A two day meeting convened by Graham Williams (University of Keele) and Angela Dobb (Mobil North Sea Ltd) was held at the Geological Society in London on 6 and 7 February 1991. The aim of the meeting was to address the problems of the interaction between eustacy, sediment supply rate and tectonics in seismically imaged basin sequences. The meeting discussed the importance of tectonics in generating recognizable sequence boundaries on both a regional and local scale. It was felt that eustacy as the dominant factor in controlling basin stratigraphy has been overplayed in the past. There were 190 participants at the conference representing the oil industry and academia. Some 21 oral presentations were given covering theoretical aspects of sequence stratigraphy, numerical modelling and field analogues. Case histories from Europe, North America, Africa and the UK were presented. Basin scale numerical modelling In the simplest case stratigraphy in extensional basins and passive margins may be subdivided into pre-, syn- and post-rift sequences representing stratigraphic fill related to a single rifting event. A widely recognized unconformity or megasequence boundary between syn- and post-rift sequences is referred to as the 'breakup unconformity'. Numerical modelling on a basin scale in extensional regimes has been carried out by M. J. Newall and N. J. Kusznir (Shell Research, Liverpool) who concentrated on the post-rift subsidence history and palaeobathymetric evolution of Snorre, Magnus and other areas of the northern North Sea Basin. Subsidence resulting from thermal effects, compaction and sediment loading has been numerically modelled using flexural


OBJECTIVES: Thyroid nodules constitute a very common clinical problem and the differential diagnosis includes thyroid cancer. As thyroid cancer is rare, it is important to know the prevalence of thyroid nodules in cohorts strongly predisposed to this problem to be able to measure its impact on the health care system, and to devise appropriate diagnostic strategies. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of thyroid nodules in women 40 year-old or older by ecography. METHODS: Between August 1996 and December 1997, 207 women, 40 year-old or older, were consecutively evaluated by thyroid ecography in the Radiology Division of the Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre. Patients who came to the Division to be submitted to thyroid ecography were excluded. The mean age of patients studied was 54.7 years (median: 53, range: 40-86 years). One hundred and twenty three patients (54.9%) had a normal thyroid and eighty-two had an abnormal gland (39.6%). Thyroid nodules were detected in seventy-three women (35.3%) and these were larger than 1 cm in 35 women (16.9%). Women without thyroid nodules were younger (53.1 ±10.7 years) than women with thyroid nodules (58.2 ±10.6 years) p=0.001; and the prevalence of any thyroid nodule (p=0.001) or nodules larger than 1 cm (p=0.007) increased with age. CONCLUSIONS: Thyroid nodules are very common in women 40 year-old or older, their prevalence increases with age in this cohort and these nodules are potentially palpable (larger than one cm) in one of six women in this age group It is important to have these data in mind when ordering thyroid ecographic studies in women 40 year-old or older.


In HPHT environments, the mechanism of CO2 corrosion faces a challenge as an effect of chemical-physical reactions on the metal surface. The presence of other elements in the CO2 system complicates corrosion behavior. To provide a realistic mechanism for corrosion process, some corrosion prediction models have developed software using fundamental theories such as electrochemical reactions and thermodynamics theories. Existing methods to predict corrosion rate models in HPHT environments have shown reasonable results. This paper reviews software of corrosion predictions which calculate corrosion rate based on mechanistic theories that study effects of H2S, acetic acid (HAc) concentrations, shear stress, pH in temperature from 25oC – 100oC and pressure from 1–10 bar. From the simulation, corrosion rate increased significantly in the high pressure CO2 environment. Corrosion rate at pH 4 increased to 30 mm/y at a temperature from 15oC to 90oC. While at pH 8 corrosion rate reached 4 mm/y. This lower corrosion rate indicated a tendency for deposits formation at higher pH. Corrosion rate behaves in a different mechanism at high temperatures. The corrosion rate decreased to 4 mm/y when the temperature increased to more than 90oC. Effects H2S gas and HAc were identified to increase corrosion rate. Both elements provide extra cathodic reaction and create limiting current density in the cathodic reaction process based on polarization sweep models. However, the polarization graph calculated using corrosion models could not display passive behavior in the anodic polarization process. Thus, further, improvement should be considered. From the data calculation, it can be shown that corrosion prediction software can predict corrosion rate in HPHT conditions.


Turner's syndrome, the most common sex chromosome disorder of females, is caused by complete or partial loss of one X chromosome and is associated with a wide range of internal and external manifestations and increased mortality rates (three to nine times the background population). While individuals with Turner's syndrome may survive for many decades, premature and unexpected deaths can occur that bring decedents to the attention of forensic examiners. Causes of death in Turner's syndrome are often linked to underlying cardiovascular conditions such as aortic dissection, congenital cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart, and cerebrovascular disease, but deaths due to noncardiac causes also occur with increased frequency. The latter include epilepsy, diabetes mellitus, chronic renal disease, pneumonia, chronic liver dis- ease, and malignancy. Thus, the autopsy evaluation of these cases requires careful examination of all major organ systems, with the consider- ation of confirmatory cytogenetic testing.


Abstract There is a dearth of literature concerning the social worlds of school administrative staff. The aim of the presentpaper is to understand the complex (social) reality of their work. Hence, the researchers used the notion of social worlds as a theoretical lens. The theoretical lens challenged us as researchers to understand the administrative clerk not as individuals but as participants within the social world of public schools. A qualitative methodology and case studies with multiple levels of input from participants were used. The researchers argued that the agency of the school administrative clerk lies in reworking, reconstructing, and influencing the social world of the school. The researchers asserted that the social worlds of school administrative clerks are closely tied to their perspectives, that is, their subjective understanding of their social context. The researchers argued that school administrative clerks are an integral part of the school social world-much more than the current discourse gives them credit for. The researchers findings suggestedthat the role of school administrative clerks needs to be re-imagined and reconceptualized to recognize the existing commitments that they are dedicated to. Finally, using social world's theoretical lens clarifies the crucial role of administrative clerks for the successful running of their schools.


Abdominal tuberculosis, although rare, occurs mainly in immigrants from the Indian subcontinent. Such people comprise 13.5% of our local population and contributed 90% of a series of 72 patients presenting in the last 16 years; a local disease incidence of 1:6000 for Asian immigrants. Men and women were equally affected, but on average women were much younger. Diagnosis was made from one month to 10 years after immigration. No clinical feature was diagnostic, but abdominal pain, night sweats and weight loss occurred in more than half the patients. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was elevated in 95% and no patient tested had a negative Mantoux test. In 20 patients diagnosis was by clinical suspicion and response to therapeutic trial. In 52, including 39 who had a laparotomy, histological and culture material was obtained but these patients fared no better. Only one organism was resistant (to streptomycin) and rapid response to chemotherapy was the rule. Successful outcome was not related to the type of presentation, operative findings or specific chemotherapeutic agents. We would suggest that in Asians presenting with difficult-to-diagnose abdominal symptoms accompanied by malaise, raised ESR and a positive Mantoux test, a therapeutic trial of anti-tuberculous therapy should precede diagnostic laparotomy.


Optimisation heuristics rely on implicit or explicit assumptions about the structure of the black-box fitness function they optimise. A review of the literature shows that understanding of structure and linkage is helpful to the design and analysis of heuristics. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the role that problem structure plays in heuristic optimisation. Many heuristics use ordinal operators; which are those that are invariant under monotonic transformations of the fitness function. In this thesis we develop a classification of pseudo-Boolean functions based on rank-invariance. This approach classifies functions which are monotonic transformations of one another as equivalent, and so partitions an infinite set of functions into a finite set of classes. Reasoning about heuristics composed of ordinal operators is, by construction, invariant over these classes. We perform a complete analysis of 2-bit and 3-bit pseudo-Boolean functions. We use Walsh analysis to define concepts of necessary, unnecessary, and conditionally necessary interactions, and of Walsh families. This helps to make precise some existing ideas in the literature such as benign interactions. Many algorithms are invariant under the classes we define, which allows us to examine the difficulty of pseudo-Boolean functions in terms of function classes. We analyse a range of ordinal selection operators for an EDA. Using a concept of directed ordinal linkage, we define precedence networks and precedence profiles to represent key algorithmic steps and their interdependency in terms of problem structure. The precedence profiles provide a measure of problem difficulty. This corresponds to problem difficulty and algorithmic steps for optimisation. This work develops insight into the relationship between function structure and problem difficulty for optimisation, which may be used to direct the development of novel algorithms. Concepts of structure are also used to construct easy and hard problems for a hill-climber.


Diploid cells of Tetrahymena thermophila were crossed to strain A*V, whose micronucleus is defective, to induce the unilateral transfer of gametic nuclei from the diploid cells to the A*V cells (round I of genomic exclusion). These haploid nuclei presumably undergo one endomitotic cycle and then become diploid with a G1 (2C) DNA content. However, further DNA replication from 2C to 4C was transiently arrested until the pairs separated. When endomitosis was blocked by treatment with cycloheximide during 6-8 hours of conjugation, the exconjugants of round I of genomic exclusion remained haploid. Competence for diploidization is apparently limited to some period of time after nuclear transfer. Blocking of diploidization during round I of genomic exclusion can be used as an efficient way to induce haploid strains in Tetrahymena.


In larger clients where standard methods of urea removal do not provide adequate dialysis, the increase in surface area of in-series dialyzers has accomplished this goal. Each step that we took imparted to W.T. that our concern was to improve his health. Our objective was to improve the URR in W.T. when his rigorous "standard" treatment did not provide adequate dialysis. An in-series set of dialyzers was designed and configured, necessary supplies were obtained, staff education was performed, and a pilot study was attempted with W.T. An improvement in URR from .52 to .64 occurred during the first month of in-series dialyzers. This resulted in an increased urea reduction of 23%. Once we recognized the usefulness of in-series dialyzers as a tool to improve URR, we applied it to several other patients with similar success rates. The benefits of in-series dialyzers include cost effectiveness (we realized a cost savings of $6 per treatment), higher URR capabilities, the ability to provide adequate dialysis to outliers, improved compliance with treatment times, and a method to maintain a healthy client.


New Zealand accepts up to 750 refugees per annum, with a category for refugees with disabilities, as part of its quota obligation under the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1957) (Immigration New Zealand, 2016). Immigration New Zealand's Refugee Resettlement Strategy states that education is one of the main priorities with helping refugees resettle in New Zealand (Immigration New Zealand, 2013) Although there is some literature available on refugee background people and education in New Zealand, there is little focus on refugee background people with disabilities in education. This research explores how inclusive education spaces for refugee background people with disabilities could be implemented, and perceptions surrounding disability and inclusion.  In order to gain insights into the perceptions of people involved in policy or practice with refugee background people with disabilities, I used a feminist, qualitative methodology, and conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 participants who worked in education provision, non-government or government organisations that worked with refugee background people. These participants were interviewed in Auckland (n = 4), Wellington (n = 3) and Melbourne, Australia (n = 4). The Australian participants were interviewed in order to provide an alternative view to their New Zealand counterparts, although the primary focus was on New Zealand.  My findings suggest that participant perceptions of disability and inclusion generally followed social and medical models of disability, but rarely ecological. Participants who have direct experience with disability of refugee background people had more carefully constructed ideas. Based on participant answers, I developed an ideal inclusive education model encompassing physical, relational and pedagogical spaces, which could be applicable to refugee background people with disabilities. The thesis findings informs existing theoretical models and understanding of inclusive education spaces, and encourages greater inclusion of refugee background people with disabilities in education in New Zealand.


Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) adenylyltransferase 2 (Nmnat2) catalyzes the synthesis of NAD from NMN and ATP. The Nmnat2 transcript is expressed predominately in the brain; we report here that Nmnat2 is a low abundance protein expressed in neurons. Previous studies indicate that Nmnat2 localizes to Golgi. As Nmnat2 is not predicted to contain a signal sequence, lipid-binding domain, or transmembrane domain, we investigated the nature of this interaction. These experiments reveal that Nmnat2 is palmitoylated in vitro, and this modification is required for membrane association. Surprisingly, exogenous Nmnat2 is toxic to neurons, indicating that protein levels must be tightly regulated. To analyze Nmnat2 localization in neurons (previous experiments relied on exogenous expression in HeLa cells), mouse brains were fractionated, showing that Nmnat2 is enriched in numerous membrane compartments including synaptic terminals. In HeLa cells, in addition to Golgi, Nmnat2 localizes to Rab7-containing late endosomes. These studies show that Nmnat2 is a neuronal protein peripherally attached to membranes via palmitoylation and suggest that Nmnat2 is transported to synaptic terminals via an endosomal pathway.


As a team of researchers was asked by a French home-improvement retailer to redefine their strategy, they designed and carried out an ethnographic and quantitative research to identify new business opportunities. But no sooner had they set foot in field, they were struck not only by the richness and complexity of such ordinary activities to the point they asked themselves if these practices were even measurable? Scaling from ethnography to quantitative research was not as seamless as they expected, they had to find their way to deal with two sets of data that belong to different scales if not ontological worlds. Are these two scales really strictly separated? Can't there be a way to combine them and to make them coincide? Based on the study of DIYing practices, this case study presents an attempt to integrate ethnographic and quantitative research and the challenge of resolving the scale differences between two methodologies. From turning DIYers into numbers and vice-versa, it explores the implications of ethnography, questionnaire design and data analysis.


Lymph node involvement is very frequent in paracoccidioidomycosis (PBM) mainly in its juvenile form. PBM also affects the lymphatic system of patients with the chronic form as it was confirmed by bipedal lymphangiography and autopsy. Lymphoscintigraphy has been used to evaluate lymphedema and cancer. The purpose of this investigation was to study the Iymphoscintigraphic variables in a critical manner, to functionally evaluate the lymphatic system of patients with different forms of PBM, and to evaluate the influence of the antifungal treatment on the lymphoscintigraphic variables by Iymphoscintigraphy of the extremities. Forty-six patients with PBM were studied. Twenty-one had the juvenile and 25 the chronic form. Patients with the juvenile form were divided again into three subgroups according to age. Eleven healthy volunteers were evaluated as controls. All of them were injected with 37 MBq of dextran 500-Tc into the first interdigital space of each foot, and blood was obtained for serum albumin determination. Twenty-nine patients were evaluated after the beginning of the antifungal treatment. The time elapsed between both exams was smaller in patients with the juvenile form than in those with the chronic form. Semi-quantitative variables, such as the intensity of visualization of the radiotracer and the pattern of the time-activity curve with regions of interest over ilioinguinal lymph nodes and legs, were studied. Quantitative variables were also evaluated including the velocity of visualization of the lymph nodes, lymph flow ratio, and lymph node radiotracer uptake. The error propagation was calculated to assess the lymph flow ratio accuracy. Correlation between variables and serum albumin was done. The intensity and velocity of visualization of the radiotracer, the lymph flow ratio, and the pattern of the time-activity curve were useful variables to the evaluation of patients with the juvenile and the chronic form of PBM. The lymph flow ratio calculated by the division of both areas under the time-activity curve was the most accurate compared to the others calculated. The lymphoscintigraphic evaluation of patients before the institution of the antifungal treatment showed an enhanced pattern of lymph flow in patients with the juvenile form of PBM not related to age. This finding is probably related to the low level of serum albumin found in these patients. The antifungal treatment did not influence all but one variable studied in patients with the juvenile form of PBM. The radiotracer progression was smaller after treatment in both groups. The intensity and velocity of visualization of the radiotracer were higher after treatment in patients with the chronic form of PBM. These results showed that in spite of the later lymphoscintigraphic follow-up, the antifungal treatment had a stronger influence on the functional status of the lymphatic system of patients with the chronic form than on those with the juvenile form of PBM.


Field data relating aquatic ecosystem responses with water quality constituents that are potential ecosystem stressors are being used increasingly in the United States in the derivation of water quality criteria to protect aquatic life. In light of this trend, there is a need for transparent quantitative methods to assess the performance of models that predict ecological conditions using a stressor–response relationship, a response variable threshold, and a stressor variable criterion. Analysis of receiver operating characteristics (ROC analysis) has a considerable history of successful use in medical diagnostic, industrial, and other fields for similarly structured decision problems, but its use for informing water quality management decisions involving risk‐based environmental criteria is less common. In this article, ROC analysis is used to evaluate predictions of ecological response variable status for 3 water quality stressor–response data sets. Information on error rates is emphasized due in part to their common use in environmental studies to describe uncertainty. One data set is comprised of simulated data, and 2 involve field measurements described previously in the literature. These data sets are also analyzed using linear regression and conditional probability analysis for comparison. Results indicate that of the methods studied, ROC analysis provides the most comprehensive characterization of prediction error rates including false positive, false negative, positive predictive, and negative predictive errors. This information may be used along with other data analysis procedures to set quality objectives for and assess the predictive performance of risk‐based criteria to support water quality management decisions. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2012; 8: 674–684. © 2012 SETAC


- In this paper, the Oil leakage sensor utilized photonics crystal fiber interferometer (PCFI) is proposed and experimentally investigated. The principle of operation of this sensor is detected the gas emission from pipe. This sensor is operate in transmission mode which designed by splicing the LAM-10 PCF with single mode fiber (SM) with two side. To increase the sensitivity of this sensor the splice region is coated by special polymer doping by nano sliver silver particles to increase the sensitivity. The experimental result s shows the sensitivity of fabricated sensor is high, and the response time is very short reach to 2min the max sensitivity is equal to (62 Co./sec ). Due to the low fiber loss, the sensing range can be as high as 1 km.


Adherence to a healthy diet and regular physical activity are two important factors in sufficient type 2 diabetes mellitus management. It is recognized that the traditional treatment of outpatients does not meet the requirements for sufficient lifestyle management. It is hypothesised that a personalized diabetes management mHealth application can help. Such an application ideally measures food intake, physical activity, glucose values, and medication use, and then integrates this to provide patients and healthcare professionals insight in these factors, as well as the effect of lifestyle on glucose values in daily life. The lifestyle data can be used to give tailored coaching to improve adherence to lifestyle recommendations and medication use. This study describes the requirements for such an application: the Diameter. An iterative mixed method design approach is used that consists of a cohort study, pilot studies, literature search, and expert meetings. The requirements are defined according to the Function and events, Interactions and usability, Content and structure and Style and aesthetics (FICS) framework. This resulted in 81 requirements for the dietary (n = 37), activity and sedentary (n = 15), glycaemic (n = 12), and general (n = 17) parts. Although many applications are currently available, many of these requirements are not implemented. This stresses the need for the Diameter as a new personalized diabetes application.


Abstract The period July–December 1964 in the tropical western Pacific was marked by strong fluctuations in the meridional wind component with periods ranging from 4–6 days. This paper describes an intensive study of these disturbances, using spectrum-analysis techniques on time series of radiosonde data. Two types of disturbances appear to be involved. One of these, prevalent at Canton Island, is characterized by upward phase propagation in the lower troposphere and downward phase propagation above 200 mb. It has previously been suggested that this wave may be the tropospheric manifestation of the mixed Rossby- gravity wave. A second type of disturbance, prevalent at stations further west, is marked by an absence of vertical phase propagation. Latent heat release may be important in its energetics.


This study was performed to determine if, in whites, different states of hyperpigmentation exhibit different distribution patterns of melanosomes; if melanosome size influences the distribution of melanosomes; and if melanosome distribution correlates with the degree of pigmentation. It was found by electron microscopic investigations that (1) the distribution patterns of melanosomes vary in different hyperpigmentary states; (2) there is a striking tendency for small melanosomes to be complexed and for large ones to be dispersed as singles; and (3) in whites, there is no definite relationship between the degree of pigmentation and the distribution pattern of melanosomes. Hence, the size of melanosomes determines the distribution pattern but the distribution pattern alone does not correlate with the intensity of pigmentation.


A total of 65 patients with food allergy which manifested primarily by disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, bronchi and skin were placed under observation. The patients were administered sodium chromoglycate (nalcrom) per os in a dose of 200 mg 4 times a day for 2-3 weeks, in part of cases up to 3 months and even up to 1-1.5 year. The skin manifestations of allergy (pruritus, urticaria, Quincke's edema, and eczematous rash), abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, bronchospasm, rhinitis, and conjunctivitis disappeared. At the same time the majority of the patients demonstrated the reduction of the intensity of skin responses to the administration of different food antigens, the decrease of the antibody titer in blood serum in response to food antigens, and of the IgE content in blood. The side effects (nausea, heartburn, intensification of skin itch and abdominal pain) were noted in 4 cases.


In the past few years, several case studies have illustrated that the use of occupancy information in buildings leads to energy-efficient and low-cost HVAC operation. The widely presented techniques for occupancy estimation include temperature, humidity, CO2 concentration, image camera, motion sensor and passive infrared (PIR) sensor. So far little studies have been reported in literature to utilize audio and speech processing as indoor occupancy prediction technique. With rapid advances of audio and speech processing technologies, nowadays it is more feasible and attractive to integrate audio-based signal processing component into smart buildings. In this work, we propose to utilize audio processing techniques (i.e., speaker recognition and background audio energy estimation) to estimate room occupancy (i.e., the number of people inside a room). Theoretical analysis and simulation results demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of this proposed occupancy estimation technique. Based on the occupancy estimation, smart buildings will adjust the thermostat setups and HVAC operations, thus, achieving greater quality of service and drastic cost savings.


Fresh water from the desalination process is expected to be commercially produced in large quantities for world consumption needs. In this paper, experimental testing is carried out to obtain the overall characteristics of the desalination device to suit the placement of the test area. The single slope passive desalination tool model with a slope of 35o is still used as the object being tested because of its low cost and environmentally friendly use of solar energy. It is hoped that the performance improvement can be made after obtaining the characteristics of the desalination tool as a whole. It is obtained that the heat energy absorbed reaches 0.31 kWh with a solar intensity of 534.40 W/m2 at the same time. The production of fresh water during the test always follows the brightness and solar intensity. Experimentally obtained the allergy from the desalination device of 0.53 kW/m2 with an energy efficiency of 58.4% with the highest amount of hourly fresh water production of 2.6 kg.


Gefitinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that is intended for oral administration yet suffers poor bioavailability along with undesirable side effects. To enhance its solubility and allow colon targeting, gefitinib (ZD) and blends of different ratios of polymers (ternary dispersion) were prepared in organic solution, and solid dispersions were generated employing the spray drying (SD) technique. The methylmethacrylate polymer Eudragit S 100 was incorporated for colon targeting; polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) were utilised to improve the solubility of ZD. SEM, DSC, XRPD, FT-IR, dissolution and cytotoxicity studies were undertaken to characterise and evaluate the developed formulations. SEM images revealed that the rod-shaped crystals of ZD were transformed into collapsed spheres with smaller particle size in the spray-dried particles. DSC, FTIR and XRPD studies showed that ZD loaded in the spray-dried dispersions was amorphous. ZD dissolution and release studies revealed that while a significant (P < 0.05) increase in the ZD dissolution and release was observed from HPMC-based solid dispersion at pH 7.2 (up to 95% in 15 h), practically no drug was released at pH 1.2 and pH 6.5. Furthermore, the HPMC-based solid dispersions displayed enhanced mucoadhesive properties compared with PVP-based ones. Interestingly, cell viability studies using the neutral red assay showed that PVP and HPMC-based solid dispersions had no additional inhibitory effect on Caco-2 cell line compared to the pure drug.


A satellite, in its orbit, is affected by perturbing forces, such as atmospheric drag, solar radiation pressure, Earth oblateness, and gravity of the celestial masses (other than the Earth). In this paper, the effects of these forces on the trajectories of different types of LEO satellites and a sample satellite (Z-SAT) are discussed. A few analyses are done on these orbits and the relevant results are categorized as substantial logics of perturbation influences on Keplerian parameters of the orbits. The Variation of Parameters Method is used for analyses.


Cardiac morbidity and mortality increases with the population age. To investigate the underlying pathological mechanisms, and suggest new ways to reduce clinical risks, computational approaches complementing experimental and clinical investigations are becoming more and more important. Here we explore the possible processes leading to the occasional onset and termination of the (usually) non-fatal arrhythmias widely observed in the heart. Using a computational model of a two-dimensional network of cardiac cells, we tested the hypothesis that an ischemia alters the properties of the gap junctions inside the ischemic area. In particular, in agreement with experimental findings, we assumed that an ischemic episode can alter the gap junctions of the affected cells by reducing their average conductance. We extended these changes to include random fluctuations with time, and modifications in the gap junction rectifying conductive properties of cells along the edges of the ischemic area. The results demonstrate how these alterations can qualitatively give an account of all the main types of non-fatal arrhythmia observed experimentally, and suggest how premature beats can be eliminated in three different ways: a) with a relatively small surgical procedure, b) with a pharmacological reduction of the rectifying conductive properties of the gap-junctions, and c) by pharmacologically decreasing the gap junction conductance. In conclusion, our model strongly supports the hypothesis that non-fatal arrhythmias can develop from post-ischemic alteration of the electrical connectivity in a relatively small area of the cardiac cell network, and suggests experimentally testable predictions on their possible treatments.


The vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) has been considered as one of the most prominent technologies for improving the efficiency and safety of modern transportation systems. However, VANET will present a unique range of challenges and opportunities for security. In particular, key management, as the footstone to build a practical security framework in VANET, becomes a research hotspot. In this paper, we investigate key management based on blockchain for VANET. We first propose an efficient decentralized key management mechanism for VANET with blockchain (DB-KMM) to automatically realize the registration, update and revocation of user's public key. At the same time, we present a lightweight mutual authentication and key agreement protocol based on the bivariate polynomial. Then, we analyze the security of DB-KMM in the universally composable framework and show that the mechanism can prevent the typical attacks including internal attacks, DoS attacks, public key tampering attacks and collusion attacks. Finally, we analyze the performance of the proposed scheme through experiments and simulation. Experiment results show that DB-KMM has better performance than the existing schemes in terms of communication, storage, computation overhead and latency.


A reassessment of the taxonomy of Lygosoma bampfyldei based on morphology and color pattern indicates that it is a species complex containing L. bampfyldei Bartlett, 1895 from the Rajang River, Sarawak and Croker Range, Sabah in East Malaysia; L. peninsulare sp. nov. from Bukit Larut, Perak and 13.5 km east of Jeli, Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia; L. kinabatanganensis sp. nov. from the Kinabatangan District, Deramakot camp (=Deramakot Sabah Forestry Department), Sabah, East Malaysia; and L. schneideri Werner, 1900 from Djapura, Indragiri, Sumatra, Indonesia-resurrected herein from the synonymy of L. bampfyldei. The new taxonomy aligns itself well with a growing body of literature demonstrating that semi-fossorial and fossorial Sundaic skinks are more diverse than previously considered.


Fiber optic distributed acoustic sensor (DAS) and distributed temperature sensor (DTS) are considerably important for many applications. It is challenging to design a hybrid DAS-DTS system using the same optical fiber because the operation principles of the two sensors are different. We here deploy the widespread standard multimode fiber (MMF) for simultaneous distributed acoustic and temperature sensing. In particular, we operate the MMF in a quasi-single-mode (QSM) state to simultaneously fulfill the functionality requirements of the DAS and DTS. The reported design offers simultaneous vibration and temperature monitoring with high accuracy. In particular, the DAS has a 12.98 dB mean signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the DTS offers temperature measurements with ±1 °C accuracy. This technique is significant for many industrial applications because it efficiently tackles a long-standing issue in practical implementation.


We apply the formalism of quantum estimation theory to obtain information about the value of the nonlinear optomechanical coupling strength. In particular, we discuss the minimum mean-square error estimator and a quantum Cram\'er--Rao-type inequality for the estimation of the coupling strength. Our estimation strategy reveals some cases where quantum statistical inference is inconclusive and merely result in the reinforcement of prior expectations. We show that these situations also involve the highest expected information losses. We demonstrate that interaction times in the order of one time period of mechanical oscillations are the most suitable for our estimation scenario, and compare situations involving different photon and phonon excitations.


BACKGROUND

There is a demand to develop nano-photocatalyst that has better performance than existing TiO2 nanoparticles, which are difficult to separate and reuse.

RESULTS

Both TiO2 and TiO2/ZnO composite nanofibers prepared using sol–gel assisted electrospinning provided higher photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) of NO than TiO2 nanoparticles of 100 nm. The nanopores formed between nano-crystallites of nanofibers were found to increase both adsorption and activity of the photocatalyst. The TiO2/ZnO composite nanofiber photocatalyst has a lower band-gap than TiO2 nanofibers, which favors photo-electron generation, because introduction of ZnO causes charge imbalance and formation of unsaturated chemical bonds on the surface, increasing the catalyst surface oxygen vacancy and generation of the oxidation radicals, thereby increasing PCO. The efficiency of PCO under irradiation containing a full spectrum of wavelengths was optimized by adding 0.10 wt% of Zn to the TiO2 photocatalyst, and this optimal amount of added dopant was in accord with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurement. The activity of the nanofiber photocatalysts was improved by increasing the irradiation area and residence time; and optimized at a relative humidity of 50%.

CONCLUSION

The present study demonstrates that enhanced PCO of NO with photocatalyst nanofiber can be optimized under solar light irradiation. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry


Aim: The main aim of this thesis was to generate initiatives promoting good oral health for institutionalised elderly. It was therefore essential to investigate how their oral health status has changed over time, whether care professionals have adequate oral care knowledge and if the oral hygiene of the institutionalised elderly can be improved in the long-term by a new quality assurance system. Methods: Several different methods were used, with both descriptive and analytical study designs. Factors relating to both residents and caregivers were investigated. Clinical examinations of long-term care (LTC) residents from five LTC institutions were performed in 2004. Dental status, caries, periodontal disease, stomatitis and presence of prosthodontic restorations were registered and the results were compared with a similar study from 1988. In 2005, a questionnaire-study was carried out among all Norwegian colleges educating care professionals working with basic care in LTC institutions. Quantity and quality of oral care training provided were assessed. A new quality system aimed at improving and maintaining oral hygiene standards of the elderly in long-term care was implemented in a nursing home. This oral hygiene programme included 1) motivation and oral care training of the nursing staff, 2) production of picture-based oral care procedure cards, 3) distribution of adequate oral care equipment, 4) practical implementation of new routines and 5) assessment of results attained. The level of oral hygiene in the nursing home was assessed using the mucosal-plaque score (MPS) index. Overall evaluation was made before the start of the study, after 3 months and eventually after 6 years. During this time care staff's opinion about the use of electric toothbrushes on the care-dependent resident was investigated by a questionnaire-study. Results: Several significant changes in the oral health status among the institutionalised elderly have occurred since 1988, the most important being a decrease in the frequency of edentulism and an increase in the prevalence of oral diseases. Regarding the oral care training in the basic education of caregivers, variations between the different types of colleges were found. However, the majority of schools seem to provide information and training to cover basic requirements regarding oral care. Sustained improvements of LTC residents' oral hygiene were found 6 years after implementing the oral hygiene programme. Most of the caregivers preferred electric toothbrushes rather than manual ones. Many reported it made oral hygiene provision easier and less time-consuming, especially for residents without severe dementia. Conclusion: The change in oral health of the institutionalised elderly constitutes a twosided challenge, affecting both dental personnel and caregivers. The public dental service should be strengthened to handle the increased dental treatment need in this group. Lack of oral care training in the basic education of care professionals can not account for the inadequate oral hygiene in Norwegian LTC institutions. Putting resources into the implementation of a preventive oral hygiene programme is therefore more likely to lower the incidence of oral infections among LTC residents. For such a programme to be effective, training, mandatory routines, adequate equipment and support from dental personnel must be present. On-site staff training is important if unskilled as well as the professional caregivers are to attain adequate oral care knowledge and skills. The programme should also place responsibility at the individual level and reflect an institution-based philosophy with high oral hygiene priorities. List of publications The thesis is based on the following papers: I. Samson H, Strand GV, Haugejorden O. Change in oral health status among the institutionalized Norwegian elderly over a period of 16 years. Acta Odontol Scand 2008; 66:368-373. II. Samson H, Iversen MM, Strand GV. Oral care training in basic education of care professionals. Accepted for publication in Gerodontology. III. Samson H, Berven L, Strand GV. Long-term effect of a quality assurance system on oral hygiene in a nursing home. Submitted to European Journal of Oral Science. IV. Wolden H*, Strand GV, Gjellestad A. Caregivers' perceptions of electric versus manual toothbrushes for the institutionalised elderly. Gerodontology 2006; 23:106-110. Approval to reproduce the papers was obtained from the publishers. * Samson H, nee Wolden H.


In modern society, quality of life is greatly impacted by human mobility. The lifestyles and abilities of each age group creates different risks and challenges associated with mobility. This research investigated the mobility challenges facing different generations and abilities.
The first part of this research focused on the effect of mobility technology on younger generations by exploring the impact of hand-held and hands-free texting on driving safety. A questionnaire and a driving simulator experiment were conducted to investigate the impact of text driving on drivers' performance. Conclusions regarding the impacts of different forms of texting, text complexity, and response mode on drivers' driving performance were drawn.
In the second part of this research, challenges faced by older adult drivers were identified and the impact of assistance using advanced technologies was explored. First, a questionnaire was conducted to investigate older adult drivers' perceptions about a number of possible driving challenges. Then, the in-vehicle technologies which mitigate these challenges were identified. In this study, the acceptance of the identified technologies is explored by conducting a second questionnaire. A four dimensional model which included perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived safety, and perceived annoyance is considered in the second questionnaire. According to the responses, potential challenges that older adult drivers were facing and particular in-vehicle technologies which could help ease these driving challenges were identified.
The third and final part of this research focused on sidewalk compliance to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations intended to provide safe mobility across all generations and physical abilities. In this part of the research, an automated system to assist the current sidewalk measurement and evaluation process at Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) was identified and gauge repeatability and reproducibility studies were conducted on the system to test the system's accuracy, quality and reliability. The validated data were compared to the data which were collected with the conventional (manual) method. The compatibility of data with the current RIDOT's Geographic Information System (GIS) database were studied. Additionally, based on ADA requirements, six indices were developed for sidewalk evaluation using the automated system data. In order to validate the indices, a correlation study was conducted between the indices and the pedestrians perception. This study provided recommendations to the RIDOT authorities to prepare a sidewalk transition plan that complies with ADA requirements automatically and objectively.


Background: The Vegetation Map of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland (National Vegetation Map [NVM]) is a fundamental data set that is updated periodically. The National Biodiversity Assessment (NBA) 2018 process provided an opportunity for a more comprehensive revision of the NVM and better alignment between the terrestrial, marine and estuarine ecosystem maps.Objectives: The aim of this study was to update the NVM 2018 and quantify spatial and classification changes since NVM 2012, and describe the rationale and data sources utilised. We also quantified spatial errors corrected in this version, highlighted progress since NVM 2006, and identified errors and gaps to make recommendations for future revisions.Method: Edits made to the NVM in ArcMap 10.4 were categorised into the following five groups for analysis: (1) New types, (2) Boundary edits, (3) Realm re-assignment, (4) Removed and replaced vegetation types and (5) Deleted map area. Changes were quantified by category and biome. We used various software platforms to correct and quantify spatial errors since 2006.Results: Vegetation types were added (n = 47), removed (n = 35) and had boundary edits (n = 107) in NVM 2018, which affected over 5% of the total map area, compared to 2.6% (2012) and 0.5% (2009) for previous versions. Several sources of error were identified and fixed, and prompted the development of standard mapping protocols.Conclusion: National Vegetation Map 2018 is the most substantial revision of this data set that now fully aligns with maps of all other realms that form part of the NBA. However, parts of the map remain unrefined and provide opportunities for future work.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
To compare the efficacy of ProME(Epidoxorubicin)CE-CytaBOM (PE-C) and ProMI(Idarubicin)CE-CytaBOM (PI-C) in the treatment of adult patients with aggressive non Hodgkin's lymphoma in a multicenter randomized controlled trial performed by 18 centers of the Italian Lymphoma Study Group (GISL).

DESIGN AND METHODS
One hundred and twenty-eight and 122 patients were randomly assigned to receive either 6 courses of PE-C or PI-C, respectively. Some patients achieving complete remission with induction therapy participated in another randomized study comparing no further therapy versus maintenance therapy consisting of four blocks of two drugs.

RESULTS
The rate of CRs was 62% and 64% for patients treated with PE-C and PI-C, respectively (p = 0.51). The 5-year relapse-free survival was 60% for PE-C and 53% for PI-C (p = 0.29). The estimated relapse-free disease survival rates at 4 years were 75% for patients in the consolidation group and 57% for those in the observation group (p = 0.11). Patients alive in first complete remission 4 years after study entry were estimated to be 39% in the PE-C arm and 38% in the PI-C arm (p = 0.90). The 3-year and 5-year estimated survival rates were 61% and 55% for the PE-C group and 56% and 47% for the PI-C group (p = 0.26). Fatal toxicities occurred in 7 patients (2.9%) with active disease and in 4 patients (1.7%) in complete remission. Stage (p = 0.04), bulky disease (p = 0.02), serum LDH (p = 0.0006), serum albumin (p = 0.0051), hemoglobin (p = 0.0011), performance status (p = 0.0001), International prognostic index (p < 0.0001) and the index proposed by the French group G.E.L.A. (p < 0.0001) were of prognostic value. In a multivariate analysis (Cox regression model) alternatively IPI alone or G.E.L.A. index plus performance status emerged as independent prognostic factors.

INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS
The present study indicates that epirubicin and idarubicin in a combined chemotherapy regimen, have similar activities. The toxic profile also indicates the safety of both anthracyclines at the dosages employed, suggesting their possible dose escalation in a combined chemotherapy setting. PE-C and PI-C were both effective and feasible regimens in an outpatient setting, with acceptable cardiovascular toxicity. The trend toward a better outcome in patients undergoing consolidation therapy after the achievement of a complete remission, warrants further investigation.


This article is mainly introduced the detonation method to prepare TiO2 nanoparticles which use hydrogen-oxygen gas mixture as the explosion source and the titanium tetrachloride as the precursor. It studied TiO2 nanoparticles influenced by different hydrogen concertration. And analyzed the character of prepared TiO2 nanoparticles by XRD and TEM. The results show that the powders are mixed crystal of Rutile and Anatase. It is also found that the relative content of rutile grows larger and the size of grain becomes smaller (about 30~100nm) as the hydrogen content increases, and the TiO2 nanoparticles are mostly spherical. But the dispersion is becomes slightly worse, and the agglomeration appear.


Nowadays floating-point arithmetic has become ubiquitous in the specification and implementation of programs, including those targeted at embedded systems. However, for the sake of chip area or power consumption constraints, some of these embedded systems are still shipped with no floating-point unit. In this case, only integer arithmetic is available at the hardware level. Hence, in order to run floating-point programs, we need either to use a library that emulates floating-point arithmetic in software (like the FLIP library), or to rewrite the programs so as to rely on fixed-point arithmetic instead. Yet both approaches require the design of fixed-point routines, which appears to be a tedious and error prone task especially since it is still partly done by hand. Thus, one of the current challenges is to design automatic tools to generate fixed-point programs as fast as possible while satisfying some accuracy constraints. In this sense, we have developed the CGPE software tool, dedicated to the generation of fast and certified codes for evaluating bivariate polynomials in fixed-point arithmetic. This tool, based on the generation of several fast evaluation codes combined with a systematic numerical verification step, is well suited for VLIW integer processors using only binary adders and multipliers. We propose here an extension of CGPE, which consists in adding a step based on instruction selection in order to improve the speed and the accuracy of the generated codes for more advanced architectures. Given an instruction set architecture, instruction selection is the compilation process that aims at finding a sequence of instructions implementing "at best" a given program. It works on a target-independent intermediate representationof this program, represented as a tree or a directly acyclic graph (DAG), and is usually used to optimize the code size or latency on the target architecture, while no guarantee is provided concerning the accuracy of the generated code. The general problem of instruction selection has been well studied and, although it has been proven to be NP-complete even for simple machines in the case of DAGs, several algorithms exist to tackle this problem. In the context of CGPE, where we represent polynomial evaluation expressions with DAGs, we can benefit from this work on instruction selection by combining it with the numerical verification step already implemented. The advantage of our new approach is twofold. First it is much more flexible than writing a generation algorithm for each available processor. Indeed, it mainly needs to work on the DAG representation of the expression to be implemented, which is independent of the target architecture, and thus it makes easier to handle various architectures shipping different kind of instructions. Second it allows us to generate automatically codes optimized for a given target and satisfying various criteria like accuracy and performance, as well as code size. So far, this approach has been tested on the evaluation of polynomials, where it allows us to write efficient codes using at best some advanced architecture features like a fused-multiply-add operator.


This article presents: (1) meta analyses of studies of cardioprotection of women and men by statins, including Lipitor (atorvastatin), and (2) a legal analysis of advertising promoting Lipitor as preventing heart attacks. The meta analyses of primary prevention clinical trials show statistically significant benefits for men but not for women, and a statistically significant difference between men and women. The analyses do not support (1) statin use to reduce heart attacks in women based on extrapolation from men, or (2) approving or advertising statins as reducing heart attacks without qualification in a population that includes many women. The legal analysis raises the question whether Lipitor's advertisements, which omit that Lipitor's clinical trial found slight increased risk for women, is consistent with the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act and related Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations. The analysis suggests that FDA regulation should not preempt state law actions challenging advertising that is not supported by FDA-approved labeling. Our findings suggesting inadequate regulation of the world's best-selling drug also counsel against courts accepting the FDA's claimed preemption of state law causes of action relating to warnings and safety. Courts evaluating preemption claims should consider actual agency performance as well as theoretical institutional competence. Billions of health care dollars may be being wasted on statin use by women but the current regulatory regime does not create incentives to prevent such behavior.


Cells are covered with a dense layer of carbohydrates, some of which are solely present on neoplastic cells. The so-called tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs) are increasingly recognized as promising targets for immunotherapy. These carbohydrates differ from those of the surrounding non-cancerous tissues and contribute to the malignant phenotype of the cancer cells by promoting proliferation, metastasis, and immunosuppression. However, due to tumor tissue heterogeneity and technological limitations, TACAs are insufficiently explored. Methods: A workflow was established to decode the colorectal cancer (CRC)-associated O-linked glycans from approximately 20,000 cell extracts. Extracts were obtained through laser capture microdissection of formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissues of both primary tumors and metastatic sites, and compared to healthy colon mucosa from the same patients. The released O-glycans were analyzed by porous graphitized carbon liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in negative ion mode. Results: Distinctive O-glycosylation features were found in cancerous, stromal and normal colon mucosal regions. Over 100 O-linked glycans were detected in cancerous regions with absence in normal mucosa. From those, six core 2 O-glycans were exclusively found in more than 33% of the cancers, carrying the terminal (sialyl-)LewisX/A antigen. Moreover, two O-glycans were present in 72% of the analyzed cancers and 94% of the investigated cancers expressed at least one of these two O-glycans. In contrast, normal colon mucosa predominantly expressed core 3 O-glycans, carrying α2-6-linked sialylation, (sulfo-)LewisX/A and Sda antigens. Conclusion: In this study, we present a novel panel of highly specific TACAs, based upon differences in the glycomic profiles between CRC and healthy colon mucosa. These TACAs are promising new targets for development of innovative cancer immune target therapies and lay the foundation for the targeted treatment of CRC.


Biomass feedstock production is an important component of the biomass based energy sector. Seasonal and distributed collection of low energy density material creates unique challenges, and optimization of the complete value chain is critical for cost-competitiveness. BioFeed is a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model that has been developed and successfully applied to optimize biomass feedstock production of bioenergy crops. It integrates the individual farm design and operating decision with the transportation logistics issues to analyze them as a single system. However, this integration leads to a model that is computationally demanding, leading to large simulation times for simplified case studies. Given these challenges, and in wake of the future model extensions, this work proposes a new computational approach that reduces computational demand, maintains result accuracy, provides modeling flexibility and enables future model enhancements. The new approach, named the Decomposition and Distributed Computing (DDC) approach, first decomposes the model into two separate optimization models: a production model, focusing on on-farm activities such as harvesting, and a provision model, incorporating the post-production activities such as transportation logistics. An iterative scheme based on the concepts from agent based modeling is adapted to solve the production and provision problems iteratively until convergence has been reached. The computational features of the approach are further enhanced by enabling distributed computing of the individual farm optimization models. Simulation studies comparing the performance of the DDC approach with the rigorous MILP solution approach illustrate an order of magnitude reduction in computational time using the proposed DDC approach. Moreover, the solution obtained using the DDC approach is within 5% of the MILP solution. This approach can be a valuable tool to solve complex supply chain optimization problems in other sectors where similar challenges are encountered.


We investigated how employees' perceptions of the internal (endorsed by the firm and in line with its mission and values) and external (driven by practical or instrumental benefits) legitimacy of their firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities influence their work orientations. Specifically, we believed that internal legitimacy would be considered more authentic than would external legitimacy, and that it would have a more positive influence on employees' organizational identification and affective attachment. We conducted a field survey using employee data from 38 firms listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index Korea in 2009. As predicted, external legitimacy reduced employee's perception of CSR authenticity whereas internal legitimacy increased it. Perceived CSR authenticity was also found to be an important mediator in the relationship between employees' legitimacy perceptions and their work orientations. The results supported most of our hypotheses; implications of these findings are discussed.


In the nineteenth century, anthropology began to coalesce as a discipline while museums modernized their mission as educational institutions. Because objects were key sources of anthropological knowledge during this period, museums operated as the institutional base for the discipline. Robert Henry Lamborn was a collector who was deeply involved in developing anthropological theories and museum best practices, differing from both museum professionals and private collectors in his methods and goals. Lamborn presents an ideal case study for examining the intersection of anthropology and museums in the nineteenth century, as well as the object-based theoretical underpinnings of anthropology, a history that anthropologists and museum professionals are returning to in the present. Because he had no formal training in or obligations to the discipline of anthropology or the museum profession, Lamborn was able to explore certain topics and combinations of theories that others were not able to. Through a combination of archival research, object analysis, and theoretical examination, I explore the ways in which Lamborn utilized anthropological theories to display his objects in three Philadelphia museums.


Genetic analysis of seven oat varieties for eight traits which are the yield components was performed when studying the varieties and the F1 hybrids from their diallel crosses. Involvement of epistatic genes in genetic control of all the traits excluding the panicle density was established. By analysing the diallel tables with excluded data from the varieties with epistatic genes, it was revealed that hyperdominance is inherent to genetic control of the majority of traits studied. The dominant gene action exceeds the additive gene action. The genes "u" increasing the phenotypic displaying of the trait are always dominant and their frequency in the variety set under consideration is higher than the frequency of the genes "v" for all traits studied.


We fabricated micro-patterned 2.5-D scaffolds using micro-end-milling with controlled pore and island sizes and interconnectivity to determine the effects of the micro-patterns on the cell culturing process. Micro-end-milling can easily realize a high aspect ratio and accuracy, and can be applied to various materials, including those that are biocompatible and biodegradable. Sixteen types of micro-patterned scaffolds were designed and fabricated using the micro-end-milling process. Fibroblasts were seeded and cultured to examine the viability of the developed micropatterned scaffolds and their absorbed cell adhesion. The results confirmed that the fabricated micro-patterns functioned successfully as scaffolds.


Physiologic and pathologic events associated with cutaneous differentiation and repair are the result of a concerted action of various types of resident tissue cells. In vitro models simulating this complex in vivo situation are therefore needed to clarify the specific contribution and relevant interaction of, for example, dermal mast cells with other major cutaneous cells. The aim of this study was to establish a long-term coculture model that includes dermal mast cells, dermal fibroblasts, and keratinocytes in a human skin equivalent organotypic setting. Normal dermal mast cells and fibroblasts (1:4) were enclosed in collagen gel and normal keratinocytes were grown on top with exposure to the air interface. Under these conditions, mast cell integrity and functionality was preserved even after 4 wk of culture, as shown by electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry using antibodies against the mast-cell-specific granule enzyme tryptase and the receptors for stem cell factor and IgE. Mast cells also released histamine on stimulation with anti-IgE, and on ultrastructure were found to degranulate, with decrease of granule matrix density and formation of cell-cell contacts with fibroblasts. After 2 wk of culture, keratinocytes had formed an epidermis-like multilayer and were able to proliferate and differentiate, as shown by bromodeoxyuridine incorporation of basal cells and immunohistochemical staining for transglutaminase and cytokeratins 1 and 10. The model presented here thus provides a potentially relevant tool to further clarify the interaction of dermal mast cells with major other skin cells and their contribution to cutaneous physiology, repair processes, and pathology.


Recently, the orofacial myofunctional therapy (OMT) has appeared as a possible alternative treatment for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Systematic reviews are required to achieve scientific evidence, seeking to direct the decision on therapeutic issues. The aim of this study was to systematically review the literature about the OMT proposals in adults with OSA related to symptoms and physiological parameters. Data sources were Lilacs, MEDLINE, Pubmed, Cochrane and Scielo using the descriptors: obstructive sleep apnea; myofunctional therapy; oropharyngeal exercises; breathing exercises; upper airway exercises; speech therapy. Studies published from 2000 to 2017 that evaluated the treatment with isolated OMT in subjects with OSA were included, obligatorily with polysomnographic data, pre and post therapy. Eight studies, out of 124 articles, were eligible according to the criteria adopted. Two systematic reviews, one clinical trial, three randomized clinical trials, and two case reports were included. Six studies showed a decrease in the Apnea and Hypopnea Index (AHI), five studies showed improvement in the minimum SpO2, decrease in the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and in snoring. OMT proposals refer to a three-month program changing the parameters related to partial reduction of AHI, ESS index, snoring, and partial increase of SpO2. There are few randomized studies.


This review describes the conformality approach to extending the standard model of particle phenomenology using an assumption of no conformal anomaly at high energy. Topics include quiver gauge theory, the conformality approach to phenomenology, strong-electroweak unification at 4 TeV, cancellation of quadratic divergences, cancellation of U(1) anomalies, and a dark matter candidate.


Global software developments intensify parallel changes. Although parallel changes can improve performance, their interferences contribute to faults. Current Software Configuration Management (SCM) systems can detect the interference between changes at textual level. However, our empirical study shows that, compared with textual interference, semantic approach is more effective and efficient in detecting interference in highdegree parallel changes. We propose to integrate semantic interference checking into SCM system. Semantic interferences detected during check in can alert developers to potential faults.


Virus-free gene editing possible at chromosomes through stretching cells in a micropost array, even for hard-to-transfect cells. The CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)–Cas (CRISPR-associated) nuclease system represents an efficient tool for genome editing and gene function analysis. It consists of two components: single-guide RNA (sgRNA) and the enzyme Cas9. Typical sgRNA and Cas9 intracellular delivery techniques are limited by their reliance on cell type and exogenous materials as well as their toxic effects on cells (for example, electroporation). We introduce and optimize a microfluidic membrane deformation method to deliver sgRNA and Cas9 into different cell types and achieve successful genome editing. This approach uses rapid cell mechanical deformation to generate transient membrane holes to enable delivery of biomaterials in the medium. We achieved high delivery efficiency of different macromolecules into different cell types, including hard-to-transfect lymphoma cells and embryonic stem cells, while maintaining high cell viability. With the advantages of broad applicability across different cell types, particularly hard-to-transfect cells, and flexibility of application, this method could potentially enable new avenues of biomedical research and gene targeting therapy such as mutation correction of disease genes through combination of the CRISPR-Cas9–mediated knockin system.


Exogenous jasmonic acid (JA) and salicylic acid (SA) can have an important effect on rice allelopathy. Currently, the role of endogenous JA and SA on rice-barnyard grass interaction is largely unknown. In this study, the levels of JA and SA in tissues and their correlation to rice allelochemicals inducing with barnyard grass are analyzed. Rice allelochemicals production was enhanced by coexistence with barnyard grass and allelochemicals of the allelopathic variety, PI312777 were generally higher than those of non-allelopathic variety, Liaojing9. Furthermore, JA contents of two rice varieties were generally greater in roots than in shoots, and differed clearly with tested times. The SA levels of PI312777 were generally higher than those of Liaojing9 in shoots but opposite trend in roots. The contents of total allelochemicals correlated positively with SA (Pearson correlation, r = 0.91, P < 0.001). These results indicate that as the phytohormones, JA and SA play a provable role in chemical communication between rice and barnyard grass and participate in rice-barnyard grass allelopathic interaction. Future studies should determine the signal molecules in root exudates of barnyard grass and their functions.


Author(s): Kapsenberg, Lydia | Advisor(s): Hofmann, Gretchen E | Abstract: Anthropogenic carbon emissions are predicted to alter marine ecosystems. One such change is the decline in ocean pH, known as ocean acidification. Model predictions of ocean acidification have guided biological experiments for more than a decade. Many studies predict negative consequences of future ocean pH on marine species. To understand how species will respond to future conditions, however, knowledge of present-day pH exposures is necessary and often limited. In this dissertation, I described present-day pH variability in three coastal regions and used the data to design laboratory experiments assessing the physiological response of two organisms, sea urchins and mussels, to changing ocean conditions. As recorded by autonomous pH sensors, I found three unique patterns of coastal pH variability. Near-shore Antarctica was characterized by a steep seasonal increase in pH and pH variability during summer phytoplankton blooms. The northern Channel Islands, California, exhibited event-scale and diurnal pH variability due to primary production of phytoplankton and fixed vegetation. Only mild effects from upwelling were detected at the islands, suggesting that this region may become a spatial refuge from extreme low pH in the future. Finally, Oregon was characterized by event-scale decreases in pH due to periodic upwelling events. The results from this research show that many coastal species experience short-term changes in pH that are within the same magnitude of change predicted for ocean acidification by the end of the century. While such present-day exposures to pH variability may promote tolerance of future pH change, these near-shore regions are also characterized by unique patterns of thermal stress. I conducted two studies to investigate the interactive effects of pH and temperature on organismal physiology. First, Antarctic sea urchin, Sterechinus neumayeri, early developmental stages (EDSs) currently experience l 2 °C seasonal warming and may only experience a few degrees of ocean warming over the next 100 years. Despite development under pH and temperatures outside of current exposures, S. neumayeri EDSs exhibited high tolerance of a one-hour heat stress test, suggesting this species may be more resilient to ocean change than previously thought. Second, unlike Antarctic species, intertidal species at mid-latitudes experience daily temperature fluctuations that can exceed four times end-century predictions of ocean warming, due to tidal cycles. In Oregon, upwelling events enhance this temperature range by periodically delivering cold, low pH water to the intertidal zone. Depending on sea water conditions simulating an upwelling event (cold, low pH) or wind relaxation (warm, high pH), the intertidal mussel Mytilus californianus generated different transcriptomic signatures of the cellular heat shock response, following exposure to aerial heat stress. This suggests that future changes in seawater conditions may alter the heat stress tolerance of M. californianus during low tides. The results from this dissertation highlight the importance of designing experiments that reflect species' present-day and future multi-stressor environment, in order to generate ecologically relevant conclusions. As anthropogenic stressors continue to take hold of coastal seas, understanding the biological consequences is critical for management and conservation efforts.


The interactions between high-energy charged particles and spacecraft insulating materials can cause deep dielectric charging and discharging, leading to spacecraft anomalies. In this paper, we establish a unipolar charge transport physical model of deep dielectric charging, according to the charge distribution and energy deposition of incident electrons and nonlinear dark conductivity and radiation induced conductivity (RIC) of material. Under the irradiation of electrons with different energies (from 0.1 to 0.5 MeV), the charge transport process of low density polyethylene (LDPE) can be obtained through solving the charge continuity equation and Poisson's equation. The calculation results show that the maximum electric field decreases with the increase of radiation electron energy. When radiation electron energy is less than 0.3 MeV, the distribution of the maximum electric field is similar to the change of the electron beam density. When the electron beam density is more than 3 x 10(-9) A/m(2), the maximum electric field will be greater than breakdown threshold (about 2 x 10(7) V/m), and it has higher risk of electrostatic discharge (ESD). With the increase of incident electron energy, the critical electron beam density will increase. When the radiation electron energy is 0.4 MeV, the critical electron beam density is 6 x 10(-8) A/m(2). When the radiation electron energy is more than 0.5 MeV, it seems that no electrostatic discharge (ESD) will occur in a range from 10(-9) to 10(-6) A/m(2). The physical model has the great significance for further studying deep dielectric charging, evaluating the charged degree of spacecraft in space environment and designing protection devices.


The Sultanate of Oman agriculture is almost fully dependent on groundwater. The traditional surface irrigation system such as furrow remains the most common irrigation technique covering almost 80% of the agricultural area. The system has low water use efficiency and enhances soil erosion. If the furrow system can be modified and improved to a level that can increase the efficiency and save water, significant benefits will occur. Therefore, the objective of this study was to modify the furrow system to a furrow bed system and evaluate its water use efficiency in comparison to the drip irrigation system. The experiment was conducted in plots of 2A—3 m in the Agricultural Experiment Station of Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. Each plot had either a drip irrigation system or furrow bed of 60 cm width. The plots were divided randomly using complete block design with two treatments (water source was freshwater and treated wastewater and irrigation method was furrow bed and drip) and three replications. Wheat was sown and all required parameters for soil and plants were measured. Plants were irrigated daily by drippers or every five days by furrows based on crop evapotranspiration value. From soil salinity data, it was found that both methods added some salts to the root zone with less salts found in the furrow bed method due to the heavy leaching that occurred during irrigation. However, the general data did not show a significant difference (p<0.05) in soil salinity between both irrigation method. Since treated wastewater has some extra nutrients compared to freshwater, plant growth was better with treated wastewater and almost all growth parameters were higher with treated wastewater compared to freshwater. Wheat irrigated by drip gave better biological yield compared to furrow bed irrigation. Generally, all measured data collected from both irrigation methods did not show any significant difference (p<0.05). Water productivity data gave better results with furrow bed compared to drip method. This indicates the higher efficiency of furrow bed compared to old method of furrow irrigation. However, drip irrigation could be better in reducing evaporated water whereas furrow bed is an easy method in getting good yield with low cost and high productivity.


Purpose: This paper aims to understand the role of Quality Management and the effectiveness of Human Resource Management. Design/Methodology/Approach: Both secondary and primary research has been carried out in this study. This paper reviewed all the literature applicable to HRM and QM activities and their application in various fields. The emphasis of the review is on the implementation, the effect on organizational performance, and the metrics encouraged for adopting an organization of practice, particularly of Jordan's pharmaceutical companies. Findings: It has been found that Jordanian pharmaceutical companies understood the advantages of QM activities and believe they will accomplish their goals by using that strategy. Nonetheless, most companies do not take HRM and QM practices because these activities' effectiveness lacks defined reasons and less severe outcomes. Therefore, this paper presents the authors' basic understanding of the relationship between the quality management of human resources and the overall quality control and their effect on company sustainability in Jordan's pharmaceutical companies. Practical Implications: The study seeks to provide a clear understanding of the application of company management standards and procedures. Originality/Value: The research is the result of authors' individual effort. All the ideas used in this paper from other colleagues are properly cited and acknowledged.


The effect of temperature on sperm motility was investigated in brown trout Salmo trutta, burbot Lota lota and grayling Thymallus thymallus using water and sperm motility prolonging saline solution (SMPS) for motility activation. The effect of temperature (4-20° C) on spermatozoal enzymes for energy supply [malate dehydrogenase (MDH), pyruvate kinase (PK), adenylate kinase (AK)], flagellar movement [Mg(2+) adenosine triposphatase (ATPase)] and oxidative defence [peroxidase (POX)] were measured in S. trutta and L. lota. Temperatures yielding the highest initial sperm motility rates and swimming velocities were 4-6° C for S. trutta [investigated range (IR) = 4-12° C] and L. lota (IR = 2-8° C) and 8-16° C (IR = 4-16° C) for T. thymallus. Motility variables were re-measured after 30 s in S. trutta, after 45 s in T. thymallus and after 60 s in L. lota in water and after 2 min in all investigated species in SMPS. Motility variables were increased by low temperatures and the results differed between water and SMPS. In S. trutta and L. lota, the temperature resulting in highest activities of MDH, PK, AK and ATPase was 4° C. POX had a very narrow temperature optimum at 20° C in both species. This may indicate that the temperature optimum of enzymes of energy supply and flagellar movement are closely related to motility. The present data show that the variables are affected by temperatures in an ecologically relevant range. Too low, as well as too high temperatures affected sperm motility, and the winter spawners (S. trutta and L. lota) have a narrower temperature optimum than the spring spawner T. thymallus.


Research on everyday creativity—the "little c" creative activities people do in their everyday lives—commonly uses self-report scales to assess people's engagement in different activities. The present research presents a detailed psychometric analysis of the Biographical Inventory of Creative Behaviors (BICB), a 34-item yes/no checklist of common creative activities that has become one of the most popular self-report measures of everyday creative behaviors. Based on a sample of 2,359 adults, the reliability, dimensionality, item fit, item difficulty, and test information were evaluated from a Rasch model perspective. Overall, the BICB shows good evidence for score reliability and appears essentially unidimensional; a small cluster of misfitting and locally dependent items were flagged for impairing unidimensionality. The items' difficulty level was generally moderate and suitable for the scale's intended populations and purposes. Differential item functioning (DIF) based on gender and age, estimated via Rasch tree recursive partitioning methods, found notable gender-based DIF (generally reflecting culturally gendered qualities of some creative activities) but little age-based DIF. Taken together, the BICB has many psychometric strengths. Some opportunities for future scale refinement are discussed.


Rather than a doctrinaire atheist who has no time for religion, careful attention to Lenin's explicit statements on religion reveal a far more complex and ambivalent position. This study explores those tensions, beginning with the duality of religion as response to and cause of suffering, moving onto the multi-layered metaphors of booze and the human image, and then analysing the unresolved question of what happens after the revolution when religion persists. As for the vexed issue of 'freedom of conscience', Lenin both accepts the standard socialist position and yet seeks to stipulate that in the party religion is not a private affair. Yet even here, believers, even priests, are welcome in the party as long as they do not propagate views contrary to the party platform. Lenin also glimpses the more radical possibilities of religion, especially when it is not mainstream, occasionally (although not often enough) fostering various elements of the religious Left.


E-selectin is an adhesion molecule transiently and specifically expressed on endothelial cells upon stimulation with cytokines. We wished to determine whether methylation could play a role in cell-type specific expression of this gene. We found that the E-selectin promoter in cultured endothelial cells is under-methylated in comparison with non-expressing HeLa cells. Plasmid constructs carrying a reporter driven by the E-selectin promoter and methylated in vitro are no longer transcribed in either an in vitro transcription system or in transiently transfected cells. We identified the NF-kappa B site in the promoter as the likely target for this methylation-mediated repression by testing a minimal promoter carrying only this and an associated element. We conclude that methylation is likely to play a role in blocking E-selectin expression in non-endothelial cells.


An ecological survey of the birds of the Campus of the College of African Wildlife Management Mweka at Kibosho, in northern Tanzania is presented. It includes an annotated checklist of birds found within the habitats of the Campus and its milieu. The work is a result of one year of study from August 2004 to August 2005. During movements on foot around the Campus and its milieu birds were observed. This work revealed a record of sixty (60) bird taxa in 30 families. These records are compared with previous work of 1997. The records represent 47.6% and 73.2% of the bird species and families of the 1997 records. Fourteen (23.33% of the observed number) species breed at the Campus, and nine species are documented as pests of either chicken and or crops. Furthermore, the paper shows the composition and diversity of the present bird fauna, of which ten are migratory bird species with specific migratory patterns, and locally extinct species of ecological specialists with narrow and restricted ranges due to multiple factors including infrastructure development that resulted to core habitat loss for avifauna. The existence of an alien species, House Sparrow may pose human health problems by contamination of food supplies with parasites in faecal material. The monitoring of their demographic figure and integration of management measures are recommended. We further recommend that both infrastructure and agriculture developments should take into account conservation policy. Keywords: Annotated checklist, alien birds, Ethiopian pattern, milieu, taxon


EVALUATION of the result of the primary repair of inguinal hernia is of paramount importance. Since this is one of the commonest conditions requiring surgical intervention in man, it plays an important part in the economic, social, and employable status of the person involved. Great strides have been made in the surgical approach to this problem since the original basic anatomical repairs and reports of both Bassini 1 and Halsted. 2 During the past 50 years, through the continued efforts and statistical evaluation of their results in large series of cases by many prominent groups and surgeons, this important problem has been presented many times. It is encouraging to note in the recent years the great improvement made in the technic and wider use of nonabsorbable suture for the repair of this congenital or acquired defect. Even though there exist today innumerable types of repairs which have their strong advocates,


Given a theoretical model for a self-propelled particle or micro-organism, how does one optimally determine the parameters of the model from experimental data in the form of a time-lapse recorded trajectory? For very long trajectories, one has very good statistics, and optimality may matter little. However, for biological micro-organisms, one may not control the duration of recordings, and then optimality can matter. This is especially the case if one is interested in individuality and hence cannot improve statistics by taking population averages over many trajectories. One can learn much about this problem by studying its simplest case, pure diffusion with no self-propagation. This is an interesting problem also in its own right for the very same reasons: interest in individuality and short trajectories. We summarize our recent results on this latter issue here and speculate about the extent to which similar results may be obtained also for self-propelled particles.


Tire wear contributes to atmospheric Particulate Matter (PM) and is regulated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency because PM has been shown to affect human health. Vehicle emissions are a significant source of both PM2.5 and PM10. Vehicle fleet emissions per mile traveled have been reduced significantly in the last 30 years as a result of improved engine operation and tailpipe controls. However, "zero emission" vehicles will continue to generate PM from tire wear, road wear, brake wear, and re-suspended road dust. In this study, aerosol measurement techniques existing at Arizona State University were applied to evaluate tire wear emissions from the vehicle fleet using the Deck Park highway tunnel in Phoenix, AZ. The Deck Park Tunnel highway surface was Portland Cement Concrete (PCC), and was resurfaced with an Asphalt Rubber Friction Course (ARFC) layer as part of the Arizona Department of Transportation Quiet Pavements Program. This study took advantage of a rare opportunity to sample tire wear emissions at the tunnel before and after the ARFC overlay. The hypothesis was that an ARFC surface results in less tire wear than the existing PCC road surface. This paper reports on the measured PM emissions from the on-road vehicle traffic during typical highway driving conditions for the two different roadway surfaces. It presents the analysis of representative tire tread samples for tires wear marker compounds; and finally a comparison of roughness and frictional surface characteristics as measured before and after the ARFC overlay. The study found that emission rates of tire wear per kilometer driven on PCC road surface were 1.4 to 2 times higher than emission rates of tire wear on ARFC road surface. Alexandrova, Kaloush and Allen 3


We present late-time (590-994 days) mid-IR photometry of the normal but highly reddened Type IIP supernova SN 2002hh. Bright, cool, slowly fading emission is detected from the direction of the supernova. Most of this flux appears not to be driven by the supernova event but instead probably originates in a cool, obscured star formation region or molecular cloud along the line of sight. We also show, however, that the declining component of the flux is consistent with an SN-powered IR echo from a dusty progenitor CSM. Mid-IR emission could also be coming from newly condensed dust and/or an ejecta/CSM impact, but their contributions are likely to be small. For the case of a CSM-IR echo, we infer a dust mass of as little as 0.036 M☉ with a corresponding CSM mass of 3.6(0.01/rdg) M☉, where rdg is the dust-to-gas mass ratio. Such a CSM would have resulted from episodic mass loss whose rate declined significantly about 28,000 years ago. Alternatively, an IR echo from a surrounding, dense, dusty molecular cloud might also have been responsible for the fading component. Either way, this is the first time that an IR echo has been clearly identified in a Type IIP supernova. We find no evidence for or against the proposal that Type IIP supernovae produce large amounts of dust via grain condensation in the ejecta. However, within the CSM-IR echo scenario, the mass of dust derived implies that the progenitors of the most common of core-collapse supernovae may make an important contribution to the universal dust content.


Seventy-nine children, aged two and one-half to thirteen years, divided into four groups on the basis of their weight and family history of diabetes mellitus (one sibling or one parent with insulin dependent diabetes), were examined. The data showed that the occurrence of chemical diabetes was higher in children with family history of diabetes. In obese children hyperinsulinism was present, but glucose intolerance was associated with impairment of insulin secretion. The findings suggest that there probably is a genetically predisposed incapacity of beta cells to respond to various stimuli, and diabetes may develop in the face of relative insulin deficiency, regardless of the, absolute value of plasma insulin.


Long-term sequelae of preterm birth have been studied extensively up until the age of 5 to 8 years. However, the cognitive development of adolescents born preterm has received limited attention. The objective of this study is to determine school performance in adolescents born very preterm. We have followed up a cohort of 484 infants born before 32 weeks of gestation in whom cranial ultrasound was routinely and systematically performed. School performance was assessed in the surviving adolescents at 14 years of age. The outcome variable divided the adolescents into three groups: (1) normal, (2) slow learners, and (3) special education. School performance data were obtained from 278 of 304 surviving adolescents; 129 performed normally, while 107 were slow learners, and 42 needed special education. From the unadjusted odds ratios for the need of special education by the various perinatal factors, only the odds ratio for periventricular-intraventricular hemorrhage was significantly associated (2.56, 95% confidence interval 1.17-4.86). Logistic regression analysis revealed that, after correction for possible confounding factors, the odds ratios for special education were significantly higher for adolescents with all grades of periventricular-intraventricular hemorrhage. Less than 50% of adolescents born before 32 weeks gestation perform normally in school. Periventricular- intraventricular hemorrhage, including the lower grades, does have an unfavorable additional effect on school performance. © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Academic spaces of Regional Dynamics and Semiotics and Aesthetic Thought, developed under the program of Bachelor in Elementary Education with Emphasis on Social Sciences of Universidad Distrital Francisco Jose de Caldas and the Research Geopaideia Group, interested in providing valuable elements in the discussion around current forms as geographical space is revealed and taught in our societies and educational contexts, especially in a teacher training program, it makes a bid to create a space for dialogue, taking advantage of recent digital media and communication, with experts in concepts and diverse epistemologies about geographic space and its significance in the world of life: it is how it is possible to consolidate an encounter with the teacher - Yi Fu Tuan. This meeting was primarily a time to explore emotional responses and for personal, academic and research enrichment full of opportunities for talking to and from the knowledge of Professor Tuan, about space issues. The work of Professor Tuan, widely known to geographers, geography teachers and those interested in related issues has provided in recent decades valuable items for the understanding, study, research and experience of space from other possibilities in which the subject is a main character. The Group Geopaideia aims to provide references for reflection in order to transform the traditional conception of geography in school that locates it only as a science for the enumeration and description of the biophysical phenomena on Earth's surface, being the geography neglected and marginalized as a task of just mechanical memorization of dates and locations forgetting its core of study which is the geographical and socio-cultural dimension.


We conducted a field experiment at a location near Goettingen. We investigated the priming effects in the rhizosphere of maize plants by introducing three plant densities and a bare fallow control and two fertilization levels. Each resulting treatment was carried out in four 5x5 m field replicates. We collected long term soil CO2 using NaOH traps. Short term soil CO2 accumulation was measured with a CO2 chamber system. In order to investigate the CO2 fluxes inside the soil two silicon CO2 collectors were installed between the plant rows on each plot in depths of 10, 20 and 30 cm. All CO2 samples were analyzed for concentration and Carbon-13 signature. The field has been cropped with C3 plants only in the last decades. With the introduction of maize plants and their distinct isotopic composition we are able to differentiate the plant derived CO2 in the rhizosphere from soil derived CO2. Hence we are able to calculate a priming effect utilizing only natural abundance Carbon-13 in the CO2 samples. Root samples were taken in between the rows to estimate root biomass in different depths, to analyze the isotopic composition and to determine root length density. Also above ground plant samples were taken to determine above ground biomass three times throughout the experiment. Temperature was monitored on the field over the whole growing season using temperature sensors which were installed in the three measurement depths. Soil water status was monitored on the main sampling events. Additionally we collected soil samples to determine the isotopic composition of the organic carbon on each plot and depth, to analyze enzyme activity and to determine microbial biomass and microbial communities via PLFA extraction. We compared all three CO2 collecting techniques for their applicability in the field and hope to present an in-depth view on priming effects on field sites.


Probabilistic logic programming is increasingly important in artificial intelligence and related fields as a formalism to reason about uncertainty. It generalises logic programming with the possibility of annotating clauses with probabilities. This paper proposes a coalgebraic semantics on probabilistic logic programming. Programs are modelled as coalgebras for a certain functor F, and two semantics are given in terms of cofree coalgebras. First, the F-coalgebra yields a semantics in terms of derivation trees. Second, by embedding F into another type G, as cofree G-coalgebra we obtain a `possible worlds' interpretation of programs, from which one may recover the usual distribution semantics of probabilistic logic programming. Furthermore, we show that a similar approach can be used to provide a coalgebraic semantics to weighted logic programming.