seriousness and react appropriately - a difficult task, because knowledge about leaking is sparse. The present study, therefore, examined how frequently leaking occurs in schools and how teachers identify leaking and respond to it. To achieve this aim, we informed teachers from eight schools in Germany about the definition of leaking and other warning signs and risk factors for school shootings in a one-hour information session. Teachers were then asked to report cases of leaking over a six- to nine-month period and to answer a questionnaire on leaking and its treatment after the information session and six to nine months later. Our results suggest that leaking is a relevant problem in German schools. Teachers mostly rated the information session positively and benefited in several aspects (e.g. reported more perceived courses of action or improved knowledge about leaking), but also expressed a constant need for support. Our findings highlight teachers' needs for further support and training and may be used in the planning of prevention measures for school shootings.


Salt-tolerant Gevas Sirik 57 (GS57) genotypes and salt-sensitive 4F-89 French variety, previously determined in our preliminary study, were used in the study. The genotype and the variety exposed to 100mM NaCl application developed different mechanisms to be protected against toxic effects of Na + ion. Salt-sensitive 4F-89 French variety let Na + accumulate in all organs. On the contrary, salt-tolerant GS57 did not avoid salt and acted selectively among ions; the majority of toxic ion Na + accumulated in old leaves and shoots and the plants did not transport them into young leaves. K + accumulation was high in organs in which Na + concentrations were low, and vice versa; Na + content was low in young and high in old leaves of GS57, but K + content was opposite. Ca 2+ content in young leaves of GS57 and 4F-89 decreased; still its content was the highest of all examined ions found in young leaves. This indi cated that beans can develop different mechanisms to accept and adapt high levels of salt. Storing toxic ion (Na + ) in old leaves and having a limited transmission of salt into young leaves serves as a protection from detrimental effects of salt.


Obesity is defined as the presence of excess amount of body fat tissue. Infertility is defined as the inability to conceive after a year of unprotected sexual intercourse and affects about 15% of the couples. Male fertility factor is a single factor in approximately 20% of infertile couples, while 30% and 40% have both male and female factors. Thus the male factor is present in approximately half of the pairs. An increase in male infertility is observed in parallel with decreasing sperm quality worldwide. The increase in obesity prevalence has led researchers to investigate the relationship between obesity and male infertility. The mechanisms by which paternal obesity affects sperm or embryo are still not fully described. It has been observed that the process of conception has been prolonged in couples with obese male partners. The aim of this review is to evaluate the relationship between male infertility and obesity. Keywords : Infertility, obesity, male. DOI : 10.7176/JSTR/5-4-24


OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the long-term follow-up observation of idiopathic full-thickness macular holes, with emphasis on the incidence and process of disappearance.

METHODS
The authors followed up 97 eyes with idiopathic full-thickness macular holes for a period ranging from 2 to 182 months (average, 66 months).

RESULTS
Apparent disappearance of the hole was observed in six eyes. Although improvement in visual acuity of at least 2 lines resulted in all six eyes, visual acuity improved to 20/30 or better in those eyes in which macular holes disappeared within 24 months of the initial examination.

CONCLUSION
The incidence of apparent disappearance of idiopathic full-thickness macular holes was low. Improvement in visual acuity was greater in those cases in which macular holes disappeared in a relatively short period of time.


The general inverse relationship between marital disruption (separation and divorce) and educational status, commonly assumed by family sociologists, is demonstrated for both men and women using the 1/1000 sample of the 1970 United States Census. A minor, but interesting exception to this generally inverse relationship is noted for males with six or more years of college. This paper, however, focuses on a more dramatic and particularly significant deviation from the general pattern. Specifically, highly educated females – those with five or more years of college – have an especially high disruption rate compared to women with only four years of college. In fact, the disruption rate for women with five or more years of college exceeds that for women at every educational level except those who did not finish high school. The objective of this study was to see if those factors which differentiate women with four years of college from those with five or more are the same factors that differentiate between the "never disrupted" and the "ever disrupted" women with five or more years of college. The findings reveal that three variables – race, employment outside the home, and income – are associated with the likelihood that highly educated women will divorce or separate. These same variables also distinguish them from baccalaureate-level women. Four possible explanations, unrelated to the data analysis presented, are suggested for why a woman who enters graduate school significantly increases her probability of marital disruption.


Software products are evolving during their life cycles. Ideally, every revision need be formally verified to ensure software quality. Yet repeated formal verification requires significant computing resources. Verifying each and every revision can be very challenging. It is desirable to ameliorate regression verification for practical purposes. In this paper, we regard predicate analysis as a process of assertion annotation. Assertion annotations can be used as a certificate for the verification results. It is thus a waste of resources to throw them away after each verification. We propose to reuse the previously-yielded assertion annotation in regression verification. A light-weight impact-analysis technique is proposed to analyze the reusability of assertions. A novel assertion strengthening technique is furthermore developed to improve reusability of annotation. With these techniques, we present an incremental predicate analysis technique for regression verification. Correctness of our incremental technique is formally proved. We performed comprehensive experiments on revisions of Linux kernel device drivers. Our technique outperforms the state-of-the-art program verification tool CPAchecker by getting 2.8x speedup in total time and solving additional 393 tasks.


ABSTRACT The Indian Ocean region, in recent years, has witnessed a proliferation of information centers which have emerged in response to various sub-regional requirements and sometimes representing diverse interest groups. This paper highlights the gaps in regional maritime domain awareness (MDA) and argues that the multiple disparate information systems have not contributed to improving overall maritime safety and security in the Indian Ocean region. It puts forward a case for a pan-Indian Ocean information grid that could integrate the various information sources to provide comprehensive MDA for the region.


Many glycoproteins of enveloped viruses as well as cellular proteins are covalently modified with fatty acids. Palmitoylation is often reversible, but the enzymology of this hydrophobic protein modification is not understood. Recently a cytosolic enzyme designated acyl-protein thioesterase 1 (APT1) was purified, which depalmitoylates several cellular proteins. Since hitherto no transmembrane proteins have been tested as substrates for APT1 we have investigated whether palmitoylated viral membrane glycoproteins can be deacylated by use of this enzyme. Recombinant APT1 was purified from Escherichia coli, and depalmitoylation of [3H]palmitate-labeled glycoproteins present in virus particles was measured by SDS-PAGE, fluorography, and scanning densitometry. We find that APT1 causes rapid and almost complete cleavage of fatty acids from the G-protein of vesicular stomatitis virus, hemagglutinin proteins of influenza A and C virus, and E2 of Semliki Forest virus (SFV). In contrast, E1 of SFV is largely resistant against APT1 activity. This substrate specificity of APT1 was also observed using microsomes prepared from SFV-infected cells. Our data emphasize the potential of APT1 as a tool for functional analysis of protein-bound fatty acids.


Context Gastric pancreatic heterotopia is a relatively common incidental finding; however, malignancy arising in this tissue is an extremely rare occurrence, with nonspecific clinical, radiographic, and intraoperative features. We herein report the case of adenocarcinoma arising in ectopic pancreatic tissue of the gastric antrum and review the literature to summarize all recent cases of malignancy arising in gastric pancreatic heterotopia. Case report A Forty-five-year-old male presented with six-week history of gastric outlet obstruction found on endoscopy to be secondary to a submucosal mass within the gastric antrum. Pre-operative suspicion of a gastric cancer vs. gastrointestinal stromal tumor prompted a subtotal gastrectomy. Recognition of perineural invasion associated with a well-differentiated adenocarcinoma prompted further histological sections to be taken, and a gastric pancreatic heterotopia was identified associated with the malignancy through a transition zone. The diagnosis of malignancy arising in pancreatic heterotopia was made. Conclusions Accurate diagnosis of this rare diagnosis remains a challenge and is heavily reliant on histopathological evaluation. The presence of perineural invasion in a gastric adenocarcinoma should prompt suspicion of a nonprimary gastric cancer such as a gastric pancreatic heterotopia.


In present research work, four novel Schiff bases have been prepared from the combination of three new aldehydes with p -toluidine and one aldehyde with p -iodoaniline. The structures of these Schiff bases have been characterized by elemental analysis, Mass analysis, IR, 1 H NMR and 13 C NMR spectroscopic methods. All the synthesized Sc hiff bases possess the significant antimicrobial activities


Bacteriophages (phages) are critical players in the dynamics and function of microbial communities and drive processes as diverse as global biogeochemical cycles and human health. Phages tend to be predators finely tuned to attack specific hosts, even down to the strain level, which in turn defend themselves using an array of mechanisms. However, to date, efforts to rapidly and comprehensively identify bacterial host factors important in phage infection and resistance have yet to be fully realized. Here, we globally map the host genetic determinants involved in resistance to 14 phylogenetically diverse double-stranded DNA phages using two model Escherichia coli strains (K-12 and BL21) with known sequence divergence to demonstrate strain-specific differences. Using genome-wide loss-of-function and gain-of-function genetic technologies, we are able to confirm previously described phage receptors as well as uncover a number of previously unknown host factors that confer resistance to one or more of these phages. We uncover differences in resistance factors that strongly align with the susceptibility of K-12 and BL21 to specific phage. We also identify both phage specific mechanisms, such as the unexpected role of cyclic-di-GMP in host sensitivity to phage N4, and more generic defenses, such as the overproduction of colanic acid capsular polysaccharide that defends against a wide array of phages. Our results indicate that host responses to phages can occur via diverse cellular mechanisms. Our systematic and high-throughput genetic workflow to characterize phage-host interaction determinants can be extended to diverse bacteria to generate datasets that allow predictive models of how phage-mediated selection will shape bacterial phenotype and evolution. The results of this study and future efforts to map the phage resistance landscape will lead to new insights into the coevolution of hosts and their phage, which can ultimately be used to design better phage therapeutic treatments and tools for precision microbiome engineering.


Database searching is a main method for protein identification in shotgun proteomics, and many research efforts are dedicated to improving its effectiveness. However, the efficiency of database searching is facing a serious challenge, due to the ever fast growth of protein and peptide databases resulted from genome translations, enzymatic digestions, and post-translational modifications (PTMs). On the other hand, as a general-purpose and high performance parallel hardware, Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) develop continuously and provide another promising platform for parallelizing database searching based protein identification. It becomes very important to study how to speed up database search engines by GPUs for protein identification. In this paper, we mainly utilize GPUs to accelerate the scoring module, which is the most time-consuming component. Specifically, we study two popular scoring method: spectral dot product based method, which is used by X!Tandem, and kernel spectral dot product, which is used by pFind.


BACKGROUNDS
Although easily diagnosed, molluscum contagiosum may present as a single lesion or as several small, inflamed lesions of difficult diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE
To describe the dermoscopic characteristics of molluscum contagiosum and to compare the findings from clinical examination and dermoscopy.

METHODS
Histopathologically confirmed lesions were evaluated clinically and dermoscopically in 57 patients.

RESULTS
At clinical examination and dermoscopy of 211 lesions, orifices were visualized in 50.24% and 96.68% of the lesions, and vessels in 6.16% and 89.10%, respectively. The vascular patterns found in the 188 lesions in which vessels were found at dermoscopy were the crown (72.34%), radial (54.25%) and punctiform patterns (20.21%). Half of the 188 lesions had a combination of vascular patterns, with the flower pattern (a new vascular pattern) being found in 19.68% of cases. More orifices and vessels were identified at dermoscopy than at clinical examination, including cases with inflammation or perilesional eczema and small lesions. Punctiform vessels were associated with inflammation, excoriation and perilesional eczema.

CONCLUSIONS
Dermoscopy performed on molluscum contagiosum lesions proved superior to dermatological examination even in cases in which clinical diagnosis was difficult. The presence of orifices, vessels and specific vascular patterns aids diagnosis, including differential diagnosis with other types of skin lesion.


Context The incidence of breast cancer in Nigerian women has been rising since the mid 1970s and it is now the commonest malignancy in Nigerian females. The need for diagnostic approaches that take into cognisance the demographic and socio-economic uniqueness that fuels the high prevalence of this disease in our environment cannot be overemphasised. Objective This is a prospective study to determine the cost effectiveness of the introduction of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) on the cost of care of women with palpable breast masses in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH). Method One hundred and three (103) consecutive FNAC of palpable breast masses were performed on 98 patients referred from the surgical outpatient clinic between January 2005 and March 2006. Comparison was made with subsequent histological diagnoses in order to ascertain the diagnostic accuracy of the procedure and later, determine savings made by the introduction of the procedure compared to hitherto only available option of open surgical biopsy. Results The impact of the introduction of FNAC on the cost of care of patients with breast lumps was assessed and it is established that a reduction of between N7,000 and N15,000 in expenses incurred by these patients was achieved and also a direct impact on patient compliance and reduction in number of surgical cases was noted. Conclussion The introduction of FNAC was found to be useful in the reduction of cost of management of all categories of patients with breast lumps. Key words: Fine needle, breast cancer, cytology, cost.


Abstract Contentions about the origin of early modern empiricism have been floating about at least since the 1980s, where its exclusive "Britishness" was initially question, and the name of Gassendi was provocatively put forward as the putative "founder" of the current to the detriment of Francis Bacon. Recent scholarship has shown that early modern empiricism did not derive from philosophical speculation exclusively but had multiple sources and "foundations." Yet, from a historical viewpoint, the question whether Bacon's method had any influence on the origin and development of Gassendi's version of empiricism still carries significance, for its answer may open up different views on how the relation between British and "continental" empiricisms shall be framed. In this paper, I deal with Gassendi's reception of Bacon. On the basis of a deep examination of Gassendi's corpus, I contend that there is no trace of a consistent influence of Bacon on Gassendi's empiricism before 1650s; although I show that an indirect influence can be found through the mediation of Peiresc, I put forward the hypothesis that it was more the empirical attitude characterizing Peiresc's intellectual figure, rather than his interest in Baconianism, to be relevant, along with Epicurus' philosophy, for Gassendi's early empiricism. I then analyze Gassendi's treatment of Bacon's logic in Gassendi's Syntagma philosophicum. I show that despite Gassendi's sympathy for Bacon's project, his own logic lays on fundamentally different assumptions. Despite this, I argue for Gassendi's reception of Bacon's theory of the idols in Syntagma philosophicum. On this basis, I conclude by restating the untenability of "national" accounts of the rise of empiricism, and the importance of highlighting instead the sharing of ideas between its actors.


Visual quality control is a demanding task of increasing importance in industrial manufacturing. Both speed and flexibility are of paramount importance for viable and competitive inspection systems. We have developed a dedicated neural network architecture for anomaly detection that can easily be trained by a single presentation of examples and is amenable to massively parallel VLSI implementation. We focus here on our ASIC and prototype system design effort for this network. >


The East-Chinese Shelf (or North East Asian Regional seas - NEAR-seas) has the broadest shelf waters and the most complicated topography in the world. With the through-flow of one of the two largest western boundary currents - the Kuroshio - it provides an ideal case to investigate the water exchange mechanisms between shelf waters and oceanic waters, the variability of channel transports and the Joint Effect of Baroclinicity and Relief (JEBAR).

In this work, a regional numerical model has been established and a 44-year hindcast study is accomplished with the surface flux dataset derived from ERA40 reanalysis in the NEAR-seas from 1958 to 2001. The numerical model is based on the parallelised HAMburg Shelf Ocean Model (P-HAMSOM) and features a high resolution both vertically and horizontally. The systematic verification of the regional model proves that its performance is successful, the validation data used spans from historical data of ship cruises to remote sensing data of satellite. It is expected that a nested strategy to provide more realistic inflow boundaries and an embedded ice model dealing with the ice process in northern Japan Sea will surely improve the hindcast.

The Kuroshio and its branch currents system of the NEAR-seas is investigated by means of three approaches. An extensive analysis of the WOCE/SVP KRIG data from 1989 to 1999 reveals the surface current pattern in the NEAR-seas. A tracer model is designed to simulate the trajectories derived from the satellite tracked Lagrangian drifters. The tracer model successfully reproduces these drifter trajectories. This is a validation of the hindcast model from a different point of view by means of totally independent data. For the first time, the existence of a large eddy east of the Ryukyu archipelago is demonstrated.

The second approach is the analysis of the ocean temperature, salinity and currents based on the model generated variable fields in the NEAR- seas. The characteristics of the climatological SST and SSS distribution are summarized. The existence of the HBCW (Huanghai Bottom Cold Water) is demonstrated and its structure in summertime is described.

The vorticity balance in the NEAR-seas is examined and the JEBAR and its role on the East-Chinese Shelf is analyzed extensively. According to this study, JEBAR is formulated as an arithmetically generated term in the final vorticity equation. It can be a correction term to the vorticity balance only when the velocity field is in a quasi-stationary state. Many earlier works take the JEBAR for mechanism to force the currents in the real ocean. This is, however, an incorrect application of the JEBAR term. The JEBAR can only be used as a forcing term when the currents are examined in a pure diagnostic way, but even in this case it is not really forcing mechanism. The maximum and minimum of the JEBAR distribution on the East-Chinese Shelf correlates well with the shelf breaks or straits where strong currents exist. The JEBAR plays an important role in the depth-averaged vorticity balance along shelf breaks and straits where the JEBAR is two orders of magnitude larger than other vorticity terms, while it plays a minor role in shallow shelf waters.


This paper shows that di¤erence in equity holding structure leads to heterogeneous firm preference for investing in social capital (CSR). In our theoretical model managerial and customer preferences jointly influence CSR investments. We show that if managerial preference is high, social investments of firms are higher, independent of customer preference. We test our theoretical predications using data from Indian firms. We show that firms with concentrated shareholding invest more in CSR. Firms with dispersed shareholding increase social investments if they export to the United States and the European Union, but they decrease these expenses in reaction to antidumping penalties.


Summary The general public in many countries throughout the world has become increasingly cynical about the extent to which large companies have engaged in genuine attempts to reduce their impact on the environment. As the century draws to a close, stakeholders are becoming even more demanding and are now insisting that companies help lead society into a new more sustainable age. How have companies responded to this challenge? To what extent is industry's poor reputation warranted? And how far have companies gone in wrestling with their environmental and social responsibilities? This article draws on some quantitative research as well as statements made by business leaders in assessing the extent to which genuine greening has taken hold within the business community. Some tentative conclusions are also offered, suggesting that some significant progress has been made, but that even more significant challenges remain for industry to grapple with.


The invention provides an automated face conveyor chain tension load sensor in chain tension plate. A device is provided for detecting and adjusting the tension of the scraper chain. The device identifies broken chain as it leaves the return sprocket and enters the top race of the conveyor. When detected, the chain can be stopped automatically by the armored face conveyor control system, to avoid the potential for further damage, and warn the operators that repair of the chain is required. The device also provides a conveyor with sliding frames at both ends to allow the conveyor ends to be independently adjusted to each end of the coal block, whilst maintaining good chain tension and control.


Introduction
Blunt abdominal injuries in children caused by bicycle handlebar are often difficult to diagnose, and the severity of the underlying injury may not be realized during the initial patient admission to the Emergency Department. High index of suspicion with proper radiologic evaluation can help identify presence of internal injuries. This will lead to appropriate and timely treatment.

Case Series
We report and illustrate 3 cases of blunt abdominal injuries resulting from trauma due to the bicycle handlebar in children. All patients had an imprint of the handlebar edge on their hypochondrium. One patient showed no signs of severe abdominal injury immediately after the trauma and were assessed as being fit to remain at home, but presented again 2 days later with abdominal pain and vomiting. The other 2 patients were admitted to the Emergency Department within 12 hours post trauma. All injuries were evaluated with ultrasound and computed tomographic (CT) scans. On ultrasound, intra abdominal free fluid was identified in 1 patient, while the other 2 patients showed no remarkable findings. However, further evaluation with CT scan revealed pancreatic transection in 2 patients and stomach perforation in 1 patient. The patients with pancreatic transection were treated conservatively while the patient with stomach perforation underwent surgery.

Conclusion
Children with suspected blunt abdominal injury caused by bicycle handlebar should be assessed and evaluated with great care. Thorough clinical assessment and appropriate radiological evaluation may help reduce morbidity from delay in diagnosis, which may hinder a timely management.


by paper chromatographic and glucose oxidase methods and expressed in terms of the glucose liberated from the maltose substrate used. The specificity of maltase was established by selectively inhibiting the enzyme activity with tris buffer. Seminal maltase and amylase were separated and partially purified. Purified maltase preparation did not exhibit any amylase, maltose phosphorylase or transglucosidase activity. The maltase activity of semen is predominantly associated with seminal plasma and proceeds at maximal velocity at pH 6\m=.\0.The prostate gland seems to contribute most of the enzyme activity to the seminal plasma. The significance of the presence of maltase in seminal plasma and also in cervical mucus is discussed.


This brief presents the analysis, design, and implementation of zero-voltage switching (ZVS) active clamp converter with series-connected transformer. A family of isolated ZVS active clamp converters is introduced. The technique of the adopted ZVS commutation will not increase additional voltage stress of switching devices. In the adopted converter with series-connected transformer, each transformer can be operated as an inductor or a transformer. Therefore, no output inductor is needed. To reduce the voltage stress of the switching device in the conventional forward converter, the active clamp technique is used to recycle the energy stored in the transformer leakage back into the input dc source. Finally, experimental results are presented taken from a laboratory prototype with 100-W rated power, input voltage of 155 V, output voltage of 5 V, and operating at 150 kHz.


Interleukin 3 (IL3) promotes the proliferation of murine hematopoietic progenitor cells, including the megakaryocytic colony-forming cell (CFU-MK). To determine whether IL3 influences more differentiated cells in the murine megakaryocytic lineage, IL3 was added to microcultures of single megakaryocytes isolated from CFU-MK-derived colonies. After two days of culture, cell diameter and DNA content were analyzed. Eighty-five percent of cells initially between 12 and 20 micron in diameter increased in size in response to IL3, while only 12% of these cells increased in size in its absence. The percentage of cells responding to IL3 varied inversely with the size of the initial cells. The culture procedure did not alter the relatively linear relationship between size and ploidy, suggesting that increments in cell size are accompanied by increased ploidy. After three days of culture, acetylcholinesterase (AchE) activity was assayed. A small but significant increment in AchE activity was observed in the presence of IL3. The data show that, at least in vitro, IL3 is a differentiation-promoting factor of the murine megakaryocytic lineage.


Call Admission Control (CAC) between heterogeneous networks, such as an integrated 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) network and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), plays an important role to utilize the system resources in a more efficient way. In this paper, we propose that the preference to the WLAN is determined based on the traffic load in the WLAN and the location of the cellular users. Our analysis relies on a previous study that divides the 3G cellular coverage area into zones based on the amount of resources that are required to support a connection to a mobile user. Using this model, we derive new call blocking and handoff failure probabilities as well as new call and handoff attempt failure probabilities. Through simulations, we investigate proper preference settings by changing the WLAN load in a 3 ring-based sector with a WLAN hotspot.


Immune escape of cancer cells has become the main challenge in the immunocytotherapy field. In this study, we analyzed the cytotoxicity of DC-CIK cells induced by anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 antibodies in RCC cell lines. Flow cytometry analysis was performed to analyze the immune phenotypes of DC-CIK cells. Click-iT EdU assay was performed to analyze the proliferation of DC-CIK cells. ELISA analysis was performed to detect the expression of cytokines in DC-CIK cells. Compared with DC-CIK cells without any treatment, the growth inhibition rate was significantly higher in the other three groups. Moreover, combined induction with anti-PD-1 plus anti-CTLA-4 antibodies provides synergistic antitumor effects of DC-CIK cells in renal carcinoma cell lines. The combined treatment promoted DC-CIK cell proliferation and differentiation into CD3+CD56+ NKT cells and CD3+CD8+ CTL cells. Compared with the control group, combined treatment significantly up-regulated the secretion of immune-stimulatory cytokines, such as IFN-γ and TNF-α, and down-regulated the secretion of the immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10. Furthermore, the co-induction promoted the early activation of DC-CIK cells. These results indicated the co-induction with anti-PD-1 plus anti-CTLA-4 antibodies improved antitumor effects of DC-CIK cells by promoting proliferation, differentiation, and early activation and regulating the secretion of immune-stimulatory and suppressive cytokines in renal carcinoma cell lines.


This paper investigates the possibility of packet error recovery in a cooperative cluster of mobile devices. We assume that these devices receive data from a broadcast transmission on their primary network interface (e.g. LTE network), and they are using a secondary network interface (e.g. ad hoc WLAN network) to form a cooperative cluster in order to exchange missing data packets among each other. Our goal is to devise a protocol that minimizes the number of packets exchanged on the secondary network whilst maximizes the number of packet errors recovered on the primary network. Moreover, we aim to repair the packet losses on-the-fly (as the data is being received), which also imposes real-time constraints on the protocol. We propose a solution based on random linear network coding to form cooperative clusters of mobile devices to facilitate the efficient exchange of information among them. We also introduce a demo application that implements this technique on Nokia phones. Then we present our testbed and the collected measurement results in order to evaluate the performance of our protocol.


Colloid cyst of the third ventricle is a well known neuropathological entity with consistent anatomic locations and a characteristic epithelial appearance. The authors describe 14 cases of histologically verified colloid cysts and discuss the histological differences between these and other epithelium-lined cysts in the central nervous system. The study population comprised eight males and six females ranging in age from 28 to 82 years. Eight were autopsy cases (mean age, 67 years) in which the colloid cysts were found incidentally. None of these cysts obstructed the foramen of Monro. Their mean size was 9×8×8 mm and, without exception, they were located in the anterior roof of the third ventricle. Six of the patients were surgical cases and their mean age was 37 years. The reasons for hospitalization were paroxysmal headaches in three patients, two of whom exhibited deterioration of consciousness; sudden, severe headache and unconsciousness with no history of headache in two; and longstanding, mild dementia and gait disturbance mimicking normal pressure hydrocephalus in one. The cysts were lined by cuboidal to columnar epithelial cells. Among the operated cysts, cilia were found in four and goblet cells in two. Periodic acid-Schiffpositive cells were observed in all of the stained specimens. No histological differences were noted between symptomatic (operated) and asymptomatic (found at autopsy) cysts. The ciliated epithelium lining colloid cysts of the third ventricle is similar to that observed in Rathke's cleft cyst and some epithelial cysts found elsewhere in the central nervous system.


Ambient intelligence opens up a world of unprecedented experiences. The interaction of people with electronic devices will change as context awareness, natural interfaces, and ubiquitous availability of information come to fruition. Ambient intelligence is going to impose major challenges on multimedia research. Distributed multimedia applications and their processing on embedded static and mobile platforms will play a major role in the development of ambient-intelligent environments. The requirements that ambient-intelligent multimedia applications impose on the mechanisms users apply to interact with media call for paradigms substantially different from contemporary interaction concepts. The complexity of media will continually increase in terms of volume and functionality, thus introducing a need for simplicity and ease of use. Therefore, the massively distributed, integrated use of media will require replacing well-known interaction vehicles, such as remote control and menu-driven search and control, with novel more intuitive, and natural concepts. This article reviews the concept of ambient intelligence and elaborates on its relation with multimedia. (The "Advances in media processing" sidebar gives insight into the developments that have set the stage for this new step forward.) The emphasis is on qualitative aspects, highlighting those elements that play a role in realizing ambient intelligence. Multimedia processing techniques and applications are key to realizing ambient intelligence, and they introduce major challenges to the design and implementation of both media-processing platforms and multimedia applications. Technology will not be the limiting factor in realizing ambient intelligence. The ingredients to let the computers disappear are already available, but the true success of the paradigm will depend on the ability to develop concepts that allow natural interaction with digital environments. We must build these digital environments with the invisible technology of the forthcoming century. The role of intelligent algorithms in this respect is apparent because it is the key enabling factor for realizing natural interaction.


The numerical prediction of the effective mechanical properties of the reinforced braid inserted in automobile power steering hose is addressed. The key role of the reinforced braid layer is to suppress the excessive radial expansion of the hose subject to high pressure and temperature. The reinforced braid layer is in the structure composed of wrap and fill tows inclined to each with the specific helix angle. In order to predict the effective mechanical properties, we construct a 3-D finite element model of the unit cell (or RVE) of the reinforced braid in a periodic pattern, in which the detailed geometry of individual fiber tows is fully modeled. By making use of the superposition method and the 3-D finite element analysis, the effective mechanical properties are predicted. Numerical experiments illustrating the theoretical work are also presented.


Since 1995, the University Medical Center Utrecht is a nationwide referral center for patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). Aim of this thesis was to make a start with the systematic evaluation of imaging in patients with TSC followed at our institution focusing on the heart, the lungs and the brain. In a case-control study, we examined the morphologic characteristics at CT of focal fatty foci noted in daily practice in the myocardium of patients known to have TSC. The fatty foci appeared to have unique CT characteristics consisting of a combination of focality, well-circumscribed form, location into the mid myocardium, pure fat density, absence of enhancement, and absence of invasive behavior. Because these characteristic well-circumscribed foci of fat attenuation were found in the myocardium at CT in the majority of patients with TSC (35 of 55 patients) and not in the control group, such fatty foci may help identify patients suspected of having the disease. Histopathology in patients with TSC showed multiple areas of mature fat cells in the myocardium without associated inflammation, without associated fibrosis, without entrapped myocardial cells, and without a capsule which seem to be unique for tuberous sclerosis complex. Adding these fatty foci in the myocardium seen on CT, MRI, echocardiography and histopathology to the list of major features of the current clinical diagnostic criteria for TSC may be considered in the future. In a cross-sectional study we reviewed the most recent CT scan of the lung bases for radiologic evidence of lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) in a cohort of 186 adult patients with known TSC. Our study demonstrated pulmonary thin-walled cysts with intervening normal lung parenchyma in the lung bases in 28% of adult TSC-patients (52 of 186 patients). Gender specific prevalence was 0.42 in female and 0.13 in male TSC-patients. In another cross-sectional study we reviewed the most recent contrast-enhanced CT scan of the brain for radiologic signs of subependymal giant cell tumors (SGCT). Our study demonstrated radiologic evidence of SGCT in 20% of TSC-patients (43 of 214 patients). Gender specific prevalence was 0.18 in female and 0.22 in male TSC-patients. In addition, a meta-analysis of the reported prevalence in the English language literature, and our own study was performed. The resulting pooled estimate of the prevalence of SGCT in TSC-patients was 0.11 (95% CI:0.09, 0.14). The prevalence of SGCT in TSC was higher in studies using radiologic evidence to diagnose SGCT (0.16; 95% CI: 0.12, 0.21) than in studies using mainly histopathologic evidence (0.09; 95% CI:0.07, 0.12).


Purpose - – Employees older than 55 years of age have a much lower share in training than other employees. The purpose of this paper is to propose that one of the reasons for this phenomenon that has not been taken into account so far is that their training is less effective. Design/methodology/approach - – This paper shows that training of older employees indeed is less effective in the self-assessment of training participants. Training effectiveness is measured with respect to key dimensions such as career development, earnings, adoption of new skills, flexibility or job security. Besides age a broad range of explanatory variables is included as covariates in a large linked employer-employee data set. Findings - – The paper finds that main reason for the differences in training effectiveness during the life cycle is that firms do not take into account differences in training motivation. Older employees get higher returns from informal and directly relevant training and from training contents that can be mainly tackled by crystallised abilities. Training incidence in the more effective training forms is, however, not higher for older employees. Given that other decisive variables on self-assessed effectiveness such as training duration, financing and initiative are not sensitive to age, the wrong allocation of training contents and training forms therefore is the critical explanation for the lower effectiveness of training. Originality/value - – This paper therefore shows to human resource managers why old employees rate training effectiveness lower and indicates what can be done in order to improve training effectiveness of old employees. It uses a large and detailed data set entailing more than 6,000 employees from about 150 establishments.


This essay combines theories expounded by four scholar-theoreticians to critique the implications of today's new media technology. Those theoreticians and their works are: Walter Benjamin's seminar writing, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" (1936), Jurgen Habermas' concept of the public sphere, Marshal McLuhan's Technological Determinism, and Vincent Mosco's concept of Commodification. It posits that in today's digital culture, the Internet-as the new public sphere-enables people with access to it to become producers of their own cultural texts. The essay specifically points to YouTube as the site where these texts can be found. Since YouTube provides its users with the freedom to upload anything, these videos not only feed the myth of instant fame and success through the commodification of the self, but in the process erodes the concept of aura as defined by Benjamin since the power to reproduce such texts is in the hands of the consumers. FEU Communication Journal 2008: Vol. 4: 17-34 doi: 10.3860/feucj.v4i0.1102


A preliminary cumulative sum (CUSUM) chart based on individual observations is developed from the uniformly most powerful test for the detection of linear trends. This CUSUM chart is compared with several of its alternatives which are based on the likelihood ratio test and on transformations of standardized recursive residuals on which, for instance, the Q-chart methodology is based. It turns out that the proposed CUSUM chart is not only superior in the detection of linear trend out-of-control conditions, but also in the detection of other out-of-control situations considered in this paper. Approximate control limits, determined from simulation and an example of its use in practice are given for the proposed CUSUM chart.


Statutes, like human beings, may experience a "mid-life crisis." One notable illustration of this phenomenon is Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act of 1946. This provision, offering federal protection to businesses against many forms of unfair competition engaged in by their rivals, has been the subject of varied and inconsistent judicial treatment. Just as with a growing child, the first eight years of this statute's existence were characterized by few lasting achievements.Then a landmark decision in 1954 recognized and liberated Section 43(a)'s potential. The past two decades have seen an explosion in the kinds of actions brought under this provision. Now that Section 43(a) is recognized as a major weapon in the fight against "unfair competition," however, some courts have resisted its expansion, or have contracted its reach. Thus, the fate of Section 43(a) remains uncertain.This Article proposes the expanded availability of Section 43(a) to allow injured businesses to counter a wide variety of competitive wrongs. It is important that there be a uniform, federal law of unfair competition. Although imaginative attorneys have inappropriately attempted to use this statute for situations for which it was never designed, some courts have also refused to apply the statute to unfair and anticompetitive conduct which may demand relief.The first three sections of this Article briefly review the law of unfair competition prior to the enactment of Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, the legislative history of that provision, and those cases marking its early development. The Article then presents a description of those activities which fall within the statute, and analyzes the limitations imposed by various other courts. The last section begins with an examination of the goals of the trademark laws and of the policy considerations implicated by a broader versus a narrower application of this particular statutory provision. It analyzes the need for a uniform federal approach to unfair competition and discusses particular problem areas under Section 43(a). Finally, this Article argues that the expansion of the Act to cover doubtful activities -- harmful, unfair, or deceptive business practices -- is both necessary and appropriate, and that the extension of the statute to encompass certain other forms of unfair competition would also be desirable.


The Open studio workshop, exhibition and publication by the Bauhaus Foundation was used to highlight the quality of new teaching styles around the studio subjects of "Standards". The Northumbria interpretation was exploring the standards of spatial proximity related to creative learning and the optimal distances for teaching and communicating design.

The public exhibition and publication framed the two-day Open Studio event which set out to construct new interpretations of the creative learning process by reinterpreting the conditions and spaces of the Bauhaus Building at Dessau. This helped to develop new pedagogical insights into the relationships between space, architecture, furniture, product design and the human form. Ergonomic principles of spatial layout in design for education are used to explore how degrees of "closeness" affect learning and teaching while considering the "death of geography" as a result of digitisation. Drawing on such theories, (the workshop) the exhibition and publication set out to justify the importance of spatial dimensions in developing an experiential qualitative learning space testing physical proximity against organisational proximity.


The practice of gentrifying many urban communities has placed former inner-city dwellers out of homes and jobs, forcing them to rely more upon federal funding for assistance. Since the presidential term of former President George W. Bush on to the inauguration of President Barack Obama, the American people have been in severe lack of needed resources practically, another Great Depression. Furthermore, in order to improve property values of deteriorating neighborhoods, the city of Washington, DC has implemented a plan in many areas around the city that will rebuild, restructure, and remove low to middle income families from their homes, forcing them to relocate to non-negotiable circumstances. Gentrification has been a recurring cycle for decades and has negatively impacted families in the realms of income, jobs, schooling, accessibility, and so forth. The Rationale Choice Theory is a framework that shows the correlation between economic and social patterns amongst people. Although primarily used to distinguish the most cost-effective means to achieve a desired goal, the hypothesis that is tested in this essay is that the practice of gentrifying urban communities correlates with the increase in federal spending. This paper tests the hypothesis by using a triangulative approach, which involves a colossal amount of qualitative and quantitative data collected through credible Internet sources, scholarly journals, newspapers, and books by using the document analysis technique, augmented by interviews with local business owners who have been impacted by the change. The research findings suggest that gentrification has had a drastic effect on many urban community dwellers and has caused them to rely more heavily on tax dollars and federal spending because they have to make up the costs of relocating from communities that were once accessible.


Mammalian spermatozoa must mature in the epididymis before they can fertilize an egg. It is known that modification of the protein composition of the sperm surface is an important part of the maturation process. In this paper, we present data on two related glycoproteins that can be extracted from mature but not immature spermatozoa. Cell surface radioiodination has shown that these proteins are on the sperm surface, and immunofluorescence microscopy, by use of monospecific antibodies to the proteins, has indicated that their localization is restricted to the periacrosomal region of the sperm head. We have also shown that in vitro, these proteins will bind to the identical region of immature sperm. Immunohistochemical localization of the proteins in the epididymis shows that they are produced and secreted by the cauda region. The significance of the addition of these proteins to the sperm surface in both maturation and fertilization is discussed.


Nutritional abnormalities and physical inactivity are risk factors of increased morbidity and mortality in patients with ESRD. Identify and define malnutrition, in particular protein-energy depletion (PEW), is an important task in the management of renal patients. The aim of this multicenter observational study was to implement the assessment of nutritional status and functional capacity in patients on peritoneal dialysis, including tests and validated methods which are relatively easy to apply in daily clinical practice. The study includes all the 133 prevalent patients (80 m, 53 f, age 65 14 years), in peritoneal dialysis treatment (vintage 26 19 months) in 9 centers in Tuscany. We performed anthropometry, bioimpedance (BIA), clinical biochemistry, evaluation of habitual physical activity (RAPA tests) and performance (Sit-To-Stand test), appetite-evaluation questionnaire, and indices including the Malnutrition Inflammation Score (MIS), Geriatric Nutrition Risk Index (GNRI), Charlson comorbidity index, Barthel and Karnowsky index. The latter showed a condition of dependence in 7.2% and 19.7% of cases, respectively. Poor appetite was recorded in 48.2%. The majority of patients fell within the overweight / obesity range (51%) with waist circumference values associated with increased cardiovascular risk in 51% of males and 60% of females. At the BIA analysis, a BCMI <8 kg/m2 was detected in 39% of patients; an estimated protein intake <1.0 g / kg/d was found in 59% of cases; 34% of patients had serum albumin <3.5 g / dl; control of acidosis was good (bicarbonate 25.4 3.8 mM) but hyperphosphatemia was present in 64.6% of patients. A condition of sedentary or light physical activity was reported by 65.1% of patients, vigorous activity only by 11.9%. The 86.5% of patients able to perform the Sit-to-stand test reported a lower than the reference values for age and sex. A diagnosis of PEW was possible in 8% of our series, while a MIS score> 11, indicative of PEW, took place in 12.7% of cases. The values of the MIS correlated directly with age and the degree of comorbidity and inversely with the sit-to-stand test, RAPA tests and appetite level. The data in this study show that single tests indicative of malnutrition disorders are frequent to be found in our series of peritoneal dialysis patients. However, a diagnosis of PEW is quite infrequent. A large percentage of patients are overweight with increased abdominal adiposity, and reduced cell mass and protein intake below recommended levels; the level of habitual physical activity is low, and the level of physical capability is scarce. Therefore it is conceivable a nutritional counseling intervention to increase the intake of proteins, limiting the phosphorus and (when indicated) energy intake and to stimulating spontaneous physical activity or arranging assisted programs for functional rehabilitation. Close monitoring of the nutritional status and implementation of programs of adapted physical activity should have a prominent role in the clinical management of patients on peritoneal dialysis.


: When suggesting that we—the affluent in the developed world—are legitimate targets of defensive force due to our contribution to global poverty one is likely to be countered by one of two strategies. The first denies that we contribute to global poverty. The second seems to affirm that we contribute, and even that we have stringent contribution-based duties to address this poverty, but denies that such contribution makes forcible resistance permissible. Those in this second group employ several argumentative strategies.

In this paper I investigate these strategies for denying the force-related implication of contribution to poverty. I do not argue for political violence or for the permissibility of targeting the affluent, I merely investigate a conditional: if contribution to global poverty generates stringent duties to address it, then this contribution implies permission on the part of the victims to defend themselves with force, or for third parties to use force on their behalf.


The importance of wild birds as potential vectors of disease has received recent renewed empirical interest, especially regarding human health. Understanding the spread of bacterial pathogens in wild birds may serve as a useful model for examining the spread of other disease organisms, both amongst birds, and from birds to other taxa. Information regarding the normal gastrointestinal bacterial flora is limited for the majority of wild bird species, with the few well‐studied examples concentrating on bacteria that are zoonotic and/or relate to avian species of commercial interest. However, most studies are limited by small sample sizes, the frequent absence of longitudinal data, and the constraints of using selective techniques to isolate specific pathogens. The pathogenic genera found in the gut are often those suspected to exist in the birds' habitat, and although correlations are made between bacterial pathogens in the avian gut and those found in their foraging grounds, little is known about the effect of the pathogen on the host, unless the causative organism is lethal. In this review, we provide an overview of the main bacterial pathogens isolated from birds (with particular emphasis on enteropathogenic bacteria) which have the potential to cause disease in both birds and humans, whilst drawing attention to the limitations of traditional detection methods and possible study biases. We consider factors likely to affect the susceptibility of birds to bacterial pathogens, including environmental exposure and heterogeneities within the host population, and present probable avenues of disease transmission amongst birds and from birds to other animal taxa. Our primary aim is to identify gaps in current knowledge and to propose areas for future study.


Following a proposal to carry out water quality improvement works to the Hardedge Water Supplies between Nenthead (NY 7998 4325) and Alston (NY 7246 4584), through the laying of new pipes, a programme of archaeological work was
recommended by the Cumbria County Council Archaeological Service (CCCAS).
This was initially to consist of a watching brief of the route of the whole pipeline, but after reconsideration of the project in light of the type of work and the scale of the archaeological remains, this was amended to a walkover survey followed by targeted watching briefs of those areas of interest that would be particularly adversely affected.
The area has complex history relating to the mining of lead and silver, evidence for which dates back to at least the Roman period. This expanded dramatically during the
eighteenth and nineteenth century, with mines covering most of the landscape, and led to the development of the village of Nenthead and a number of corresponding buildings. The importance of the area as a major source of lead and a historic industrial landscape is shown by the fact that there are three Scheduled Monuments within the vicinity of the proposed pipe route, two of which cover very large areas.


South Africa is a country with significant socio-economic development challenges, with the majority of South Africans having limited or non-existent access to basic infrastructure, services, housing and socio-economic opportunities etc. The urban housing backlog currently exceeds 2.4 million houses, with many families living in informal settlements. The Breaking New Grounds Policy, 2014 for the creation of sustainable human settlements, acknowledges the challenges facing human settlements, such as, decreasing human settlements grants allocation, increasing housing backlog, mushrooming of informal settlements and urbanisation. The White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), 2019 notes that South Africa has not yet fully benefited from the potential of STI in addressing the socio-economic challenges and seeks to support the circular economy principles which entail a systematic change of moving to a zero or low waste resource-efficient society. Further to this, the Science and Technology Roadmap's intention is to unlock the potential of South Africa's human settlements for a decent standard of living through the smart uptake of science, technology and innovation. One such novel technology is the Three-Dimensional (3D) printing technology, which has produced numerous incredible structures around the world. 3D printing is a computer-controlled industrial manufacturing process which encompasses additive means of production to create 3D shapes. The effects of such a technology have a potential to change the world we live in and could subsequently pave the roadmap to improve on housing delivery and reduce the negative effects of conventional construction methods on the environment. To this end, the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), in partnership with the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the University of Johannesburg (UJ) hosted the second virtual IID seminar titled: Exploring the Prospects of Using 3D Printing Technology in the South African Human Settlements, on 01 March 2021 to explore the potential use of 3D printing technology in human settlements. The webinar presented preliminary findings from a study conducted by UJ, addressing the following topics: 1. The viability of 3D printing technology 2. Cost comparison of 3D printed house to conventional construction 3. Preliminary perceptions on 3D printing of houses Speakers included: Dr Jennifer Mirembe (NDoHS), Dr Jeffrey Mahachi, Mr Refilwe Lediga, Mr Khululekani Ntakana and Dr Luxien Ariyan, all from UJ. There was a unanimous consensus that collaborative efforts from all stakeholders are key to take advantage of this niche technology. @ASSAf_Official; @dsigovza; @go2uj; @The_DHS; #SA 3D_Printing; #3D Print_Housing; #IID


The role of sea ports in the future will be increasingly important, it is necessary to improve the quality of service (quality of services). According to the rules of the Decree of Directors. (Limited) II No Ports Indonesia. HK.56/1/2/PI.II-2000 dated January 3, 2000 submission of the use of portions of land can be provided with a port HPL Broking and Right to Lease the building. This is contrary to the Regulation of the Minister of Interior No.1 of 1977, in which rights can be given to land management rights are Broking and Right to Use.


This article explores the use of an argon laser to treat severe drug-induced gingival overgrowth. The patient was being treated with phenytoin (Dilantin, Parke-Davis), cyclosporine and a calcium channel blocker. He had undergone a kidney transplantation and had insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. He had severe gingival overgrowth, which prevented him from wearing his removable prostheses, and a superimposed Candida albicans infection. An argon laser was used to excise the gingival overgrowth so new maxillary and mandibular prostheses could be fabricated.


Background and Objective: Although smoking and the physical activity level (PAL) are important determinants of health status in adolescence, there is a lack of information on the relationship between smoking and PAL in early adolescence. The objective of this study was to evaluate the gender-specific relationship between smoking and PAL in 14-to-16-year-old adolescents. Materials and Methods: The sample included 650 adolescents (337 girls, 14.7 ± 0.5 years at first testing wave) from Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the first testing wave, participants were tested using structured questionnaires. Second testing was commenced after approximately 20 months (16.4 ± 0.6 years). The variables were age, gender, socioeconomic status, living environment, cigarette smoking (predictors), and PAL (criterion). Predictors were measured at the first wave, and criterion at the first-wave and second-wave. Results: For girls, smoking was negatively correlated to PAL at the first-wave (OR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.55–0.95) and at the second-wave (OR: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.71–0.96). No significant association between smoking and PAL was found for boys. Results suggest that adolescent boys and girls do not follow the equal trajectories when it comes to relationships between smoking and PAL. Conclusions: In developing promotional public health actions related to a decrease of smoking and increase of PAL, a gender-specific approach is highly recommended. Further studies analyzing the cause–effect relationship between consumption of other types of psychoactive substances and PAL in this age group are warranted.


Relative Timing is introduced as an informal method for aggressive asynchronous design. It is demonstrated on three example circuits (C-Element, FIFO, and RAPPID Tag Unit), facilitating transformations from speed-independent circuits to burst-mode, relative timed, and pulse-mode circuits. Relative timing enables improved performance, area, power and testability in all three cases.


This paper studies the optimal service schedule of CBR traffic when the server rate is modelled according to a Markov process. The CBR traffic is mixed with traffic of another session (interfering traffic) which might be either CBR or VBR (variable bit rate) or both. The CBR traffic can suffer a maximum delay of T. The scheduler must decide which session must be scheduled for service based on future server rate, estimated from the currently available information. The objective of this paper is to find an optimal time t/sub s/<T for switching the service from interfering traffic to CBR traffic. This switching of the scheduler from one traffic to another traffic takes into account the stochastic variation of the server rate. Three cases of variation of the source rate are considered, namely: (1) when the server rate is a constant; (2) when the server rate jumps randomly between two values; and (3) when the variation of server rate follows a diffusion process. In all three cases, this paper shows that there exists an optimal switching time t/sub s/ after which the low-priority CBR traffic can be scheduled for service. The maximum delay and the cell loss rate are determined.


On November 5, 2004, the Russian Federation ratified the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, effectively saving the treaty. Battling domestic interests, in which a majority of pro-Kyoto voices were countered by a small but powerful minority of Kyoto opponents, had little influence on the decision due to the centralized institutional environment in Russia which allows the President great autonomy in foreign policy. President Putin ratified the treaty because Russia would likely gain leverage in other international negotiations and contribute to an image of itself as a good member of the club of advanced industrialized states. He delayed ratification to clarify evidence about gains versus losses from Kyoto provisions and to secure concessions from other Kyoto ratifiers in other international negotiations. Existing implementation efforts are slow but indicate that Russia's strategy will emphasize maximizing profits through treaty mechanisms over maximizing emissions reductions.


Based the defects of global optimal model falling into local optimum easily and local model with slow convergence speed during traditional PSO algorithm solving a complex high-dimensional and multi-peak function, a two sub-swarms particle optimization algorithm is proposed. All particles are divided into two equivalent parts. One part particles adopts global evolution model, while the other part uses local evolution model. If the global optimal fitness of the whole population stagnates for some iteration, a golden rule is introduced into local evolution model. This strategy can substitute the partial perfect particles of local evolution for the equivalent worse particles of global evolution model. So, some particles with advantage are joined into the whole population to make the algorithm keep active all the time. Compared with classic PSO and PSO-GL(A dynamic global and local combined particle swarm optimization algorithm, PSO-GL), the results show that the proposed PSO in this paper can get more effective performance over the other two algorithm in the simulation experiment for four benchmark testing function.


Oaks (Quercus L.) have long been suspected to hybridize in nature, and widespread genetic exchange between morphologically defined species is well documented in two- to six-species systems, but the phylogenetic consequences of hybridization in oaks have never been demonstrated in a phylogenetically diverse sample. Here, we present phylogenomic analyses of a ca 30 Myr clade that strongly support morphologically defined species and the resolution of novel clades of white oaks; however, historical hybridization across clade boundaries is detectable and, undiagnosed, would obscure the imprint of biogeographic history in the phylogeny. Phylogenetic estimation from restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing data for 156 individuals representing 81 species supports two successive intercontinental disjunctions of white oaks: an early vicariance between the Eurasian and American white oaks, and a second, independent radiation represented by two relictual species. A suite of subsampled and partitioned analyses, however, supports a more recent divergence of the Eurasian white oaks from within the American white oaks and suggests that historic introgression between the Eurasian white oaks and a now-relictual lineage biases concatenated phylogenetic estimates. We demonstrate how divergence and reticulation both influence our understanding of the timing and nature of diversification and global colonization in these ecologically and economically important taxa.


Antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) have emerged as an important pharmaceutical class of drugs designed to harness the specificity of antibodies with the potency of small molecule therapeutics. The three main components of ADCs are the antibody, the linker, and the payload; the majority of early work focused intensely on improving the functionality of these pieces. Recently, considerable attention has been focused on developing methods to control the site and number of linker/drug conjugated to the antibody, with the aim of producing more homogenous ADCs. In this article, we review popular conjugation methods and highlight recent approaches including "click" conjugation and enzymatic ligation. We discuss current linker technology, contrasting the characteristics of cleavable and non-cleavable linkers, and summarize the essential properties of ADC payload, centering on chemotherapeutics. In addition, we report on the progress in characterizing to determine physicochemical properties and on advances in purifying to obtain homogenous products. Establishing a set of selection and analytical criteria will facilitate the translation of novel ADCs and ensure the production of effective biosimilars.


Energy is one of the basic needs of humanity and, for ages, the sun seemed to be the main source of all energy in the universe and that is why the ancient Egyptians used to venerate it. Many wastes and corpses – under pressure and heat – have been converted throughout the years inside the earth into the oil on which recent development is totally based to support humans' life, particularly in transportation and power generation. As time passes, it has been proven that oil will vanish. For the first moment, it seemed like mankind will certainly suffer due to such a hard situation and some people thought that we will get back to stone ages when oil no longer exists. Thanks for the Renewable Energy scientist who has looked at the issue from a different prospective, that is, even if oil vanishes, the main reason of its existence is still there, that is the sun . The sun has the capability to still make people enjoy their life not only by enjoying the sunny weather in many places of the world and having good times on the beach for those who live by the sea but also the sun can still provide man with required energy and cause the wind to blow, the waves to raise, the plants to be converted to biomass, and the earth to store its geothermal energy. As long as life goes on, the sun will always rise and will always grant its energy to mankind. It is the clean, renewable and sustainable energy, which guarantees sustainable development. Because of the high correlation between renewable energy and sustainable development, the editorial team of this journal thought of offering a hub to researchers interested in these two important fields to present their work and share it with others who have the same interest in such a wide area of research . Thanks to the Academy Publishing Center, 'APC' owned by the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport 'AASTMT' for hosting this international journal .


Edge lengths of a graph are called flexible if there exist infinitely many non-congruent realizations of the graph in the plane satisfying these edge lengths. It has been shown recently that a graph has flexible edge lengths if and only if the graph has a special type of edge coloring called NAC-coloring. We address the question how to determine all possible proper flexible edge lengths from the set of all NAC-colorings of a graph. We do so using restrictions to 4-cycle subgraphs.


The popular perception is that hedge funds follow a reasonably well-defined market-neutral investment style. Investigation of the monthly return history of hedge funds over 1989–2000, however, finds there are in fact distinct styles of management that account for about 20% of the cross-sectional variability in performance. This result is consistent across the years in the sample and robust as to the way investment style is determined. Appropriate style analysis and style management are crucial to success for investors looking to invest in hedge funds.


In the present investigation an indigenous medicinal plant species of the Western Ghats Butea monosperma were selected to explore its morphogenic potentialities under in vitro condition, to isolate active constituents from different plant part extracts and to evaluate pharmacological properties of the crude and isolated constituents for antipyretic, antidiabetic, disorders. The antipyretic potential of B. monosperma was evaluated using yeast induced pyrexia on Albino rats and petroleum ether extract exhibited significant antipyretic activity after 90 minutes (37.56±0.20) and 120 minutes (37.33± 0.14) as compared to standard group (37.38±0.18). In view of the alleged antidiabetic potential of B. monsperma plant and for the claim that their leaves and stem possesses more curative properties in general, among the different extracts of B. monsperma, significant antidiabetic activity was noticed in animal groups treated with ethanol extract of stem, it had exhibited highly significant antidiabetic activity after 3 hours of administration of extract (263.53±6.28).


One of the main problems associated with small natural reserves is their progressive loss of ecological integ - rity owing to the influence of surrounding human activities. In southern Quebec (Bas-Saint-Laurent, Canada), peatlands are extensively mined to extract peat for the production of horticultural compost and are isolated within agricultural lands. Government environmental agencies have proposed that peat industries set aside 5-10% of a bog's area as a nat- ural refuge for peatland plants and animals. Do these fragments constitute reliable refuges? Do they maintain their eco - logical characteristics over a long period? We studied the recent evolution of plant communities in peatland fragments using paleoecological techniques and a geographical information system. In the study area, some treeless fragments dominated by Sphagnum species have recently (since 1940) converted to forest sites. Macrofossil and dendrochronological analyses suggest that peat-mining activities were not the main factors responsible for the afforesta - tion of peatland fragments. On the other hand, the isolation of the Bas-Saint-Laurent peatlands within an agricultural plain for more than 100 years may explain the afforestation process (drainage activities). Furthermore, fires may have accelerated afforestation by facilitating the spread of seeds of tree species with serotinous cones. Because most peatlands of the Bas-Saint-Laurent region are still affected by drainage and fires, it is probable that several open bog fragments will not maintain their treeless vegetation structure over a long period. Consequently, peatland fragments should not be considered as a solution to long-term conservation needs in southern Quebec, at least not for plant and animal species of open bogs. This study also shows that even ecosystems known to be resistant to invasions by exotic species (such as peatlands) can be strongly affected by fragmentation and by their surrounding environment on a long- term basis.


Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PAC) is a highly heterogeneous and plastic tumor with different transcriptomic molecular subtypes that hold great prognostic and theranostic values. We developed PACpAInt, a multistep approach using deep learning models to determine tumor cell type and their molecular phenotype on routine histological preparation at a resolution enabling to decipher complete intratumor heterogeneity on a massive scale never achieved before. PACpAInt effectively identified molecular subtypes at the slide level in three validation cohorts and had an independent prognostic value. It identified an interslide heterogeneity within a case in 39% of tumors that impacted survival. Diving at the cell level, PACpAInt identified "pure" classical and basal-like main subtypes as well as an intermediary phenotype and hybrid tumors that co-carried both classical and basal-like phenotypes. These novel artificial intelligence-based subtypes, together with the proportion of basal-like cells within a tumor had a strong prognostic impact.


We investigate the possible origins of the reactor antineutrino anomalies in norm and shape within the framework of a summation model where β^{-} transitions are simulated by a phenomenological model of Gamow-Teller decay strength. The general trends of divergence from the Huber-Mueller model on the antineutrino side can be reproduced in both norm and shape. From the exact electron-antineutrino correspondence of the summation model, we predict similar distortions in the electron spectra, suggesting that biases on the reference spectra of fission electrons could be the cause of the anomalies.


Graph neural networks (GNNs), which propagate the node features through the edges and learn how to transform the aggregated features under label supervision, have achieved great success in supervised feature extraction for both node-level and graph-level classification tasks. However, GNNs typically treat the graph structure as given and ignore how the edges are formed. This paper introduces a graph generative process to model how the observed edges are generated by aggregating the node interactions over a set of overlapping node communities, each of which contributes to the edges via a logical OR mechanism. Based on this generative model, we partition each edge into the summation of multiple community-specific weighted edges and use them to define community-specific GNNs. A variational inference framework is proposed to jointly learn a GNN-based inference network that partitions the edges into different communities, these community-specific GNNs, and a GNN-based predictor that combines community-specific GNNs for the end classification task. Extensive evaluations on real-world graph datasets have verified the effectiveness of the proposed method in learning discriminative representations for both node-level and graph-level classification tasks.


Purpose: Volume‐of‐interest (VOI) cone‐beam CT(CBCT) is a technique to image a pre‐selected VOI with enhanced image quality while maintaining an acceptable average breast dose. This technique requires a high exposure VOI scan with a low exposure full‐field scan. In this study, Monte Carlo(MC) simulation was used to estimate the doses of the full‐field scan, VOI scan and various combinations of the two for breast imaging. Methods: For MC simulation, BEAMnrc and DOSXYZnrc were used to simulate CBCT breast imaging and estimate the average doses. For validation, air kermas at the VOI and iso‐center were measured and simulated for comparison. For simulation study, a 13‐cm‐diam, 9‐cm‐high Lucite cylinder was scanned by an x‐ray source located at 88 cm away. The VOI was defined to be a 2.5‐ cm‐diam, 2.5‐cm‐high cylindrical volume located at various radial positions in the middle plane of the phantom. Two scanning techniques were simulated: (1) the breast centered scan, (2) the VOI centered scan. The former requires a moving collimator to be used during the VOI scan while the latter requires only a stationary collimator to be used. 400 million incident photons were used to simulate 300 projections over 360 degrees to achieve 3D dose maps. Results: It was found that the average VOI doses decreased by 37% in the VOI scans as compared to those in the full‐field scans. The additional dose incurred by a VOI scan (VOI centered) was 6% of the dose from a full‐field scan for the same x‐ray techniques used. Conclusions: Our results indicated that it is feasible to employ a high exposure VOI scan in conjunction with a low exposure full‐field scan to enhance the image quality within the VOI while maintaining the overall average dose to be equal to or even lower than that of a regular full‐field scan. This work was supported in part by grants CA104759, CA124585 and CA13852 from NIH‐NCI, a grant EB00117 from NIH‐NIBIB, and a subcontract from NIST‐ATP.


Finding out how business can be a part of the shift to sustainability has never been more crucial. This article starts out by presenting the results of a multi-jurisdictional comparative analysis of corporate law, seeking to investigate the barriers, to and possibilities for, sustainable business in the dominant business form — the corporation. The social norm of shareholder primacy is identified as a major barrier to sustainability. Shareholder primacy has taken over the space that corporate law leaves open for the discretion of the individual corporate board.


Innovation in teaching and learning in vocational university courses has involved mentoring schemes by industry to match the skills taught with the industry demands. However, an alternative way of ensuring university graduates are job ready involves an analysis of the job market destinations of graduates. The authors surveyed Curtin University undergraduates in the second semester of 2014 in respect of the actuarial science programme's attributes pertaining to skills and knowledge taught, the lecturers' expertise and the university's support for students. Additionally, the authors surveyed Curtin University graduates and examined employer advertisements with regards to the skills and knowledge required by graduates and employers. The results of our investigation highlight areas where Curtin University's actuarial programme can be better tailored to the demands of the workplace.


The practice and social construction of homosexual relations in the Roman Empire were particularly important as the immediate background to the early Christian and patristic responses that determined the widespread suppression of same-sex behavior in subsequent Western civilization; this suppression was already manifest in influential Roman legal texts of late antiquity. Although to some degree influenced by earlier Greek and Etruscan models, particularly in the realms of literature and art, Roman culture evolved its own distinctive set of practices and moral responses. Whereas classical Greek elites exalted voluntary pederastic relations between adult males and freeborn adolescents, framing them within a pedagogical context, Romans viewed any form of passivity as unmanly and fundamentally incompatible with the conquering warrior ethos required by the expansionist Roman state. Hence, pederastic attentions were legitimate only when directed toward current or former slaves. Despite the coercive character of such relations, they sometimes became tender and affectionate, leading to the favored slave's manumission and even inheritance of property.
 While literary references in Augustan-era poets like Vergil, Horace, and Tibullus are decorous and idealizing after the Greek style, the treatment of homosexuality in much Roman literature is markedly different, manifesting an anatomical frankness and obscenity seldom found in Greek texts outside of Attic comedy. Accusations of the most extravagant sexual depravity became commonplace in political rhetoric of the late Republic and escalated in the many defamatory biographical accounts of Rome's emperors, most of whom engendered posthumous infamy from patrician critics. Whether true or not, such accounts contributed to popular perceptions of a hedonistic ruling class more innured to pleasure than the public good.
 Not surprisingly, Rome evolved a strong tradition of morally inflected satire and ethical critique of homosexual indulgence. In the early period, this took the form of treating it as a foreign, Greek-inspired vice. More serious was the philosophical response of later Roman Stoicism, which advocated a highly restrictive sexual economy and sought to liberate the soul from enslavement to appetitive desires, particularly if not tied to the providential demands of Nature. Other sources, however, regarded same-sex desire as itself a manifestation of inborn dispositions, and Roman imperial literature features several polarized debates between advocates of boys and women as superior objects of sexual affect, presaging modern conceptions of sexual identity.


LMC pulsar's bright gamma-ray flashes Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars that are seen as pulsating sources of radio waves. Some, such as the Crab pulsar, also emit pulses of gamma rays. The Fermi LAT collaboration observed pulsed gamma rays from a pulsar outside our galaxy, the Milky Way. The pulsar, known as PSR J0540–6919, is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). This is the most powerful gamma-ray pulsar yet known, with luminosity 20 times that of the Crab. The findings should help to explain how pulsars convert the energy stored in their rotation into detectable electromagnetic emission. Science, this issue p. 801 The first gamma-ray pulsar discovered outside of our Galaxy is also the most powerful yet known. Pulsars are rapidly spinning, highly magnetized neutron stars, created in the gravitational collapse of massive stars. We report the detection of pulsed giga–electron volt gamma rays from the young pulsar PSR J0540–6919 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. This is the first gamma-ray pulsar detected in another galaxy. It has the most luminous pulsed gamma-ray emission yet observed, exceeding the Crab pulsar's by a factor of 20. PSR J0540–6919 presents an extreme test case for understanding the structure and evolution of neutron star magnetospheres.


A finite element (FE) model is developed to simulate the ballistic impact of a flat-faced cylindrical projectile onto a flexible plain woven fabric made from Kevlar. The geometric model of the fabric was made by an in-house CAD programme known as UniverWeave© on the specification of actual structural parameters of a fabric. Commercial software package ABAQUS was used to simulate the projectile–fabric impact process assuming that the constituent yarns are elastic and plastic when loaded. Comparison between the experimental and the simulated results revealed that the developed model for projectile–fabric impact using ABAQUS/Explicit is effective to simulate the ballistic impact process with high accuracy. The dynamic mechanisms of the impacted fabric were studied. It showed that the projectile lost its velocity quickly at the beginning and then decreased slowly. The cone formed in the backface of the impacted fabric is virtually linear with respect to time. The cone radius increased rapidly at the very beginning of the impact and less significant afterwards. A smaller cone base radius was found to correspond to a higher velocity impacted fabric. It also has been found that the main forms of energy absorption are the kinetic energy of the cone, the plastic and elastic energy of the impacted fabric. Furthermore, it is believed that a specified fabric can be designed and engineered against a certain level of threat based on the finding that there exist a specific impact energy under which the fabric absorbs maximum projectile impact energy.


Vol 7 No 2 ABSTRACT Degradation of malachite green oxalate (MGO) compounds has been carried out by ozonolysis and photolysis methods with addition of ZnO-SnO2 as catalyst. MGO solution was analyzed by a spectrophotometer UV/Vis at 250-650 nm. The results showed that ozonolysis process faster than photolysis. 6 mg/L MGO can be degraded as much as 97.3% after irradiated with UV light (369 nm) within 150 minutes with the addition of 0.020 g of ZnO-SnO2. Otherwise, 99.6% of 6 mg/L MGO can be degraded by ozonolysis process within 5 minutes by the addition of 0.025 g of ZnO-SnO2. Analysis of the remaining MGO solution by reverse-phase HPLC showed intermediate-substances peaks and peak height of MGO at a retention time of 3.18 min decreased as the data obtained using a UV/Vis spectrophotometer. Keywords: degradation, MGO, photolysis, ozonolysis, ZnO-SnO2


c-Myc is frequently overexpressed in tumors and plays an important role in the regulation of cancer metabolism. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF1), the master regulator of the hypoxic response, enhances tumorigenesis and influences metabolism via upregulation of the glycolytic pathway and suppression of mitochondrial respiration. Together, deregulated Myc and HIF1 cooperate to lend metabolic advantages to proliferating cancer cells and contribute to the Warburg effect. Here we show that overexpression of Myc significantly stabilizes the a subunit of HIF1 (HIF1a) under normoxic conditions and enhances HIF1a accumulation under hypoxic conditions in cells. Posttranscriptional regulation of HIF1a by Myc led to the induction of HIF1a gene targets. Normoxic HIF1a protein expression was also dependent on Myc. Functionally, HIF1a expression was required for Myc-induced anchorage-independent growth and cell proliferation. Mycdependent stabilization of HIF1a involved either disruption of binding to the VHL complex or posttranslational proteinmodifications. Taken together, our findings uncover a previously uncharacterized regulatory relationship between Myc and HIF1 that has important implications for cancer metabolism and development. Cancer Res; 72(4); 949–57. 2011 AACR.


Software-intensive embedded systems have evolved to be essential tools of our lives. To cope with growing complexities in embedded software industry, software modeling and model-driven engineering (MDE) have become popular for design, development and testing of these systems. However, the usage of models in embedded software industry and the relevant practices usually vary since challenges, requirements and purposes differ among systems as well as among sectors. To understand the state-of-the-practice of software modeling in embedded systems industry, we designed and conducted a world-wide survey, which accepted 627 responses from 27 different countries. The goal of this paper is to present our work built on this survey to better understand and characterize the cross-factor analysis of software modeling versus practitioner demographics, e.g., degree of using software modeling versus target sectors of the products.


Background There is no valid instrument for multidomain cognitive assessment to aid the detection of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild dementia in Hong Kong. This study aimed to validate the Cantonese Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination Revised (C-ACER) in the identification of MCI and dementia. Methods 147 participants (Dementia, n = 54; MCI, n = 50; controls, n = 43) aged 60 or above were assessed by a psychiatrist using C-ACER. The C-ACER scores were validated against the expert diagnosis according to DSM-IV criteria for dementia and Petersen criteria for MCI. Statistical analysis was performed using the receiver operating characteristic method and regression analyses. Results The optimal cut-off score for the C-ACER to differentiate MCI from normal controls was 79/80, giving the sensitivity of 0.74, specificity of 0.84 and area under curve (AUC) of 0.84. At the optimal cut-off of 73/74, C-ACER had satisfactory sensitivity (0.93), specificity (0.95) and AUC (0.98) to identify dementia from controls. Performance of C-ACER, as reflected by AUC, was not affected after adjustment of the effect of education level. Total C-ACER scores were significantly correlated with scores of global deterioration scale (Spearman's rho = −0.73, P < 0.01). Conclusion C-ACER is a sensitive and specific bedside test to assess a broad spectrum of cognitive abilities, and to detect MCI and dementia of different severity. It can be used and interpreted with ease, without the need to adjust for education level in persons aged 60 or above.