A technique to provide independent control on the amplitude and phase of two orthogonal linearly polarised light is presented. It is based on operating a commercial dual-polarisation dual-drive Mach Zehnder modulator (DPol-DDMZM) in reverse direction that routes the input light in slow and fast axis into two different DDMZMs. The technique has the advantage of controlling the phase of the slow-axis light and the amplitude of the fast-axis light has no effect on the light travelling in the orthogonal polarisation state. It has applications in linearised microwave photonic links, frequency multipliers and microwave phase shifters. A new microwave photonic Hilbert transformer based on using the reverse operating DPol-DDMZM to alter the phase of an RF modulation sideband without affecting the orthogonally polarised optical carrier is developed. Experimental results demonstrate 24.3 dB attenuation in the fast-axis light with no change in the slow-axis light, and 0°–360° RF phase shift for only 3.3 V change in DC voltage. The new Hilbert transformer with less than 2.5° phase imbalance and 0.4 dB amplitude ripples over 4–18 GHz frequency range is also demonstrated.


In this paper, we report about a multilevel case study on the introduction of enterprise architecture (EA) in the Norwegian hospital sector. We utilize institutional logics as a theoretical lens, focusing on the enterprise architects' logics that are underexplored in information systems research. We have collected empirical evidence at national (macro), regional (meso), and local (micro) levels. The findings are classified into nine categories with illustrative statements from the informants, demonstrating their reasoning about the contributions of EA. Furthermore, we identify tensions between enterprise architects and managers and between enterprise architects and medical actors, which indicate the co-existence of multiple competing institutional logics. The most prominent tension is the paradox of EA—demands for local flexibility and autonomy at the micro level versus the predefined rules and standardization that EA imposes across all levels—which makes the institutionalizing process challenging. The enterprise architect logics demonstrate similarities and differences across the various levels, indicating heterogeneity. We conclude this paper with a suggested persona of the enterprise architect, which illustrates the empirical findings.


Amorphous aluminophosphates nanoparticles with diameter sizes from 23 to 30 nm were used for the adsorption of lead ions (Pb2+) in aqueous solutions. The materials were biosynthesized using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a biological template. Adsorption studies were conducted using the batch method, employing 100 mg of the solid and 200 µg L-1 of lead ions. The quantitative determination of Pb2+ was carried out by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS). The percentage of removal (EF), adsorption capacity qe (µg g-1) and removal coefficient Kd (mL g-1) averaged 40, 90 and 800, respectively. The results showed the potential of these materials for the adsorption of Pb2+ ions, and that these materials are good candidates for use in the remediation of contaminated water.


This report presents a novel mechanism for remodelling a branched epithelial tree. The mouse renal collecting duct develops by growth and repeated branching of an initially unbranched ureteric bud: this mechanism initially produces an almost fractal form with young branches connected to the centre of the kidney via a sequence of nodes (branch points) distributed widely throughout the developing organ. The collecting ducts of a mature kidney have a different form: from the nephrons in the renal cortex, long, straight lengths of collecting duct run almost parallel to one another through the renal medulla, and open together to the renal pelvis. Here we present time‐lapse studies of E11.5 kidneys growing in culture: after about 5 days, the collecting duct trees show evidence of 'node retraction', in which the node of a 'Y'‐shaped branch moves downwards, shortening the stalk of the 'Y', lengthening its arms and narrowing their divergence angle so that the 'Y' becomes a 'V'. Computer simulation suggests that node retraction can transform a spread tree, like that of an early kidney, into one with long, almost‐parallel medullary rays similar to those seen in a mature real kidney.


EXPERT SYSTEMS IN THE CITY by Gordon Clarke IBC Financial Books Ltd, April 1989, 200 pages with index (£65.00). I guess that the fundamental difference between the 'City', and other industries is one of risk. In the 'City' it is a case of having all of one's eggs in one basket, and the value of that basket can rise or drop in an extremely short period of time. The crash of '87, and the wide gyrations of the sterling vis-5-vis other currencies are common experiences of the volatility of the current worth of the City. In comparison, whilst manufacturing industry is plagued by unstable currency exchanges, they are working over a longer time-frame and thus there are ways and means of mitigating the negative affects of currency differentials. Whilst much of this book deals with the principles and strategies of developing and using expert systems, there is relatively little, excluding the five case studies that relates directly to the 'City'. However, what makes this book of particular value is that it is written in the language and values of the 'City'. Thus whilst aimed directly at a specific interest market its contents are of interest to other builders of expert systems because of the fresh/novel way in which the problems, advantages and mechanisms of expert systems are explained and discussed. However, at £65.00 I wonder how many outside of the 'City' will find it value for money.


Evaluation of brainstem pathways with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tractography may provide insights into pathophysiologies associated with dysfunction of key brainstem circuits. However, identification of these tracts has been elusive, with relatively few in vivo human studies to date. In this paper we proposed an automated approach for reconstructing nine brainstem fiber trajectories of pathways that might be involved in pain modulation. We first performed native-space manual tractography of these fibers in a small normative cohort of participants and confirmed the anatomical precision of the results using existing anatomical literature. Second, region-of-interest pairs were manually defined at each extracted fiber's termini and nonlinearly warped to a standard anatomical brain template to create an atlas of the region-of-interest pairs. The resulting atlas was then transformed non-linearly into the native space of 17 veteran patients' brains for automated brainstem tractography. Lastly, we assessed the relationships between the integrity levels of the obtained fiber bundles and pain severity levels. Fractional anisotropy (FA) measures derived using automated tractography reflected the respective tracts' FA levels obtained via manual tractography. A significant inverse relationship between FA and pain levels was detected within the automatically derived dorsal and medial longitudinal fasciculi of the brainstem. This study demonstrates the utility of DTI in exploring brainstem circuitries involved in pain processing. In this context, the described automated approach is a viable alternative to the time-consuming manual tractography. The physiological and functional relevance of the measures derived from automated tractography is evidenced by their relationships with individual pain severities.


Microstructural characteristics and electrochemical properties of Mg40Al60 hydrogen storage alloy prepared by mechanical alloying (MA) method were studied by XRD, discharge capacities, polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopies(EIS). The intensities of XRD peaks become weak and XRD peaks have a broadening with the increment of ball milling time due to fine grain size and increased internal stress. The discharge capacities of the alloy increase before the alloyed powders were milled for 10h, but they decrease after the alloyed powders were milled for 10h with the increment of ball milling time. The discharge capacities are highest when the alloyed powders were milled for 10h. There are passive phenomena in polarization curves. The corrosion current densities increase with time at the beginning of ball milling and then decrease. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopies(EIS) are composed of a single capacitive loop and the electrode reaction is controlled by charge transfer at alloy/electrolyte interface.


In this paper an enhancement of the categorizing and learning module (CALM) is presented. The CALM neural network module was used as a basic building block of the more complex neural network for vision. The CALM module stands there as a model of cortical columns, which compose the primary visual cortex. The main disadvantage of the basic CALM model found in the previous research is that the module is not capable to detect a change of input signal automatically, which cannot be satisfactory from the biological point of view. We describe certain modifications of the structure and behavior of the module that make the model more autonomous and suitable for the modeling of the human visual cortex.


Higher plants synthesize 24-methyl sterols and 24-ethyl sterols in defined proportions. As a first step in investigating the physiological function of this balance, an Arabidopsis cDNA encoding an S-adenosyl-L-methionine 24-methylene lophenol-C24(1)-methyltransferase, the typical plant enzyme responsible for the production of 24-ethyl sterols, was expressed in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) under the control of a constitutive promoter. Transgenic plants displayed a novel 24-alkyl-Delta5-sterol profile: the ratio of 24-methyl cholesterol to sitosterol, which is close to 1 in the wild type, decreased dramatically to values ranging from 0.01 to 0.31. In succeeding generations of transgenic tobacco, a high S-adenosyl-L-methionine 24-methylene lophenol-C24(1)-methyltransferase enzyme activity and, consequently, a low ratio of 24-methyl cholesterol to sitosterol, was associated with reduced growth compared with the wild type. However, this new morphological phenotype appeared only below the threshold ratio of 24-methyl cholesterol to sitosterol of approximately 0.1. Because the size of cells was unchanged in small, transgenic plants, we hypothesize that a radical decrease of 24-methyl cholesterol and/or a concomitant increase of sitosterol would be responsible for a change in cell division through as-yet unknown mechanisms.


There are three processes weakly concentration-dependent that keep changes in concentration of atmospheric pressure from being a random walk—inhibition of net photosynthesis by oxygen, the passage of hydrogen through the oxidizing part of the atmosphere before it escapes from the earth, and burial of reduced carbon in anaerobic water. A stronger regulator seems desirable but remains to be found. The cause of the initial rise in oxygen concentration presents a serious and unresolved quantitative problem.


What are the benefits and costs to India of an enlarged foreign bank presence? Going by the three important criteria of access to financial services, efficiency and provision of credit, it is unlikely that foreign banks can do more than what the Indian banking system can provide. Add to that the risks posed by larger operations by foreign banks and there is a case for revisiting the 2005 road map of the Reserve Bank of India which indicated that these banks may be able to expand their presence after 2009.


The sorghum germplasm collection currently contains over 42 000 accessions, a number that is too large to manage efficiently. The specific objective of this research was to compare clusters developed from agronomic descriptors with phylogenetic groupings based on random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting of selected sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] races. Our intent was to identify one approach using agronomic descriptors that would most closely approximate the groupings produced by RAPD markers. Ninety-four accessions of sorghum were grouped into four of the five major races. Differences among accessions determined by various clustering procedures based on agronomic characteristics were compared with clusters developed by means of RAPD markers. Each race varied in the degree of similarity between the four clustering approaches taken and the information provided by RAPD fingerprinting. Test 2, standardization of data by Z-scores and cluster analysis using the complete set of data, provided the highest similarity score for the race bicolor, while Test 3, standardization of data by Z-scores and cluster analysis based on a reduced set of variables selected from principle component analysis, provided the highest similarity scores for the races guinea. Test 1, random selection, was highest for the races caudatum and durra. When averaged over all the races, Test 2 provided the highest similarity score. The results of this study indicate that no one approach to develop clusters by means of agronomic descriptors closely approximate the groupings produced by RAPD markers. These results underscore the need for further research in the evaluation of techniques used to develop core collections and their validity.


Following the devolution of affordable housing to lower levels of government, municipalities have been partnering with private developers to address the growing problem of hidden homelessness, through the inclusionary housing (IH) policy. Very little has been written about this policy in Ontario, hence the purpose of this qualitative case study was (i) to uncover how women experience hidden homelessness in Toronto and Barrie, (ii) to analyze, understand, and evaluate the implementation of IH policy in Ontario, and (iii) to examine the effect of IH policy as it relates to women experiencing hidden homelessness in Toronto and Barrie. In-depth interviews were conducted with eleven women who were currently experiencing hidden homelessness or had a history of hidden homelessness, five policy experts, two private developers, and five frontline workers from community organizations working to end homelessness in Toronto and Barrie. An intersectional gender-based analysis was used to uncover the prevalence of hidden homelessness among women, and the effect of the IH policy in addressing this problem. Data analysis was done using thematic analysis and particular attention
was given to women's experiences with hidden homelessness and the perspectives of policy-makers and stakeholders. The findings suggests that, women experiencing hidden homelessness were situated within a hostile housing market where some were compelled to live in unsafe, substandard, overcrowded conditions, and were exposed to violence, while others lived in houses they could not afford, often working two jobs to cover rent. Although the introduction of Bill 7of the Affordable Housing Act, 2016, gave municipalities authority to implement IH strategies to boost affordable housing stock, yet slow implementation processes, challenges in negotiating a happy medium, red tape and the high cost of land, minimizes the effect of the IH strategy in Ontario. As such, the IH policy has not yielded any significant effect in Toronto or Barrie, and is only targeted at middle to upper middle income earners, at the exclusion of low-income women experiencing hidden homelessness. In addition, poor conceptualization of gendered homelessness, coupled with the absence of gendered statistics, and gender neutrality in the formulation and implementation of the IH policy, exacerbates
women's experiences with hidden homelessness. Moreover, a lack of political will to end homelessness further dampens the effects of IH strategies. Participants suggested a more integrative, multidimensional approach to ending homelessness.


In vertebrates, body Fe homeostasis is maintained through the regulation of its intestinal absorption. In addition, because Fe is both essential and toxic, intracellular Fe levels are tightly regulated. Consequently, intestinal epithelial cells are in the unique position of being responsible simultaneously for the regulation of body Fe absorption and the regulation of their intracellular Fe levels to remain viable. We tested the hypothesis that the regulation of transepithelial Fe transport and the regulation of intracellular Fe levels are sensitive to a common effector. To this end, we used a recently developed protocol to obtain cultured intestinal epithelial cells with defined intracellular Fe concentrations. In these cells we tested Fe absorption and Fe regulatory protein (IRP) activities. We found that transepithelial Fe transport was inversely related to 20-200 microM intracellular Fe and that Caco-2 cells expressed Fe regulatory protein-1 and Fe regulatory protein-2 activities. Fe regulatory protein-1 activity, Fe regulatory protein-2 mass, transferrin receptor density, and ferritin levels were regulated by intracellular Fe in the same range (20-200 microM) that affected transepithelial Fe transport. These results suggest that a common Fe-responsive factor regulates both intracellular Fe levels and Fe absorption by Caco-2 cells.


The Italian administrative system is currently perceived as one of the main obstacles to a higher growth of the productive system. We argue that some causes of this ineffectiveness are deeply rooted and date back at the unification: a missing strong administrative tradition; an (excessive) political influence over the administration; the relevance of the juridical culture. We discuss in detail one specific "product" of the administration, its civil justice system, its inefficiencies over time and the potential reasons behind it. We then detail how some "reactions" to these inefficiencies have been in some cases the sources of further problems: an excessive number of (often too complicated) laws and administrative acts; the growth of administrative corruption; the creation of "public" agencies formally external to the administration. It is possibly in some of these elements that the reasons for the difficulties met by the reform processes initiated since the 1990s should be searched.


So far, in the area of Random Linear Network Coding, attention has been given to the so-called one-shot network coding, meaning that the network is used just once to propagate the information. In contrast, one can use the network more than once to spread redundancy over different shots. In this paper, we propose rank metric convolutional codes for this purpose. The framework we present is slightly more general than the one which can be found in the literature. We introduce a rank distance, which is suitable for convolutional codes, and derive a new Singleton-like upper bound. Codes achieving this bound are called Maximum Rank Distance (MRD) convolutional codes. Finally, we prove that this bound is optimal by showing a concrete construction of a family of MRD convolutional codes.


Vitamin D and calcium are one of the important constituents of good bone health. Bone disorders might be to the hormonal factors and lack of proper nutrition that leads to gradual bone loss. The current study aimed to explore the potential of Consciousness Energy Healing based vitamin D3 and DMEM medium on various bone health parameters. Vitamin D3 and DMEM medium as test items (TI), were divided into two parts. Each sample received the Consciousness Energy Healing Treatment by Sheila Maureen Benson and those samples were labeled as the Biofield Energy Treated (BT) samples, while the other parts of each sample were denoted as the untreated test items (UT). Bone health biomarkers such as alkaline phosphatase enzyme (ALP) activity, collagen levels and bone mineralization were measured. MTT data showed that cell viability was more than 70% and all the test items were found to be safe at the tested concentrations. ALP level was significantly increased by 135.9% and 134.5% at 1 and 50 µg/mL, respectively in the UT-DMEM+BT-TI, while 84.4%, 93.8%, and 50.0% at 1, 50, and 100 µg/mL, respectively in BT-DMEM+UT-TI group. In addition, BT-DMEM+BT-TI group showed increased ALP by 50.2% and 104.7% at 10 and 50 µg/mL, respectively as compared with the untreated test item and DMEM group. Collagen content was significantly increased by 463.6%, 387.9%, and 239.4% in the UT-DMEM+BT-TI, BT-DMEM+UT-TI, and BT-DMEM+BT-TI group, respectively at 0.1 µg/mL as compared with the untreated group. Moreover, the percent of bone mineralization was significantly increased by 131.7% and 81.7% at 1 and 10µg/mL, respectively in UT-DMEM+BT-TI group, while 83.1% and 53.6% at 10 and 50µg/mL, respectively in BT-DMEM+UT-TI group as compared with the untreated group. In addition, BT-DMEM+BT-TI group showed a significant increased bone mineralization by 152.3% and 108.3% at 50 and 100µg/mL, respectively as compared with the untreated group. Overall, the experimental data suggested that the Biofield Energy Treated vitamin D3 and DMEM would play an important role in the promotion and maintenance of strong and healthy bones, which improve quality of life. Biofield Energy Treatment might also regulates the osteoblast function, improves bone mineralization, and calcium absorption in wide range of bone disorders along with wide range of adverse health conditions, comprising cancer and certain autoimmune diseases.


Neutropenic enterocolitis is a frequent autopsy finding in adult patients with acute leukemias. The predisposing factors other than neutropenia are not clear. There are also contradictions about treatment. Therefore, this entity still presents a diagnostic and therapeutic dilemma for clinicians. This retrospective study was performed to determine the incidence of neutropenic enterocolitis in adult leukemic patients, to examine the possible risk factors, clinical characteristics and treatment outcome. The pathogenesis is also discussed considering clinical and laboratory findings of the patients. The incidence of neutropenic enterocolitis was 6.5% for acute myeloid leukemia and 4.6% for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The mean absolute neutrophil count at diagnosis was 48/mm3 (median: 0/mm3). The median duration of severe neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count < or = 500/mm3) on follow-up before the diagnosis was 32 days. Thirteen out of 20 patients had received antineoplastic drugs within the last 12 days, but 2 had not. Fourteen patients had signs of peritoneal irritation and 3 of them underwent surgery. The others received supportive measures, i.e. bowel rest, intravenous fluids, combinations of wide spectrum antibiotics, transfusions, hemodynamic supports and nasogastric decompression, if necessary. All 3 patients who underwent surgery survived, whereas only 1 of the 11 who received other treatments did. Six patients without signs of peritonitis were treated with antibiotics and the mentioned supportive measures. Four survived, but the others died due to sepsis. In conclusion, considering some recent reports that stated good outcome with conservative measures in the presence or absence of peritonitis, there is still debate regarding the optimal choice of treatment. The importance of early diagnosis cannot be overemphasized. Signs of peritoneal irritation indicate a life threatening condition. Surgery can be performed successfully in such patients. Long duration of neutropenia may be an important risk for neutropenic enterocolitis.


Mathematics has been called the science of order. The subject is remarkably good for generalizing specific cases to create abstract theories. However, mathematics has little to say when faced with highly complex systems, where disorder reigns. This disorder can be found in pure mathematical arenas, such as the distribution of primes, the 3n 1 conjecture, and class field theory. The purpose of this book is to provide examples - and rigorous proofs - of the complexity law: discrete systems are either simple or they exhibit advanced pseudorandomness; a priori probabilities often exist even when there is no intrinsic symmetry. Part of the difficulty in achieving this purpose is in trying to clarify these vague statements. The examples turn out to be fascinating instances of deep or mysterious results in number theory and combinatorics. This book considers randomness and complexity. The traditional approach to complexity - computational complexity theory - is to study very general complexity classes, such as P, NP and PSPACE. What Beck does is very different: he studies interesting concrete systems, which can give new insights into the mystery of complexity. The book is divided into three parts. Part A is mostly an essay on the big picture. Part B is partly new results and partly a survey of real game theory. Part C contains new results about graph games, supporting the main conjecture. To make it accessible to a wide audience, the book is mostly self-contained.


In peripheral lymphocytes, the transcription factors (TFs) NF‐κB, NFAT, and AP‐1 are the prime targets of signals that emerge from immune receptors. Upon activation, these TFs induce gene networks that orchestrate the growth, expansion, and effector function of peripheral lymphocytes. NFAT and NF‐κB factors share several properties, such as a similar mode of induction and architecture in their DNA‐binding domain, and there is a subgroup of κB‐like DNA promoter motifs that are bound by both types of TFs. However, unlike NFAT and AP‐1 factors that interact and collaborate in binding to DNA, NFAT, and NF‐κB seem neither to interact nor to collaborate. We show here that NF‐κB1/p50 and c‐Rel, the most prominent NF‐κB proteins in BCR‐induced splenic B cells, control the induction of NFATc1/αA, a prominent short NFATc1 isoform. In part, this is mediated through two composite κB/NFAT‐binding sites in the inducible Nfatc1 P1 promoter that directs the induction of NFATc1/αA by BCR signals. In concert with coreceptor signals that induce NF‐κB factors, BCR signaling induces a persistent generation of NFATc1/αA. These data suggest a tight connection between NFATc1 and NF‐κB induction in B lymphocytes contributing to the effector function of peripheral B cells.


Fertilized egg or totipotent zygote undergoes cleavage divisions to form a blastocyst, consisting of outer trophoectoderm cells and inner cell mass with pluripotent primitive ectoderm cells. Epigenetic reprogramming, erasure and maintenance of epigenetic modification, occurs during early embryogenesis. In 2004, we identified and characterized JMJD2A/JHDM3A, JMJD2B, JMJD2C, JMJD2D, JMJD2E and JMJD2F. JMJD2A, JMJD2B and JMJD2C share the common domain architecture with JmjN, JmjC, two PHD, and two TUDOR domains. In 2006, other groups characterized JMJD2 family members as the H3K9 and/or H3K36 histone demethylases. Here, comparative integromics analyses on JMJD2A, JMJD2B and JMJD2C were carried out. Mouse Jmjd2a was expressed in fertilized egg and 2-cell embryos, while human JMJD2A was expressed in undifferentiated and differentiated ES cells. AP1-binding site and six bHLH-binding sites within intron 13 of human JMJD2A gene were conserved in mouse Jmjd2a gene. Mouse Jmjd2b was expressed in 8-cell embryos and undifferentiated ES cells, while human JMJD2B was expressed in undifferentiated and differentiated ES cells. Two GATA-binding sites within intron 6 of human JMJD2B gene were conserved in mouse Jmjd2b gene. Mouse Jmjd2c and human JMJD2C were preferentially expressed in undifferentiated ES cells. Four NANOG-binding sites, one TCF/ LEF-binding site, and one bHLH-binding site were located within evolutionary conserved region at the 3'-flanking region of human JMJD2C gene. NANOG- TCF/LEF-, and bHLH-binding sites within the 3'-flanking region of human JMJD2C gene were conserved in chimpanzee, cow, mouse and rat JMJD2C othologs. Together these facts indicate that JMJD2C is the evolutionarily conserved target of Homeo-domain transcription factor NANOG, and that JMJD2C is the histone demethylase implicated in the epigenetic reprogramming during the early embryogenesis.


Ontology permits the addition of semantics to process models derived from mining the various data stored in many information systems. The ontological schema enables for automated querying and inference of useful knowledge from the different domain pro - cesses. Indeed, such conceptualization methods particularly ontologies for process management which is currently allied to semantic process mining trails to combine process models with ontologies, and are increasingly gaining attention in recent years. In view of that, this chapter introduces an ontology-based mining approach that makes use of concepts within the extracted event logs about domain processes to propose a method which allows for effective querying and improved analysis of the resulting models through semantic labelling (annotation), semantic representation (ontology) and semantic rea- soning (reasoner). The proposed method is a semantic-based process mining approach that is able to induce new knowledge based on previously unobserved behaviours, and a more intuitive and easy way to represent and query the datasets and the discovered models compared to other standard logical procedures. To this end, the study claims that it is possible to apply effective reasoning methods to make inferences over a process knowledge-base (e.g. the learning process) that leads to automated discovery of learning patterns and/or behaviour.


Mr. LIVINGSTONE (in reply) said he agreed that it was the method, rather than the thyroxine, which should be investigated. The results which he had obtained did not, he thought, justify controls being used at all. He did not know how to use controls effectively. He had a solution containing thyroxine, and a similar kind of solution without that drug, but he did not think even this was satisfactory. He thought that puncture of the drum should be carried out in a series of cases ; all controls must be over a long period. He did not feel optimistic as to ultimate or remote results.


The combination of photothermal therapy (PTT) and gene therapy (GT) has attracted intense interest in cancer treatment. However, the lack of long circulation and active tumor targeting reduces the therapeutic efficacy of complementary PTT/GT. In this work, hyaluronic acid (HA)-cloaked gold nanorods-PGED (prepared by ring-opening of polyglycidyl methacrylate (PGMA) with ethylenediamine (ED))/pDNA (AP/pDNA-HA) complexes were prepared to achieve long circulation and tumor targeting for photoacoustic imaging (PAI)-guided synergistic PTT/GT. Gold nanorods endow the complexes with photothermal effect and PAI function. Benefiting from the HA cloak, the AP/pDNA-HA complexes exhibit excellent stability, biocompatibility, long circulation behavior and active targeting. In addition, the pH-responsive characteristic of the Schiff base bonds helps the AP/pDNA-HA complexes to effectively escape from the endosome/lysosome. The antioncogene p53 was employed to investigate the gene transfection efficiency of the delivery system both in vitro and in vivo. The superiority of synergistic PTT/GT is established in a mouse 4T1 breast tumor model. The current study provides a facile strategy for constructing multifunctional gene delivery systems with long circulation and tumor targeting features, which can achieve effective imaging-guided synergistic tumor treatment.


The transcription factor NF-kB (nuclear factor-kappa B) plays an important role in the
regulation of the immune responses, cell proliferation and apoptosis. The present clinical trial tested the hypothesis that there is a positive correlation between NF-kB expression in inflammatory gastrointestinal tissue and psychometrically assessed, self-rated depression. A total of 52 patients were included in this prospective monocenter, observational study in whom biopsies were taken in a gastroscopic (n = 32) or colonoscopic examination (n = 20). In histological sections of the specimens, immunohistochemical stainings were performed to evaluate the level of NF-kB, MPO (myeloperoxidase) and iNOS (inducible nitric oxide synthase) expression. Prior to the endoscopic procedure, self-rated anxiety and depression were assessed using the German version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and individual quality of life was rated using the SF-36 questionnaire. The results showed that in total 40% (21/52) of the study cohort displayed positive HADS depression scores above the clinically relevant cut-off of ≥8. There was a positive and significant association between HADS depression and the expression level of NF-kB in samples from the upper gastrointestinal tract. Statistically significant relationships between the degree of NF-kB
immunoreactivity and the anxiety score or quality of life were not found. However, there was a significant correlation between NF-kB and iNOS expression levels. In summary, the study demonstrated a significant correlation between NF-kB expression in inflammatory gastrointestinal tissue and depression. Evidence of a similar association with comorbid anxiety was not found. Further investigations are needed to confirm these relationships and to identify the involved pathophysiological mechanisms.


PURPOSE
It has been suggested that malignant hyperthermia (MH) occurs more frequent in patients with neuromuscular diseases (NMD) than in patients without NMD when they are exposed to volatile anaesthetics and/or succinylcholine. However, whereas central core disease (CCD) and MH susceptibility (MHS) are closely associated, the relationship between MH and other NMD is still uncertain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the MH status of individuals with specific NMD with the in vitro contracture test (IVCT) and to ascertain the risk for MH in individuals with NMD.

METHODS
After institutional approval and informed consent, 29 patients of 3-59 years of age (27.2 +/- 17.3) with clinical suspicion for NMD and MH were enrolled in this prospective study. After excision of a skeletal muscle sample from M. vastus lateralis, patients were first classified as MHS, MH-equivocal (MHE) and MH-normal (MHN) by the IVCT according to the European MH protocol. Additionally, small muscle samples were excised from each patient for histological, histochemical and morphometric examination.

RESULTS
Fourteen patients were diagnosed by the IVCT as MHS and 9 as MHN. In 6 patients MH status was equivocal. In six patients CCD was diagnosed, in 14 individuals muscular dystrophies and in 5 patients myotonias. Two patients had unspecific myopathies and one patient a carnitine deficiency syndrome. One patient with Friedreich's ataxia was investigated because of a MH crisis and classified as MHE. All CCD patients and two of three individuals with Duchenne's muscular dystrophy were tested as MHS.

CONCLUSION
In this study 69% of the NMD patients were diagnosed as susceptible to MH with the IVCT. These results suggest, that NMD patients bear a high risk for MH. On the other hand, it has been discussed that in vitro contracture testing is not specific in NMD patients because skeletal muscle specimens from these patients have an elevated in vitro sensitivity. However, regarding our results and from a clinical point of view, patients with NMD should be treated like MHS individuals, unless they have undergone IVCT and were classified as MH-normal.


Measures to minimize myocardial damage have been an important target of research; therefore, a better understanding of the role of anesthetics in the prevention of myocardial injury may provide anesthesiologists with strategies to improve outcome. Myocardial ischemia initiates a range of cellular events, which are initially mild and become progressively damaging with increasing duration of ischemia. Perioperative myocardial ischemia is a serious adverse event that can increase morbidity and mortality after cardiac and noncardiac surgery. Several treatment approaches that prevent or lessen myocardial ischemia during and after surgery have been proposed. The use of particular anesthetics for the induction and maintenance of general anesthesia is one approach to protect against the adverse effects of ischemia. Experimental data indicate that some anesthetics, such as volatile general anesthetics, exert protective effects against ischemia–reperfusion injury that are independent of their hemodynamic effects. To approach this subject, several points should be well understood, such as myocardial metabolism, the pathophysiology of myocardial ischemia, myocardial stunning and hibernation, the effects of ischemia on myocardial metabolism, reperfusion injury, preconditioning, myocardial protection, temperature control, cardioplegia, ischemic and anesthetic preconditioning, and pharmacotherapy.


Every time a person encounters an object with a given degree of familiarity, he/she immediately knows how to grasp it. Adaptation of the movement of the hand according to the object geometry happens effortlessly because of the accumulated knowledge of previous experiences grasping similar objects. In this paper, we present a novel method for inferring grasp configurations based on the object shape. Grasping knowledge is gathered in a synergy space of the robotic hand built by following a human grasping taxonomy. The synergy space is constructed through human demonstrations employing a exoskeleton that provides force feedback, which provides the advantage of evaluating the quality of the grasp. The shape descriptor is obtained by means of a categorical non-rigid registration that encodes typical intra-class variations. This approach is especially suitable for on-line scenarios where only a portion of the object's surface is observable. This method is demonstrated through simulation and real robot experiments by grasping objects never seen before by the robot.


Sun, Air and Water are the most powerful sources of life on earth. Southern Orientation (SO) and Natural Cross Ventilation (NCV) are the best expressions of our relationship to those eternal forces. SO and NCV are behind any successful Passive Solar Design. Health, comfort, air quality, natural lighting, residential satisfaction, good micro-climatic conditions, green spaces, vegetation, energy-saving, and psychological well-being rely on these two archetypal determinants. Architectural practice is constantly accentuating the fact that our homes and cities need solar access and ventilation. Research in the Health and environmental sector reveals an urgent need for SO and NCV. Research from the real estate field is segmented and not conclusive on these values. People are buying apartments overlooking the importance of SO and NCV. Developers are building in a bulk manner, unaware of any benefits. Realtors are underestimating these qualities. Most importantly, valuers estimate all other factors, except these two. There is confusion on what has a real value for our life and to what extend this can be measured and quantified. Survey-based economic techniques will have to be employed for the valuation of SO and NCV as for now, according to research, they do not seem to have a market value (or price). We might have to rely more on "stated preference" models, in contrast to a price-based "revealed preference" model. The contribution of this work is intended to be the trigger to all, for attention on SO and NCV as archetypal determinants of value.


Openness to international trade and adoption of antitrust laws can both curb anticompetitive behavior. But scholars have long debated the relationship between the two. Some argue that greater openness to trade makes antitrust laws unnecessary, while others contend that antitrust laws are still needed to realize the benefits of trade liberalization. Limitations of data have made this debate largely theoretical to date. We study the relationship between trade and antitrust regimes empirically using new data on antitrust laws and enforcement activities. We find that openness to trade and stringency of antitrust laws are positively correlated from 1950 to 2010 overall, but the positive correlation disappears in the early 1990s as a large number of countries adopt antitrust laws. However, we find a positive correlation between openness to trade and resources and activities for antitrust enforcement for both early and late adopters of antitrust regimes during this period.


Many of the gene products that participate in nitrogen metabolism are sensitive to nitrogen catabolite repression (NCR), i.e., their expression is decreased to low levels when readily used nitrogen sources such as asparagine are provided. Previous work has shown this NCR sensitivity requires the cis-acting UASNTR element and trans-acting GLN3. Here, we extend the analysis to include the response of their expression to deletion of the URE2 locus. The expression of these nitrogen catabolic genes becomes, to various degrees, NCR insensitive in the ure2 deletion. This response is shown to be mediated through the GATAA-containing UASNTR element and supports the current idea that the NCR regulatory circuit involves the following steps: environmental signal-->URE2-->GLN3-->UASNTR operation-->NCR-sensitive gene expression. The various responses of the nitrogen catabolic genes' expression to deletion of the URE2 locus also indicate that not all NCR is mediated through URE2.


Fetal therapy is an advancing specialty but the assessment of effectiveness for many therapies has been limited to observational data1 ,2 with randomised controlled trials (RCTs) employed with varying success.3 ,4 More recently systematic reviews have been used to assess the quality and summarise the outcomes of this evidence.5 ,6

Our experiences from one such trial (the PLUTO study4) highlight the difficulties of such research. Congenital lower urinary tract obstruction (LUTO) may be identified using prenatal ultrasound and is associated with high mortality and morbidity (perinatal and childhood), due to pulmonary hypoplasia and chronic renal impairment.7–9 Ultrasound-directed, in utero, vesicoamniotic shunting (VAS) bypasses the congenital urethral obstruction with the aim of improving fetal outcome.1 ,2 ,10 Counselling parents faced with the difficult and distressing news that their baby has a significant problem antenatally is complex and compounded by uncertainties around the effectiveness of the often limited number of options. Providing clinicians with high quality evidence on which to base their counselling affords parents the opportunity to make informed choices and can help to remove some of the anxiety. The PLUTO study aimed to determine the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and patient acceptability of VAS for fetal LUTO, compared with conservative management. It comprised a multicentre, international RCT and a non-randomised cohort of pregnancies with LUTO (not recruited to the RCT due to patient or clinician preference).4 All fetal medicine centres within England, Scotland and The Republic of Ireland agreed to take part in the study along with the Dutch Obstetric Research Consortium. Expert opinions on the relative benefits of VAS and conservative management were elicited from fetal medicine specialists, paediatric nephrologists and paediatric urologists for use in a Bayesian analysis.11 The planned sample size of the trial was 150, …


This article shows the experimental results of the operational thermal cycling modeling of structural carbon steels with temperature range from the point of phase transition of type II cementite to the beginning of phase transformations of steel. In this study the influence of temperature that the number of thermal cycles and the histogram of temperature loading on the magnetic and mechanical properties of the steels were investigated. The possibilities of controlling the residual life of the elements, which are subjected to thermal cycling on changing the magnetic properties of metal, were determined. The functional dependence of the coercive force and hardness on the number of thermal cycles at a given temperature is obtained.


This article discusses one of the major challenges of US workplace policy: protecting roughly 35m workers who are vulnerable to a variety of major risks in the workplace. After laying out the dimensions of this problem, I show that the vulnerable workforce is concentrated in a subset of sectors with distinctive industry characteristics. Examining how employer organizations relate to one another in these sectors provides insight into some of the causes as well as possible solutions for redressing workforce vulnerability in the US as well as other countries facing similar problems.


Western American literature in the twentieth century has effectively mirrored life in the region. The West has for centuries seen more geographic movement, and accompanying cultural adjustment, than other American regions. These themes of movement and adjustment have dominated western writing. Literary historians' frameworks for categorizing and analyzing this writing have emphasized a tidy process of organic development in western writing, from "frontier fiction" to more mature "regional writing," or from frontier to regional to post-regional literature. Such models underestimate the degree to which movement and adjustment continued to shape western writing in the twentieth century and tend to separate literature produced by white Europeans from that of other cultural groups. This essay suggests that the more fluid movement and adjustment model can better illuminate the connections between ostensibly separate cultural literary streams.


There is a recent trend towards trade agreements that include trade related competition provisions. However there are large differences across these trade agreements in terms of how the competition provisions are addressed. In this context, this research report tries to analyse the competition provisions in few selected FTAs and draw lessons for India, which is also following the path of entering into trade agreements. The analysis suggests that cooperation in implementing competition laws is immensely helpful. However, at this moment, India can follow the EU style of agreements with competition provisions such as cooperation, exchange of non-confidential information, technical assistance and consultation.


Thermosensitive nanocarriers are increasingly used to allow time and site-specific drug release with minimized systemic toxicity. Thermal-triggered drug release is often governed by coil-globule, membrane disruption, and micellization mechanisms. However, premature and slow drug release, low stability, and insufficient bioavailability remain challenging in most nanocarriers which utilize these triggering mechanisms.
This work aimed to introduce a new triggering mechanism using polymers with gel-liquid phase transition at hyperthermia and thermal ablation temperatures. This phase transition could generate structural defects in nanocarriers and thus facilitate drug release. In addition, for accurate assessment of the heated region during in vitro evaluation of nanocarriers, a novel thermosensitive phantom was developed.
Nanocarriers were synthesized using mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) as drug reservoir and two polymer formulations including polyacrylamide (PAA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) as the protective nanoshells. The graft-from and graft-to techniques were respectively employed to prepare PAA-MSNs and PEG-MSNs. The phase transition behaviours as well as various chemical, morphological, and thermal properties of these nanocarriers were characterized and their drug loading and release potentials were investigated using doxorubicin as a hydrophilic model drug. Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) was also employed as a typical thermal modality to evaluate the drug release rates in short-term treatment intervals. The required phantom for MRgFUS experiments was developed using a thermochromic dye with reversible discolouration at hyperthermia range. Various physical, thermal, and acoustic properties of this phantom were measured to ensure their proximity to those of human
iv
soft tissues. The thermosensitive behaviour of this phantom was evaluated using radiofrequency (RF) and MRgFUS experiments. The aqueous solutions containing drug-loaded nanocarriers were further embedded within the phantom and sonicated by MRgFUS to determine their efficacy as adjuvants to this thermal modality.
Spectrophotometry analysis of the phantom showed a threshold temperature of 50±3°C with a 6°C difference between the onset and ending discolouration temperatures. The contrast change at focal point during sonication also allowed visualization of the thermal lesion in magnetic resonance images. The onset transition temperatures of PAA-MSNs and PEG-MSNs were 45.1±3.4°C and 40.4±1.8°C, respectively. The peak transition temperature of PEG-MSNs was also 20°C lower than that of PAA-MSNs, resulting in significantly sharper phase transitions. Drug release measurements for PAA-MSNs showed 11.5±2.4% leakage at 37°C after 30 minutes, while this value was significantly increased to 20.2±4.3% in PEG-MSNs. However, the maximum release ratio in PEG-MSNs (68.2±3.7%) was obtained at 50°C which was 10°C lower than that of PAA-MSNs (67.6±2.5% at 60°C). The drug release ratio from PEG-MSNs (45.5±3.1%) under MRgFUS exposure was also significantly higher than PAA-MSNs (39.2±2.2%).
Melting of polymer shells at hyperthermia and thermal ablation temperature ranges could provide thermal-triggered drug release from the core-shell nanocarriers with relatively low undesired release at physiological temperature. The drug release ratio from PEG-MSNs at physiological temperatures was higher than PAA-MSNs. However, the maximum drug release in these nanocarriers was obtained in significantly lower temperatures. Both PAA-MSNs and PEG-MSNs exhibited high loading efficiencies and rapid drug release rates at increased temperatures which make them promising for application as adjuvants to thermal modalities.


AIMS
The aim of this study was to understand the context of the inpatient setting for the treatment of anorexia nervosa and the implications for the therapeutic alliance between nurses and consumers.

BACKGROUND
The nature of the therapeutic alliance is dependent on the contextual factors that influence interactions. The inpatient setting for the treatment of anorexia nervosa is one such setting where the therapeutic alliance is operative, yet challenging and poorly understood.

DESIGN
A two-phase explanatory sequential design was employed. Descriptive statistics from phase one informed phase two interviews. Phase two data were analysed through thematic analysis.

METHODS
A convenience sample of nurses and consumers were recruited from six wards, in five hospitals. Phase one involved the completion of a survey (N = 128) that measured the strength of the therapeutic alliance, as well as other elements of ward context. Phase two interviews (N = 54) were focused on the therapeutic alliance between nurses and consumers and the implications of the inpatient setting. Data collection occurred between May 2014 - February 2015.

RESULTS
Anorexia nervosa as an illness carries destructive implications for the quality of the therapeutic alliance. Nurses' intimate position in the inpatient setting and interpersonal capacity is influential in overcoming the obstacles that impede the therapeutic alliance.

CONCLUSION
Nurses' capacity for developing therapeutic alliances is in part dependent on a supportive ward organization and the adequacy of resources to permit meaningful interactions with consumers with anorexia nervosa. Understanding the contextual factors specific to the inpatient setting enhances nurses' ability to develop therapeutic alliances.


Highly Pathogenic H5N1 influenza viruses have repeatedly caused serious outbreaks of disease in poultry since its first report in 1997. The disease is a major concern because of its economic impact on poultry industry due to high mortality and potential threat to human health. Outbreaks due to highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus were reported for the first time in India during 2006, in Jalgoan and Navapur areas of Maharashtra state. Three virus isolates of H5N1 obtained from the backyard poultry were used in this study for molecular characterization. To study the phylogenetic relationship of H5N1 virus isolates with other H5N1 viruses, world over, complete genome of all the eight RNA segments were amplified, sequenced and subjected to phylogenetic analysis. The phylogenetic tree shows that the viruses belong to clade 2.2 and were most likely introduced to India from China via Europe because isolates share a direct ancestral relationship with the virus isolates of china. The presence of polybasic amino acids at HA cleavage site and also amino acid lysine at 627 position of PB2 protein suggested their capability to cross the host barrier. This change had indicated the propensity of viruses to infect non-avian species and its threats to humanbeing.


To the Editor.— A recent article by Lewis and Winokur (Archives1982; 39:303-306) concluded with the suggestion that the "so-called switch effect due to TCA [tricyclic antidepressant] reported in the past probably represents random manifestations of bipolar illness," thus contradicting the common clinical observation of switch phenomena induced by TCAs in this population. Although the authors correctly pointed out the important clinical and theoretic implications of their finding, their design seems to suffer from methodologic flaws that severely limit interpretation of their results. An appropriate control group for this study would have been a sample of patients with bipolar illness at equal risk for switch, who did not receive treatment and were followed up for an equivalent time period. Factors likely to contribute to variance in risk might include current clinical state, prior frequency of cycling, and duration of the observation period after treatment assignment. Unfortunately, the Lewis and


Samples of particles from Mount St. Helens were collected in both the stratosphere and troposphere for measurement of the light absorption coefficient. Results indicate that the stratospheric dust had a small but finite absorption coefficient ranging up to 2 x 10(-7) per meter at a wavelength of 0.55 micrometer, which is estimated to yield an albedo for single scatter of 0.98 or greater. Tropospheric results showed similar high values of an albedo for single scatter.


This paper reports on the application of radar satellite data and Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PS-InSAR) techniques for the detection of ground deformation in the semi-arid loess region of Lanzhou, northwestern China. Compared with Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR), PS-InSAR overcomes the problems of temporal and geometric de-correlation and atmospheric heterogeneities by identifying persistent radar targets (PS) in a series of interferograms. The SPINUA algorithm was used to process 40 ENVISAT ASAR images for the study period 2003–2010. The analysis resulted in the identification of over 140000 PS in the greater Lanzhou area covering some 300 km2. The spatial distribution of moving radar targets was checked during a field campaign and highlights the range of ground instability problems that the Lanzhou area faces as urban expansion continues to accelerate. The PS-InSAR application detected ground deformations with rates up to 10 mm a−1; it resulted in the detection of previously unknown unstable slopes and two areas of subsidence.


A fundamental understanding of the Ostwald ripening effect (ORE) during the mechanochemical synthesis of PbTe nanostructures is presented. The ripening process involves the coarsening of larger particles from those of smaller size; this phenomenon was systematically evaluated at different stages of milling by microscopy analyses (AFM, TEM, STEM and HRTEM). At the early stage of milling, smaller particles and quantum dots are eventually dissolved to lower the total energy assciated with their surfaces. The ripening process - during milling - involves short-range mass transfer among particles. HRTEM analyses allowed us to identify that coarsening occurs by thermo-mechanically activated cooperative mechanisms. The detachment of the atoms from smaller particles to form bigger ones plays a major role in the particle coarsening. It was found that the coarsening process was not limited to crystalline nanostructures; so grain boundaries, edge dislocations and boundaries among crystalline and amorphous phases also play an important role to determine how species migration contributes to generate coarse particles. Those serve as sites for inducing coarsening in an equivalent way as surfaces do. Secondary ion mass spectrometry and elemental chemical mapping (EDX-STEM) revealed that both the purity and the chemical homogeneity of the PbTe nanostructures are prominent features of this material. Additionally, a direct band gap enhancement (780 nm) compared to bulk PbTe (3859 nm) was detected. It occurred due to the quantum confinement effect, lattice imperfections and even surface properties of the nanostructures. It is important to point out that the whole optical behaviour of the PbTe nanostructures was dependent upon the embedded nanoparticles and quantum dots in the clusters and coarse particles ranging from 15 nm to 35 nm.


Text has always been a key source of data for political scientists. In the past five to ten years, new techniques have automated some components of text analysis, allowing researcher to classify, categorize, and find meaning in large collections of text. I argue that text as data in political science has moved through two distinct approaches and is on the cusp of a third. The first generation consisted of simple text matching operations, where documents are searched for keywords or phrases were checked against hand-built dictionaries. The second generation introduced machine learning methods, operating on documents represented as "bags-of-words", where word order is discarded and documents are treated as counts of the words they use. The second generation has given us the staple techniques of text analysis in political science, including supervised document classification and topicmodeling through latentDirichlet allocation (Blei, Ng, and Jordan 2003) or the structural topicmodel (Roberts et al. 2013). The third generation will be characterized by word order-aware machine learning models, informed by research in natural language processing. These two techniques may perform better than the second generation on some existing tasks, but more importantly, this "linguistic turn" in political text analysis will enable wholly new methods of extracting meaning from text.


The rapid growth of Australian mineral exports, through its effect on the balance of payments, is a significant force for structural change in other sectors. From the viewpoint of the rural sector which exports and the manufacturing sector which competes with imports, this force will be similar to that which would flow from very large tariff changes. Consequently, by observing the adjustments of the rural and manufacturing sectors to the rapid growth of mineral exports, it is possible to calculate indirect estimates of the effect of the Australian tariff on them. It is calculated that the mineral discoveries have had a much greater effect on these sectors than the recent across the board 25 per cent general reduction of tariffs.


Introduction: The most important priority for healthcare providers is to provide high quality and safe services
to patients and nurses' role in ICUs is very important due to the complexity of their profession and the
importance of care for critical patients. Therefore, identifying the weaknesses and strengths of the patient
safety culture is a step towards the advancement of safety culture.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the safety culture of nurses in the intensive care units of
Qazvin University of Medical Sciences.

Patients and Methods: This study is a descriptive-correlation one which was conducted on 214 nurses
working in the intensive care units who had the inclusion criteria. To collect data "Hospital Survey on Patient
Safety Culture; HSOPSC" was used. This questionnaire has 42 questions that examine the safety culture in
12 composites. The questionnaires were distributed among all the nurses working in the target departments
of different hospitals and detailed information about the questionnaire was given. After data collection, the
data were analyzed using SPSS v23.

Results: The mean percentage of positive responses to the safety culture questionnaire in intensive care unit
was 75.39%. The strengths of the patient safety culture were related to teamwork expectations within units
(67.3%), management support for patient safety (62.6%), and teamwork across units (62.6%) and the lowest
score for the patient safety culture was related to the non-punitive response to errors (3.3%) and staffing
issues (4.2%) and also communication openness (23.8%).

Conclusion: The status of the safety culture in intensive care units of Qazvin is acceptable. However, the
attention of nursing managers in some areas in planning and policymaking to promote the patient safety
culture seems necessary


The effects of several forms of plasminogen on the state of actin cytoskeleton of human platelets were studied. A ratio between various actin pools, which were detected by immunoblotting, was taken as indicator of platelet cytoskeleton reorganization. It was revealed that intact platelets contain globular (G) actin and membrane cortex (MC) actin in amounts that are 56 and 40% of filamentous (F) actin level, respectively. In both thrombin- and collagen-activated platelets, actin is almost entirely presented in F-form. Incubation of resting platelets with Lys-plasminogen causes elevation of MC-actin level up to 79% in respect to F-form content. In addition, Lys-plasminogen inhibits reorganization of actin cytoskeleton typical for activated platelets. In contrast to Lys-form, Glu-plasminogen affects neither platelet aggregation nor redistribution of actin pools. Thus, these data indicate that cytoskeletal structures of platelets are involved in realization of anti-aggregating effects of Lys-plasminogen.


Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is an infectious disease caused by various species of leishmania protozoan parasites. Lupoid CL is a rare form of CL that has a stunning similarity to other granulomatous cutaneous conditions of infectious or inflammatory origin. Verruca plana, also known as a "flat wart", is a benign proliferation of the skin resulting from infection with human papilloma virus (HPV). Herein, we presented a case of lupoid CL mimicking verruca plana on the face.


The Panama Leaks is a high-profile issue in the political landscape of Pakistan. The Court trail of Ex-Prime Minster (Muhammad Nawaz Sharif) and his family on Panama case were analyzed in this study covering Pakistan"s Urdu and English newspapers. In this study the content analysis method has been used. For analyzing panama leaks issue four leading newspapers of Pakistan, two English newspapers The Dawn and The Nation and two Urdu Newspapers Daily Express and Daily Jang have been selected. Five frames Conflict, Public interest, Responsibility, Economic Consequences and Morality have been selected from the previous study of Holli A. Semetko and Patti M. Valkenbur (2000). 437 news stories on panama leaks were collected from news of front pages and editorial pages of leading newspapers. Overall the coverage on Panama case in Urdu leading newspapers was more than English newspapers. More over the seriousness towards panama issues was higher in both Urdu and English newspapers. The topic which excessively covered by the selected leading newspapers during timeline was "Court Proceeding" and "conferences/Statements". However the space has been given to Panama stories in Daily Jang was significantly higher than other newspapers.


Composite Binary Offset Carrier (CBOC) modulation has been selected for the future Galileo signals to be used in mass-market applications. CBOC consists of a superposition of two sine Binary Offset Carrier (BOC) waveforms: a sine BOC(1,1) and a sine BOC(6,1) component. CBOC modulation has higher spectral components than BPSK modulation currently used in GPS, and therefore would require a wider bandwidth than what is currently used in mass-market GPS receivers in order to achieve the full performance. Fortunately, CBOC signals can be processed with a sine BOC(1,1) receiver, with lower bandwidth and sampling frequency needs. This paper analyzes how much deterioration (if any) in terms of tracking accuracy (i.e., code tracking error variance and robustness to multipath) occurs when we process a CBOC signal with a reference sine BOC(1,1) receiver (instead of processing it with a CBOC receiver). The analysis focuses especially on narrowband receiver cases (i.e., front-end double-sided bandwidth lower or equal to 5 MHz), which are the cases of interest in mass-market applications. Analytical closed-form expressions of signal Power Spectral Densities (PSD) are derived by taking into account the rate differences of the two components of CBOC signal, and tracking results are analyzed in terms of tracking error variances and multipath error envelopes.


Experiments were conducted both to evaluate the potential for grain refinement, the subsequent mechanical properties at room temperature in samples of AZ31 Mg alloy and also to investigate the relationship between one-step and two-step high ratio extrusion (HRE). The one-step HRE was undertaken using a high extrusion ratio of 70:1 at 250, 300 and 350°C. And the two-step HRE was conducted with an extrusion ratio of 7 for the first step at 250, 300 and 350°C, followed by a second-step extrusion with an extrusion ratio of 10 at 250, 300 and 350°C. The initial grain size in the AZ31 ingot was 100μm and that after one-step HRE became similar to 5μm, after two-step HRE at 250, 300 and 350°C were 2, 4, 7μm, respectively, resulting in superior mechanical properties at ambient temperature. The microstructure of two-step HRE was finer and uniformer than that of one-step HRE and the strength of one-step and two-step HRE were similar, moreover, the elongation of one-step HRE was improved markedly than that of two-step HRE. Dynamic recrystallization and adjacent grain broking during HRE is introduced to explain the effects of one-step and two-step HRE on the microstructure and mechanical properties of AZ31 Mg alloy. The current results imply that the simple HRE method might be a feasible processing method for industry applications, and the multiply steps extrusion are effective to fabricate high strength of fine grained hcp metals.


Since the early 1990s, as the United States borrowed heavily from the rest of the world, employment in the US goods-producing sector has fallen. We construct a dynamic general equilibrium model with several mechanisms that could generate declining goods-sector employment: foreign borrowing, nonhomothetic preferences, and differential productivity growth across sectors. We find that only 15.1 percent of the decline in goods-sector employment from 1992 to 2012 stems from US trade deficits; most of the decline is due to differential productivity growth. As the United States repays its debt, its trade balance will reverse, but goods-sector employment will continue to fall.


This paper presents FTM–West, a partial market equilibrium model designed to project future wood market impacts of significantly expanded fuel treatment programs that could remove trees to reduce fire hazard on forestlands in the U.S. West. FTM–West was designed to account for structural complexities in marketing and utilization that arise from unconventional size distributions of trees and logs removed in fuel treatment operations as compared with conventional timber supply in the West. For example, tree size directly influences market value and harvest cost per unit volume of wood, whereas log size influences product yield, production capacity, and processing costs at sawmills and plywood mills. Market scenarios were projected by FTM–West for two hypothetical fuel treatment regimes that yield wood with divergent size class distributions, evaluated at two hypothetical levels of administrative cost or government subsidy. Results suggest that timber markets could economically utilize substantial volumes of wood from hypothetical treatment programs, even without any subsidy. Given an optimistic overall market outlook, model results indicate potential for expansion of total wood harvest in the West if fuel treatment programs will permit significantly expanded wood supply from forest thinning, in which case fuel treatment programs could partially displace timber harvest from conventional supply sources (mainly state and private forestlands), reduce timber prices, and offset regional timber revenues, while expanding regional forest product output.


A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of major skin diseases of cattle in and around Hawassa from November 2011 to April 2012. Both clinical and laboratory examinations of samples from skin were carried out. Of the total 384 cattle examined, 66 (17.19%) were clinically infected with different skin diseases of various etiologic origin. The most commonly encountered skin diseases were dermatophytosis (8.32%), acariasis (3.13%), pediculosis (2.60%), lumpy skin disease (1.62%) and dermatophilosis (1.56%). No significant differences (P>0.05) were observed among age, breed and managemental groups in relation to the prevalence of dermatophilosis and lumpy skin disease whereas significantly (P 0.05) was seen between sex and breed groups. In pediculosis cases, the major lice encountered were Bovicola, Haematopinus and Linognatus species. Statistically significant (p<0.05) difference was observed in two sex groups regarding to acariasis infestations. The frequent sites of ringworm lesions were on the hump, sacral areas, face and base of the horn, ears and sides of the body. Acariasis, dermatophilosis, dermatophytosis, lumpy skin disease and pediculosis were the major skin problems in the study area. Therefore, strategies have to design by professionals, regional governments and tanneries to fight these skin diseases of cattle.


The Ivrea-Verbano zone has been cited repeatedly as an exposed pre-Alpine crust-mantle transition on the basis, in part, of the presence of lenses of mantle peridotite and a possible petrologic Moho. A 10-km-thick mafic complex has been described as an intrusion at the contact between the mantle and a thick crustal sequence of metamorphosed wacke and pelitic rocks. The significance of these features is now challenged by new mapping that demonstrates that mantle peridotites in the southern Ivrea-Verbano zone were lenses tectonically interfingered with metasedimentary rocks prior to intrusion of the gabbroic complex. Although it remains possible that the Ivrea-Verbano section exposes part of a complex crust-mantle interface within which crustal and mantle rocks were interleaved, the association of peridotite and metasedimentary rocks is also consistent with assembly in an accretionary wedge. In either case, present exposures are from an unknown distance above the pre-Alpine contiguous mantle and reference to the section as a complete crust-mantle transition could be misleading.


There exist many embedded applications such as those executing on set-top boxes, wireless base stations, HDTV, and mobile handsets that are structured as nested loops and benefit significantly from software managed memory. Prior work on scratchpad memories (SPMs) focused primarily on applications with regular data access patterns. Unfortunately, some embedded applications do not fit in this category and consequently conventional SPM management schemes will fail to produce the best results for them. In this work, we propose a novel compilation strategy for data SPMs for embedded applications that exhibit irregular data access patterns. Our scheme divides the task of optimization between compiler and runtime. The compiler processes each loop nest and inserts code to collect information at runtime. Then, the code is modified in such a fashion that, depending on the collected information, it dynamically chooses to use or not to use the data SPM for a given set of accesses to irregular arrays. Our results indicate that this approach is very successful with the applications that have irregular patterns and improves their execution cycles by about 54% over a state-of-the-art SPM management technique and 23% over the conventional cache memories. Also, the additional code size overhead incurred by our approach is less than 5% for all the applications tested


This paper seeks to establish how access to home ownership has been or is being affected by recent changes in the Australian labour market. This is an important research question given the evidence suggesting that the traditionally high proportion of homebuyers in Australia n as distinct from outright owners within the population has fallen by about ten percent over the last decade (Yates 1997, 1999). The research is based on a national survey of first time homebuyers in South Australia, New South Wales and Western Australia and this paper reports on the preliminary findings.


This paper analyzes the derivations of the DE construction, showing that an antecedent-free DE construction is derived by deverbalization and an antecedent-dependent DE construction is derived by ellipsis. Semantically, the former process is substantivization and the latter defocalization. Relating the antecedent-dependent DE construction to other nominal ellipses and the verb gapping construciton, I discuss a new type of ellipsis which can take an ellipsis site as its linguistic antecedent. Furthermore, I argue that the syntactic status of the word de in a nominal is a functional category, heading an nP consistently.


Due to a shortage of special education teachers and an increase in the number of students with disabilities, the use of paraeducators is common. Paraeducators frequently provide instruction, under the direction of a teacher, to support elementary students with disabilities in elementary school classrooms. However, if and how paraeducators implement foundational instructional strategies is largely unknown (e.g., opportunities to respond [OTR], praise). Likewise, how students with disabilities respond to paraeducators' instructional behaviors is also unknown. With decades of evidence indicating that contextual factors (e.g., group size, activity type) influence interactions between educators and students, we relied on ecobehavioral assessment to measure paraeducators' use of core instructional strategies and students' response in the natural context. Our results indicated a correlation between higher rates of paraeducator-delivered OTRs and praise statements and increased student engagement. Of concern, paraeducators infrequently used core, evidence-based instructional approaches, and students often were not engaged. Findings suggest increased student engagement may depend on professional development efforts aimed at improving paraeducators' implementation of these essential core strategies.


Since the advent of international assistance, the aid paradigm has changed continually and the choice of mechanisms for providing assistance has evolved in order to try and pursue better approaches. Along with the traditional project approach, the sector-wide approach involving budgetary support has emerged as a new aid modality since the mid-1990s. While many donors – e.g. the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the World Bank and the European Union (EU) – have embraced the new modality, some donors have kept their distance from this trend, relying mostly on project assistance – e.g. United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). However, the extent to which aid resources are absorbed in the recipient government/sector under the different aid delivery mechanisms is not well known. This thesis provides insight into this question by exploring the process of absorbing foreign funds in the education sector. Employing a phenomenological research approach, the process is examined from the point of view of local actors and beneficiaries of aid aimed at improving education quality. The context chosen is basic education (primary and junior secondary) in Ghana after the introduction of the national basic education reform, which was announced as the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme in 1996. Two cases are chosen for comparison: the Whole School Development (WSD) programme financed by the DFID; and the Quality Improvements in Primary Schools (QUIPS) programme facilitated by USAID. The former constitutes a sector-wide type of assistance, which put Ghanaian officials in charge of DFID funds and the implementation of the programme; while the latter adopted a project type model, with implementation managed directly through a USAIDfunded project office. The major part of the data is derived from interviews conducted in 2006 with significant educational personnel at three different levels: Ministry of Education (MoE) headquarters, the District Education Office (DEO), and the schools). The analysis reveals a complex picture of aid absorption, which illuminates the pros and cons of the two approaches in relation to impact and sustainability. The study finds that the QUIPS project achieved tangible results in the pilot schools, while the WSD programme made little impact at the school level. The WSD programme, which used existing structures within the education system to deliver funds and resources to schools, showed evidence of high fungibility, but appears to have strengthened the Ministry"s administrative capacity. On the other hand, the QUIPS approach, which had low fungibility, has been severely criticised by Ghanaian officials, who questioned its sustainability and contribution to system-wide change. The thesis concludes by stating its specific contribution to the literature on international aid assistance to developing countries and making recommendations for the Ghanaian context.


The adaptability is important in the technological reformation of industrial building. Bracket girder and cut column (BGCC), are widely used to expand the space and to increase the inner working room of the buildings. Reformation of the exiting industrial building is limited to the continuous and non-stop working and (must be) in service and the reformation is required to be non-stop. Industrial buildings, especially the industrial single-storey workshops mostly belong to static determinate and low-order static indeterminate structures and many risks may be faced during the BGCC reformation under the complicated working conditions, such as variable structure risk, structural failure caused by overload, injuries of workers resulted from the unsafe construction, injuries of the production workers due to construction operation, etc. Research on the safety risk management of the industrial building BGCC reformation is of great significance for ensuring the technological transformation of industrial enterprises and controlling the risks from the reformation of adaptability of industrial buildings in China. Consequently, based on the approaches of risk identifying on work decomposition structure(WBS) and the questionnaire, the whole process design and construction management methods are proposed to control the risks in the reformation of the exiting industrial buildings, and the total management of construction process can be used to reduce injury risks of engineering staffs. In this paper, the technological key points of the whole process design control and construction management are discussed in details based on examples of BGCC reformation of exiting industrial single-storey buildings and the corresponding injury risk management methods are suggested.


In innate immune system cells, such as macrophages and dendritic cells, deployment of inducible gene expression programmes in response to microbes and danger signals requires highly precise regulatory mechanisms. The inflammatory response has to be tailored based on both the triggering stimulus and its dose, and it has to be unfolded in a kinetically complex manner that suits the different phases of the inflammatory process. Genomic characterization of regulatory elements in this context indicated that transcriptional regulators involved in macrophage specification act as pioneer transcription factors (TFs) that generate regions of open chromatin that enable the recruitment of TFs activated in response to external inputs. Therefore, competence for responses to a specific stimulus is programmed at an early stage of differentiation by factors involved in lineage commitment and maintenance of cell identity, which are responsible for the organization of a cell-type-specific cis-regulatory repertoire. The basic functional and organizational principles that regulate inflammatory gene expression in professional cells of the innate immune system provide general paradigms on the interplay between differentiation and environmental responses.


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Synergy, emerges from synchronized reciprocal positive feedback loops between a network of diverse actors. For this process to proceed, compatible information from different sources synchronically coordinates the actions of the actors resulting in a nonlinear increase in the useful work or potential energy the system can manage. In contrast noise is produced when incompatible information is mixed. This synergy produced from the coordination of different agents achieves non-linear gains in free energy and in information (negentropy) that are greater than the sum of the parts. The final product of new synergies is an increase in individual autonomy of an organism that achieves increased emancipation from the environment with increases in productivity, efficiency, capacity for flexibility, self-regulation and self-control of behavior through a synchronized division of ever more specialized labor. Examples that provide quantitative data for this phenomenon are presented. Results show that increases in free energy density require decreases in entropy density. This is proposed as a law of thermodynamics.


BACKGROUND
Mesenchymal stem/stromal cell (MSC) derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a possible cell-free alternative to MSCs because they retain the regenerative potential of MSCs, while still mitigating some of their limitations (such as the possible elicitation of host immune responses). The promotion and restoration of angiogenesis, however, is an important component in treating trauma related injuries, and has not been fully explored with EVs. Herein we describe the effects of monolayer adipose-derived EVs (MAd-EVs), spheroid adipose-derived EVs (SAd-EVs), monolayer bone marrow-derived EVs (MBM-EVs), and spheroid bone marrow-derived EVs (SBM-EVs) on human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) tube formation and mitochondrial respiration.

METHODS
The successful isolation of EVs derived from adipose MSCs or bone marrow MSCs in monolayer or spheroid cultures was confirmed by NanoSight (particle size distribution) and Western blot (surface marker expression). EV angiogenic potential was measured using a 24-hour HUVEC tube formation assay. EV effects on HUVEC mitochondrial function were evaluated using the Seahorse respirometer machine.

RESULTS
The number of junctions, branches, and the average length of branches formed at 24 hours of tube formation were significantly affected by cell and culture type; overall adipose-derived EVs outperformed bone marrow-derived EVs, and spheroid-derived EVs outperformed monolayer-derived EVs. Additionally, adipose-derived EVs resulted in significantly increased HUVEC mitochondrial maximal respiration and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production, while only MBM-EVs negatively impacted HUVEC proton leak.

CONCLUSIONS
Adipose-derived EVs promoted HUVEC tube formation significantly more than bone marrow-derived EVs, while also maximizing HUVEC mitochondria function. Results demonstrate that, as with MSC therapies, it is possible to tailor EV culture and production to optimize therapeutic potential.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Basic or Foundational Research; Original Article.


Protected Areas in the Mediterranean significantly contribute to sustaining the economy of the region. Covering around 300,000 Km2, they provide freshwater flows, resources for hydropower, recreation and tourism, fisheries, biodiversity, and other ecosystem services. Regional assessments have concluded that a major effort needs to be made to solve their state of chronic under-funding. The Murcia Conference on Protected Areas in the Mediterranean and the Vth World Parks Congress, identified a wide range of alternatives for generating revenues, emphasizing the need to develop innovative funding approaches such as debt swaps, endowment funds, and payment for ecosystem services; to improve development policies (e.g. by reforming subsidies); and to share costs and benefits through co-management and local participation. In this paper we review the degree of implementation of the recommendations for the Mediterranean, assessing the general financing needs and gaps, the main funding sources, and identifying the most important financing actions.


This article presents the innovative manufacturing and 3-dimensional packaging of a miniaturized ultrasonic transducer for medical applications. A spirally rolled-up flexible circuit was employed for the interconnection of a linear transducer array to be used in a needle size footprint. Photolithography, precision dicing and low temperature conductive bonding are amongst the technologies under investigation for the realization of this high frequency ultrasound device.


With global concern for climate change, and for cutting down the energy cost, especially in off grid areas, use of renewable energy has been gaining widespread attention in many areas including cellular communication. The base station (BS) has emerged as a strong candidate for the integration of renewable energy sources (RES), particularly solar and wind. The incorporation of renewable energy opens many possibilities for energy conservation through strategies such as energy cooperation between BSs during the off-peak hours, when the energy harvested from renewable energy sources may become surplus. In this paper, we present the case for cellular BSs enabled with renewable energy sources (RES) to have an arrangement in which the BS provide surplus energy to a neighboring BS, thus minimizing the use of conventional energy. A realistic objective is developed for northern region of Pakistan, which entails modeling of solar panels and wind-turbine according to the average solar irradiation and wind speed of the region. We also model the dynamic load of the BS, which depicts temporal fluctuations with traffic variations. Based on these models we initiate an energy cooperation scheme between the BS in which an energy cost minimization framework is mathematically modeled and solved through the interior point method algorithm. Results are obtained for different times of the year for different number of base stations showing respective energy cost savings.

Keywords: Base station Cooperation; alternate energy; cellular networks


Individual differences in brain organization exist at many spatial and temporal scales, contributing to the substantial heterogeneity underlying human thought and behavior. Oscillatory neural activity is crucial for these behaviors, but how such rhythms are expressed across the cortex within and across individuals has not been thoroughly characterized. Combining electroencephalography (EEG) with representational similarity and multivariate classification techniques, we provide a systematic characterization of brain-wide activity across frequency bands and oscillatory features during rest and task performance. Results indicate that oscillatory profiles exhibit sizable group-level correspondences, indicating the presence of common templates of oscillatory organization. At the same time, we observed well-defined subject-specific network profiles that were discernible above and beyond the structure shared across individuals. These individualized patterns were sufficiently stable over time to allow successful classification of individuals several months later. Finally, our findings indicate that the network structure of rhythmic activity varies considerably across distinct oscillatory frequencies and features, suggesting the existence of multiple, parallel information processing streams embedded in distributed electrophysiological activity. Together, these findings affirm the richness of spatiotemporal EEG signals and emphasize the utility of multivariate network analyses for understanding the role of brain oscillations in physiology and behavior.


Positron emission tomography (PET) is a diagnostic imaging technique that allows identification of biochemical and physiologic alterations in tumors. Use of PET performed with 2-[fluorine-18]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) significantly improves the accuracy of tumor imaging. In terms of oncologic applications, FDG PET has already gained widespread acceptance in the initial staging of cancer, management of recurrent cancer, and monitoring the response to therapy. With conventional imaging modalities, size criteria are used to distinguish between benign and malignant disease in lymph nodes; conversely, FDG PET is based on identification of fundamental aspects of tumor metabolism. FDG uptake in tumors is proportional to the metabolic rate of viable tumor cells, which have an increased demand for glucose. The high sensitivity and high negative predictive value of FDG PET in most malignant tumors enable this technique to play an even greater role in tumor management at initial staging and follow-up.


⎯ This paper reports harmonics generated while typical high-speed railways are under operation. The solution in reducing harmonics by the use of installation of power electronic compensators, especially static VAR compensator (SVC), in the railway system during the procedure of railway infrastructure upgrading may not be a very easy solution. Discussions will be given and better method and approach will be proposed. In order to find effective solutions to balance the main drawback of SVC compensators, such as the harmonic currents injected into the railway catenary due to their highly non-linear characteristics. Analysis of a large volume of data, which had been collected in a practical high-speed railway project has been carried out to study the harmonics content. Negative consequences of SVC to the both railway and grid system could be minimized by the discussed approach.


In human-written articles, we often leverage the subtleties of text style, such as bold and italics, to guide the attention of readers. These textual emphases are vital for the readers to grasp the conveyed information. When interacting with large language models (LLMs), we have a similar need - steering the model to pay closer attention to user-specified information, e.g., an instruction. Existing methods, however, are constrained to process plain text and do not support such a mechanism. This motivates us to introduce PASTA - Post-hoc Attention STeering Approach, a method that allows LLMs to read text with user-specified emphasis marks. To this end, PASTA identifies a small subset of attention heads and applies precise attention reweighting on them, directing the model attention to user-specified parts. Like prompting, PASTA is applied at inference time and does not require changing any model parameters. Experiments demonstrate that PASTA can substantially enhance an LLM's ability to follow user instructions or integrate new knowledge from user inputs, leading to a significant performance improvement on a variety of tasks, e.g., an average accuracy improvement of 22% for LLAMA-7B. Our code is publicly available at https://github.com/QingruZhang/PASTA .


Building blocks for organic solar cells are made from P3HT in a P3HT:PCBM solution in toluene and used to tune the morphology of the photoactive layer. The approach presented here decouples the structure and morphology formation, providing precise control over both the structures in solution and the morphology of the photoactive layer. For the characterization of the nanostructures in the organic casting solutions, cryoTEM was successfully employed, and reveals the P3HT crystals and even the 1.7 nm lamellar stacking, which in combination with cryogenic low dose electron diffraction clearly proves the high crystallinity of P3HT aggregates realized. The photoactive layers made from pre-crystallized solutions show a morphology that is closely related to the structures in solution. A clear trend of decreasing open circuit voltage and increasing short circuit current with increasing order in the casting solutions and the devices was observed, which correlates with the evolution of the morphology from very intermixed with small fibrillar structures to phase-separated with large polymer crystals, as evaluated from representative devices, characterized in 3D with electron tomography. 16 CHAPTER 2. VISUALIZING ORDER IN CASTING SOLUTIONS AND ORGANIC SOLAR CELLS


The author focuses on the dynamics of software project staffing throughout the software-development lifecycle. The research vehicle is a comprehensive system-dynamics model of the software-development process. A detailed discussion of the model's structure as well as its behavior is provided. The results of a case study in which the model is used to simulate the staffing practices of an actual software project are then presented. The experiment produces some interesting insights into the policies (both explicit and implicit) for managing the human resource, and their impact on project behavior. The decision-support capability of the model to answer what-if questions is also demonstrated. In particular, the model is used to test the degree of interchangeability of men and months on the particular software project. >


It has been widely documented in the medical literature that terminal patients often choose to end their lives out of the fear of becoming a burden to their family. But the real size of the burden, in particular its emotional component, is only known by the patient´s family. I analyze the impact of legalizing euthanasia on the ability of the family to communicate with the patient through a cheap talk model. I argue that, if euthanasia is legalized, either the patient makes his decision (of whether or not to commit suicide) uninformed of the size of the burden; or chooses what his family would have chosen if it had the power, and not necessarily what he would have preferred. I also consider the role of the physician and argue that, if the physician anticipates the family´s influence in the patients decision, providing incentives for the physician's interests to be aligned with the patients might not be on the patients best interest.


Rapidly increasing quality of AI-generated content makes it difficult to distinguish between human and AI-generated texts, which may lead to undesirable consequences for society. Therefore, it becomes increasingly important to study the properties of human texts that are invariant over different text domains and varying proficiency of human writers, can be easily calculated for any language, and can robustly separate natural and AI-generated texts regardless of the generation model and sampling method. In this work, we propose such an invariant for human-written texts, namely the intrinsic dimensionality of the manifold underlying the set of embeddings for a given text sample. We show that the average intrinsic dimensionality of fluent texts in a natural language is hovering around the value $9$ for several alphabet-based languages and around $7$ for Chinese, while the average intrinsic dimensionality of AI-generated texts for each language is $\approx 1.5$ lower, with a clear statistical separation between human-generated and AI-generated distributions. This property allows us to build a score-based artificial text detector. The proposed detector's accuracy is stable over text domains, generator models, and human writer proficiency levels, outperforming SOTA detectors in model-agnostic and cross-domain scenarios by a significant margin.


Process database support system is one of the key technologies for green manufacturing implementation. In this paper, the process database support system for green manufacturing was developed with Browse/Server (B/S) three level structure on the basis of Web, which has the function of distributed processing and storage of the data. The composing and its green characteristics were discussed in detail respectively. Furthermore, the key develop technology of the database system, such as network requirement, assistant planning and green assessment of process and the accessing to the database were analyzed. A case study was performed to illustrate and examine the validity of the database system.