Background Mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) go through self-renewal in the existence of the cytokine leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). LIF is add to the mouse stem cells culture medium, and its removal results in fast differentiation. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is one of the most general used solvents in drug test. Methods We exposed 4-day mESC cultures to different concentrations of DMSO (0.1%, 0.5%, 1.0%, and 2.0%) to identify the safest dose exhibiting efficacy as a solvent. mESCs grown under general pluripotency conditions in the absence of LIF were treated with DMSO. In addition, as a control for differentiation, mESCs were grown absence of LIF. Results DMSO downregulated the mRNA expression level of pluripotency markers. Moreover, DMSO reduced the mRNA expression levels of ectodermal marker (β-tubulin3) and a mesodermal marker (Hand1) and endodermal markers (Foxa2 and Sox17) in mESCs. These results indicate that DMSO treatment enhances the pluripotency and disrupts the differentiation of mESCs. We also show that members of the Tet oncogene family are critical to inhibiting the differentiation and methylation of mESCs. Conclusion DMSO is appropriate to sustain the pluripotency of mESCs in the absence of LIF, and that mESCs can be sustained in an undifferentiated state using DMSO. Therefore, DMSO may, in part, function as a substitute for LIF.


Nutritionally, Chrysophyllum albidum seeds have been reported to contain high amount of energy. However, the presence of anti-nutritional substances such as phytate, oxalate, saponin, and tannin in the seeds hinder animals from benefitting from it nutritionally. A 12-week study was carried out to examine the effect of substituting dietary maize with roasted African star apple kernel meal (RASAKM) on growth performance and blood indices of growing rabbits. A total of forty eight weaner rabbits (mixed breed, average weight, 590 g) were randomly allocated to four experimental diets containing 0, 5, 10 and 15 % RASAKM as substitute for dietary maize in a Completely Randomized Design. Roasted ASAKM influenced (P< 0.05) weight gain, feed conversion ratio and carcass parameters measured. Rabbits fed 5 and 10 % RASAKM diets had similar (P>0.05) weight gain (17.47 g and 16.69 g) with those fed the control diet (18.62 g). Rabbits fed 5 and 10 % RASAKM diets produced higher (P< 0.05) carcass compared with those fed 15 % RASAKM. Haematological indices analysed were not influenced (P>0.05) by the dietary treatments except for white blood cell and monocytes. It was concluded that RASAKM could be used up to 10 % to replace dietary maize in the diet of growing rabbits without compromising performance and carcass quality.


Abstract The mouse multi-copy X-linked gene Xlr-related, meiosis-regulated (Xmr/Slx) has previously been described as encoding a testis-specific nuclear protein expressed during male meiotic prophase, and during which it becomes concentrated in the inactive X and Y chromatin domain. These conclusions were based on Western blot and immunolocalization analysis using an antibody raised against a related lymphocyte protein, XLR; however, our recently published RNA in situ for Xmr revealed that transcripts are predominantly or exclusively postmeiotic, and this is supported by a growing body of microarray data. This led us to reanalyze the expression of Xmr, both at the RNA level by RT-PCR and by RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization, and at the protein level by using antibodies raised against XMR that do not recognize XLR. In agreement with our previous RNA in situ data, our further transcription analysis showed almost exclusive expression in spermatids, and Western blot and immunostaining with the XMR antibodies showed that the protein is cytoplasmic and restricted to spermatids. Furthermore, the previously used XLR antibody was shown not to cross-react with XMR, and it is suggested that the meiotically expressed nuclear protein recognized by this antibody is another member of the complex Xlr superfamily. As a result of these findings, the gene previously known as Xmr is now officially know as Slx, Sycp3-like, X-linked.


Discussions about evidence-based medicine (EBM) have engendered both positive and negative reactions from clinicians, researchers, and policymakers since the term was first coined in the early 1990s.1,2 These discussions were brought to the forefront again in a recent commentary by Dr Bernadine Healy, former director of National Institutes of Health, in U.S. News & World Report .3 She raised several issues that EBM practitioners and teachers face when advocating this model of care. Firstly, she stated that EBM practitioners advocate using the "best" evidence which is mostly taken from randomised trials and cost benefit studies. Secondly, she raised the issues of the interpretation of evidence for screening mammography and prostate specific antigen as examples where EBM has failed because EBM proponents did not advocate for these tests based on the available evidence. Thirdly, she likened the practice of EBM to a "straitjacket" or a cookbook approach in which both clinician judgement and patient values and circumstances are ignored.

All of these criticisms of EBM stem from misperceptions or misunderstandings and can be answered by careful consideration of the definition of EBM. EBM is defined as the integration of the best available evidence with our clinical expertise and our patients' unique values and circumstances.4 Evidence, whether strong or weak, is never sufficient to make clinical decisions. Individual values and preferences must balance this evidence to achieve optimal shared decision making.

Others besides Dr Healy have stated their concern that only randomised …


Managing risk factors in financial organizations has gained more importance in recentyears because of financial crisis after recession. The purpose of study is to identify the challenges and their proposed solutions to handle the crisis under umbrella of good governance practices. The specific objective of this study is to find out the factors and challenges that effect the business of financial institutions via practicing the good governance. In accordance to this critical situation has been evaluated with the help of risk regulatory model that covers the identifying, measuring evaluating and monitoring techniques for financial institutions in Pakistan.This study also emphasis on strategies and ways to eliminate organizational internal and external risk factors through policies and modifying business models in order to get the sustainable business position and organization growth. The research findings based upon the systematic review of literature and qualitative survey from the industrial experts. This study reveals that the risk factors directly associated with the sustainable business growth when organization pays worthy attention towards the corporate governance. It also empowered the organization to build a wealthy relationship with the customers and helps to retain the small investment of customer with diversified banking products.


We report direct generation of 81 nJ chirped pulses from a room-temperature, Kerr lens mode-locked Cr⁴⁺:forsterite oscillator operating at 1258 nm. To increase the pulse energy, the pulse repetition rate of the short x-type resonator was lowered from 143 to 4.9 MHz by the addition of a q-preserving multipass cavity, which provided an additional effective optical path length of 59.4 m. The duration of the chirped pulses was around 5.5 ps with a spectral width of 21 nm. The pulses were externally compressed to 607 fs by using a diffraction grating pair. To our knowledge, this is the highest reported pulse energy directly generated from a room-temperature mode-locked Cr⁴⁺:forsterite laser.


While integrated physical and control system co-design has been demonstrated successfully on several engineering system design applications, it has been primarily applied in a deterministic manner without considering uncertainties. An opportunity exists to study non-deterministic co-design strategies, taking into account various uncertainties in an integrated co-design framework. Reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) is one such method that can be used to ensure an optimized system design being obtained that satisfies all reliability constraints considering particular system uncertainties. While significant advancements have been made in co-design and RBDO separately, little is known about methods where reliability-based dynamic system design and control design optimization are considered jointly. In this article, a comparative study of the formulations and algorithms for reliability-based co-design is conducted, where the co-design problem is integrated with the RBDO framework to yield solutions consisting of an optimal system design and the corresponding control trajectory that satisfy all reliability constraints in the presence of parameter uncertainties. The presented study aims to lay the groundwork for the reliability-based co-design problem by providing a comparison of potential design formulations and problem–solving strategies. Specific problem formulations and probability analysis algorithms are compared using two numerical examples. In addition, the practical efficacy of the reliability-based co-design methodology is demonstrated via a horizontal-axis wind turbine structure and control design problem.


Based on the idea of learning organization, schools should be a place for everyone to learn, including teachers and the principals themselves. Hence, schools' leaders should be prepared to face various possibilities in implementing the concept of learning organization in school. This paper discuss about a study aims to identify future challenges for school principals as leaders in learning organizations. A total of eight school principals have been appointed as panel of experts and involved in a focus group discussion. The results from qualitative data analysis show that there are seven main elements forecast to be the challenges for school leaders in developing their schools as learning organizations in future. The implications of the study suggest that school leaders apply a variety of leadership skills as a result of their learning to overcome those challenges.


The aim of this paper is to estimatethe effects of different balance sheet determinants on the interest rate risk exposure of banks operating in developed and developing financial markets. The quantification of the analysed exposure contributes to the process of identifying, monitoring and managing interest rate risk. As a sample of a developed financial market we surveyed 65 bank holding companies in the United States, whereas the sample of a developing financial market included 10 banks from the Republic of Serbia, which are listed on the Belgrade Stock Exchange. A comparative analysis of the influence of the balance sheet characteristics was conducted on the basis of the results of Stone's regression model and the Econometric panel model. Based on the obtained regression coefficients, we conclude that growth of total assets in banks in the United States results in increases in exposure to interest rate risk, while in Serbia the relationship seems to be inverse. Furthermore, the results show that an increase in the share of deposits in total assets of the U.S. banks reduces exposure to interest rate risk, while banks in the Republic of Serbia experience an opposite effect. The coefficients also suggest that there are some empirical factors whose effects are universal. For instance, both an increase in return on average equity (ROAE) and a decrease in net interest income lead to reductions of interest rate sensitivity, regardless of the level of development of the market where the banks operate. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.25.4.3112


The title compound, C15H20O4, is a eudesmanolide isolated from the Chinese medicinal plant Carpesium triste Maxim. The molecule contains three rings, viz. two fused six-membered rings in chair conformations and a five-membered ring in a flattened envelope conformation. In the crystal, two hydroxy groups are involved in the formation of intra- and intermolecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The H atoms in these groups are split, with site-occupation factors of 0.5. The intermolecular hydrogen bonds link molecules into chains propagating in [010].


A cellist memorized the Prelude from J. S. Bach's Suite No. 6 for solo
cello and identified performance cues (PCs) that she attended to in performance. During the next three years, she recalled the piece twice,
playing and writing out the score from memory on both occasions, in
counterbalanced order. Played recall was better than written recall.
Written recall was better at expressive and structural PCs, suggesting
that these cues provided content accessible access to declarative memory.
Written recall was worse at PCs for basic technique but less so when
written recall followed played recall. In written recall, serial cuing was
impaired by the absence of sensorimotor cues, particularly at basic PCs.
These directed the cellist's attention to her actions. Reinstating sensorimotor
memory by playing through the piece reduced the impairment caused by the absence of these actions during written recall.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the effects of three brief methods of reducing alcohol consumption among family practice patients.

DESIGN
Patients randomly assigned to one of three interventions were assessed initially and at 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up appointments.

SETTING
Family practice clinic composed of 12 primary care physicians seeing approximately 6000 adults monthly in a small urban community, population 40,000.

PARTICIPANTS
Through a screening questionnaire, 134 men and 131 women were identified as hazardous drinkers (five or more drinks at least once monthly) during an 11-month screening of 1420 patients. Of 265 patients approached, 180 agreed to participate and 159 (83 men and 76 women) actually participated in the study.

INTERVENTIONS
Three interventions were studied: brief physician advice (5 minutes), two 30-minute sessions with a physician using cognitive behavioural strategies or two 30-minute sessions with a nurse practitioner using identical strategies.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Quantity and frequency (QF) of drinking were used to assess reduction in hazardous drinking and problems related to drinking over 12 months of follow up.

RESULTS
No statistical difference between groups was found. The QF of monthly drinking was reduced overall by 66% (among men) and 74% (among women) for those reporting at least one hazardous drinking day weekly at assessment (N = 96). Men reported drinking significantly more than women.

CONCLUSIONS
These results indicated that offering brief, specific advice can motivate patients to reduce their alcohol intake. There was no difference in effect between brief advice from their own physician or brief intervention by a physician or a nurse.


In this study, we report electric discharge machining (EDM) as a new cutting method for silicon carbide (SiC) single crystals. Moreover, we discuss characteristics and usefulness of the EDM for the SiC. The EDM realized not only high speed and smooth cutting but also lower surface damage. Defect propagation in the EDM SiCs have been also estimated by etch pits observation using molten KOH, however, we confirmed the EDM has caused no damage inside the SiCs in spite of high voltage and high temperature during the machining.


The gene encoding the milk protein beta-lactoglobulin in sheep is expressed in the mammary gland in a tissue-specific manner during pregnancy and lactation. The unmodified sheep gene behaves appropriately in transgenic mice, and we have shown that many of the cis-acting elements that mediate this pattern of expression are located in the proximal 400 bp of the promotor. Using a combination of approaches we have identified a number of discrete cis-acting elements and their corresponding trans-acting factors that control the responsiveness of this gene in vivo. The beta-lactoglobulin promoter elements can be used to target the expression of foreign genes to the mammary gland in transgenic mice. We have used this approach in basic studies of mammary gland biology and for the production of therapeutic proteins in the milk of transgenic animals. In these circumstances, however, the promoter rarely functions optimally, and it may even be silenced; consequently, we have had to develop a number of strategies to overcome this problem. Nevertheless, foreign proteins do appear to be appropriately post-translationally modified when they are expressed in the mammary gland.


This research investigated the effect of blogging on oral proficiency in English Language Learners (ELLs). Specifically, the study aimed to prove that participation in written blog posts would transfer to increased speaking proficiency as determined by three measures of oral proficiency. These measures were 1) established scores on the WAPT Speaking Test, 2) average length of utterances and 3) time to produce an effective response on the W-APT. The researcher worked with eight participants who were ELLs at language proficiency levels one through five on a six-point scale at the start of the study. The results indicated that blogging increased scores for all three measures of oral proficiency, with the most notable gains in time to produce an effective response and average length of utterances. THE INFLUENCE OF BLOGS ON ENGLISH ORAL PROFICIENCY 5 Table of


The immune system has been extensively evaluated in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The central role of the T-helper (CD4) cell in the immunopathogenesis of AIDS and the immunologic markers that can predict human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease progression have been described. However, the potential influence of suppressor cells in this disease process has not been clearly addressed. Spontaneous suppressor cell activity (SSCA) was evaluated in 78 patients with documented HIV infection at different clinical stages of disease progression. Higher levels of SSCA were found in patients with clinical AIDS less than 6 months and those dying of AIDS when compared with controls. Significant elevations (p less than 0.05) of SSCA were seen in patients newly diagnosed with AIDS, and those having AIDS greater than 6 months and less than one year. Patients surviving AIDS for greater than one year had depressed levels of SSCA compared to controls. Furthermore, SSCA appears to predict disease progression as patients with AIDS-related complex (ARC) with elevations in SSCA progressed to AIDS while those with blunted SSCA did not progress. The level of SSCA in these patients was able to predict disease progression (p = 0.00016, Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.739). Patients with documented AIDS were also followed prospectively, and the level of SSCA was shown to be predictive of mortality (p = 0.009, Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.746). It is concluded that SSCA is a valid predictor of disease progression, and can serve as a prognostic indicator of disease outcome.


In this paper a modular numerical simulation model for hybrid powertrains is presented. The simulation model is based on common design parameters and measurements for fuel efficiency and vehicle performance. Implemented in Simulink, the main model is expandable to combine the strengths of different types of simulation tools. As the design process proceeds, parts of the model can gradually be replaced with instances containing one or more subsystem modelled in the appropriate tool, including CAD, FEA and MBD, incrementally increasing the accuracy of the model of the overall system yet keeping the simulation time reasonable. Subsystems can be replaced to support hardware input and/or output, resulting in a so-called hardware-in-the-loop simulation. The presented system has shown to be modular as all the components contain their physical properties and can be modified, replaced or reorganized without the modification of any other subsystem. The simulation model of the powertrain is easily modified in order to allow the simulation of multiple designs with the same components. The systeam also has the same information flow as would be observed in a physical powertrain.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


A total of 8262 birds of 57 species was counted in a degraded public reserve and adjacent residential area during 61 paired transects in 1990. Most of the reserve was remnant wet sclerophyll forest (5 ha) and subtropical rainforest (0.4 ha), whereas a variety of mature native and introduced trees and shrubs were present in the 55-year-old suburb. Species evenness was similar in the habitats of the reserve and residental area but not species richness, number of individuals or composition of the avifauna. In all seasons, the reserve was richer in species but poorer in absolute numbers of birds. Thirteen native species were reserve specialists, six species (five introduced) were suburb specialists and 17 species showed only slight habitat preference. Excluding silvereyes, which showed little preference for either habitat, there were twice as many regularly occurring species that preferred to use the reserve rather than the residential area but only half the number of individuals. Nine specialist species are at risk of local extinction because their populations in the reserve are critically small [range: 80 (brown gerygone, Gerygone mouki) to 5 birds (eastern whipbird, Psophodes olivaceus)]. Seventeen species have become locally extinct since Europeans arrived in 1816. Conservation of the avifauna is discussed.


Flaxseed, Linum usitatissimum, is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is a food and fiber crop cultivated in cooler regions of the world. The aim of this study is to overview its anti-cancer and anti-tumor effects. This review article was carried out by searching studies in PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, and IranMedex databases up to 2016.totally, of 108 found articles, 41 articles were included. The search terms were "Flaxseed. ", "therapeutic", "pharmacological", anticancer, anti-tumor. Various studies have shown that Flaxseed. Possess Anti-Breast Cancer properties, Anti-Breast tumors properties , Anti-Ovary cancer properties, Gut-associated diseases properties, Lung tumor properties, Inflammation properties, Anti-Skin Carcinogenesis properties, Procarcinogenic, Mastalgia properties, Aortic remodeling ,Anti-mammary Cancer effect ,Antioxidant and Antiproliferative ,Colon cancer properties, Esophagitis properties, Apoptosis properties. Flaxseed possess lots of therapeutic and pharmacological effects.in this study, its anticancer, anti-tumor effects was overviewed.


Although biogeography and ecology had previously been considered distinct disciplines, this outlook began to change in the early 1990s. Several people expressed interest in creating a link that would help ecologists become more aware of external influences on communities and help biogeographers realize that distribution patterns had their genesis at the community level. They proposed an interdisciplinary approach called macroecology. This concept has been aided by the advent of phylogeography, for a better knowledge of genetic relationships has had great interdisciplinary value. Two areas of research that should obviously benefit from a macroecological approach are: (1) the question of local vs. regional diversity and (2) the question of whether invader species pose a threat to biodiversity. The two questions are related, because both deal with the vulnerability of ecosystems to penetration by invading species. Biogeographers, who have studied the broad oceanic patterns of dispersal and colonization, tend to regard isolated communities as being open to invasion from areas with greater biodiversity. It became evident that many wide-ranging species were produced in centres of origin, and that the location of communities with respect to such centres had a direct effect on the level of species diversity. Ecologists, in earlier years, thought that a community could become saturated with species and would thereafter be self-sustaining. But recent research has shown that saturation is probably never achieved and that the assembly of communities and their maintenance is more or less dependent on the invasion of species from elsewhere. The study of invasions that take place in coastal areas, usually the result of ship traffic and/or aquaculture imports, has special importance due to numerous opinions expressed by scientists and policy-makers that such invasions are a major threat to biodiversity. However, none of the studies so far conducted has identified the extinction of a single, native marine species due to the influence of an exotic invader. Furthermore, fossil evidence of historical invasions does not indicate that invasive species have caused native extinctions or reductions in biodiversity.


35 tons hydraulic overturning machine is the operating equipment that is mainly to make steel coil turn 90 ° and keep steel coil change from vertical position to level position or on the reverse. Because the dead weight value of overturning machine is extreme and the coil's weight which needs to turn is very heavy, the strength of equipment that is a very important design parameter plays a decisive role in the device security. By using the finite element analysis function of COSMOS Works to analyze the strength of overturning machine, which simplifies the design process, improves the design reliability and has value for the design of steel coil overturning machine.


We have developed a reverse transcription (RT)-multiplex PCR assay with fluorescent dyelabeled primers for detection of 12 pathogens, including 9 bacteria and 3 viruses, that are highly associated with food-borne gastroenteritis outbreaks. This assay has a great advantage of comprehensive detection of bacterial DNAs and viral RNAs. PCR products of pathogens are easily discriminated by fluorescent color and fragment size visualized under ultraviolet light without staining, after electrophoresis. Simultaneous extraction of bacterial DNAs and viral RNAs were achieved using a commercial viral RNA extraction kit with some modification. After RT reaction, multiplex PCR was carried out with 3 primer sets (A, B, and C) labeled with 3 to 4 different colors of fluorescent dyes. Primer set A was designed for diarrheagenic Escherichia coli. Primer set B was for Salmonella spp., Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Primer set C was for Clostridium perfringens, Norovirus, Sapovirus, and Astrovirus. Upon analysis of 45 food-borne gastroenteritis outbreaks and 15 sporadic cases, this assay had nearly corresponding sensitivity and specificity compared with conventional methods, such as bacterial cultivation and monoplex PCR. This assay can be completed within 6 to 7 hours and is considered effective for rapid screening of food-borne bacteria and viruses.


ABSTRACT Mammalian fertility is reduced during heat exposure in the summer, but is regained as temperatures decrease in the autumn again. However, the mechanism underlying the phenomenon remains unknown. We investigated heat stress tolerance of germ cells and their surrounding somatic cells, and discovered that microRNA ssc-ca-1 was upregulated after heat stress in cultured porcine granulosa cells (GCs), but not in serum-starved GCs. Ssc-ca-1 inhibited heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) expression through its 3′- and 5′-UTRs. Although Hsp70 mRNA transcription was induced in GCs by in vivo exposure to heat in the summer, ssc-ca-1 inhibited Hsp70 expression. In ovarian cultures, heat stress-induced Hsp70 expression in primordial but not in growing follicles; ssc-ca-1 expression did not change in primordial follicles, but increased in growing follicles. Consistently, ssc-ca-1 was present in testicular cells and exhibited the same function as in ovarian cells. It modulated the different Hsp70 expression between spermatogonial stem cells and Sertoli cells after scrotal heat stress. This mechanism is of relevance to mammalian fertility in parts of the world dominated by heat stress associated with global climate change.


Nationally, the number of operating farmers' markets has increased 111% in the past ten years from 1,755 markets to 3,706 from 1994 to 2004 (AMS, 2006). Indiana's farmers' markets has increased at double the rate in the same time frame. An internet and mail census was sent to market masters to assess operational procedures and factors that influence customer and vendor participation in the market. A two-stage least squares model was estimated for the vendor and customer model. In Equation 1.1, paying fees and the number of customers present were the two variables that had a significant, positive influence on vendor participation. In Equation 1.2, the presence of WIC, number of products available, the absence or presence of live music, absence or presence of cooking demonstrations, and reason 2 (vendors), were significant for the customer model at the 0.01 level. The absence or presence of concession stands and picnic areas were significant at the 0.10 level in the customer model.


Recently, unsupervised representation learning has been extremely successful in the field of natural language processing. More and more pre-trained language models are proposed and achieved the most advanced results especially in machine reading comprehension. However, these proposed pre-trained language models are huge with hundreds of millions of parameters that have to be trained. It is quite time consuming to use them in actual industry. Thus we propose a method that employ a distillation traditional reading comprehension model to simplify the pre-trained language model so that the distillation model has faster reasoning speed and higher inference accuracy in the field of machine reading comprehension. We evaluate our proposed method on the Chinese machine reading comprehension dataset CMRC2018 and greatly improve the accuracy of the original model. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to propose a method that employ the distillation pre-trained language model in Chinese machine reading comprehension.


ABSTRACT Active chilled beams (ACBs) are often modelled as generic cooling devices. Due to induction, the air flow discharged from an ACB is several times higher than supplied from the air handling unit, and due to its design, it affects the temperature of the ceiling to a greater extent than an arbitrary cooling device. This paper investigates the impact of taking these features into account when simulating air and operative temperature in a room equipped with an ACB. The building performance simulation software IDA ICE is used for analysis and the simulations are compared with full-scale experiments. The main findings are that simulations which take into account the features mentioned above correspond more closely with measurements. If designing for a certain operative temperature, this reduces the required design cooling capacity. Although negligible in many applications, the magnitude of this reduction is 9% with high-temperature cooling.


SUMMARY

The oxidation of methyl linoleate catalyzed by various salts of cobalt was studied in a model system based on microcrystalline cellulose. The freeze-dried model system was adjusted to various water activities, and the effect of water on the oxidation kinetics was determined using manometric measurements and measurements of diene conjugation.

It was found that water had an inhibitory effect on the metal-catalyzed oxidation of the fatty ester, as well as on oxidation in the absence of added metals. The kinetics of the reactions were evaluated in terms of the previously established hydroperoxide decomposition mechanisms. The effect of water on the metal-catalyzed oxidation was found to exist in the monomolecular decomposition period as well as in the more rapid phase of the reaction, during which the hydroperoxide decomposition is known to follow bimolecular decomposition kinetics.

The inhibition of the reaction by water is interpreted as due to deactivation of added, as well as of originally present, metal catalysts by hydration of the coordination shells; and also possibly as due to hydrogen bonding between hydroperoxides and water, and therefore to interference with the normal bimolecular decomposition reaction.


Background: Iron deficiency is a common cause of anemia, and etiologies differ by sex. Endoscopic procedures are often utilized to search for a source of gastrointestinal blood loss in patients with iron deficiency, but sex-based differences in patterns of workup have not been well characterized.
Methods: We performed a retrospective review of all patients at Mayo Clinic who underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD), colonoscopy, or both between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015 for an indication of "anemia" or "iron deficiency anemia" and analyzed the data for evidence of sex-based differences in procedure outcomes.
Results: 999 procedures were performed; 455 (46%) procedures were performed on men and 544 (54%) on women. Median age was 68 years in men (range 19-94) and 64 years in women (range 18-94), P<0.01. 365 (37%) procedures identified a probable benign source of bleeding, 54 (5%) identified a probable malignant source, and 580 (58%) had no findings consistent with a bleeding source. Procedures performed on men were more likely to identify a source of bleeding (48% versus 37%, P<0.01), primarily EGDs which were significantly more likely to identify a bleeding source in men (59% versus 37%, P<0.01).
Conclusion: There are sex-based variations in the utilization and findings of EGD and colonoscopy used for workup of anemia. A source of bleeding is more likely to be identified in men, particularly in the case of EGD. Clinicians should be made aware of these variations and quality improvement programs may be helpful to reduce non-clinically indicated practice variations.


Introduction Partner Notification (PN) is an essential strategy for sexually transmitted infection (STI) control, but both policies and methods of implementation vary among countries. Using syphilis as a case study, we investigated the Chilean policy regulations relating to PN and examined the effect of these policies in the field. Methods Qualitative techniques were used to gain insights into current Chilean policies related to syphilis management and control, and to understand the nuances of delivering PN in the current system. The latest national standards/policies with the words "STIs" or "syphilis" in the title were analysed. 48 semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with healthcare providers (HCP). A third of the interviews were transcribed verbatim and translated from Spanish to English for thematic analysis, which followed an inductive approach based on grounded theory. Following the identification of themes, remaining interviews were coded utilising a method of constant comparison to highlight concordance and dissonance of participant views. Results A total of six documents met the inclusion criteria. While syphilis prevention is highlighted in them, PN was barely acknowledged as a necessary activity to reduce the risk of transmission and reinfection. No document provided detailed information about PN strategies. HCP recognised PN as an essential strategy for STI control; however, they identified a lack of available guidelines and resources to ensure best practice. Additionally, the PN strategies currently undertaken are inconsistent and varied across services. Conclusion Strengthening policies at a local and national level to reinforce PN should be considered by Chilean authorities. A priority action plan which includes training of HCP in PN and a strong support network for efficient delivery of PN would both enhance STI control and the long-term impact of existing policies.


Labor productivity always plays an important part in the growth of manufacturing sector of any nation, and certainly, in the growth of GDP as well. Now, the relationship between these three variables has been of interest to the researchers because few nations have experienced labor productivity–led economic growth, whereas for others it has been the other way round. In this chapter we have studied the relationship between labor productivity, manufacturing output, and growth of GDP, for 25 major economies across the globe, covering the period 2000–2015, with the help of simultaneous equation system for individual nations as well as panel data analysis, covering all the nations together. Study of this relationship has, hardly, been done before which is our prime motivation behind the study. Our findings suggest that in most of the nations, these variables have significant impact on one another but there are exceptions as well. Apart from that, there are variables like energy consumption, health status, life expectancy, foreign direct investment, etc., which are significant in influencing these variables. So, policy measure suggests that importance should be given not only on labor productivity or output of manufacturing sector but also on factors that can influence these variables.


Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of Everything (IoE) are emerging communication concepts that will interconnect a variety of devices (including smartphones, home appliances, sensors, and other network devices), people, data, and processes and allow them to communicate with each other seamlessly. These new concepts can be applied in many application domains such as healthcare, transportation, and supply chain management (SCM), to name a few, and allow users to get real-time information such as location-based services, disease management, and tracking. The smartphone-enabling technologies such as built-in sensors, Bluetooth, radio-frequency identification (RFID) tracking, and nearfield communications (NFC) allow it to be an integral part of IoT and IoE world and the mostly used device in these environments. However, its use imposes severe security and privacy threats, because the smartphone usually contains and communicates sensitive private data. In this chapter, we provide a comprehensive survey on IoT and IoE technologies, their application domains, IoT structure and architecture, the use of smartphones in IoT and IoE, and the difference between IoT networks and mobile cellular networks. We also provide a concise overview of future opportunities and challenges in IoT and IoE environments and focus more on the security and privacy threats of using the smartphone in IoT and IoE networks with a suggestion of some countermeasures.


Purpose: To evaluate corneal hysteresis and corneal resistance factor in penetrating keratoplasty grafts in a group of keratoconic eyes using the ocular response analyzer (ORA) and to evaluate the relationship between donor size, donor-recipient disparity and central graft thickness (CGT), and ORA parameters. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 34 eyes of 34 keratoconus patients who had undergone PKP. Corneal hysteresis (CH), corneal resistance factor (CRF), and cornea-compensated intraocular pressure were measured at least 6 months after complete suture removal. Two groups of donorrecipient disparity (0.25 vs. 0.50 mm) were compared using the independent t test. Multivariate regression analysis was used to investigate the correlation of donor trephine size and CGT with ORA parameters. Factors influencing intraocular pressure measured with the Goldmann applanation tonometer (IOP GAT) after PKP were determined using multiple regression analysis. Results: Mean patient age and follow-up period were 29.6 ± 6.2 years and 82.4 ± 59.6 months, respectively. Mean CGT, CH, and CRF were 567.5 ± 38.8 μm, 10.2 ± 2.1 mm Hg, and 10.1 ± 2.2 mm Hg, respectively. CH and CRF had a significant positive correlation with donor trephine size and CGT. Significantly greater values of CH and CRF were observed in the 0.5-mm disparity group compared with the 0.25-mm disparity group. Among the studied parameters, only CH, CRF, and cornea-compensated intraocular pressure had a significant positive correlation with IOP GAT. Conclusion: Graft biomechanics seem to be closer to normal values with larger grafts and greater donorrecipient disparity. These metrics had a significant correlation with IOP GAT after PKP.


ABSTRACT Lim, H.S.; Lee, H.J.; Kim, D., and Hong, S., 2023. Beach erosion along the eastern coast of Korea: A brief review. Journal of Coastal Research, 39(1), 181–190. Charlotte (North Carolina), ISSN 0749-0208. Most of the beaches on the eastern coast of Korea are eroding at an alarming rate, triggered by combined natural and artificial causes. In this review, each of the major causes of beach erosion is addressed briefly. A few protection measures such as breakwaters and nourishments are also discussed, with the emphasis on the unexpected or undesirable outcomes. Finally, some of the essential requirements for the field measurements in a beach are mentioned. Global warming has induced the chief natural causes of the beach erosion in Korea, including a gradual increase in wave energies and sea level. An estimation in this review suggests the rates of shoreline of 1 m/10 yrs on the eastern coast by sea-level rise alone. By comparison, artificial beach erosion is most likely to occur upon emplacing structures nearby. A variety of the artificially erosional cases by beach developments are described in the review. Storms and typhoons play a critical role in eroding beaches and changing local morphologies in a short period of time and thus should be observed hydrodynamically. However, the diminishing run-off of rivers and streams should be regarded as the primary reason for the nationwide artificial erosion of beaches. The scanty supply of stream sands to the beaches, together with the influence of global warming, would have the beaches eroded continuously without any coastal developments.


This work delineates the first attempt to tune the product distribution between methanol and ethanol in the direct oxidation of methane reaction by incorporating Lewis acids Ni2+, Co2+/3+ or Zn2+ into IrO2/CuO. The electrophilicity of Ir4+ and the (LAS–BAS)/LAS ratio (LAS: Lewis acid sites, BAS: Bronsted acid sites) are demonstrated to be two reactivity descriptors motivating CH4 activation and ethanol formation, respectively. Electron-deficient Ir4+ motivates enriched *CH3 concentration and subsequent C–C coupling for C2H4 formation, while the Lewis acid promotes ethanol formation from C2H4 involving lattice O and H2O. The ethanol selectivity presents a quasi-linear relationship with (LAS–BAS)/LAS.


This paper presents design and implementation of noise inducer devices mounted on the package of a full featured microprocessor. Such assembly enables vast sensitivity characterization capabilities of the chip circuits and systems to supply noises. Prototype vehicle encompassing five separate 45nm CMOS process droop inducer devices stimulating four separate supply rails of a 32nm CMOS process microprocessor is reported. Multiple empirical results arising from the combined operation of the noise inducers and the microprocessor chip were obtained and analyzed.


Introduction: All children, no matter where they born, deserve a healthy start in life. But harsh reality is that, in year 2012, 6.6 million children died in Bangladesh before their fifth birthday. The children constitute a large proportion of the total population of Bangladesh. They are 15 million, the vulnerable or special risk group; deserve exceptional health care as the child mortality and morbidity risks are much higher than their later life. Child morbidity is determined by several complex and inter-related factors in Bangladesh, specially in rural area. Objectives: The objective of this study was to find out the pattern of morbidity of under five children, health seeking behaviour of their parents and the socio-demographic factors affecting those under five children's morbidity. Materials and Methods: This descriptive type of cross sectional study was carried out at Madhupur Thana under a rural area of Tangail District during January 2012 to June 2012 to find out the pattern of morbidities of under five children and health seeking behaviour of their parents. Total 170 mothers were selected purposively to carry out this study. Results: Among the cases of morbidities, 611(100%) sufferings of under five children were recorded from 170 respondents. The highest frequency (133, 21.76%) of sufferings of under five children were from cold, almost the similar number (132, 21.6%) of sufferings were from fever and 116(16.69%) sufferings were from diarrhoea. In this study, health care seeking behaviour for their children were found towards blessings from religious person (Jarphuk/Tabiz-11.77%), spiritual healer (Kobiraj-8.82%), herbal(7.06%), village doctor(20%) drug seller (17.06%), homeopath (12.94%), paramedic (4.71%), MBBS doctors (9.41%) and 8.23% did not take any treatment. Monthly income level of 51.8% respondents were from Taka 5000/- to Taka 10,000/-. On the other hand, only 07 respondents had highest level income of Taka 20,000/- to Taka 30,000/-. The mean income of the mother of under five children was Tk 10,064/- (SD= ± 5709.06). This study revealed that 14 respondents out of 170 did not take any treatment for their under five children. Out of these 14 respondents, 02(14.28%) even did not know the existence of treatment for the morbidity of their under five children. Again, 05(35.71%) respondents had the belief that their children would get cured without any medicine, 04 (28.57%) respondents had no health care centre nearby and 03(21.42%) respondents were unable to bear the treatment cost. Conclusion: Education and awareness of the parents about child health care are important components to reconsider for developing new strategy for improving existing situation of health seeking behaviour of parents for their under-5 children. Journal of Armed Forces Medical College Bangladesh Vol.11(1) 2015: 59-63


Diagnostic Classification Models (DCMs) have been extensively researched in recent psychometric literature for providing mastery skill profiles for diagnostic feedback (Henson, Templin, & Willse, 2009). DCMs are multidimensional confirmatory latent class models (LCMs) where latent classes represent skill mastery profiles and latent attributes are categorical (mastery or non-mastery). DCMs make a central assumption that once mastery profiles are accounted for that items are independent, referred to as local independence (LI). Construct irrelevant variance (e.g., differential item functioning (DIF), speededness, test wiseness, item-to-skill misspecification) or underrepresentation (extra dimensionality, inappropriate definitional grain-size of defined skills) could introduce systematic within-class variation which would violate LI. Using connections of LCMs with mixture IRT models, this study explores the effects of introducing systematic within-class variation on diagnostic classification. The log-linear cognitive diagnosis model (LCDM) is extended to include continuous abilities, akin to a multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) model with underling mixtures due to skill mastery/nonmastery. Data were then simulated for different ability variances related to distribution overlap conditions. Multiple DCMs are then fit using the LCDM framework in a simulation study. Impact on classification and local dependence detection are summarized. It was found that as mixture overlap increased due to companion ability variance that diagnostic classification in DCMs greatly suffered, but can be detected by Yen's Q3. The relationship of the degree of inaccuracy and effect sizes based on ability variance and group separation is delineated. Recommendations for practitioners are given along with areas for future study.


High frequency (HF) radar installations are becoming essential components of operational real-time marine monitoring systems. The underlying technology is being further enhanced to fully exploit the potential of mapping sea surface currents and wave fields over wide areas with high spatial and temporal resolution, even in adverse meteo-marine conditions. Data applications are opening to many different sectors, reaching out beyond research and monitoring, targeting downstream services in support to key national and regional stakeholders. In the CALYPSO project, the HF radar system composed of CODAR SeaSonde stations installed in the Malta Channel is specifically serving to assist in the response against marine oil spills and to support search and rescue at sea. One key drawback concerns the sporadic inconsistency in the spatial coverage of radar data which is dictated by the sea state as well as by interference from unknown sources that may be competing with transmissions in the same frequency band. This work investigates the use of Machine Learning techniques to fill in missing data in a high resolution grid. Past radar data and wind vectors obtained from satellites are used to predict missing information and provide a more consistent dataset.


Forthcoming wide field weak lensing surveys, such as DES and Euclid, present the possibility of using lensing as a tool for precision cosmology. This means exciting times are ahead for cosmological constraints for different gravity and dark energy models, but also presents possible new challenges in modelling, both non-standard physics and the lensing itself.

In this thesis I look at how well DES and Euclid will be able to discriminate between different cosmological models and utilise lensing's combination of geometry and growth information to break degeneracies between models that fit geometrical probes, but may fail to fit the observed growth. I have focussed mainly on the non-linear structure growth regime, as these scales present the greatest lensing signal, and therefore greatest discriminatory power.

I present the predicted discriminatory power for modified gravities models, DGP and f(R), including non-linear scales for DES and Euclid. Using the requirement that modified gravities must tend to general relativity on small scales, we use the fitting formula proposed by Hu & Sawicki to calculate the non-linear power spectrum for our lensing predictions. I demonstrate the improved discriminatory power of weak lensing for these models when non-linear scales are included, and show that not allowing for the GR asymptote at small scales can lead to an overestimation in the strength of the constraints. I then parameterise the non-linear power spectrum to include the growth factor, and demonstrate that even including these extra parameters there is still more power in a full non-linear analysis than just using linear scales.

I then present non-linear weak lensing predictions for coupled dark energy models using the CoDECS simulations. I obtain predictions for the discriminatory power of DES and Euclid in distinguishing between ΛCDM and coupled dark energy models; I show that using the non-linear lensing signal we could discriminate between ΛCDM and exponential constant coupling models with β0 ≥ 0.1 at 99.994% confidence level with a DES-like survey, and β0 ≥ 0.05 at 99.99994% confidence level with Euclid. I also demonstrate that estimating the coupled dark energy models' non-linear power spectrum, using the ΛCDM Halofit fitting formula, results in biases in the shear correlation function that exceed the survey errors.

I then present weak lensing predictions for DES and Euclid, and the CMB temperature power spectrum expected for Planck for fast transition adiabatic unified dark matter models. I demonstrate that in order to constrain the parameters in this model a high and low redshift observational probe is required. I show that for a ΛCDM fiducial, Planck could constrain zt > 5 at a 95% confidence level, and DES and Euclid could constrain the maximum time the transition can take to < 5 × 10−6/H0 at a 95% confidence level.

Finally I look at a full general relativistic model of lensing. I adopt the use of a Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi model, with and without pressure, to model an overdensity in an expanding background in a continuous spacetime. I use this to examine how the modelling of intermediate scales affects lensing quantities, and whether, as has been suggested recently, the cosmological constant has a direct effect on the lensing observables.


The exposure of consumers to the Internet is opening up broad new markets for data-centric services and products. One of these new markets is that of digital photography. A key to growing this emerging market segment lies in simplifying the mechanisms for connecting digital cameras and other sources of digital images to the Internet. We describe a number of mechanisms of achieving such connectivity using existing desktop PC and Web technology, and additionally using a new generation of consumer Internet appliances. In addition details are given of the server-side infrastructure required to support a range of network-oriented services.


Wildfire-driven pyro-convection (PyroCb) is capable of lofting combustion products into the stratosphere, polluting it with smoke aerosols at hemispheric and yearly scales. This realization has emerged after the record-breaking British Columbia PyroCb event in August 2017 that approached moderate volcanic eruptions in terms of stratospheric aerosol load perturbation. The Australian "Black Summer" bushfires in 2019/20 have surpassed the previous record by a factor of 3 and rivaled the strongest volcanic eruptions in the XXI century. Here we exploit a synergy of various satellite observations, ECMWF meteorological analysis and radiative transfer modeling to quantify the perturbation of stratospheric particulate and gaseous composition, dynamical circulation and radiative balance caused by the Australian New Year's PyroCb outbreak. One of the most striking repercussions of this event was the generation of several persistent anticyclonic vortices that provided confinement to the PyroCb plumes and preserved them from rapid dilution in the environment. The most intense vortex measured 1000 km in diameter, persisted in the stratosphere for over 13 weeks and lifted a confined bubble of combustion gases, aerosols and moisture to 35 km altitude. It was accompanied by a synoptic-scale ozone hole with the total column reduction by about 30%. The startling consequences of the Australian event provide new insights into climate-altering potential of the wildfires, that have increased in frequency and strength over the recent years.


Introduction: This study has been under taken to find out the drug resistance patterns exhibited by Escherichia coli (E. coli) originating Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) in comparison to intestinal commensal E.coli.
Materials and Method: One hundred UTI patients who had E. coli isolates were selected for this study. A whole of 100 isolates of E. coli from stool samples of apparently healthy individuals were included as controls. Antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) was carried out by Kirby Bauer disk diffusion method on Mueller Hinton agar (Hi media).
Result: In the present study E. coli showed more resistance to commonly used antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone. There is also increasing resistance to gentamicin. In comparison, the antibiotic resistance between cases and controls showed a small difference.
Conclusion: E. coli is the most common cause of UTI, and microscopic examination of the urine is an important screening method for UTI cases. High resistance to widely used antibiotics for treatment may be attributed to inadvertent and indiscriminate use.

Keywords: Escherichia coli, Urinary Tract Infection, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, antibiotic resistance, commensal E. coli


RECURRENT PTERYGIUM. no question that in many cases they are being administered indiscriminately and are even replacing diagnosis. The fact that they are readily available to the patient at no cost has appeared to encourage this practice. With such wholesale use of newer antibiotics greater and greater doses will be needed as the germs become more resistant. The dangers of such practice cannot be too highly stressed. Apart from the enormous cost incurred to the Government these drugs may lose their "life saving" significance and become useless in infections for which they are specific. pulmonary embolism (or pulmonary thrombosis, according to which school you belong) is a complication of all sorts of operations. Is there any reason why it should not occur in the ordinary way in a saphenous vein operation, too?


Neural network based controllers for vibration suppression of smart structural systems have been reported in several recent studies. These studies have shown that in addition to conventional controller design methodologies, neural networks offer an effective basis for design and implementation of controllers. With the introduction of neural network chips like the electronically trainable analog neural network (ETANN) chip i80170NX by Intel and the Ni1000 chip by Nestor Corp., stand-alone hardware implementation of neural network based controllers is possible. In this paper the capabilities of Intel's ETANN chip to implement linear and nonlinear controllers for smart structural systems have been investigated. A neural network based optimizing controller design methodology that integrates the ETANN chip and its capabilities of on-line adaptation has been developed. A priori information on the smart structural systems such as actuator/sensor bandwidth limits and control effort limits can be directly accommodated in this method. Simulation studies of the performance of a closed loop time varying linear and nonlinear system have also been presented with and without on-line adaptation.


No available data exists about the relation of adropin and irisin levels and body weight in hypothyroidism. This work was designed to investigate the relationship between irisin and adropin levels and thyroid hormones. 40 male rats were divided into 2 groups: Control (C) group (10 rats) and hypothyroid group (30 rats). After induction of hypothyroidism, 18 rats increased in body weight (Hypothyroid overweight HO) and 12 rats did not show any significant weight gain (hypothyroid with normal body weight) (HNBW). Body mass index (BMI), adropin, irisin, T3, T4, and TSH were measured. Total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), serum HDL and LDL levels were estimated. Significant reductions were found in adropin and irisin levels in HO group compared with C and HNBW groups (p<0.001). T3 and T4 were significantly reduced in HO and HNBW groups compared with C group (p<0.001). Significant negative correlations were found between adropin, irisin levels (r=- 0.7967** and -0.7944, respectively) and BMI. Significant (p < 0.01) positive correlations were found between adropin (r=0.7095), irisin (r=0.711) and T3. Significant (p < 0.01) negative correlations were found between adropin and VLDL, TG, TC and LDL (r= -0.968, -0.966, -0.953 and -0.945, respectively) and positively correlated with HDL (r=0.415). Also, irisin was found to be negatively correlated with TG, TC, LDL and VLDL (r=-0.9251, -0.8579, -0.9688 and -0.9769, respectively) and positively correlated with HDL (r=0.5526). Reductions in adropin and irisin levels might be a part of overweight production observed in hypothyroidism.

 Key words: Adropin, hypothyroidism, body mass index, irisin, weight gain.


Extreme-value theory for stochastic processes has motivated the statistical use of max-stable models for spatial extremes. However, fitting such asymptotic models to maxima observed over finite blocks is problematic when the asymptotic stability of the dependence does not prevail in finite samples. This issue is particularly serious when data are asymptotically independent, such that the dependence strength weakens and eventually vanishes as events become more extreme. We here aim to provide flexible sub-asymptotic models for spatially indexed block maxima, which more realistically account for discrepancies between data and asymptotic theory. We develop models pertaining to the wider class of max-infinitely divisible processes, extending the class of max-stable processes while retaining dependence properties that are natural for maxima: max-id models are positively associated, and they yield a self-consistent family of models for block maxima defined over any time unit. We propose two parametric construction principles for max-id models, emphasizing a point process-based generalized spectral representation, that allows for asymptotic independence while keeping the max-stable extremal-$t$ model as a special case. Parameter estimation is efficiently performed by pairwise likelihood, and we illustrate our new modeling framework with an application to Dutch wind gust maxima calculated over different time units.


Biologically produced subsurface barriers (i.e., bio-film barriers) are a viable technology for controlling contaminant migration from hazardous waste sites. Biofilm barriers are created through the injection of bacteria and selective growth medium into a series of wells downstream of a contaminant plume. Adequate substrate addition enables the bacteria to grow and form thick biofilms capable of uniform plugging of the subsurface. This technology has been successful in sig-nificantly reducing porous media permeability in bench-scale and field-scale applications. The research presented herein expands on current biofilm barrier technology by examining the feasibility of using a bio-film barrier to not only control contaminant migration through permeability reduction, but also facilitate contaminant biodegradation. The experimental scenario involved the creation of a dual-species biofilm matrix: one organism to reduce porous media permeability through thick biofilm formation and another organism to degrade a contaminant, in this case trichloroethyl-ene (TCE). Porous medium column experiments demonstrated that a dual-species biofilm barrier can be created and that growth medium concentration was a very important variable in controlling simultaneous TCE degradation and permeability reduction. © 2004


International labour migration is a main livelihood strategy for many people in Nepal. This article analyses the migration process from the perspective of migrants and their non-migrating household members, exploring the institutional regulations that structure the organization of migration and the cash flows involved. The results are based on a case study conducted in Sainik Basti, Western Nepal, in 2002. The article shows that for different destinations there are specific ways of organizing migration. These country specific ways of organizing migration demand specific assets from prospective migrants and their household members and, therefore, influence their choice of destination. Savings are remitted back home mainly by carrying them personally or by using the hundi system. In spite of the risks and difficulties involved, international labour migration often contributes to sustainable livelihoods. The main outcomes of migration are increased financial capital, education of the children, migration-specific knowledge, and increased social capital. This enlarged asset endowment lowers both investment costs and risks involved in migration, and thereby increases its potential net return. Each act of migration, therefore, facilitates and stimulates subsequent migration.1


A leading edge 65nm logic process technology employing uni-axial strained silicon transistors has been optimized for ultra low power products. Record PMOS/NMOS drive currents of 0.38/0.66 mA/mum, respectively, have been achieved at 1.2V and off-state leakage of 100 pA/mum. Greater than 1000times reduction of SRAM cell standby leakage through implementation of sleep transistors and other leakage suppression schemes are also discussed


We make use of a new subgrid model of turbulent mixing to accurately follow the cosmological evolution of the first stars, the mixing of their supernova (SN) ejecta, and the impact on the chemical composition of the Galactic Halo. Using the cosmological adaptive mesh refinement code ramses, we implement a model for the pollution of pristine gas as described in Pan et al. Tracking the metallicity of Pop III stars with metallicities below a critical value allows us to account for the fraction of stars formed even in regions in which the gas's average metallicity is well above We demonstrate that such partially mixed regions account for 0.5 to 0.7 of all Pop III stars formed up to z = 5. Additionally, we track the creation and transport of "primordial metals" (PM) generated by Pop III SNe. These neutron-capture deficient metals are taken up by second-generation stars and likely lead to unique abundance signatures characteristic of carbon-enhanced, metal-poor (CEMP-no) stars. As an illustrative example, we associate primordial metals with abundance ratios used by Keller et al. to explain the source of metals in the star SMSS J031300.36-670839.3, finding good agreement with the observed [Fe/H], [C/H], [O/H], and [Mg/Ca] ratios in CEMP-no Milky Way halo stars. Similar future simulations will aid in further constraining the properties of Pop III stars using CEMP observations, as well as improve predictions of the spatial distribution of Pop III stars, as will be explored by the next generation of ground- and space-based telescopes.


New research reveals that low-income families in Bangladesh, India, and South Africa use an average of eight different financial instruments each year to move money over time, and that active management of their money is necessary to basic subsistence. Given this reality, branchless banking and its accompanying lower costs has a high demand in developing nations, with Brazil and Kenya leading the way. This note takes a close look at data from 18 branchless banking providers with a combined client base of more than 50 million customers. One of its findings is that contrary to what some believe, branchless banking does not replace, but instead, complements microfinance institutions (MFIs). On average its services are also 19 percent cheaper than comparable services at regular banks. One study goes so far as to show that it can offer these services for at least 50 percent less than what it would cost using traditional channels. The tentacles of branchless banking do indeed reach far; already it has attracted unbanked consumers in many developing nations. Potential consumers are most likely to be people who currently adopt a piecemeal method to managing their finances, some of which are tenuous at best and more costly than using branchless banking. Research also indicates that clients want more than just payment services. Taking heed, several providers are already beginning to meeting this need. The authors are cautious, however, about the new products and services beyond payments that mobile network operators (MNOs) are offering, citing lack of regulation and knowledge as reasons to doubt their eventual success. This note does recommend seeking out atypical clients, not just typical ones, in future research in order to generate new product ideas that will meet the needs of the unbanked, rather than simply improving upon existing ones.


Date Presented 04/06/19
 This poster summarizes the results of a study of the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of the Kansas University Sitting Balance Scale, a tool for describing balance in an objective and measurable manner. Results of the study indicate that the tool can reliably be used by OTs to describe the sitting balance of their adult patients.
 Primary Author and Speaker: Ingrid Franc
 Additional Authors and Speakers: Magdalea Roberts
 Contributing Authors: Samantha Mauldin, Gregoria Rosa-Distefano


The PumaPaint site has been allowing users to create paintings remotely over the Internet since 1998. Although this site allows for some artistic creativity, the task is inherently two-dimensional and lacks any real manipulation capability by the remote user. On a similar theme but with much higher complexity, we are creating a robotic device that will allow true, three-dimensional manipulation by the remote user with an added capacity for force control and kinesthetic feedback. The robotic device will be a roughly anthropomorphic pair of limited degree-of-freedom mechanical hands arranged in mutual opposition. We are designing these hands by building parametric models using AutoDesk Inventor® and then fabricating the components in our sparsely equipped machine shop. This paper will preset the design concept and details of the modeling process, plus how this process is informed by our fabrication capacity. The paper will also present the partially completed robotic device and discuss remaining obstacles to completion.Copyright © 2004 by ASME


Research has extensively cataloged the types of interventions that prevent and treat antisocial behavior across the life course. Despite our knowledge of which interventions "work," there is a limited understanding of why these practices are effective and who does (or does not) benefit from traditional evidence-based practices (EBPs). The current study reviews the literature on the biopsychological mechanisms and moderators of EBPs across the life course, and it provides recommendations to clinicians and program developers based on these findings. The literature typically shows that EBPs may reduce antisocial behavior because these programs alter clients' biological systems responsible for stress response and self-regulation. Similarly, individuals who receive fewer benefits from EBPs have weaker stress responses, difficulty processing punishment, increased reward sensitivity, and problems with attention, self-regulation, and cognitive flexibility. The implications of these findings are discussed for each stage of the life course.


Source code clones are categorized into four types of increasing difficulty of detection, ranging from purely textual (Type-1) to purely semantic (Type-4). Most clone detectors reported in the literature work well up to Type-3, which accounts for syntactic differences. In between Type-3 and Type-4, however, there lies a spectrum of clones that, although still exhibiting some syntactic similarities, are extremely hard to detect – the Twilight Zone. Most clone detectors reported in the literature fail to operate in this zone. We present Oreo, a novel approach to source code clone detection that not only detects Type-1 to Type-3 clones accurately, but is also capable of detecting harder-to-detect clones in the Twilight Zone. Oreo is built using a combination of machine learning, information retrieval, and software metrics. We evaluate the recall of Oreo on BigCloneBench, and perform manual evaluation for precision. Oreo has both high recall and precision. More importantly, it pushes the boundary in detection of clones with moderate to weak syntactic similarity in a scalable manner


Background It has been hypothesized that because of its rapid heart rate, the intact murine heart functions near maximal contractility in the basal state. If this hypothesis is correct, then the fast and slow components of myocardial length‐dependent activation should be blunted compared with larger mammals. Methods and Results Mice (n=24) were anesthetized, and via an open chest, LV pressure‐volume relationships were determined by a dual‐frequency conductance catheter system. Baseline pressure‐volume relationships were determined during transient occlusion of the inferior vena cava, and repeat measurements were made after 1 (n=10) and 7 (n=21) minutes of sustained aortic occlusion. Control experiments were performed in a subset of mice (n=3). For baseline to 1 minute, an increase in afterload (maximal pressure 95±9 to 126±7 mm Hg; P<0.001) and effective arterial elastance (5.9±3.1 to 9.2±3.9 mm Hg/μl; P<0.001) resulted in an increase in end‐diastolic volume (31±8 to 35±9 μL; P<0.001). The result was maintenance of stroke volume (17±6 to 15±6; P=NS) owing to an increase in contractility (leftward shift in V100 [the volume of end‐systolic elastance at 100 mm Hg], 24±9 to 16±5 μL; P<0.001). No additional augmentation of systolic function was found at 7 minutes. Conclusions This study demonstrates that the fast phase of length‐dependent activation is intact but not the slow phase, consistent with murine myocardium functioning near maximal contractility in the basal state. (Circulation. 2003;107: 2962‐2968.)


INTRODUCTION: Skeletal system has a great regenerative potential, but it isn't the case with other tissues. Bone fracture healing includes a complex cascade of processes at cellular and biochemical levels, ending with a complete structural and functional restoration of the damaged bone. Impaired healing occurs in 5-10% of all fractures, manifesting as delayed union or non-union. Such a high incidence of impaired healing certainly presents a problem, and therefore, permanent research regarding physiology of fracture healing is justified. PHASES OF FRACTURE HEALING: In this paper we described four phases of fracture healing. They are not clearly separated, but overlap. These data are based on contemporary literature and newest achievements in the field of fracture healing. DISCUSSION: Many data regarding this phenomenon were obtained from animal studies, but they may also be applied in human medicine, since there is a great similarity between fracture healing in animal models and humans. CONCLUSION: Full and complete knowledge of mechanisms of bioregulation of normal fracture healing process certainly presents the basic prerequisite for successful surgical and orthopedic treatment.


The orientation of the mitotic spindle (MS) is tightly regulated, but the molecular mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here we report a novel role for the multifunctional adaptor protein ALG‐2‐interacting protein X (ALIX) in regulating MS orientation in addition to its well‐established role in cytokinesis. We show that ALIX is recruited to the pericentriolar material (PCM) of the centrosomes and promotes correct orientation of the MS in asymmetrically dividing Drosophila stem cells and epithelial cells, and symmetrically dividing Drosophila and human epithelial cells. ALIX‐deprived cells display defective formation of astral microtubules (MTs), which results in abnormal MS orientation. Specifically, ALIX is recruited to the PCM via Drosophila Spindle defective 2 (DSpd‐2)/Cep192, where ALIX promotes accumulation of γ‐tubulin and thus facilitates efficient nucleation of astral MTs. In addition, ALIX promotes MT stability by recruiting microtubule‐associated protein 1S (MAP1S), which stabilizes newly formed MTs. Altogether, our results demonstrate a novel evolutionarily conserved role of ALIX in providing robustness to the orientation of the MS by promoting astral MT formation during asymmetric and symmetric cell division.


Neurobiology has been a great interest of research in last few decades in the field of psychiatry. Day by day we are moving towards associating various psychiatric disorders to its point of origin related to structural neuro-anatomy of brain. Newer imaging modalities like Functional MRI, Positron emission tomography (PET) scan and Single photon emission tomography (SPECT) are being used more often by clinicians to assess the structural as well as functional neuroanatomical changes that are frequently associated with certain psychiatric disorders. This area has been under extensive research thus giving us insight into anatomical defects associated with disorders; Thus unraveling various evidences and explanations to the clinical symptomatology that occurs in a particular condition. As the research is progressing, slowly but surely we are moving towards evidence based answers to the way patients present and why as to certain behaviors are associated with its structural correlates.


EEG functional connectivity maps, showing the interactions between brain areas in context to the placement of electrodes, were used for the investigation and comparison of three different types of epileptiform activity defined as single spike, spike followed by slow wave and repetitive spike. A nonlinear data-driven method was used to extract connectivity matrices that helped to identify network synchronization based on the number of connections for all brain regions, as represented by the 10-20 EEG system. This quantification was used to assess these three types of spike patterns in relation to the type of seizure, focal or generalized. Results showed some differences between connectivity patterns of single spikes related to focal epilepsy and connectivity patterns of repetitive spikes related to generalized epilepsy. The variance statistical analysis reported a significant difference (P - value ≪ 0.001) between single spike connectivity maps and other spike types. The results obtained, augment the prospects for diagnosis and enhance recognition of disease type via EEG-based connectivity maps.


For the last three years, U.S. cotton producers have been heavily dependent on ad hoc emergency disaster and market loss assistance to cash flow their operations. They have not been alone. Wheat, feed grains, oilseeds and rice producers have also been faced with low commodity prices, adverse weather and the need for substantial government assistance. Price support and direct payments by CCC for fiscal years 1998-2000 averaged $17.5 billion per year (USDA Ag Outlook). Has U.S. program crop agriculture turned the corner or will additional government payments likely be needed to sustain a vulnerable sector? This paper will focus on the outlook for the Agricultural and Food Policy Center's (AFPC's) representative cotton farms over the period 2001-2005. The results reported herein are drawn from AFPC Working Paper 00-4 which goes into greater depth on all 82 representative farms and ranches modeled by AFPC.


Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term clinical and radiographic results of spherical acetabular osteotomy, performed with the surgical technique described by Wagner, in patients with hip dysplasia. Methods: The results of the first twenty-two spherical osteotomies performed by one surgeon at one institution were reviewed at a minimum of twenty years (median, 23.9 years; maximum, 29.3 years) postoperatively. Preoperative and follow-up radiographic measurements included the lateral and anterior center-edge angles, acetabular index angle, and acetabulum-head index of Heyman and Herndon. Anteroposterior radiographs of the pelvis were evaluated for the presence of joint congruency, joint-space narrowing, increased sclerosis of the subchondral bone, and bone cysts. Clinical evaluation was performed with use of the Harris hip score. Results: Osteotomy improved the mean lateral center-edge angle from -2° to +13° and the mean acetabulum-head index from 52% to 72%. The mean postoperative anterior center-edge angle was 23° (range, -1° to 62°). Seven (32%) of the twenty-two hips were converted to a total hip replacement. At the latest follow-up examination, the average Harris hip score of the remaining fifteen patients was 86 points (range, 50 to 100 points). The clinical result was rated good or excellent for eleven of the fifteen patients. At the latest follow-up examination, the severity grade of the osteoarthritis was unchanged in thirteen hips. Only three of the nine hips that subsequently required a total hip replacement or that showed progressive osteoarthritis had been congruent after the index operation, whereas ten of the thirteen hips that did not require total hip replacement or show progressive osteoarthritis had been congruent after the index operation. The twenty-year Kaplan-Meier survival estimate, with conversion to total hip replacement as the end point, was 86.4% (95% confidence interval, 63.4% to 95.4%). The twenty-five-year survival estimate was 65.1% (95% confidence interval, 35.6% to 83.7%). Conclusions: The Wagner spherical osteotomy prevented progression of osteoarthritis both clinically and radiographically in a high proportion of patients with residual hip dysplasia who were followed for a minimum of twenty years. Operative restoration of joint congruency is associated with a satisfactory long-term outcome in a very high proportion of cases. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic study, Level IV (case series [no, or historical, control group]). See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


Exogenous proline specifically stimulates the growth rate of enteric bacteria in media of inhibitory osmotic strength (J. H. B. Christian, Aust. J. Biol. Sci. 8:490-497, 1955). I observed that Salmonella typhimurium mutants which lack both of the previously known proline permeases (putP proP) are stimulated by proline in media of inhibitory osmolarity. I propose that there is a third proline permease which functions only in media of elevated osmolarity. This conclusion is based on the observations that, in media of elevated osmolarity, (i) the sensitivity of putP proP mutants to toxic proline analogs increases, (ii) proline requirements for maximal growth of proline auxotrophic putP proP mutants decreases, and (iii) the specific rate of incorporation of radioactive proline into protein of growing cells increases. I obtained a Tn10-induced mutation in a gene (proU) required for the functioning of the third proline permease and determined the map location to be at 59 map units of the chromosome, between srlA and tct, 66% linked to nalB in P22 transduction. My results suggest that the function of the third, osmotically stimulated permease might be to accumulate high intracellular proline levels during osmotic stress. Possible mechanisms by which proline might cause growth stimulation are discussed.


The impact of lithium impurities on the microstability and turbulent transport characteristics in the core of a typical FTU liquid lithium limiter (LLL) (Mazzitelli et al 2011 Nucl. Fusion 51 073006) discharge during the density ramp-up phase is studied. A non-linear gyrokinetic analysis performed with GKW (Peeters et al 2009 Comput. Phys. Commun. 180 2650) accompanied by a quasi-linear fluid analysis is presented. We show that a centrally peaked, high concentration lithium profile contributes to the electron peaking by reducing the outward electron flux, and that it leads to inward turbulent deuterium transport through ion flux separation.


The relation between family coping styles and psychological well-being was compared for adolescents (12–17 years) displaced by Hurricane Katrina and currently living in a relocation camp (n 50) and nonaffected adolescents (n 31) matched on age, race, and socioeconomic status. Adolescents in the Katrina sample reported a family mobilizing strategy that reflected an increased reliance and seeking of extra-familial, community-based support but lower self-esteem and more symptoms of distress and depression. Follow-up analyses suggested that the relations between group differences in participants' hurricane-related trauma experiences and greater psychological distress may be mediated in part by the family coping strategy; exposure to increased levels of community-provided support may have unintended consequences on adolescents' psychological health. These results highlight the importance of future research on both potential benefits and costs of family coping styles in adolescents affected by a large-scale disaster.


Narratives pervade almost any aspect of our life and play a particularly important role in moral and prosocial decision-making. We study how positive (stories in favor of a prosocial action) and negative (stories in favor of a selfish action) narratives influence prosocial behavior. Our main findings are that positive narratives increase giving substantially, especially for selfish types, compared to a baseline with no narratives. Negative narratives, on the other hand, have a differential effect. Prosocial types decrease their giving, while selfish types give more than in the baseline. We also find that positive narratives lead to a binary response (comply or not comply), while negative narratives induce a more gradual trade-off.


The quantification and modeling of fluid flow in fractured rocks are extensively studied to solve and predict numerous economic or environmental problems (hydrothermalism, geothermy, storages, etc.). Indeed, discontinuities such as faults and fractures are potential sites for fluid circulation and have important implications for the hydraulic properties of rocks. The matrix permeability of igneous rocks is generally small and, consequently, the global permeability is mostly controlled by the fault and fracture networks. Therefore, the quantification of the fractured rock hydraulic properties strongly depends on the knowledge of the geometrical parameters of fractures (orientation, extension, aperture, density) and of the final 3D modeling of the fracture network organization. In the specific case of the Soultz-Sous-Forets geothermal reservoir, a new statistical analysis of the fault and fracture networks is proposed to precise the actual 3D structural model of the reservoir (Sausse et al., 2009; Dezayes et al., 2009). The statistical characterization of the fractures and faults is realized with the re-interpretation of the whole U.B.I. images database available at Soultz. 1800 fractures are determined along the three deep Soultz well paths, grouped into main conjugates fractures sets, showing a mean N-S orientation and a mean dip of 70°, consistent with the Oligocene N-S extension responsible of the formation of the French Rhine graben. A correlation between the geometric parameters of fractures, width W and extension L is proposed and follows a power-law type correlation of the form L = k . WD with k, a coefficient characteristic of the facies and D the fractal dimension of the fracture set. These parameters are used to determine the volumetric density of fractures (number of fractures/m3) at the wells scale. Finally, this density and the statistics of fracture properties are used to constrain stochastic simulation of a discrete fracture network (DFN) in the geothermal reservoir.


Nursing staff that work with patients with frontal lobe dementia (FLD) experience challenges that may lead to physical and psychiatric distress. The aim of this study was to capture the feelings, experiences, and reflections of the health staff regarding interactions with and caring for patients with FLD and to highlight what it means for health staff to care for patients with FLD through their daily work. This is a qualitative study with a phenomenological hermeneutic approach. Ten health staff members who work with patients with FLD were interviewed using semistructered interviews. The focus during the interview was the experiences of the staff through their everyday work. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed verbatim. The material was analyzed using a phenomenological hermeneutic approach. The result of the study identifies three themes that highlight the meaning of caregiving for patients with FLD, that is, being aware of the relationship with the patients, being insecure, and being safe. The patients' unpredictable behaviour puts the relationship between the staff and the patients on trial. It is essential in caregiving to see the human behind the disease and the behaviour. The interest of finding new solutions in the caregiving is awakened through the relation with the patients, through reflections with colleagues, external guidance and by support from the staff leader.


We propose a new algorithm for the problem of recovering data that adheres to multiple, heterogeneous low-dimensional structures from linear observations. Focusing on data matrices that are simultaneously row-sparse and low-rank, we propose and analyze an iteratively reweighted least squares (IRLS) algorithm that is able to leverage both structures. In particular, it optimizes a combination of non-convex surrogates for row-sparsity and rank, a balancing of which is built into the algorithm. We prove locally quadratic convergence of the iterates to a simultaneously structured data matrix in a regime of minimal sample complexity (up to constants and a logarithmic factor), which is known to be impossible for a combination of convex surrogates. In experiments, we show that the IRLS method exhibits favorable empirical convergence, identifying simultaneously row-sparse and low-rank matrices from fewer measurements than state-of-the-art methods.


Is information causality a new physical principle? To answer this question, we first analytically derive the criteria of emergence of quantum correlations from information causality. Then it is shown that, as emergence criteria of quantum correlations, information causality and uselessness of coupler-based non-locality swapping can be regarded equivalent. Therefore, incapability of non-locality swapping using a coupler is as powerful as information causality in the single-out of quantum physics from generalized non-signalling models.


Sabah voters in the 13th Malaysian General Election were considered a Barisan Nasional (BN) "fixed deposit" and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had proclaimed that his party would actively work on enhancing this edge to sustain their dominance. Pakatan Rakyat (PR), of the opposition coalition acknowledged the threat and took steps to neutralise it. Initially, the opposition parties believed that they had a fifty percent chance or more to capture Sabah to form both the State and Federal governments and, on reading contemporary discussions in the social media, it is easy to see why. However, the main stream media persisted in promoting the government as a sure winner and, as GE 13 drew nearer, the tide changed to favour BN. This paper determines the strategies and issues that proved to be effective in winning state and parliamentary seats in Sabah.. Further, it investigates the impact of the Suluk incursion in Lahad Datu on the election, seeking to discover how the political parties involved exploited and benefited from this tragic incident. Finally, this paper explores the people who were instrumental in influencing the tide of change in Sabah's GE 13.


An exposure of seeds to pulsed electromagnetic field (PEF) before planting is known to change and stimulate a series of biochemical and biological effects in the seeds. The plants raised from such PEF treated seeds are reported to perform better in the field by exhibiting increased field emergence, vigorous growth and increased seed yield and quality. The field experiment was carried out with two soybean seed lots viz., fresh and revalidated seed lot and five pulsed electromagnetic field treatments viz., 0 Hz (control), 1 Hz, 10 Hz, 50 Hz, and 100 Hz to study the effect of PEF treatments on seed yield and quality parameters in soybean over two seasons (2012 and 2013).
The pooled analysis indicated significantly highest number of pods per plant (55.53), pod length (4.60 cm), number of seeds per pod (3.42), seed yield per plant (23.35 g) and seed yield (22.63 q/ha) and seed recovery (77.78%) in the 50 Hz PEF treatment as against other PEF treatments and control. In respect of seed quality parameters, significantly higher 100 seed weight (12.30 g), seed germination (92.5%), shoot length (15.82 cm), root length (17.98 cm) seedling length (33.80 cm), seedling dry weight (1.134 g), seedling vigour index- I (3127), seedling vigour index -II (104.91), seed protein (37.65%), seed oil (18.04%) content and lower electrical conductivity of seed leachates (0.356 dSm-1) were recorded in the 50Hz PEF treatment as compared to other treatments. Application of 50 Hz pulsed electromagnetic field treatment is better for getting higher soybean yield.


In a two-stage procurement model, we compare two types of fixed-price contracting schemes, bundling and unbundling. The buyer's choice of scheme involves an intertemporal tradeoff: providing incentives for cost-reducing investment and sharing production-cost risk between the risk-neutral buyer and the risk-averse supplier. The main result shows that unbundling outperforms bundling when both the supplier and the entrant in ex post competitive bidding confront an aggregate risk, and the externality of the supplier's investment on the entrant's production cost is low.


Process control applications are large distributed systems containing a vast number of communication links between their fragments. These links may have unique properties with respect to communication mechanisms and real-time quality of service attributes. Frequent dynamic reconfiguration of the application is only possible if these links can be updated automatically. This paper explores the possibility of using commercially available standard-based real-time middleware for managing the communication links. The special requirements of process automation are described and used to derive test cases for middleware products. Some results and experiences with the real-time publish-subscribe middleware are presented.


Context
It is unclear if effects of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and clinically available GLP-1 agonists on the heart occur at clinical doses in humans, possibly contributing to reduced cardiovascular disease risk.

Objective
To determine whether liraglutide, at clinical dosing, augments myocardial glucose uptake (MGU) alone or combined with insulin compared with insulin alone in metformin-treated type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D).

Design
In a randomized clinical trial of patients with T2D treated with metformin plus oral agents or basal insulin, myocardial fuel use was compared after 3 months of treatment with insulin detemir, liraglutide, or combination detemir plus liraglutide added to background metformin.

Main Outcome Measures
Myocardial blood flow (MBF), fuel selection, and rates of fuel use were evaluated using positron emission tomography, powered to demonstrate large effects.

Results
MBF was greater in the insulin-treated groups [median (25th, 75th percentile): detemir, 0.64 mL/g/min (0.50, 0.69); liraglutide, 0.52 mL/g/min (0.46, 0.58); detemir plus liraglutide, 0.75 mL/g/min (0.55, 0.77); P = 0.035 comparing three groups, P = 0.01 comparing detemir groups to liraglutide alone]. There were no evident differences among groups in MGU [detemir, 0.040 µmol/g/min (0.013, 0.049); liraglutide, 0.055 µmol/g/min (0.019, 0.105); detemir plus liraglutide, 0.037 µmol/g/min (0.009, 0.046); P = 0.68 comparing three groups]. There were no treatment-group differences in measures of myocardial fatty acid uptake or handling, and no differences in total oxidation rate.

Conclusion
These observations argue against large effects of GLP-1 agonists on myocardial fuel metabolism as mediators of beneficial treatment effects on myocardial function and ischemia protection.


A resonant cantilever-based microsystem aimed at biochemical sensing is presented. The sensor system comprises a magnetically actuated resonant cantilever sensor array integrated with the feedback circuitry, digital control circuitry and a serial interface on a single chip in 0.8 mum CMOS technology. The sensor system shows a frequency stability of better than 3 Hz in water corresponding to a detection limit of about 30 pg mass loading. The system has been used for the detection of antibody-antigen interaction on the cantilever surface. The possibility to actuate and operate cantilever arrays in a liquid environment opens up a variety of new applications for bio-chemical sensing.


The reduction in dorsiflexion has been related to the presence of movement patterns in the knee and hip potentially injurious the patellofemoral joint in various tasks. However, no studies have evaluated the association during running. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the range of ankle dorsiflexion and the kinematics of the hip, knee and ankle during the stance phase of the running. Were recruited 39 healthy runners of both genders and aged between 18 and 35 years. The evaluation of ankle dorsiflexion amplitude was performed by lunge test. The kinematics of the running on a treadmill was performed using the Qualisys motion capture system. Pearson correlation was performed to evaluate the association between the range of ankle dorsiflexion and kinematic variables. Three kinematic variables were significantly associated with the range of ankle dorsiflexion: peak knee flexion (r = .510, p = .001), peak lateral rotation of the knee (r = -.527, p = .001) and peak ankle dorsiflexion (r = .377, p = .022). Whereas the decreased knee flexion and ankle dorsiflexion, and the increase in lateral rotation of the knee, increase the burden on the patellofemoral joint, limitation of ankle dorsiflexion range may be related to the origin of patellofemoral pain in runners. Key Terms: Patellofemoral joint, Running, Kinematics


Keratoprosthesis is the last solution available to the corneal blind patient unsuitable for corneal graft. Keratoprosthesis by anterior fixation requires repeated operations and results are therefore variable. The concept of keratoprosthesis by posterior fixation is presented. This theoretically reduces the risk of expulsion. Only one operation is required and this reduces complications. Initial results, described here, are encouraging.


This paper presents some analysis techniques of the space-vector of voltages induced in the stator windings after supply disconnection, to detect broken rotor bars in squirrel cage induction machines. When the motor is disconnected from the supply no currents flow in the stator windings and the voltages measurable at its terminals are due to flux produced by rotor currents. When the rotor is healthy, the voltages measured at motor terminals are almost sinusoidal because of the symmetry of rotor windings. When there are broken rotor bars, the magneto-motive force (m.m.f.) generated by rotor windings results distorted, and some particular harmonics, contained in the voltages induced in the stator windings, increase their amplitudes. The diagnostic technique is based on monitoring these voltage harmonics and analyzing the space vector of the voltages induced in the stator windings via MUSIC pseudospectrum and Short-Time MUSIC (STMUSIC) time-frequency pseudo-representation. The MUSIC algorithm is based on the eigen-analysis of the autocorrelation matrix, and permits to evidence the principal harmonic frequencies of the signal and decrease the noise influence, thus allowing a better detection of the broken rotor bars. The results obtained using MUSIC and STMUSIC algorithm have been compared experimentally with those obtained by FFT and STFFT respectively, and two different sized induction motors have been tested, to demonstrate the superiority of the former approach. Differently from most of the diagnostic techniques already proposed in the technical literature, the proposed approach is effective regardless the load condition of the machine, source characteristics and iron saturation.