Background: Biofilms are described as a microbial population anchored to a surface and entrenched in a self-produced matrix of polysaccharides. The biofilms forming capacity of Aspergillus japonicus on glass fermenter and its susceptibility over temperature, pH, and drug resistance was evaluated in this study. Materials and Methods: A. japonicus was screened from an annual herb at Pattambi, Kerala. It was identified using fungal universal primers ITS4 and ITS5 at the ITS region of rDNA (NCBI Accession numbers MG833001, MG833000). A. japonicus was cultivated by submerged culture using Potato Dextrose Broth and potato dextrose agar. The formation of biofilms was observed on laboratory fermenter and confirmed by the crystal violet method, followed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. The effects of temperature and pH on A. japonicus biofilms formation were studied. The antimicrobial resistance of A. japonicus against fluconazole and clotrimazole was evaluated. Results: The growth curve was obtained from plant infected isolate of the A. japonicus biofilms formation. Biofilms were confirmed by in vitro crystal violet method. SEM analysis showed the massive growth of A. japonicus biofilms. The inocula of 1 × 106 conidia/mL were incubated at 8°C, 20°C, 37°C, 50°C, and 70°C for 180 days. This proves that A. japonicus survives in all temperature conditions. The inocula of 1 × 106 conidia/mL were then incubated at different pH (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10) for 12 days. This shows that biofilms are rapidly formed at pH 5, 6, and 7. A. japonicus exhibits resistant against fluconazole and clotrimazole. Conclusions: The study concludes that biofilms are the most stable, survive for a long time at different temperatures and pH, and also show resistance against fluconazole and clotrimazole. This is the first report of A. japonicus biofilms formation in India.


Task automation systems promise to increase human productivity by assisting us with our mundane and difficult tasks. These systems often rely on people to (1) identify the tasks they want automated and (2) specify the procedural steps necessary to accomplish those tasks (i.e., to create task models). However, our interviews with users of a Web task automation system reveal that people find it difficult to identify tasks to automate and most do not even believe they perform repetitive tasks worthy of automation. Furthermore, even when automatable tasks are identified, the well-recognized difficulties of specifying task steps often prevent people from taking advantage of these automation systems.
 In this research, we analyze real Web usage data and find that people do in fact repeat behaviors on the Web and that automating these behaviors, regardless of their complexity, would reduce the overall number of actions people need to perform when completing their tasks, potentially saving time. Motivated by these findings, we developed LiveAction, a fully-automated approach to generating task models from Web usage data. LiveAction models can be used to populate the task model repositories required by many automation systems, helping us take advantage of automation in our everyday lives.


Introduction The management of oesophageal cancer (OC) has evolved significantly in the last decade with MAGIC regimen chemotherapy and the increasing utilisation of minimally invasive techniques. Despite this, anaemia remains a common problem. This study examines how changes in the treatment of OC have impacted upon anaemia and blood transfusions, comparing two groups almost a decade apart. Method We conducted a retrospective review of patients diagnosed with OC from 2003–04 and 2012–13. Data on demographics, site and histology, TNM staging, treatment, pre-operative haemoglobin (Hb), rates of allogeneic blood transfusion and units cross matched were recorded. Results A total of 285 patients underwent oesophagectomy, 2003–04 (n = 145) and 2012–13 (n = 140). Patients were similar in age, sex, site of malignancy and histology. Patients in 2003–04 had more advanced disease at time of surgery (p < 0.05) with TNM stage 3 disease in 55.9% (n = 81) vs. 42.1% (n = 59). This likely reflects down-staging from neoadjuvant chemotherapy with 41.1% (44/107) receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy in 2003–04 vs. 55.7% (68/112) of patients in 2012–13 (p < 0.05). Furthermore, those receiving chemotherapy mainly received the MAGIC regimen in the 2012–13 series whilst in 2003–4 the patients would have received 2 cycles of Cisplatin and 5 FU as per the OE-02 regimen. Mean pre-operative Hb was similar in 2003–04 to 2012–13, 12.9 g/dL (SD 1.7) vs 12.3 g/dL (SD1.7), p = 0.416. However, in those who had neoadjuvant chemotherapy, Hb was significantly different (p < 0.05), 13.7 g/dL (SD 1.9) vs 12.2 g/dL (SD 1.7) from 2003–04 to 2012–2013. Consequently, patients in 2012–13 were significantly more likely to be anaemic pre-operatively (62.9% vs 38%, p < 0.01), and rates more pronounced if only adenocarcinoma are analysed (65.2% vs 34.6%, p < 0.01). There were also trends towards more transfusion in 2012–13 (60% vs 49%, p = 0.06) and more blood per patient 2.5u vs 2.2u, although these did not reach significance. No patients in 2003–04 had a laparoscopically assisted operation compared to 23 (16.4%) in 2012–13. 11/23 were transfused (47.8%) compared to 73/117 who received open procedures (62.4%). Conclusion Changes in the treatment of OC have increased the frequency of anaemia seen pre-operatively for patients undergoing elective oesophageal resections. This is likely due to MAGIC regimen neoadjuvant chemotherapy. While the benefits of MAGIC are recognised, peri-operative anaemia has implications on both morbidity and mortality. We now need to look at strategies to improve operative outcomes further by targeting this anaemia for treatment. Disclosure of interest None Declared.


This article reports on civil society in Australia between 1996 and 2007 related to former Prime Minister John Howard. The article discusses Howard's neo-conservative ideology and Liberal-National coalition, noting his views on political correctness. Howard's administration is also discussed in terms of immigration, multiculturalism, indigenous land rights, othering, and Islamaphobia. Information on the effect of Islamaphobia on Australian perceptions and the treatment of Muslims is also provided


Proteocephalus ambloplitis was recovered from largemouth bass inhabiting different thermal regimes, ranging from normal to greater than 10 °C above normal, on the Energy Research and Development Administration's (ERDA) Savannah River Plant near Aiken, South Carolina. Possible alterations in the mechanisms initiating plerocercoid migration as proposed by Fischer & Freeman (1969) were noted. According to these authors, a rise in temperature from 4 to 7 °C and above stimulated migration of parenteric plerocercoids into the gut. The lowest water temperature recorded for the reservoir for the entire sampling period was 8·0 °C. Theoretically, this should have terminated the life-cycle of this tapeworm since migration temperature was never attained. At Savannah River, the appearance of adult tapeworms coincided with a decrease in water temperature, while the appearance of adult tapeworms in Canada was correlated with an increase in water temperature. It is postulated that the decline in water temperature in southern latitudes and the increase in water temperature in northern latitudes initiates the same response, that is, migration of plerocercoids from parenteric to enteric sites where maturation to the adult form ensues.


Background: Evaluation of bioactivity of recombinant erythropoietin is essential for pharmaceutical industry, quality control authorities and researchers. The purpose of this study was to compare real time RT-PCR and flow cytometry for the assay of biological activity of recombinant erythropoietin. Methods: Three concentrations of recombinant erythropoietin BRP (80, 40 and 20 IU/ml) were injected subcutaneously to mice. After 4 days the blood was collected and used for reticulocyte counts by flow cytometry and also for the RNA extraction. Real time RT-PCR amplification was carried out for β-globin. Results and conclusion: There was a significant correlation between the total RNA amounts (R 2 = 0.9995), relative quantity of β-globin mRNA (R 2 = 0.984) and reticulocyte counts (R 2 = 0.9742) with rhEpo concentrations. Total RNA and quantitative RT-PCR showed significant dose dependent results as well the reticulocyte counts by flow cytometry for the biological activity assay of rhEpo and so these methods could be considered as alternatives for flow cytometry.


Clostridium acidurici is an anaerobic, homoacetogenic bacterium, which is able to use purines such as uric acid as sole carbon, nitrogen, and energy source. Together with the two other known purinolytic clostridia C. cylindrosporum and C. purinilyticum, it served as a model organism to investigate the fermentation of purines. Here, the first complete sequence and analysis of a genome derived from a purinolytic Clostridium is presented. The genome of C. acidurici 9a consists of one chromosome (3,105,335 bp) and one small circular plasmid (2,913 bp). The lack of candidate genes encoding glycine reductase, the key enzyme of the glycine reductase pathway of purine-utilizing clostridia, indicates that C. acidurici 9a uses the energetically less favorable glycine-serine-pyruvate pathway for glycine degradation. In accordance with the specialized lifestyle and the corresponding narrow substrate spectrum of C. acidurici 9a, the number of genes involved in carbohydrate transport and metabolism is significantly lower than in other clostridia such as C. acetobutylicum, C. saccharolyticum, and C. beijerinckii. Besides purines, the only other substrate that can be degraded by C. acidurici is glycine, but growth on this amino acid only occurs in the presence of a fermentable purine. Nevertheless, the addition of glycine resulted in increased transcription levels of genes encoding enzymes involved in the glycine-serine-pyruvate pathway such as serine hydroxymethyl transferase and acetate kinase, whereas the transcription levels of formate dehydrogenase-encoding genes decreased. Sugars could not be utilized by C. acidurici but the full genetic repertoire for glycolysis was detected. Additionally, genes encoding enzymes that mediate resistance against several antimicrobials and metals were identified in the genome sequence and a high resistance of C. acidurici 9a towards bacitracin, acriflavine and azaleucine was experimentally confirmed.


Input-Output Assessment (IOA) was employed to quantify a likely range of annual lead and cadmium fluxes and to discern their possible flow paths in the water system of the Kingston hydrological catchment in south-eastern Jamaica. This technique was useful to understand how cross-sectoral mass exchanges of these heavy metals ultimately impacted the water resources of the basin. Initially, based on deterministic principles of the urban hydrological cycle, a foundational IOA matrix model was formulated to represent the basin's typical annual hydrological regime. Here, flows of the water-using or water-impacting sectors that comprise the basin's water system were identified and quantified. Hereafter the realistically possible cases of minimum, average and maximum direct cross-sectoral mass flows of lead and cadmium were estimated. The heavy metal mass flows of each case were calculated by multiplying the various annual cross-sectoral water flux volumes by corresponding lead and cadmium concentrations. The resulting direct flow matrices were then stochastically recalculated to succinctly represent the most statistically likely coupled direct and indirect lead and cadmium mass flows in models. After the flux modelling was completed, backward and forward tracing of the mass fluxes identified natural water resources as recipient of most lead and cadmium in the basin. This is arguably the most noteworthy finding of the study as the natural water bodies were loaded even when the water system was modelled to show the minimum likely mass flows of lead and cadmium. From the average and maximum likely fluxes of lead and cadmium, not only did the loading of the natural water resources increase but they in turn started to distribute lead and cadmium to other water bodies. Tracing also identified anthropogenic activities as the driver of lead and cadmium cycling throughout the system. The study was concluded in the recommendation of a strategy to improve wastewater treatment facilities and coverage as the most efficient and cost effective way to ameliorate the degree of lead and cadmium cycling and loading in the water resources of the basin.


We often make small ethical compromises for "good" reasons: We lie to a customer because our boss asked us to. We exaggerate our accomplishments on our resume to get an interview. Temptation blindsides us. And we make snap decisions we regret. Minor ethical lapses can seem harmless, but they instill in us a hard-to-break habit of distorted thinking. Rationalizations drown out our inner voice, and we make up the rules as we go. We lose control of our decisions, fall victim to the temptations and pressures of our situations, taint our characters, and sour business and personal relationships. In Ethics for the Real World, Ronald Howard and Clinton Korver explain how to master the art of ethical decision making by: Identifying potential compromises in your own life Applying distinctions to clarify your ethical thinking Committing in advance to ethical principles Generating creative alternatives to resolve dilemmas Packed with real-life examples, this book gives you practical advice to respond skillfully to life's inevitable ethical challenges. Not only can you make right decisions, you can acquire new habits that will realize the best in yourself and transform your relationships.


Summary Standards are essential to the advancement of science and technology. In systems and synthetic biology, numerous standards and associated tools have been developed over the last 16 years. This special issue of the Journal of Integrative Bioinformatics aims to support the exchange, distribution and archiving of these standards, as well as to provide centralised and easily citable access to them.


This thesis provides empirical evidence on financial skills and the relation with household financial decision-making based upon specially designed questions for the DNB Household Survey (DHS). The majority of the respondents has some grasp of concepts such as interest compounding, inflation, and the time value of money. However, very few go beyond these basic concepts; many households do not know the difference between bonds and stocks, the relationship between bond prices and interest rates, and the basics of risk diversification. The empirical estimates reveal that financial sophistication has a statistically and economically significant impact on private wealth holdings. This is important for public policy, especially in view of the widespread fear that many households do not save enough for retirement. Indeed, we also show that financial sophistication fosters planning for retirement. At the same time, we find that financial knowledge increases the likelihood of entering the stock market, thereby improving opportunities to diversify and taking advantage of the equity premium, which might contribute to better portfolio management and higher wealth as well. This finding contributes to the literature which tries to understand the puzzle of limited stock market participation by focusing on participation costs, as higher levels of financial sophistication lower the costs of collecting and processing information and reduce the relevance of barriers to participation. The same mechanism lowers thresholds to engage in retirement planning activities. Given the important role of financial literacy in decision-making, we can ask ourselves whether we can make decision tasks simpler, e.g. by offering helpful default options (i.e. the choice that follows when no specific action is taken). We investigate the impact of financial literacy and other personal traits on the attractiveness of default options in many situations including e.g. voting participation, having a will, and organ donation, but with a special focus on retirement savings decisions in the Netherlands as well as in the US (based upon data from the RAND American Life Panel). Our results show that default options indeed matter for individual decision-making and that procrastination and financial illiteracy are important determinants of default choices. As financial literacy is limited, one could wonder how households assess the international trend towards more individual responsibility for e.g. retirement. We find that the majority of Dutch employees opposes to changes that provide them with more individual responsibility for their pension provisions. The unwillingness to take investor autonomy might partly be related to a resistance towards changing the status quo, which is that employees in the Netherlands have no direct say in the investment policy of pension funds. Nevertheless, the willingness of employees to take control over their own pension savings correlates in an intuitive way to their risk tolerance, which is especially low in the pension domain, and their self-assessed level of financial literacy. Indeed, Dutch employees recognize their limitations as regards financial decision-making, and an experiment on choices in a hypothetical defined contribution retirement plan corroborates this self-assessed lack of financial skills.


Mobility data is essential for cities and communities to identify areas for necessary improvement. Data collected by mobility providers already contains all the information necessary, but privacy of the individuals needs to be preserved. Differential privacy (DP) defines a mathematical property which guarantees that certain limits of privacy are preserved while sharing such data, but its functionality and privacy protection are difficult to explain to laypeople. In this paper, we adapt risk communication formats in conjunction with a model for the privacy risks of DP. The result are privacy notifications which explain the risk to an individual's privacy when using DP, rather than DP's functionality. We evaluate these novel privacy communication formats in a crowdsourced study. We find that they perform similarly to the best performing DP communications used currently in terms of objective understanding, but did not make our participants as confident in their understanding. We also discovered an influence, similar to the Dunning-Kruger effect, of the statistical numeracy on the effectiveness of some of our privacy communication formats and the DP communication format used currently. These results generate hypotheses in multiple directions, for example, toward the use of risk visualization to improve the understandability of our formats or toward adaptive user interfaces which tailor the risk communication to the characteristics of the reader.


The nuclear structures in the ovarioles have been studied in Laspeyresia pomonella by means of light and electron microscopy, autoradiography (RNA and DNA synthesis) and molecular hybridization in situ. The karyosphere was shown to form in oocyte nuclei at the beginning of oocyte growth. Numerous protein granules appeared in close contact with the karyosphere chromosomes; the true nucleolus was absent and the whole nucleus was inactive in RNA synthesis. A special attention was paid to studying nuclear structures in trophocytes. Numerous complex nucleoli actively synthesizing RNA formed in highly endopolyploid nuclei of trophocytes. Besides, each trophocyte had a spheroid vacuolized body of DNA which developed from one of meiotic bivalents soon after trophocyte differentiation and increased in diameter up to 10-15 mu. The DNA body in trophocytes and follicle cells was in close contact with the nucleolar material. Ribosomal DNA was present in these bodies as was shown by molecular hybridization in situ. A suggestion is put forward to the effect that the DNA bodies take part in the formation of complex nucleolar apparatus of trophocytes. On the basis of both the author's and literary data, a conclusion is drawn that DNA spheres in trophocytes and follicle cells are sex chromatin bodies formed, however, by both the X- and Y-chromosomes, rather than by one Y-chromosome.


Confinement is a central experience in the Palestinian Territories occupied by Israel in 1967. Since this date, nearly a third of Palestinians have been imprisoned in Israeli penitentiaries for political reasons. As one generation succeeded another, various modes of confinement have created different Palestinian identities. Up until the first Intifada in 1987, female prisoners were political activists engaged in resistance to the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. After 1987, the arrests became more widespread. The activism of the first generation of prisoners was anchored in the actions of their fathers, becoming a kind of heritage or transmission rooted in the traumas of a childhood linked to occupation. The prison experience itself contributed to the development of political commitments, which were also feminist in nature. The prison was reconstructed as a place of apprenticeship affirming the identity of the political prisoner, which was forged in struggles for better conditions of detention, and which reinforced the strength of the collective national Palestinian body. These struggles posed a strong challenge to the female body, which was particularly targeted in the experience of incarceration and interrogation. Because the female body and female sexuality played such an important role in Palestinian society, the interrogators exploited them as an instrument of pressure. The Palestinian response was to construct arguments which would protect female ex-prisoners from the opprobrium heaped upon them. The prison became a major site in which society gathered against the occupant. With the failure of the Oslo agreements, the Second Intifada in 2000, and the hardening of the prison system as well as partisan divisions among Palestinians, this collective female body has been increasingly weakened by Israeli carceral politics.


The Saharan Air Layer (SAL) influences large scale environment from West Africa to eastern tropical America, by carrying large amounts of dust aerosols. However, the vertical distribution of the SAL is not well established due to a lack of systematic measurements away from the continents. This can be overcome by using the observations of the space lidar CALIOP on board CALIPSO. By taking advantage of CALIOP capability to distinguish dust aerosols from other types of aerosols through depolarization, the seasonal vertical distribution of the SAL is analysed at 1 degree horizontal resolution over a period of 5 yr (June 2006-May 2011). This study shows that SAL can be identified all year round displaying a clear seasonal cycle. It occurs higher in altitude and more northern in latitude during summer than during winter, but with similar latitude extent near Africa for the four seasons. The south border of the SAL is determined by the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), which either prohibits dust layers to penetrate it or reduces significantly the number of dust layers seen in or south of it, as over the eastern tropical Atlantic. Spatially, near Africa, it is found between 5° S-15° N in winter going at 5-30° N in summer. Towards America (50° W), SAL is observed between 5° S-10° N in winter and 10-25° N in summer. During spring and fall, SAL is found between the position of winter and summer not only spatially, but also vertically. In winter, SAL occurs in the altitude range 0-3 km off West Africa, decreasing to 0-2 km close to South America. During summer, SAL is found to be thicker and higher near Africa at 1-5 km, reducing to 0-2 km in the Gulf of Mexico, farther west than during the other seasons. SAL is confined to one layer, of which the mean altitude is decreasing with westward transport by 13 m deg−1 during winter and 28 m deg−1, after 30° W, during summer. Its mean geometrical thickness is decreasing by 25 m deg−1 in winter and 9 m deg−1 in summer. Spring and fall present similar characteristics for both mean altitude and geometrical thickness. Wind plays a major role not only for the transport of dust within the SAL, but also by sculpting it. During winter, the trade winds transport SAL towards South America, while in spring and summer they scavenge dust aerosols below it by bringing maritime air masses from North Atlantic up to about 50° W. The North Atlantic westerlies, with their southern border occurring between 15° N and 30° N (depending on the season, the longitude and the altitude), prevent the SAL to develop further northward. In addition, their southward shift with altitude gives SAL its characteristic oval shape in the northern part. The effective dry deposition velocity of dust particles is estimated to be 0.07-0.08 cm s−1 in winter, 0.13-0.15 cm s−1 in spring and fall, and 0.2 cm s−1 in summer. Finally, the African Easterly Jet (AEJ) is observed to collocate with the maximum dust load of the SAL and this might promote the differential advection for SAL parts, especially during summer.


The ecosystem at Pigeon Creek in San Salvador, the Bahamas, provides a unique opportunity for the analysis of complex modern biological processes and how they operate within spatial and chemical gradients in order to assess the stratigraphic scale of the incipient fossil record. This study considers the influence of environmental factors upon molluscan diversity, body size, and predator-prey interactions in order to assess the role that gradients may play at a single horizon. Samples were collected from 26 different localities within a carbonate intertidal creek, Pigeon Creek. Molluscan samples were identified to species level, measured for specimen length and width, presence of a drill hole, and drill diameter, and ordinated using canonical correspondence analyses (CCA). The CCA ordination determined salinity to be the strongest influence of environmental gradients measured for both gastropod and bivalve distributions. Our results show that both molluscan diversity and median body size decrease as salinity concentrations move from marine to elevated salinity conditions. Predatory drilling frequency is not significantly influenced by salinity; however, there is a strong correspondence between predator and prey body size at marine to intermediate salinities, a relationship which dissipates at elevated salinities. This study reinforces the idea that small scale local environmental gradients can strongly influence biotic communities and that spatial and environmental variation must be considered in order to properly interpret temporal trends in the fossil record, even at sub-parasequence scales.


Mitigating radiative losses in resonant structures has been a target of extensive research in photonics, involving various concepts such as optical dark states, multipoles, anapoles, embedded eigenstates, as well as momentum- or symmetry-mismatched lattice resonances in periodic systems. Here, we explore the possibility of improving the quality factors of dispersive lattice resonances within the light cone of a plasmonic metasurface. In particular, we find that antisymmetric modes of a honeycomb lattice of isotropic metal nanoparticles have symmetry-protected degenerate band edges, whereas the same lattice composed of anisotropic nanoparticles has an off-normal bound state along one of the dispersive bands. In addition to theoretical calculations, we also present our preliminary experimental results on distributed feedback lasing in such systems.


It is by now well-known that wireless networks with file arrivals and departures are stable if one uses α-fair congestion control and back-pressure based scheduling and routing. In this paper, we examine whether α-fair congestion control is necessary for flow-level stability. We show that stability can be ensured even with very simple congestion control mechanisms, such as a fixed window size scheme which limits the maximum number of packets that are allowed into the ingress queue of a flow. A key ingredient of our result is the use of the difference between the logarithms of queue lengths as the link weights. This result is reminiscent of results in the context of CSMA algorithms, but for entirely different reasons.


The standard way to obtain explicit formulas for spectral factorization problems for rational transfer functions is to use a minimal realization and then obtain formulae in terms of the generators A, B, C and D. For well-posed linear systems with unbounded generators these formulae will not always be well-defined. Instead, we suggest another approach for the class of well-posed linear systems for which zero is in the resolvent set of A. Such a system is related to a reciprocal system having bounded generating operators depending on B, C, D and the inverse of A. There are nice connections between well-posed linear systems and their reciprocal systems which allow us to translate a factorization problem for the well-posed linear system into one for its reciprocal system, the latter having bounded generating operators. We illustrate this general approach by giving explicit solutions to the sub-optimal Nehari problem.


The aim of this study was to examine the characteristics of seismic activities in association with the seismic velocity structures in and around the Izu islands. We focused on three seismic activities, the swarm off the west coast of Miyakejima on April 2013, the swarm off the northeast coast of Kozushima on April 2018 and the low frequency earthquakes beneath Hachijojima from 2003 to 2018. To construct the 3-D velocity structure models for Miyakejima and Kozushima we used the data of the swarm accompanied with the 2000 Miyakejima eruption, while for Hachijojima we used the data from 2003 to 2018 based on the Izu islands volcanic observation system. These travel times were adopted to the tomographic inversion method (Zhang and Thurber, 2003). The relocated precise hypocenters on the velocity imaging maps revealed an interesting relationship between seismicity and structure. In the target region, both Miyakejima and Kozushima swarms occur at 5-10 km and 2-6 km depth, in the border of high-velocity zones adjacent to or underlain by the low-velocity zones in figure 1 and figure 2. Their swarm regions were located nearby the two end sides of the 2000 swarm, where the huge seismic activity occurred repeatedly. That suggests the upward moving of magmatic fluids. In contrast, the Hachijojima earthquakes occur at 10-14 km depth in the middle-velocity area around a high-velocity zone in figure 3. This high-velocity zone is supposed to be somewhat cold body beneath Nishiyama volcano in Hachijojima. We interpret that the former low-velocity zones consist of hot magmatic materials and the latter high-velocity zone consists of the solidified volcanic body. On the basis of three case studies, it is suggested that volcanic fluids derived from hot magma or solidified


This paper proposes a joint design of the routing strategy over the fronthaul network and the transmission strategy over the wireless network in a downlink cloud radio access network (C-RAN), in which the remote radio heads (RRHs) are connected to the central processor (CP) via multi-hop routers. The data-sharing strategy is adopted, where the CP multicasts each user's data to all the RRHs serving this user via the multihop fronthaul network, which then cooperatively serve the users through joint beamforming. Such a setting naturally provides an opportunity for applying the technique of network coding to efficiently reduce the multicast traffic in the fronthaul network. A novel cross-layer optimization framework is then investigated, where the RRH's beamforming vectors as well as the user- RRH association in the physical-layer, and the network coding design in the network-layer are jointly optimized to maximize the throughput of C- RAN subject to fronthaul link capacity constraints. This paper proposes a two-stage algorithm to solve this problem using the techniques of sparse optimization and successive convex approximation. Simulation results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed cross-layer design in the downlink multi- hop C-RAN.


The beneficial effects of stubble tillage on soil and water conservation are widely recognized, but surface stubble also increases the potential for crop damage by fungal pathogens that overwinter in the previous season's debris. In recent years, gray leaf spot (GLS) bas become a major yield-limiting disease, resulting in grain yield losses as high as 60% in high yield potential maize (Zea mays L.) production areas. A study was launched to investigate strategies that could be adopted to facilitate the continuation of conservation tillage practices without exposing maize to unnecessarily high risk from GLS. The aim of the study was to investigate the interactive effects of four tillage practices leaving varying amounts of surface residues and fungicide treatments for the control of stubble-associated pathogens. In the hot, dry season, unfavorable for GLS, the onset of disease was 23 d earlier in no-till with higher disease than conventional tillage. The benefits of conserved soil moisture under stubble tillage with concomitant higher grain yields than conventional tillage offset the detrimental effects of higher disease. Results from the study indicate that tillage practices are unlikely to have a major impact in managing GLS; since the mean yield of conventional tillage with minimal stubble (3% residue), during four seasons, was between 28 and 209 kg ha -1 lower than tillage treatments leaving 82 and 26% stubble on the soil surface, respectively. During the four seasons of the study, grain yield responses to fungicide treatment ranged from 477 kg ha -1 in unfavorable seasons to 3830 kg ha -1 in seasons favorable for GLS. The judicious application of fungiddes will reduce the risk of financial loss from GLS and will allow the continuation of the desirable stubble tillage practice in sustainable farming systems.


Music played an important role as a political medium for the anti-apartheid movement, particularly in the 1980s. Drawing on sources from the UK and South Africa, the article investigates the controversy surrounding Paul Simon's album Graceland (1986) against the backdrop of the cultural boycott against South Africa. The aim of the boycott was to isolate the apartheid regime in the field of culture, but from the middle of the 1980s, the opposition within South Africa increasingly regarded it as an obstacle. The African National Congress (ANC) pursued a modification of the boycott against the resistance of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM). The controversy over Graceland only served to compound the confusion: opinions differed as to whether Simon had really breached the cultural boycott by collaborating with South African musicians, and on how this could potentially be sanctioned (in either sense of the word). The incident shows that the attempt to control transnational cultural currents through political institutions in times of increased mediatisation was ultimately doomed to failure.


Nanoparticle catalysts consist of hundreds or thousands of atoms with structures that are essentially unknown. First-principles-based quantum mechanical calculations on this scale of substance would be prohibitively expensive to perform. Consequently, it has become common to use studies of small clusters at the subnano scale to gain insight into the chemical reactivity of nanoparticle catalysts. Recent theoretical and experimental investigations, however, have found that hydrogen reactivity on small Pt clusters is sensitive to the charge states of the clusters. This finding is in contrast to expectations about the reactivity of nanoparticles and casts doubt on whether small clusters can indeed be used to model realistic catalysts. The present case study for Pt clusters provides a systematic analysis of the charge sensitivity of the key catalytic properties for hydrogenation and clarifies the conditions for which a subnanoscale model may be expected to provide meaningful insights into the behavior of nanop...


Coal gasification processes are crucial to decarbonisation in the power sector. While underground coal gasification (UCG) and integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) are different in terms of the site of gasification, they have considerable similarities in terms of the types of gasifiers used. Of course, UCG offers some additional advantages such as reduction of the fugitive methane emissions accompanying the coal mining process. Nevertheless, simulation of IGCC plants involving surface coal gasification is likely to give reasonable indication of the 3E (efficiency, economics and emissions) prospects of the gasification pathway towards electricity. This paper will aim at Estimating 3E impacts (efficiency, environment, economics) of gasification processes using simulation carried out in the Integrated Environmental Control Model (IECM) software framework. Key plant level controls which will be studied in this paper will be based on Indian financial regulations and operating costs which are specific to the country. Also, impacts of CO2 capture and storage (CCS) in these plants will be studied. The various parameters that can be studied are plant load factor, impact of coal quality and price, type of CO2 capture process, capital costs etc. It is hoped that relevant insights into electricity generation from gasification may be obtained with this paper.


Child marriage is an issue that has become a scourge to some girl-children in Nigeria. These girls are unaware of the consequences of this act on their health and wellbeing. The Child Rights Act which was passed in Nigeria in 2003 puts the age of marriage at 18 years old, but sometimes in Nigeria girls are married off before their 18th birthday and most times, they are faced with a lot of health challenges which could be curbed through effective information, education and communication. The study examined the print media report of child marriage in Nigeria and looked at the theme of reportage of child marriage in the print media and how the newspapers presented stories about child marriage. The study employed the agenda setting and media framing theories, and content analysed two Nigerian newspapers from 2013 to 2016. The study explored the prominence given to the coverage of child marriage, the dominant themes covered on child marriage and the framing of child marriage by the newspapers. Findings showed that there has not been enough focus on child marriage in Nigeria and that some of the news stories did not explain in details the implications and consequences of child marriage to the Nigerian girl-child. The study therefore recommended that the print media should put more effort in educating the masses on the issue of child marriage.


This short paper presents the philosophy and planning that served as the foundation for a one day-long conference held to consider change and enhance the knowledge, skills and relationships among the faculty and administration within an engineering college. This is both a look back at one academic day and a look forward to next year's session. Workshops illustrated technical, organizational and developmental concepts that could successfully facilitate change at the undergraduate level. While topics included the evolution of the colleges' identity, students of the future, computers, multimedia and the academic community, college collaboration and the faculty role, the focus of the discussion is on the leadership steps toward a successful day.


Abstract Kleptoparasitism, the stealing of food items, is a common biological phenomenon that has been studied mostly with the help of deterministic dynamics for infinite populations. The infinite population assumption takes the models far from the biological reality. In this paper we provide a review of the main theoretical works on kleptoparasitism and then focus on the stochastic dynamics of kleptoparasitic individuals in finite populations. We solve the dynamics analytically for populations of 2 and 3 individuals. With the help of numerical solution of the dynamics, we were able to conclude that the behavior of the uptake rate in the population is mostly determined by the uptake rates at populations of 2 and 3 individuals. If the individuals do better in a pair, then the uptake rate is a decreasing function of the population size. If the individuals do better in a triplet than in a pair, then the uptake rate is a zigzag function with lows for even population sizes and ups for uneven population sizes.


This paper constructs the theoretical framework of dynamic environment, tournament incentive and firms risk taking based on tournament theory and contingency theory. Treating environment as a contingency factor, measuring tournament incentives as the pay gap between executives at different levels, utilizing 2SLS estimation methodology, we find that the tournament incentive compensation system will stimulate state-owned listed firms executives risk taking behavior, and in the circumstances of dynamic environment, the tournament incentive will trigger executives over risk taking tendency for the more complicated environment and over confidence. The theoretical analysis and empirical evidences of this study will provide enlightenment and references for the reform and regulation of state-owned listed firms compensation system.


A survey of 106 workers (96 females and 10 males) in a silk factory near Bangalore (Karnataka) revealed a very high incidence of ichthyosis (58.4%) and palmar (61.3%) and plantar (78.3%) keratoderma. Both these genetic disorders were almost equally prevalent in different sections of the silk factory and thus were considered not to be related to the occupational work. However, maceration of the hands, palmar pitted keratolysis and dermatophytic infection of the hands were seen only in the boiling and reeling section where the workers have to immerse their hands in an alkaline water throughout their duty hours. Candidial paronychia and contact dermatitis were not seen.


Radiated emission measurements are used to test whether electronic products comply with certain EMC emission requirements. Stimulated by the need to reduce uncertainties, the radiated emission measurement is subject to modification by the EMC standardization body CISPR. Simulation tools are very useful in supporting such modifications. In this paper, we evaluate the use of numerical tools based on the method of moments (MoM) for the simulation of radiated emission testing. We also examine whether such a tool is capable for performing parameter variation studies. For this parameter study, we focus on height and distance variations of the equipment under test (EUT). The results of the parameter study are validated by measurements. The influence of EUT height or distance variations is predicted very well by numerical tools.


This set of essays highlights the state of the art in the linguistics of Iranian languages. The contributions span the full range of linguistic inquiry, including pragmatics, syntax, semantics, phonology/phonetics, lexicography, historical linguistics and poetics and covering a wide set of Iranian languages including Persian, Balochi, Kurdish and Ossetian. This book will engage both the active scholar in the field as well as linguists from other fields seeking to assess the latest developments in Iranian linguistics.


Tapered nanobumps are placed on the circumference of optical vortex to manipulate the field amplitude using circular polarized light. Tapered nanobump produces stronger field enhancement due to higher charge density at the tapered end. The geometrical parameters of the tapered nanobumps are optimized to achieve highest field enhancement. The electric field is enhanced or diminished by illuminating with left or right circular polarized lightwave. Additional nanobumps are added to provide field enhancement at different parts of the vortex. This setup can be used to control the position of nanoparticles for analysis, and is useful for sensing and catalysis applications.


An 82 year old man with a recurrent prolactin-secreting pituitary adenoma had clinically asymptomaptic fungal growth in necrotic tissue adjacent to the tumor. This fungus was characterized by clumps of basophilic hyphae with pigment production. Ascus formation containing nucleated conidiopores was present. The asci had tapered and cylindrical beaks making Microascus sp. the most likely diagnosis, however, without cultures, Pseudoallesheria boydii could not eliminated. The patient was treated with Amphotericin B and there was no evidence of intracranial extension 4 months later.


Social vulnerability evaluation is of important significance to analyzing risks of natural disasters to human society and economy. By using expert investigation and AHP method, 12 indicators from four aspects (population, economy, infrastructure and disaster prevention and mitigation capacity) are selected to assess social vulnerability to natural disasters on a county scale in Henan Province. The results show that the population vulnerability and economic vulnerability to natural disasters in the eastern region is generally higher than in the western region, while the areas with high infrastructure vulnerability are mainly located in the northwest; the disaster prevention and mitigation capacity in northwest is higher than in east and south, and this capacity of various districts is obviously higher than that of counties; in terms of the spatial pattern, social vulnerability to natural disasters is roughly higher in a belt from northeast to southwest, and lower on both sides of the belt. The results can provide scientific basis for disaster risk management and disaster prevention and mitigation planning in Henan Province.


We numerically study the near field enhancement and absorption properties inside the double cylindrical microcavities based on triple-band metamaterial absorber. The compact single unit cell consists of concentric gold rings each with a gold disk in the center, and a metallic ground plane separated by a dielectric layer. At the normal incidence of electromagnetic radiation, the obtained reflection spectra show that the resonance frequencies of the double microcavities are 16.65 THz,20.65 THz, and 25.65THz, respectively. We also calculate the values of contrast C(C = 1- Rmin), which can reach 95%,97%, and 95% at the corresponding frequencies by optimizing the geometry parameters of structure. Moreover, we demonstrate that the multilayer structure with subwavelength electromagnetic confinement allows 104~105-fold enhancement of the electromagnetic energy density inside the double cavities, which contains the most energy of the incoming electromagnetic radiation. Moreover, the proposed structure will be insensitive to the polarization of the incident wave due to the symmetry of the double cylindrical microcavities. The proposed optical metamaterial is a promising candidate as an absorbing element in scientific and technical applications because of its extreme confinement, multiband absorptions, and polarization insensitivity.


In this exercise, students analyze water samples from two local rivers, emphasizing
MacConkey-selected gram-negative proteobacteria. They use lactose and oxidase testing to sort
observed colonies into Enterics (both lactose positive and lactose negative) and Pseudomonads. While
Enterics are typically associated with transient fecal contamination, Pseudomonads represent natural
soil and water dwellers that play important roles in decomposition and bioremediation. Each student
subcultures and identifies river-derived and provided enteric controls using a standard array of
biochemical tests. Each student also analyzes waterborne and fecal-associated protozoa and viruses,
using provided slides and online Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resources.


Salt domes in the East Texas Basin are being studied as potential sites for deep burial of nuclear wastes. Site selection and risk assessment must address the possible fate of radionuclides should they escape from such a repository. Waste escaping from a dome would, at worst, move into either the Wilcox-Carrizo (Wx-Cz), a thick (~2,000 ft, 600 m), semi-confined, fresh to brackish ground-water system, or the Woodbine Formation, a deeper, saline aquifer. Contaminant transport and destinations would be controlled by: (1) pathways determined by ground-water circulation (i.e., recharge, discharge, and general velocity field), and (2) dilution along pathways, determined by advective dispersion and geochemical attenuation. Because of very large head declines in the Woodbine resulting from hydrocarbon production, potential for upward discharge from the Woodbine to the Wx-Cz appears nonexistent presently. Owing to apparently slow rates of recharge to the Woodbine, its heads may not completely recover for thousands or millions of years after pumping ends. The predominant control on regional ground-water circulation in the Wx-Cz aquifer is topography, which induces downward and upward leakage across the overlying Reklaw aquitard in topographically high and low areas, respectively. Major discharge areas are the Sabine and Trinity Rivers and their tributaries. Fluid pressure versus depth relationships indicate that upward flow components can extend as deep as 1,200 ft (365 m) beneath the Trinity River. Potential impacts of a nuclide escape from Oakwood or Keechi domes into the Wx-Cz would depend in large part on: (1) how deeply recharge occurring over each dome would move contaminants downward, and (2) whether the contaminants would then migrate upward toward discharge areas in the basin due to topographic effects. Orientation of a moderately brackish-water plume extending away from Oakwood dome infers local topographic control on flow but does not appear to. discharge upward. The plume suggests that contaminants escaping from the dome would become significantly diluted within a distance of 5 to 6 mi (9 to 11 km). Details of ground-water circulation around the domes are being analyzed through construction of numerical flow models. Processes of advective dispersion and geochemical attenuation are being investigated by preliminary mapping of aquifer heterogeneities and characterization of aquifer geochemistry by analysis of fluids and core samples. Ground-water chemistry indicates a trend toward greater capacity for attenuation of radionuclides as fluids move from recharge areas into more alkaline, reducing environments in the artesian sections of the Wx-Cz.


In this paper, a binary mask estimation algorithm is proposed based on modulations of speech. A multi-resolution spectrotemporal analytical auditory model is utilized to extract modulation features to estimate the binary mask, which is often used in speech segregation applications. The proposed method estimates noise from the beginning of each test sentence, a common approach seen in many conventional speech enhancement algorithms, to further enhance the modulation features. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the AMS-GMM system in terms of the HIT-FA rate when estimating the binary mask.


We have developed novel topological techniques to generate distance degree vector sequences (DDS) and distance degree scalar sequences(SS) of tensor and Cartesian products of graphs. We establish that the tensor products of two distance degree regular graphs is distance degree regular. We apply the mathematical techniques thus developed for both tensor and Cartesian products to enumerate NMR signals and intensity patterns through the partitioning of equivalence classes accomplished by the use of distance degree vector sequences. In particular the techniques are applied to several nano materials such as carbon nanotori, monocyclic cylindrical nanotubes and zig–zag polyhex carbon nanotubes. It is shown that DDS sequences satisfactorily partition carbon vertices into equivalence classes for these nanomaterials. We also demonstrate applications of the developed techniques to diagrammatic representations of energy decompositions in molecular interactions. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


In this paper we analyzed Chandy-Misra null message algorithm and proposed and implemented autonomous grouping technique to improve the performance. Our primary goal is to minimize the synchronization overhead in conservative parallel simulation by reducing the number of null messages over the network. Exchange of large number of null messages effect the performance of simulation and liable to congestion. Different techniques has been proposed most of them are simulation dependent. The performance of null message algorithm highly depends upon lookahead value. The smaller the lookahead the more number of messages transmitted during the simulation. We presented an autonomous grouping approach to reduce the number of synchronization messages sent out of the system.


Brain ischemia elicits microglial activation and microglia survival depend on signaling through colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R). Although depletion of microglia has been linked to worse stroke outcomes, it remains unclear to what extent and by what mechanisms activated microglia influence ischemia-induced inflammation and injury in the brain. Using a mouse model of transient focal cerebral ischemia and reperfusion, we demonstrated that depletion of microglia via administration of the dual CSF1R/c-Kit inhibitor PLX3397 exacerbates neurodeficits and brain infarction. Depletion of microglia augmented the production of inflammatory mediators, leukocyte infiltration, and cell death during brain ischemia. Of note, microglial depletion-induced exacerbation of stroke severity did not solely depend on lymphocytes and monocytes. Importantly, depletion of microglia dramatically augmented the production of inflammatory mediators by astrocytes after brain ischemia. In vitro studies reveal that microglia restricted ischemia-induced astrocyte response and provided neuroprotective effects. Our findings suggest that neuroprotective effects of microglia may result, in part, from its inhibitory action on astrocyte response after ischemia.


The objective of the Ph.D. thesis is to put the basis of an all-embracing link analysis procedure that may form a general reference scheme for the future state-of-the-art of RF/microwave link design: it is basically meant as a circuit-level simulation of an entire radio link, with – generally multiple – transmitting and receiving antennas examined by EM analysis. In this way the influence of mutual couplings on the frequency-dependent near-field and far-field performance of each element is fully accounted for. The set of transmitters is treated as a unique nonlinear system loaded by the multiport antenna, and is analyzed by nonlinear circuit techniques. In order to establish the connection between transmitters and receivers, the far-fields incident onto the receivers are evaluated by EM analysis and are combined by extending an available Ray Tracing technique to the link study. EM theory is used to describe the receiving array as a linear active multiport network. Link performances in terms of bit error rate (BER) are eventually verified a posteriori by a fast system-level algorithm.
In order to validate the proposed approach, four heterogeneous application contexts are provided. A complete MIMO link design in a realistic propagation scenario is meant to constitute the reference case study. The second one regards the design, optimization and testing of various typologies of rectennas for power generation by common RF sources. Finally, the project and implementation of two typologies of radio identification tags, at X-band and V-band respectively. In all the cases the importance of an exhaustive nonlinear/electromagnetic co-simulation and co-design is demonstrated to be essential for any accurate system performance prediction.


Recent advances in understanding the multifaceted pathobiology of rheumatoid arthritis have highlighted the pivotal role and continuing crosstalk between activated immune cells, pro-inflammatory cytokines, and matrix-degrading mediators, promoting chronic inflammation as well as irreversible tissue damage within an autoimmune background. B cells are widely recognized as leading players in immune-mediated pathology based on their ability to produce not only different patterns of autoantibodies and driving cyto kine synthesis but also as independent antigen-presenting cells and by modulating the specific activation of T cells. Overwhelming evidence emphasized the role of BAFF, a B-cell-activating factor, and BAFF receptors (TACI, BCMA, BAFF-R) in promoting B-cell homeostasis, proliferation, and survival under normal and autoimmune systemic disorders. We systematically reviewed data from literature focusing on BAFF, its homo - log molecule APRIL, and BAFF-binding receptors biology, dysregulation of BAFF/BAFF receptor signaling in autoimmune settings, and current status of targeting BAFF/BAFF receptor pathway for rheumatoid arthritis.


Determining the social cost of carbon emissions (SCC) is a crucial step in the economic analysis of climate change policy as the US government's recent decision to use a range of estimates of the SCC centered at $77/tC (or, equivalently, $21/tCO2) in cost-benefit analyses of proposed emission-control legislation underlines. This note reviews the welfare economics theory fundamental to the estimation of the SCC in both static and intertemporal contexts, examining the effects of assumptions about the typical agent's pure rate of time preference and elasticity of marginal felicity of consumption, production and mitigation technology, and the magnitude of climate-change damage on estimates of the SCC. We highlight three key conclusions: (i) an estimate of the SCC is conditional on a specific policy scenario, the details of which must be made explicit for the estimate to be meaningful; (ii) the social discount rate relevant to intertemporal allocation decisions also depends on the policy scenario; and (iii) the SCC is uniquely defined only for policy scenarios that lead to an efficient growth path because marginal costs and benefits of emission mitigation diverge on inefficient growth paths. We illustrate these analytical conclusions with simulations of a growth model calibrated to the world economy.


Elder abuse is widespread in South Africa and is a serious public health problem. This paper estimated the prevalence and identified the forms and predictors of elder abuse. The paper used cross-sectional data on 506 elderly people from Mafikeng Local Municipality in South Africa, and used the chi-square statistic and the logistic regression model to analyse the data. Overall 64.3% of men and 60.3% of women experienced elder abuse. Physical abuse was more common among men while emotional, financial and sexual abuses were more common among women. Having no working children, being currently single, living in elderly couple family, living in rural areas, having a poor self-perception of health and having a disability were significantly associated with elder abuse. We conclude that the prevalence of elder abuse is high and common, which calls for strategies to prevent the vice.


Medical imaging is widely used in clinical practice for diagnosis and treatment. Report-writing can be error-prone for unexperienced physicians, and time-consuming and tedious for experienced physicians. To address these issues, we study the automatic generation of medical imaging reports. This task presents several challenges. First, a complete report contains multiple heterogeneous forms of information, including findings and tags. Second, abnormal regions in medical images are difficult to identify. Third, the reports are typically long, containing multiple sentences. To cope with these challenges, we (1) build a multi-task learning framework which jointly performs the prediction of tags and the generation of paragraphs, (2) propose a co-attention mechanism to localize regions containing abnormalities and generate narrations for them, (3) develop a hierarchical LSTM model to generate long paragraphs. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods on two publicly available dataset.


This dissertation describes the growth of nano films by electrochemical methods in an ultrahigh vacuum system (UHV) that is compatible with electrochemical deposition process. The UHV system was equipped with surface analysis techniques such as Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), low energy electron diffraction optics (LEED) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The first part of this dissertation deals with the eletrodeposition of copper (Cu) nanofilms as seed layers on ruthenium (Ru) barrier layer for the metallization of integrated circuits. The Cu nano film was deposited by using lead (Pb) as a sacrificial element. A Pb UPD was deposited and this UPD was exchanged for Cu by flowing a solution of Cu +2 ions at open circuit potential in a redox replacement reaction. Since Cu is more noble than Pb, the Cu ions take electrons from Pb to be deposited as Cu atoms. The process should ideally result in the formation of only an atomic layer of Cu. This constituted one deposition cycle and the cycle was repeated several times to grow the Cu nano film. As a continuation of this study, Cu surface passivation was investigated by depositing atomic layers (AL) of different elements on Cu(111). The elements investigated for the passivation of Cu from oxidation included selenium (Se), iodine (I) and tellurium (Te). The purpose of this study was to protect Cu surface from contamination between solutions in a Fab line. The Se, I and Te modified Cu(111) was exposed to ambient air, solution vapors and oxygen and it was concluded that an atomic layer of Te protects the Cu(111) surface the best out of the investigated elements. The second part of this dissertation deals with electrodeposition of germanium (Ge), a semiconductor, from an aqueous solution of Ge. The composition of the deposits was studied using AES and the surfaces were characterized using STM. Analytical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical quartz microbalance (EQCM) were used to follow the electrodeposition process. It was concluded that the electrochemical deposition of Ge from an aqueous solution was self-limiting even though bulk deposition potentials were used. At very negative potentials Ge forms a germanium hydride passivating layer. INDEX WORDS: Copper, Germanium, UHV, AES, UPD, LEED, STM, EQCM, CV, Elecrodeposition, Redox Replacement Reactions, Mono-layer, Sacrificial element. ULTRAHIGH VACUUM ELECTROCHEMICAL STUDIES OF METALS AND SEMICONDUCTOR DEPOSITION


Biometric security systems that verify a person's identity by scanning fingers, hands, eye or face are becoming more and more common. As a result biometrics is one of the fastest growing industries. Applications for biometrics range from homeland security physical access to various facilities and health and social services.
Utilizing biometrics for personal authentication is more convenient and than current methods such as passwords or PINs. Another important advantage of biometric authentication is that it links events to a user and is becoming socially acceptable and inexpensive.
Biometric authentication requires comparing a registered or enrolled biometric sample against a newly captured biometric sample.
However, biometric authentication is not perfect and the output of a biometric authentication system can be subject to errors due to imperfections of the classification algorithm, poor quality of biometric samples, or an intruder who has tampered with the biometric authentication systems. Although biometric authentication is intended primarily to enhance security, storing biometric information in a database introduces new security and privacy risks, which increase if the database is connected to a network. This is the case in most practical situations.
This thesis looks at security aspects of biometric authentication and proposes solutions to mitigate the risk of an attacker who tries to misuse biometric information or who bypasses modules of biometric systems to achieve his malicious goals. Our contribution is threefold. Firstly we propose 3W-tree, an analysis tool used to identify critical attack scenarios for a biometric system. We apply the 3W-tree design tool to the SmartGun biometric recognition system with the purpose of identifying critical security issues. Secondly, we explore the challenges of secure template protection, which are both theoretical and practical and we put forward solutions to part of the issues. Thirdly, we present a practical solution to the secure template transfer, which should allow transfer of the biometric traits between two biometrically enabled devices when no security infrastructure is available and the users are no security experts.


Bone marrow is a hematopoietic site harboring multiple populations of myeloid cells in different stages of differentiation. Murine bone marrow eosinophils are traditionally identified by Siglec‐F(+) staining using flow cytometry, whereas neutrophils are characterized by Ly6G(+) expression. However, using flow cytometry to characterize bone marrow hematopoietic cells in wild‐type mice, we found substantial gray areas in identification of these cells. Siglec‐F(+) mature eosinophil population constituted only a minority of bone marrow Lin(+)CD45(+) pool (5%). A substantial population of Siglec‐F(−) cells was double positive for neutrophil marker Ly6G and eosinophil lineage marker, IL‐5Rα. This granulocyte population with mixed neutrophil and eosinophil characteristics is typically attributable to neutrophil pool based on neutral granule staining and expression of Ly6G and myeloid peroxidase. It is distinct from Lineage(−) myeloid progenitors or Siglec‐F(+)Ly6G(+) maturing eosinophil precursors, and can be accurately identified by Lineage(+) staining and positive expression of markers IL‐5Rα and Ly6G. At 15–50% of all CD45(+) hematopoietic cells in adult mice (percentage varies by sex and age), this is a surprisingly dominant population, which increases with age in both male and female mice. RNA‐seq characterization of these cells revealed a complex immune profile and the capacity to secrete constituents of the extracellular matrix. When sorted from bone marrow, these resident cells had neutrophilic phenotype but readily acquired all characteristics of eosinophils when cultured with G‐CSF or IL‐5, including expression of Siglec‐F and granular proteins (Epx, Mbp). Surprisingly, these cells were also able to differentiate into Ly6C(+) monocytes when cultured with M‐CSF. Herein described is the discovery of an unexpected hematopoietic flexibility of a dominant population of multipotent myeloid cells, typically categorized as neutrophils, but with the previously unknown plasticity to contribute to mature pools of eosinophils and monocytes.


GCK-MODY is characterized by stable, mild hyperglycemia without typical long-term diabetes complications. The prevalence of GCK-MODY is 0.1% in the general population. However patients are frequently misclassified as type 1, type 2, or gestational diabetes. Since all pregnant women undergo glycemic assessment, there is an opportunity to identify women with GCK-MODY within the Obstetrics (OB) clinic. The purpose of this study is to use retrospective data from the electronic medical record (EMR) to identify a combination of anthropometric and glycemic data that can differentiate women with GCK-MODY from those with gestational diabetes in a multiethnic United States population. A screening cohort of 927 study patients was identified through the University of Chicago Clinical Research Data Warehouse (CRDW) using the parameters of age >=18, outpatient visit to the OB clinic from 2009 to present and ICD-9 or ICD-10 diagnosis code of pregnancy and diabetes. A total of 1patients were identified who fulfilled criteria of BMI 2 and fasting glucose 99-145 mg/dL or HbA1c 5.6-7.6%. Twelve patients were excluded due to confirmed type 1 diabetes (n= 11) and secondary CF-related diabetes (n= 1). The final cohort are predominantly African-American (66%), followed by Asian/Mideast Indian (13%) and white (11%). Diagnoses based on ICD9/10 codes included gestational diabetes (52%), type 2 diabetes (41%), unconfirmed type 1 diabetes (4%), and secondary diabetes (2%). The average BMI using lowest recorded BMI was 25.6 (range 16-29.96 kg/m 2 ). Average hemoglobin A1c was 6.0% and fasting glucose was 100.6 mg/dL. These patients will be contacted for study enrollment and genetic testing to determine the pickup rate of GCK-MODY using the proposed screening cutoffs in this multiethnic population. The initial data indicate that the EMR can be used to identify patients at higher risk for GCK-MODY to undergo genetic testing. Several challenges were encountered including duplicate ICD codes but these did not preclude successful cohort identification. Disclosure L.T. Dickens: None. L.R. Letourneau: Other Relationship; Self; Novo Nordisk Inc.. M. Sanyoura: None. L.H. Philipson: Research Support; Self; Novo Nordisk Inc.. Speaker9s Bureau; Self; Merck & Co., Inc.. Research Support; Self; JAEB Center For Health Research, JDRF, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Medtronic MiniMed, Inc. S.W. Greeley: Research Support; Self; Novo Nordisk Inc.. R.N. Naylor: None.


Recommender systems are fundamental information filtering techniques to recommend content or items that meet users' personalities and potential needs. As a crucial solution to address the difficulty of user identification and unavailability of historical information, session-based recommender systems provide recommendation services that only rely on users' behaviors in the current session. However, most existing studies are not well-designed for modeling heterogeneous user behaviors and capturing the relationships between them in practical scenarios. To fill this gap, in this paper, we propose a novel graph-based method, namely Heterogeneous Information Crossing on Graphs (HICG). HICG utilizes multiple types of user behaviors in the sessions to construct heterogeneous graphs, and captures users' current interests with their long-term preferences by effectively crossing the heterogeneous information on the graphs. In addition, we also propose an enhanced version, named HICG-CL, which incorporates contrastive learning (CL) technique to enhance item representation ability. By utilizing the item co-occurrence relationships across different sessions, HICG-CL improves the recommendation performance of HICG. We conduct extensive experiments on three real-world recommendation datasets, and the results verify that (i) HICG achieves the state-of-the-art performance by utilizing multiple types of behaviors on the heterogeneous graph. (ii) HICG-CL further significantly improves the recommendation performance of HICG by the proposed contrastive learning module.


1 The research in this paper is to be focused on examining governance and enterprise restructuring in Southeast Europe (Western Balkans) transition economies. International organizations classify the following countries in Southeast Europe (Western Balkans): Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has governance and enterprise restructuring as basic indicator of economic transition and defines it as effective corporate governance and corporate control exercised through domestic financial institutions and markets, fostering market-driven restructuring. The corporate governance is most often defined in terms of the roles, responsibilities, and interactions of top management and the board of directors. Using data of Southeast European economies, will be examined the interrelationships between governance and enterprise restructuring and set of policies that influence the governance patterns.


The majority of doctors in North America, Australia and much of Europe now inform patients about a cancer diagnosis. However, many doctors report that they have difficulty disclosing a cancer diagnosis. Poor doctor-patient communication skills may lead to psychological distress including increased anxiety and depression and poorer psychological adjustment to cancer. Presenting 'bad' news in an unhurried, honest, balanced and empathic fashion has been shown to produce greater satisfaction with communication of the news. Consensus guidelines have been developed to assist doctors to disclose a cancer diagnosis. Important aspects include exploring the patient's expectations, warning him/her that the news is bad, giving the news at the patient's own pace, allowing time for the patient to react and eliciting the patient's concerns. Doctor-patient communication can be improved by including training courses in communication skills for medical students and clinicians and providing audiotapes of bad news consultations to enhance patient recall of information and increase patient satisfaction with communication. Additional research is needed to investigate effects of strategies to implement guidelines for delivering a cancer diagnosis.


Abstract Purpose: To examine the reliability and validity of the Spanish version of the Activities-specific Balance Confidence scale (ABC-S), and its ability to discriminate between patients with and without a history of falls among a Spanish population with vestibular disorders. Method: A total of 84 participants completed the ABC-S. Internal consistency, test–retest reliability and construct validity (exploratory factor analysis) were analysed. Concurrent validity was evaluated using the 12-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) and the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI). To determine the accuracy of the ABC total score in discriminating patients with and without a history of falls, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed. Results: The ABC-S showed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.916) and substantial test–retest reliability (ICC = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.74–0.93), with standard error and minimal detectable change values of 8.64 and 16.94, respectively. Factor analyses suggested a three-factor structure (explained variance was 62.24%). The ABC total score significantly correlated with the physical component summary score of the SF-12 and with the DHI-P, DHI-E, DHI-F and DHI total scores (p < 0.001). The ABC-S was significantly able to discriminate between participants with and without a history of falls (p < 0.006). Conclusions: The ABC-S is a valid and reliable instrument, suitable to assess balance confidence in Spanish patients with vestibular disorders. Implications for Rehabilitation The Spanish version of the ABC scale is a valid and reliable measure of balance confidence in patients with vestibular disorders. In persons with vestibular disorders, the Spanish version of the ABC scale has shown the ability to discriminate between patients with and without a history of falls in the last year.


We investigate nano-eptiaxial lateral overgrowth (NELOG) of InP from the nano-sized openings on a seed layer on the silicon wafer, by Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy (HVPE). The grown layers were analyzed by cathodoluminescence (CL) in situ a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results from InP:S growth shows that the boundary plane of the grown layer has a major impact on the luminescence, indicating preferential orientation-dependent doping. Moreover, although there is clear evidence that most of the threading dislocations originating in the InP seed layer/Si interface are blocked by the mask, it appears that new dislocations are generated. Some of these dislocations are bounding planar defects such as stacking faults, possibly generated by unevenness in the mask. Finally, patterns where coalescence takes place at higher thickness seem to result in a rougher surface.


Transport infrastructure networks are increasingly vulnerable to disruption from extreme rainfall events due to increasing surface water runoff from urbanization and changes in climate. Impacts from such disruptions typically extend far beyond the flood footprint, because of the interconnection and spatial extent of modern infrastructure. An integrated flood risk assessment couples high resolution information on depth and velocity from the CityCAT urban flood model with empirical analysis of vehicle speeds in different depths of flood water, to perturb a transport accessibility model and determine the impact of a given event on journey times across the urban area. A case study in Newcastle-upon-Tyne (UK) shows that even minor flooding associate with a 1 in 10 year event can cause traffic disruptions of nearly half an hour. Two adaptation scenarios are subsequently tested (i) hardening (i.e. flood protection) a single major junction, (ii) introduction of green roofs across all buildings. Both options have benefits in terms of reduced disruption, but for a 1 in 200 year event greening all roofs in the city provided only three times the benefit of protecting one critical road junction, highlighting the importance of understanding network attributes such as capacity and flows.


The UK industry has been criticised for being slow to adopt construction process innovations. Research shows that the idiosyncrasies of participants, their roles in the system and the contextual differences between sections of the industry make this a highly complex problem. There is considerable evidence that informal social networks play a key role in diffusion of innovations. The aim is to identify informal communication networks of project participants and the role these play in the diffusion of construction innovations. The characteristics of this network will be analysed in order to understand how they can be used to accelerate innovation diffusion within and between projects. Social Network Analysis is used to determine informal communication routes. Control and experiment case study projects are used within two different organizations. This allows informal communication routes concerning innovations to be mapped, whilst testing if the informal routes can facilitate diffusion. Analysis will focus upon understanding the combination of informal strong and weak ties, and how these impede or facilitate the diffusion of the innovation. Initial work suggests the presence of an informal communication network. Actors within this informal network, and the organization's management are unaware of its' existence and their informal roles within it. Thus, the network remains an untapped medium regarding innovation diffusion. It is proposed that successful innovation diffusion is dependent upon understanding informal strong and weak ties, at project, organization and industry level.


The presented studies were carried out in order to check the usefulness of subfossil wood for stable isotope analysis. The aim of research was also to define the optimal method of subfossil samples preparation. Subfossil samples used during the presented studies are a part of the multi- century dendrochronological scale. This chronology originates in an area situated around a small mountain lake — Schwarzersee, in Austria. The obtained results of stable carbon isotope measurements confirmed that the method of α-cellulose extraction by the application of acidic sodium chlorite and sodium hydroxide solutions removes resins and other mobile compounds from wood. Therefore, in the case of the analysed samples, the addition- al chemical process of extractives removing was found to be unnecessary. Studied wood samples con- tained an adequate proportion of α-cellulose similar to the values characteristic for the contemporary trees. This proved an adequate wood preservation which is essential for the conduction of isotopic re- search.


of linear dynamic systems using the combined advantages of stability equation method and the error minimization by Genetic algorithm. The denominator of the reduced order model is obtained by the stability equation method and the numerator terms of the lower order transfer function are determined by minimizing the integral square error between the transient responses of original and reduced order models using Genetic algorithm. The reduction procedure is simple and computer oriented. It is shown that the algorithm has several advantages, e.g. the reduced order models retain the steady-state value and stability of the original system. The proposed algorithm has also been extended for the order reduction of linear multivariable systems. Two numerical examples are solved to illustrate the superiority of the algorithm over some existing ones including one example of multivariable system.


Flywheel energy storage systems have become an important research subject in recent years. They are also considered for space applications instead of hazardous and bulky electrochemical batteries. In this paper, a ywheel energy storage system has been designed for satellite attitude control systems. Power requirements of a small commercial satellite have been used as the starting point of the design. The designed system includes a BLDC motor. The machine is run as a motor for 60 min and the stored energy is discharged during the following 30 min to simulate low orbit satellite operation. Experimental results show that these systems can be used in space applications.


Experimental studies and clinical observations over allotendoplasty were carried out. A new method of the combined autoloplasty of old ruptures of the Achilles tendon was developed and carried out upon 13 patients. Allotendoplasty was applied upon 31 cases of injuries to the Achilles tendon. Late results were followed up in 30 patients; in 29 out of them a complete functional restoration of the injuried extremity was obtained. Clinical and experimental data allow to recommend banked allografts for the use in reconstructive surgery.


In a magnetized dusty plasma, Hall effect can arise due to collisional processes when, e.g., ion-dust collision decouples the ions from the magnetic field. In this case, due to the dust stoppage of the ions, the Hall electric field can be generated over large scales. The same collisional processes are also responsible for dust charge fluctuations. Therefore, the Hall effect and dust charge fluctuations are intricately linked to each other through the same mechanism. The inertial scale over which the Hall effect is dynamically important depends not only on the value of the grain charge times the ratio of the grain to the plasma (ion) number densities but also on the ratio of the ion-dust to the electron-dust collision frequencies. This scale can become arbitrarily large when these collision frequencies are comparable. We show that the charge dynamics, though linked to the Hall scale, does not directly affect the low frequency waves in the medium. Since charge fluctuation modifies the length scale over whic...


This paper investigates a geometric property of time-optimal problem in the Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model via Lie algebra. We will focus on the existence of a time-optimal solution, singularity of switching function, and number of switching. These inherent problems are considered because of their rich geometric properties. The sufficient condition for the existence of a time-optimal solution reveals the controllability of T-S fuzzy model that can be found by the generalized rank condition. The time-optimal controller can be found as the bang-bang type with a finite number of switching by applying the maximum principle. In the study of the singularity problem, we will focus on the switching function whenever it vanishes over a finite time interval. Finally, we show that the bounded number of switching can be found if the T-S model (also a nonlinear system) is solvable.


The aim of this article is to describe the design and elements of a group intervention for adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes and their families. Diabetes imposes considerable psychosocial demands on these adolescents and their families, which in many cases causes diabetes related family conflicts with a negative impact on the adolescent's glycemic control and self-care behaviors. The group intervention aims at improving the peer group support, problem-solving and communicative skills in the parent — adolescent relationships. A total of 60 adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes (age 13 to 18 years) and their parents were invited to participate in this study. A total of 19 adolescents agreed to participate. They were recruited from the list of outpatient clinics in two centers in Nord — Trøndelag county. Both the adolescents and their parents were completing a battery of self-report measures, including the modified quality of life measure for youths (Diabetes Quality of Life Questionnaire) at pre treatment, during treatment, post treatment and at one year follow up. In addition the adolescents were screened on their glycemic values (HbA1c) on a regular basis. In conclusion, the development of efficient psychosocial interventions are highly needed. Our intervention is peer-oriented and psychoeducative. Preliminary results based on interviews of the participants have demonstrated that the group interventions improved the parent — adolescent relationships. However, the analyses and results of the study with one year follow up will be presented later.


Ovulation is preceded by intraovarian inflammatory reactions that occur in response to the preovulatory gonadotropin surge. As a main inflammatory event, leukocytes infiltrate the ovary and release proteolytic enzymes that degrade the extracellular matrix weakening the follicular wall, a required step for follicle rupture. This study aimed to quantitatively measure the infiltrating leukocytes, determine their cell types, and localize infiltration sites in the periovulatory rat ovary. Cycling adult and gonadotropin-stimulated immature rats were used as animal models. Ovaries were collected at five different stages of estrous cycle in the adult rats (diestrus, 1700 h; proestrus, 1500 h; proestrus, 2400 h; estrus, 0600 h; and metestrus, 1700 h) and at five different time points after superovulation induction in the immature rats (pregnant mare's serum gonadotrophin, 0 h; pregnant mare's serum gonadotrophin, 48 h; human chorionic gonadotropin, 6 h; human chorionic gonadotropin, 12 h; and human chorionic gonadotropin, 24 h). The ovaries were either dissociated into a single cell suspension for flow cytometric analysis or fixed for immunohistochemical localization of the leukocytes. Similar numbers of leukocytes were seen throughout the estrous cycle (approximately 500,000/ovary), except proestrus 2400 when 2-fold higher numbers of leukocytes were found (approximately 1.1 million/ovary). A similar trend of periovulatory rise of leukocyte numbers was seen in the superovulation-induced immature rat model, recapitulating a dramatic increase in leukocyte numbers upon gonadotropin stimulation. Both macrophage/granulocytes and lymphocytes were among the infiltrating leukocytes and were localized in the theca and interstitial tissues, where platelet-endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 may play roles in the transmigration of leukocytes, because their expressions correlates spatiotemporally with the infiltrating leukocytes. In addition, a strong inverse relationship between leukocyte numbers in the ovary and spleen, as well as significant reduction of leukocyte infiltration in the splenectomized rats, were seen, indicating that the spleen may serve as an immediate supplier of leukocytes to the periovulatory ovary.


Author(s): Filonczuk, Maria K; Cayan, Daniel R; Riddle, Laurence G | Abstract: Visibility in coastal regions has a significant impact on government, commercial, and private sector activities. The primary phenomenon significantly affecting visibility along the western United States coastal regions is fog. Fog is a natural hazard to boating, commercial shipping, and other waterway activities.The West Coast of the United States has been identified as one of the major fog producing regions of the world. Present accuracy in predicting marine coastal fog and low stratus clouds is limited. Although most weather forecasting has improved with recent advances in atmospheric circulation models and satellite observations, there is relatively little operational guidance for the prediction of marine and coastal fog.Currently the forecasting of visibility relies mainly on the availability of local observations and experience with local weather tendencies. National Weather Service and other forecasters typically focus on selected local conditions which usually presage fog formation and if a sufficient number are present, they will forecast possible fog for the region. However, this level of information and experience is not available in all coastal areas. Results in this study suggest that attention to the large-scale circulation in addition to local conditions may lead to increased skill and accuracy in extended range forecasts.The large-scale structure and interannual variability of fog have not been well described because data has been unavailable and a large volume of data is required. In the present analysis, several years of observations from a set of coastal weather stations and a set of comprehensive marine weather reports (primarily ships) is used to examine large-scale processes and local conditions which affect fog formation. A discussion of fog observation criteria is given. In addition, evidence is provided by a collection of observations of hours of fog-horn operations at several coastal sites over 15 years, starting in 1950.The relationship between local and large-scale conditions, and fog and stratus formation may yield improved predictability of fog. This study indicates that large-scale conditions, especially regional-hemispheric circulation, are a vital component of both high and low fog occurrences; moreover, atmospheric circulation in the Eastern North Pacific Ocean and on the West Coast may contribute to improved forecasts for the development and persistence of fog.


Introduction Small bowel angiectasias (SBA) have been reported on capsule endoscopies in up to 60% of patients who present with obscure gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. They are commonly found in elderly patients with multiple co-morbidities who might be deemed high risk for double balloon enteroscopy (DBE) and argon plasma coagulation (APC). A proportion of patients continue to have recurrent bleeding despite endoscopic therapy. Pharmacological therapy can thus be a useful adjuvant treatment. The aim of this study was to assess the role of Lanreotide (long-acting somatostatin analogue) in patients with refractory GI bleeding. Method Patients with confirmed SBAs who were started on Lanreotide between January 2010 and December 2016 were included in this study. Baseline demographics were recorded. Efficacy was evaluated in terms of improvement in mean haemoglobin, transfusion requirements and bleeding episodes (>2 g/dl drop in HB or overt bleeding). Results Twelve patients (67% males, mean age 74 SD ±15.5 years), started on lanreotide were included. All patients had multiple comorbidities including ischaemic heart disease (92%), respiratory problems (59%), diabetes (58%) and chronic kidney disease (50%). Three patients (25%) had hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia. Fifty percent was on warfarin whilst 8% were on clopidogrel. Seventy-five percent of patients were on oral iron supplements, 17% were on intravenous iron and 33% were on tranexamic acid. The angioectasias were distributed in the small bowel in 66.7%, small bowel and colon in 8.3% and small bowel and stomach in 25%. Lanreotide was given at a dosage of 60 mg (42%), 90 mg (33%) or 120 mg (25%). It was given at a 4 weekly interval in 75% of patients and at a 6 weekly interval in 17% of patients. One patient (8%) received a single dose. The mean duration of treatment was 19 months SD ±14.5 (range 1–41 months). Only 17% of patients had their lanreotide stopped due to cholelithiasis. There was a significant improvement in mean baseline and follow up haemoglobin levels with lanreotide therapy: 86.8 vs 98.0 (131–166 g/L).(p=0.012) Mean number of bleeding episodes improved with lanreotide use (4.18 vs 1.09 p=0.010). There was a significant improvement in the number of packed red cells (PRCs) received before and after lanreotide (total PRCs: 323 vs 152 p=0.006; PRCs over 12 months: 275 vs 126 p=0.055). Patients required a reduced number of DBEs±APCs after starting lanreotide (n=11) when compared to before (n=19) (p=0.048). Conclusion Lanreotide is a useful adjuvant treatment with therapeutic enteroscopy in patients with refractory obscure GI bleeding due SBA. It effectively improves haemoglobin, reduces transfusion requirements, bleeding episodes and reduces the number of DBEs needed in difficult to treat patients. Overall, it has a good safety profile. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


This guide to Health Care Reform resources is designed as a starting point for HUS 2250 Policy & Organization students.


This thesis utilizes a virtue ethics framework to engage with the effects of global oppression and injustice on the selves of moral agents to provide an account of how to be virtuous in our non-ideal world. I outline several virtue ethics frameworks and highlight Lisa Tessman's account in Burdened Virtues (2005). Her account analyzes the harms of oppression in new ways. I outline four criticisms of her account and respond to each by arguing for an enhanced virtue ethics framework that incorporates a relational conception of the self. Through the understanding of human beings as fundamentally relational and interdependent, I provide an account of virtue ethics that moves beyond Tessman's. I argue for the sorts of virtues that emerge from this account, including the virtue of responsibility and an enhanced practical reasoning. These virtues assist agents to respond to others in morally appropriate ways and ensure collective well-being.


A case of a 59 year old male with infective endocarditis is presented. Antibiotic therapy seemed effective, however, inflammation laboratory parameters increased two weeks after clinical improvement and body temperature normalisation. Subsequent extensive laboratory investigations revealed multiple myeloma. The patient underwent successful aortic valve replacement and received pharmacological therapy for multiple myeloma. Difficulties in diagnosing and treatment of patients with infective endocarditis who have other concomitant diseases, are discussed.


Background An assessment of bone strength based on bone mineral density (BMD) underestimates the risk of fracture in patients with diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, using the trabecular bone score (TBS) for estimating bone microarchitecture, previous studies showed that bone fragility is associated with deterioration of the microstructure concomitantly with decreased BMD. This study was conducted to clarify which of these skeletal-related factors had a more prominent relationship with bone fragility. Research design and methods A retrospective cross-sectional study was performed at Shimane University Hospital. A total of 548 Japanese patients with T2DM [257 postmenopausal women and 291 men aged over 50 years] were included. TBS of the spine was computed from dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry images obtained from BMD measurements. Results Vertebral fractures (VFs) were identified in 74 (28.8%) women and 115 (39.5%) men. A relationship between BMD and VFs was observed in the limited subgroup of women with a BMD T-score ≤-1.0. According to multivariate logistic regression analysis, low TBS was significantly correlated with prevalent VFs, independent of BMD in both genders, except for men with a BMD T-score > -1.0. The decision tree showed that the priority factor for determining VFs was TBS, not BMD. Conclusion Spinal microarchitecture represented by TBS was a more dominant skeletal factor for bone fragility than the decrease in bone mass, independent of BMD, in patients with T2DM. This observation suggests that loss of structural bone quality was crucial underlying pathogenesis for bone brittleness in these populations, regardless of gender. An integrated assessment of bone strength by BMD and TBS would help diagnose diabetic osteoporosis.


Most impact evaluations of intimate partner violence (IPV) prevention interventions use binary measures of "any" versus "no" physical and/or sexual IPV as their primary outcome measure, missing opportunities to capture nuance. In this study, we reanalyzed secondary data from six randomized controlled trials conducted in low- and middle-income countries—Bandebereho (Rwanda), Becoming One (Uganda), Indashyikirwa (Rwanda), MAISHA CRT01, MAISHA CRT02 (Tanzania), Stepping Stones Creating Futures (South Africa), and Unite for a Better Life (Ethiopia), to assess how different conceptualizations and coding of IPV variables can influence interpretations of the impact of an intervention. We compared the standard outcome measures to new measures that reflect the severity and intensity of violence and whether interventions prevent new cases of IPV or reduce or stop ongoing violence. Results indicate that traditional binary indicators masked some of the more subtle intervention effects, and the use of the new indicators allowed for a better understanding of the impacts of the interventions. Conclusions on whether a program is perceived "to work" are highly influenced by the IPV outcomes that the investigators choose to report, and how they are measured and coded. Lack of attention to outcome choice and measurement could lead to prematurely abandoning strategies useful for violence reduction or missing essential insights into how programs may or may not affect IPV. While these results must be interpreted cautiously, given differences in intervention types, the underlying prevalence of violence, sociodemographic factors, sample sizes, and other contextual differences across the trial sites, they can help us move toward a new approach to reporting multiple outcomes that allow us to unpack the "impact" of an intervention by assessing intervention effect by the severity of violence and type of prevention, whether primary and secondary.