Background PMM2-CDG (CDG-Ia) is the most frequent N-glycosylation disorder. While supplying mannose to PMM2-decient �broblasts corrects the altered N-glycosylation in vitro, short term therapeutic approaches with mannose supplementation in PMM2-CDG patients have been unsuccessful. Mannose found no further mention in the design of a potential therapy for PMM2-CDG in the past years, as it applies as ineffective. This retrospective study analyzes the �rst long term mannose supplementation in 20 PMM2-CDG patients. Mannose was given at a total of 1-2 g mannose/kg b.w./d divided into 5 single doses over a mean time of 60,7 months. Protein glycosylation, blood mannose concentration and clinical presentation were monitored in everyday clinical practice. Results After a mean time period of more than 1 year the majority of patients showed signi�cant improvements in protein glycosylation. Conclusion Long-term dietary D-mannose supplementation shows biological effects in PMM2-CDG, an inherited disorder of mannose metabolism. It improves glycosylation in the majority of patients and could become the �rst cornerstone in the treatment of this disease.


Changes in lymph and blood vessels were studied in 110 dogs with acute and chronic cholecystitis. It was established that in the period of development of acute inflammatory processes in the gall bladder the monolayer network of hepatic capillaries was changed into bi-layer, took place the formation of plane networks at the side of the lobule and lacunary dilatations in the site of fusion of lymph capillaries, dilatation and deformation of lymph capillaries and vessels. Under conditions of chronic cholecystitis fibrosis and sclerosis of the portal tracts were accompanied by intensive growth (and reduction - in parallel) of lymph capillaries. Thick small-looped network was observed to develop around false lobules during development of cyrrhosis. A conclusion is made that early cholecystectomy is necessary in cases of inflammatory diseases of the gallbladder.


This paper considers the role of academics in current debates on media and cultural policy in the UK. Although theories of the intellectuals differ widely as to what such a role might be, they point to a more general issue: the struggle for social recognition by contending forms of
expertise. The policy field is one arena in which such contention occurs. Although the digital revolution is beginning to erode distinct policy regimes, broadcasting policy debate still conserves some long-standing features. Dominated by a few protagonists occupying positions of institutional power and critical, academic influence is at best marginal. For its part, cultural policy is being increasingly displaced by creative economy policy. This has been a New Labour project, initiated and from time to time sustained by a policy generation rooted in think tanks, consultancy and advising, with its academic critics largely unheard. Despite its shaky foundations, creativity policy has achieved a hegemonic position in British debate and is influential internationally. Nearer home, it has been uncritically adopted in Scotland – an illuminating case of policy dependency. The paper concludes with some reflections on policymakers' resistance to academic arguments.


Background The aetiology of colorectal cancer has strong dietary links, and there may be an association between coffee and colorectal cancer risk. Objective To study the effects of filtered (low levels of kahweol/cafestol) and unfiltered (high levels of kahweol/cafestol) coffee on tumour formation in multiple intestinal neoplasia (Apc Min/+) mice. Design Apc Min/+ mice (n=11 per group) were fed for 9 weeks with 10% w/w of these two types of coffee. Coffee was served as a dietary ingredient mixed with a semi-synthetic AIN-93G-based diet. Plasma levels of caffeine and paraxanthine were used as compliance markers. At the end of the feeding period intestinal tumour number and size were determined. The levels of β-catenin and cyclin D1, two cell-signalling proteins important to the progression of neoplasia, were also analysed in the tumour tissue. Results Plasma caffeine and paraxanthine concentrations were 3.2±1.4 and 1.7±0.4 µmol l−1 in the filtered coffee group and 3.6±2.3 and 1.6±0.6 µmol l−1 in the unfiltered coffee group. The level of plasma xanthines was below detection in the control group. The total number of tumours was equal between the dietary groups: 29 for the control, 30 (p =0.767) for the filtered coffee and 29 (p=0.430) for the unfiltered coffee groups. The levels of β-catenin and cyclin D1 in the nuclear fraction of the tumour tissue were also the same between the groups. Conclusions Filtered or unfiltered coffee (10% w/w) does not exert antitumorigenic activity in Apc Min/+ mice or change β-catenin and cyclin D1 signalling in the adenoma tissues. The results suggest that coffee does not change neoplasia progression in this animal model.


The assessment of scholarly literature on the Information Society provided in this paper sets out and distinguishes between the analytical foundations of mainstream and critical contributions from a selection of disciplines and fields with a view to considering why there is so little reciprocal engagement among them, and whether there are new opportunities to promote a dialogue with those who hold the power to establish policies and investment practices with regard to information and communication technologies. Based on a review of hundreds of works, it is argued that a broader range of analytical frameworks needs to be considered if today's policies and strategies in this area are not to perpetuate inequality and injustice. In particular, we need to acknowledge that a plurality of visions of future information societies exists, embracing potentially conflicting values and priorities. More emphasis needs to be given to analytical approaches that privilege human well‐being and inclusivity.


Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play a pivotal role in regulating the composition of the extracellular matrix and have a critical role in vascular disease, cancer progression, and bone disorders. This paper describes the design and fabrication of a microdevice as a new platform for highly sensitive MMP-9 detection. In this sensing platform, fluorescein isocyanate (FITC)-labeled MMP-9 specific peptides were covalently immobilized on an electrospun nanofiber matrix to utilize an enzymatic cleavage strategy. Prior to peptide immobilization, the nanofiber matrix was incorporated into hydrogel micropatterns for easy size control and handling of the nanofiber matrix. The resultant hydrogel-framed nanofiber matrix immobilizing the peptides was inserted into microfluidic devices consisting of reaction chambers and detection zones. The immobilized peptides were reacted with the MMP-9-containing solution in a reaction chamber, which resulted in the cleavage of the FITC-containing peptide fragments and subsequently generated fluorescent flow at the detection zone. As higher concentrations of the MMP-9 solution were introduced or larger peptide-immobilizing nanofiber areas were used, more peptides were cleaved, and a stronger fluorescence signal was observed. Due to the huge surface area of the nanofiber and small dimensions of the microsystem, a faster response time (30 min) and lower detection limit (10 pM) could be achieved in this study. The hydrogel-framed nanofiber matrix is disposable and can be replaced with new ones immobilizing either the same or different biomolecules for various bioassays, while the microfluidic system can be continuously reused.


Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are commonly used for continuously monitoring applications. This paper investigates a base station assisted energy efficient routing for hierarchical clusters. The base station determines the number of clusters and the initial set of headset members. Moreover, instead of a single cluster head, a set of associates called a head-set manages the network clusters. The head-set approach not only optimizes energy consumption by reducing the number of elections but evenly distributes the long-range transmissions among the network nodes. Due to the controlled addition of redundant associates, the network is available for longer number of transmissions. The simulation results show that the proposed protocol outperforms the traditional clustering techniques.


Hybrid System Combination for Machine Translation: An Integration of Phrase-level and Sentence-level Combination Approaches Wei-Yun Ma Given the wide range of successful statistical MT approaches that have emerged recently, it would be beneficial to take advantage of their individual strengths and avoid their individual weaknesses. Multi-Engine Machine Translation (MEMT) attempts to do so by either fusing the output of multiple translation engines or selecting the best translation among them, aiming to improve the overall translation quality. In this thesis, we propose to use the phrase or the sentence as our combination unit instead of the word; three new phrase-level models and one sentence-level model with novel features are proposed. This contrasts with the most popular system combination technique to date which relies on word-level confusion network decoding. Among the three new phrase-level models, the first one utilizes source sentences and target translation hypotheses to learn hierarchical phrases — phrases that contain subphrases (Chiang 2007). It then re-decodes the source sentences using the hierarchical phrases to combine the results of multiple MT systems. The other two models we propose view combination as a paraphrasing process and use paraphrasing rules. The paraphrasing rules are composed of either string-to-string paraphrases or hierarchical paraphrases, learned from monolingual word alignments between a selected best translation hypothesis and other hypotheses. Our experimental results show that all of the three phrase-level models give superior performance in BLEU compared with the best single translation engine. The two paraphrasing models outperform the re-decoding model and the confusion network baseline model. The sentence-level model exploits more complex syntactic and semantic information than the phrase-level models. It uses consensus, argument alignment, a supertag-based structural language model and a syntactic error detector. We use our sentence-level model in two ways: the first selects a translated sentence from multiple MT systems as the best translation to serve as a backbone for paraphrasing process; the second makes the final decision among all fused translations generated by the phrase-level models and all translated sentences of multiple MT systems. We proposed two novel hybrid combination structures for the integration of phrase-level and sentence-level combination frameworks in order to utilize the advantages of both frameworks and provide a more diverse set of plausible fused translations to consider.


We investigate how the movement measurement technologies developed for virtual reality applications can be applied to track in real-time the full body posture of a human being. The accuracy of this information is of definite importance to evaluate the feasibility of complex tasks involving human beings. We present a full body movement measurement approach. It provides a realistic conversion in real-time with a reasonable number of sensors. Associated with the hand movement measurement and correction algorithms we provide a pertinent visual and vibrotactile feedback to the performer.


The simulation of the Indian summer monsoon and its pronounced intraseasonal component in a modern climate model remains a significant challenge. Recently, using observations and reanalysis products, the central Indian Ocean (CIO) mode was found to be a natural mode in the ocean‐atmosphere coupled system and also shown to have a close mechanistic connection with the monsoon intraseasonal oscillation (MISO). In this study, the simulation of the actual CIO mode in historical Community Earth System Model (CESM) outputs is assessed by comparing with observations and reanalysis products. The simulation of the Madden‐Julian Oscillation, a major component of tropical intraseasonal variabilities (ISVs), is satisfactory. However, the CIO mode is not well captured in any of the CESM simulations considered here. The force and response relationship between the atmosphere and the ocean associated with the CIO mode in CESM is opposite to that in nature. The simulated meridional gradient of large‐scale zonal winds is too weak, which precludes the necessary energy conversion from the mean state to the ISVs and cuts off the energy source to MISO in CESM. The inability of CESM to reproduce the CIO mode seen clearly in nature highlights the CIO mode as a new dynamical framework for diagnosing the deficiencies in Indian summer monsoon simulation in climate models. The CIO mode is a coupled metric for evaluating climate models and may be a better indicator of a model's skill to accurately capture the tropical multiscale interactions over subseasonal to interannual timescales.


In this article we discuss our experiences from setting up workshops, inspired by creative research methods (Gauntlett, 2005, 2007), on the theme of construction of online identities by young people (aged 13–14 years) in Estonia and in Sweden. Our primary focus is on the opportunities and possible challenges involved when using creative research methods to study the identity construction process of young people by engaging them in participatory, creative activities. Our experiences indicate that such an approach can be especially beneficial when working with young people, as it enabled us to observe the actual construction and usage of gender codes and norms, both in the offline peer group context and in an online setting.


Reproductive fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) (448 females and 278 males), classified by anatomical/histological methods, were studied for serum sex hormones. Of the 207 females classified as pregnant by anatomical methods, 95% had progesterone (P) levels higher than 9.0 nmol/l with a near symmetrical distribution of log10 P-levels around the mean of 1.55 (35.5 nmol/l geometric mean). More than half of the sexually immature females (n = 157) had P-levels £ 0.1 nmol/l. Nonpregnant mature cows were older on average than pregnant cows, suggesting the beginning of reproductive senescence in females before the age of 30 y. The mean serum testosterone (T) of mature males (3.1 nmol/l) was significantly higher than that of immature males (1.0 nmol/l). In mature males, T-levels were positively associated with testicular size, as well as time (daycount) during the summer whaling season. For fin whales, serum P- and T-levels agreed closely with anatomical studies of reproduction and may be decisive when anatomical indexes fail. Furthermore, the serum T-level appears to be an excellent index for monitoring the latter part of the annual male reproductive cycle.


It is very important to maintain proper nutrition and appropriate to the case of cirrhosis of the liver. The objective of this study was designed to assess the dietary intake liver cirrhosis patient and highlighting the dietary. Management during the one set of disease. Design this research study the assessment of dietary management of liver disease among patient in Hail to make dietary management practice more applicable of grate use for all family member of the liver disease patient. 28 Questionnaire was set to collect information from patients with liver disease / 2013. Patient with liver Cirrhosis are interview to collect information about the dietary intake. It was found that the majority of the respondents in these study their age between (21-40y)]. 64% most were Male 86% with education up to (Academic), 46% were smoker, 61% with economic status [Medium 2000 less than 5000], and 50% were employed, 54% were Married. Conclusion The cases of this disease, showed poor eating habits, lack of interest in the nutritional side and dependence on junk food, and lack of exercise activities which may affecting the level of treatment on the nutritional side. Keyword: Liver Cirrhosis, Nutritional management, Sudan


Within the high subalpine tract of the Bogong High Plains there has been a gradual increase in the cover of shrubs over the past 40 years, especially within open heathland and grassland communities. A field trial, using permanent 1 m2 plots, has confirmed that the establishment of shrub seedlings such as Asterolasia trymalioides, Grevillea australis, Phebalium squamulosum and Prostanthera cuneata occurs primarily upon bare ground, and is absent where the cover of vegetation or fixed Poa hiemata litter remains intact. The survival of Poa hiemata seedlings on bare ground is low, except where local shelter is afforded. Disturbances which cause bare ground, including domestic cattle activity, can create microsites suitable for the establishment of shrub seedlings. Shrub establishment and development may be inhibited by cattle trampling, and some palatable shrubs, e.g. Asterolasia and Grevillea, are especially affected. If cattle are removed from previously grazed grassland and heathland sites where shrubs such as Asterolasia and Grevillea have established, the encroachment of such shrubs will be more rapid than on similar sites subject to continued grazing. However, continued cattle activity is unlikely to inhibit the development of non-palatable, vegetatively reproducing shrubs such as Prostanthera cuneata and Phebalium squamulosum within closed heath communities.


OBJECTIVES
We examined the perceived effects of leave from work among employed parents of children with special health care needs.

METHODS
Telephone interviews were conducted from November 2003 to January 2004 with 585 parents who had missed 1 or more workdays for their child's illness in the previous year.

RESULTS
Most parents reported positive effects of leave on their child's physical (81%) and emotional (85%) health; 57% reported a positive effect on their own emotional health, although 24% reported a negative effect. Most parents reported no effect (44%) or a negative effect (42%) on job performance; 73% reported leave-related financial problems. In multivariate analyses, parents receiving full pay during leave were more likely than were parents receiving no pay to report positive effects on child physical (odds ratio [OR] = 1.85) and emotional (OR = 1.68) health and parent emotional health (OR = 1.70), and were less likely to report financial problems (OR = 0.20).

CONCLUSIONS
Employed parents believed that leave-taking benefited the health of their children with special health care needs and their own emotional health, but compromised their job performance and finances. Parents who received full pay reported better consequences across the board. Access to paid leave, particularly with full pay, may improve parent and child outcomes.


Fashion style transfer has attracted significant attention because it both has interesting scientific challenges and it is also important to the fashion industry. This paper focuses on addressing a practical problem in fashion style transfer, person-to-person clothing swapping, which aims to visualize what the person would look like with the target clothes worn on another person instead of dressing them physically. This problem remains challenging due to varying pose deformations between different person images. In contrast to traditional nonparametric methods that blend or warp the target clothes for the reference person, in this paper we propose a multistage deep generative approach named SwapGAN that exploits three generators and one discriminator in a unified framework to fulfill the task end-to-end. The first and second generators are conditioned on a human pose map and a segmentation map, respectively, so that we can simultaneously transfer the pose style and the clothes style. In addition, the third generator is used to preserve the human body shape during the image synthesis process. The discriminator needs to distinguish two fake image pairs from the real image pair. The entire SwapGAN is trained by integrating the adversarial loss and the mask-consistency loss. The experimental results on the DeepFashion dataset demonstrate the improvements of SwapGAN over other existing approaches through both quantitative and qualitative evaluations. Moreover, we conduct ablation studies on SwapGAN and provide a detailed analysis about its effectiveness.


The followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadian are known as Ahmadis and due to this; their belief and faith are called Ahmdiyat. During 1869 a delegation of the British newspapers' editors and Christian leaders visited India to raise loyalty with the British government among the Indian people along with curbing the passion of Jihad among the Muslims and how they could be tamed. This delegation prepared two different reports on its return to England. In this context, it has been mentioned that the majority of Indians Muslims are the followers of religious saints exclude thinking, if we could find some person who could claim to be an apostolic prophet, and then we can take vested interest under the supervision of the British Government. Mirza Qadiani was nominated to fulfill this job. Allama Iqbal was the royal falcon of that Muslim personality's caravan which provide step-stone and assist the Muslim national entity during the period of disappointment jitteriness. His thinking stopped the Muslim's mental tumbledown and construct the religion building on its original basis. This research highlights the Ahmadis sect, its belief and response of Allama Iqbal on this sect


Abstract This study is about what supervisors perceive as crucial aspects of quality in supervising students writing their bachelor theses. The questions on quality are related to a scientific perspective, a learning perspective, a societal perspective and a social perspective. The study demonstrates that the criteria on science varied considerably, despite the supervisors being in a single discipline area. There is also marked variation in views of the relation between science and practice and different supervisors expressed variations in their conception of competence. Furthermore, supervisors perceive their own role as senior researchers or senior consultants, and sometimes also in the supporting role of 'deputy mother'. The conclusion is that the supervisors seem to have a marked lack of understanding of the differences between them in undertaking their role. A main reason for this seems to be the lack of a common theoretical frame of reference. Due to a lack of communication, possible problems related to different perceptions of understanding the task may remain hidden or at least be neglected and underestimated.


There are many kinds of large, heavy objects, or objects with geometrical constraints in our daily life, but non-fixed robots such as humanoid robots are still not able to manipulate them sufficiently well. In this paper we focus on a swing door as a heavy object with geometrical constraints, and present a method for the humanoid robots to open it by using impulsive forces. We first discuss on momentum transfer from the robot to the door. Then we propose a method of generating a whole body motion to impact on the door. We analyze the dynamic model of the door, and we confirm the validity of our method through simulation. At last, we realize a motion of the robot opening a swing door quickly by the method in experiment with the HRP-2 robot hardware.


Head direction (HD) cells fire as a function of the animal's heading direction, with each cell responding to a specific head orientation. This thesis describes the findings from single cell recordings of HD cells in rats. In particular, the thesis focuses on the manner in which these cells integrate landmark and path integration cues.
The first experimental chapter aimed to assess the degree to which HD cell firing is influenced by the geometry of an environment. The findings from this experiment suggest that the reliability of the path integration signal affects the degree to which HD cells integrate geometric cues. As the stability of the path integration signal increased (rat was oriented) the weighting of geometric cues decreased. Conversely, when the stability of the path integration signal decreased (rat was disoriented) the weighting of geometric cues increased. This finding, that the influence of a cue is inversely proportional to the variability of that cue, supports a Bayesian account of cue integration.
The second experiment therefore directly tested a Bayesian model of cue integration. HD cells and behaviour were simultaneously recorded during a conflict between path integration signals and landmark information. Behavioural findings did not support a Bayesian model, but recordings of HD cells did show evidence of cue weighting based on cue reliability. Interestingly, the reliability of the cues was not expressed in the cells' firing rates or tuning widths and therefore the reliability coding could occur before the signal is sent to the HD system.
The final experiment had three main objectives: To establish when HD cells switch from primarily using landmark information to mostly using path integration information. The second aim was to reveal whether HD cells in different areas of the HD circuit respond to these two sensory cues in a similar manner. The third aim was to provide an insight into how activity in the HD network propagates from one preferred firing direction to another.
HD cell firing demonstrated cue integration across the system with no differences in brain region. At small conflicts, HD cell firing suggested landmark dominance, whilst larger conflicts demonstrated a greater weighting of path integration. Preliminary findings also suggest that activity can sweep from one preferred firing direction to the next.


PK1 comprises doxorubicin covalently bound to N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide copolymer by a peptidyl linker. Following cellular uptake via pinocytosis, the linker is cleaved by lysosomal enzymes, allowing intratumoral drug release. Radically altered plasma and tumor pharmacokinetics, compared to free doxorubicin, and significant activity in animal tumors have been demonstrated preclinically. We aimed to determine the maximum tolerated dose, toxicity profile, and pharmacokinetics of PK1 as an i.v. infusion every 3 weeks to patients with refractory or resistant cancers. Altogether, 100 cycles were administered (range, 20-320 mg/m2 doxorubicin-equivalent) to 36 patients (20 males and 16 females) with a mean age of 58.3 years (age range, 34-72 years). The maximum tolerated dose was 320 mg/m2, and the dose-limiting toxicities were febrile neutropenia and mucositis. No congestive cardiac failure was seen despite individual cumulative doses up to 1680 mg/m2. Other anthracycline-like toxicities were attenuated. Pharmacokinetically, PK1 has a distribution t(1/2) of 1.8 h and an elimination t(1/2) averaging 93 h. 131I-labeled PK1 imaging suggests PK1 is taken up by some tumors. Responses (two partial and two minor responses) were seen in four patients with NSCLC, colorectal cancer, and anthracycline-resistant breast cancer. PK1 demonstrated antitumor activity in refractory cancers, no polymer-related toxicity, and proof of principle that polymer-drug conjugation decreases doxorubicin dose-limiting toxicities. The recommended Phase II dose is 280 mg/m2 every 3 weeks. Studies are planned in colorectal, NSCLC, and breast cancer patients.


Due to the poor financial statements which represent credit risk of small and micro business, it's been difficult to develop the credit evaluation model that reflects both consumer credit risk and business credit risk of small and micro business. The purpose of this study is to develop the credit evaluation model for small and micro businesses using credit card sales information in lieu of poor financial information. In order to develop the model, we derive some variables and analyze the relationship between good and bad credits. We find out that twelve variables are significant in predicting good or bad risk for small and micro business, which are categorized into the business period, scale for sale, a fluctuation in sales, sales pattern and business category's bankruptcy ratio, etc. We employ the new statistical learning technique, support vector machines (SVM) as a classifier. We use grid search technique to find out better parameter for SVM. The experimental result shows that credit card sales information could be a good substitute for the financial data on business credit risk in predicting the bankruptcy for small-micro businesses. In addition, we also find out that SVM performs best, when compared with other classifiers such as neural networks, CART, C5.0, multivariate discriminant analysis (MDA), and logistic regression analysis (IRA).


The effects of seed treatments with pesticides, soil temperature at sowing, cutting of plants with and without glyphosate herbicide, root disruption and age of crop at inoculation on reproduction of Meloidogyne javanica on Brassica napus were investigated. When inoculated at sowing, plants grown from fodder rape cv. Rangi seed treated with fenamiphos (0.35 g a.i. per 100 g) and from fodder swede cv. Highlander seed with a coating including imidacloprid had fewer galls than plants from seed untreated or treated with omethoate (0.7 g a.i. per 100 g). When nematode inoculation was delayed until 4 weeks after sowing, omethoate and the imadacloprid treatments had no effect while fenamiphos (0.7 g a.i. per 100 g seed) suppressed galling but also impaired seedling emergence and induced chlorosis. Green manure rape plants cvs Rangi and Humus transplanted into infested soil in the Ž eld in mid-autumn (soil temperature 17±C) remained nematode and gall-free, but tomato cv. Grosse Lisse plants were heavily galled. All three cultivars were gall-free when transplanted and grown in early winter (soil temperatures 8-14±C). Cutting off the tops of cv. Rangi plants at from 6 to 11 weeks after sowing and inoculation had no effect on egg production compared to that on intact plants. Predominant nematode stages in cut plants ranged from developing juveniles to egg-laying females. Application of glyphosate to freshly cut stems had no effect on egg production at any stage. Infesting soil with roots of cv. Rangi, Ž nely chopped while nematodes in them were still juveniles, resulted in a low incidence of infection of bioassay tomato plants compared with infesting soil with rape roots chopped later, when females and females with eggs predominated. Young females in tomato roots laid eggs despite Ž ne chopping of the roots. When cv. Rangi plants were inoculated at 3, 5 and 7 weeks after sowing, the 7-week-old plants were the least invaded and fewer eggs were produced on the 5 and 7-week-old plants than on the 3-week-old ones.


Fitness function design is often both a design and performance bottleneck for evolutionary algorithms. The fitness function for a given problem is directly related to the specifications for that problem. This paper outlines a guide for transforming problem specifications into a fitness function. The target audience for this guide are both non-expert practitioners and those interested in formalizing fitness function design. The goal is to investigate and formalize the fitness function generation process that expert developers go through and in doing so make fitness function design less of a bottleneck. Solution requirements in the problem specifications are identified and classified, then an appropriate fitness function component is generated based on its classifications, and finally the fitness function components combined to yield a fitness function for the problem in question. The competitive performance of a guide generated fitness function is demonstrated by comparing it to that of an expert designed fitness function.


Objective—To clarify the usefulness, acceptability, sensitivity, and validity of version 4 of the Health of the Nation Outcome Scale (HoNOS), a scale developed to meet the requirement for a clinically acceptable outcome scale for routine use in mental illness services. Design—Patients with a range of mental illnesses were rated on the HoNOS at the beginning and end of an episode by interviews with mental health professionals. Subjects—934 patients from eight diagnostic categories were rated by 129 mental health professionals at 17 sites; 250 were also rated on a range of comparison scales. Outcome measures—Comparison of patients' scores at the beginning and end of an episode using individual item scores, dimensional subscores, and the total score. Results—HoNOS scores decreased by almost 50% between the beginning and end of episodes. They varied with the severity of the setting and discriminant analysis showed that the HoNOS had a moderate level of discriminatory power. Correlation analysis showed acceptable levels of agreement with independent scales, although the accuracy of ratings of some items at the beginning of an episode was affected by information deficits. Conclusion—The findings indicate that HoNOS is sensitive to change across time and to differences in illness type and severity, and has a sufficient degree of both construct and criterion related validity to fulfil the requirements of a mental health outcome scale for routine use in clinical settings. (Quality in Health Care 2000;9:98–105)


Central dopamine is involved in the control of endocrine and autonomic nervous function. Dopamine has a central hypotensive effect which can be reproduced by the administration of dopaminergic agonists which cross the blood-brain barrier. These compounds could be useful in the treatment of hypertension as hypothalamic dopaminergic dysfunction has recently been suggested in these patients.


This study was conducted to examine the indirect effect of distributive justice in the relationship between adequacy of benefits and individual attitudes and behaviors (i.e., job satisfaction and organizational commitment) using 190 usable questionnaires gathered from employees in Malaysian public community colleges (MPCOLLEGE sector). The outcome of stepwise regression analysis showed that the inclusion of distributive justice in the analysis had increased the effect of adequacy of benefits on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Furthermore, this finding confirms that distributive justice does act as a full mediating variable in the benefits program model of the organizational sector sample. In addition, implications and limitations of this study, as well as directions for future research are discussed.


Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a promising technology for optimising supply chain processes, as it improves manufacturing and retail operations from forecasting demand to planning, managing inventory, and distribution. In this study, a simulation model is used to calculate the net present value (NPV) of an RFID investment on a three-echelon supply chain and to examine the effects of sharing the tagging cost between supply chain members on the NPV at the echelon level. In the proposed model, NPVs for the retailer, distributor, and manufacturer are calculated for two cases. In the first case, the tagging cost is shared according to the expected benefit of each supply chain member using the tagging cost sharing factor. In the second case, the tagging cost is shared equally between supply chain members. Furthermore, we investigate the difference in the NPVs for a supply chain member change as the end-customer demand value increases.


The validation of the "interFoam" CFD model (part of the OpenFOAM) CFD library is described for a number of wave/structure interaction problems. The background to the research is described, including the reasons for the selection of a new, previously unvalidated CFD code for this purpose. The numerical aspects of the code are briefly reviewed as are some of its additional features including the simulation of porous media. The new wave-generating boundary condition, created as part of this project, is described. The model is validated for the propagation of waves, including violent, breaking waves, using the widely-known "Dingemans" test case as well as new data for wave and focussed wave group propagation over a bar. The model is validated for wave interaction with surface-piercing structures by examining a test case for focussed wave-group impact on a surface-piercing cylinder with one near-breaking wave and a second, breaking, wave. The model is shown to perform well in these cases without the need for calibration and can therefore be considered to be a valuable design tool. It is also shown that in these cases the model can run sufficiently fast to be practical and economic for use as a design tool. The model is validated for porous media with a case examining porepressure transmission through a porous breakwater. The model performs poorly without calibration, highlighting the high levels of uncertainty in the Darcy parameter, but once calibrated is found to produce accurate results in very reasonable time. A case study of a porous roundhead defence structure is also presented to further reinforce the practical usefulness of the model in design.


Background : Increased visceral fat, dyslipidemia and increased markers of inflammation and coagulation are cardiovascular risk factors commonly encountered in obese people with metabolic syndrome. Previous studies have shown that ground Dichrostachys glomerata (DG), a spice used in Western Cameroon, can have beneficial effects on inflammation and various other cardiovascular disease risk factors. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of Dyglomera®, an aqueous extract of DG (standardized to NLT 10% polyphenols) on certain anthropometric, biochemical (including pro-inflammatory and pro-thrombotic states) and hemodynamic parameters in obese patients with metabolic syndrome. Methods : The study was an 8-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 116 males and 202 females aged between 24 and 58 years. Participants were randomly divided into two groups: treatment and placebo. Capsules containing the active treatment (200 mg Dyglomera®) or placebo (200 mg maize powder) were administered 30–60 minutes before lunch and dinner throughout the study period. Various biochemical (namely, blood glucose, lipid profile, pro-inflammatory and pro-thrombotic markers), anthropometric and hemodynamic parameters were measured at baseline and after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment. Results : At the end of the study, the Dyglomera® group showed statistically significant differences in all 16 parameters compared to baseline values. Changes in BMI and waist circumference were accompanied by changes in biochemical parameters, with the exception of adiponectin levels which were not correlated to waist circumference and PAI-1 values. The results confirm the hypothesis that Dyglomera®, the aqueous extract of DG, has anti-inflammatory properties, and is effective in reducing cardiovascular disease risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome in obese human subjects. Key words : Dichrostachys glomerata extract, inflammation, obesity, metabolic syndrome


Abstract A frequency-domain procedure for the design of sliding mode controllers for multi-input, multi-output (MIMO) systems is presented. The methodology accommodates the effects of parasitic dynamics such as those introduced by unmodeled actuators through the introduction of multiple asymptotic observers and model reference hedging. The design procedure includes a frequency domain approach to specify the sliding manifold, the observer eigenvalues, and the hedge model. The procedure is applied to the development of a flight control system for a linear model of the Innovative Control Effector (ICE) fighter aircraft. The stability and performance robustness of the resulting design is demonstrated through the introduction of significant degradation in the control effector actuators and variation in vehicle dynamics. Introduction A reconfigurable control system is one which is able to compensate for sudden,


Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PAAD) is one of the most common malignant tumors in digestive system. To find the new therapeutic targets and explore potential mechanisms underlying PAAD, the bioinformatics has been performed in our study. The PAAD gene expression profile GSE28735 was chosen to analyze the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between PAAD carcinoma tissues and normal adjacent tissues from 45 patients with PAAD. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis were performed using Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID). Moreover, a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was also constructed to help us screen the top 20 hub genes in this profile and demonstrated the underlying interactions among them. The Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) was further performed in order to valid the mRNA levels of top5 up-regulated and top5 down-regualted DEGs, apart from exploring their association with survival rate as well as tumor stage. Finally, Q-PCR was further employed to valid the top5 up-regulated and top5 down-regulated genes in patients with PAAD. In our study, there were a total of 444 DEGs captured (271 up-regulated genes and 173 down-regulated genes). Among these DEGs, the top5 up-regulated genes were CEACAM5, SLC6A14, LAMC2, GALNT5 and TSPAN1 while the top5 down-regulated genes were GP2, CTRC, IAPP, PNLIPRP2 and PNLIPRP1. GO analysis disclosed that the DEGs were predominantly enriched in cell adhesion, lipid metabolism, integrin binding, proteolysis and calcium ion binding. KEGG analysis disclosed that the enriched pathway included pancreatic secretion, protein digestion and absorption, fat digestion and absorption, ECM-receptor interaction, focal adhesion and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. Survival analysis unveiled that the high expression levels of SLC6A14, GALNT5 and TSPAN1 may correlate with the poor prognosis while high expression levels of IAPP may contribute to a better prognosis in patients with PAAD. Additionally, the levels of CEACAM5, SLC6A14, LAMC2 and GALNT5 were also associated with tumor stage. Furthermore, according to the connectivity degree of these DEGs, we selected the top20 hub genes, namely ALB, FN1, EGF, MMP9, COL1A1, COL3A1, FBN1, CXCL12, POSTIN, BGN, VCAN, THBS2, KRT19, MET, MMP14, COL5A2, GCG, MUC1, MMP1 and CPB1, which were expected to be promising therapeutic targets in PAAD. Collectively, our bioinformatics analysis showed that DEGs and hub genes may be defined as new biomarkers for diagnosis and for guiding the therapeutic strategies of PAAD.


With the development of science and technology, computer games, video games
and mobile games as an entertainment are becoming more popular in our society.
Although all of the digital games offer excellent graphics, the quality of gameplays
is still a weak point of many games, particularly off-line games. There are few
crucial issues that could improve off-line gameplay. Storyline, level of difficulty,
rewards, reinforcement used, gaming strategy, and the inclusion of None-Player
Character (NPC). NPC is an important factor in a game. Player can easily complete
the game if the NPC used is too easy to be defeated. In other way, player may
uninstall the game if they found the game is not beatable after spending few days
on the game. As such, there are many Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques have
been introduced and included in different games genres in order to generate better
and attractive NPC. Those NPCs may consist of human player characteristics and
behaviors in handling the game. Generating car racing game NPC is crucial as there
are complex problems found in car racing game. Many factors can influence the
controller's behavior such as varying road conditions, damage control and
unexpected behaviors of opponents. The inclusion of AI technique could generate
better car racing game NPC and it is also beneficial to autonomous mobile car
manufacturing as the generated controllers could be transferred to real car for auto
piloting. In this research, a free open source 3D-based simulator named The Open
Racing Car Simulator (TORCS) is chosen as the research platform. The main
motivation of this research is to investigate whether hybrid Differential Evolution
(DE) and Feed-forward Neural Network (FFNN) as well as hybrid Pareto-based
Differential Evolution (POE) and FFNN could generate better controllers that could
replace normal NPC used in the car racing games. The focuses of the experiments
involved four main research objectives: (1) to test the feasibility of the hybrid DE
and FFNN in TORCS; (2) to obtain a suitable fitness function for evolving
autonomous car controllers; (3) to reduce the time taken in the optimization
processes and improve the efficiency of controllers' driving behaviors by minimizing
the number of sensors used; and (4) to determine which combination of multiobjective
functions is most suitable for evolving the required autonomous car
controllers. The results showed: (1) DE hybrid FFNN could generate optimal
controllers, (2) the proposed fitness function had successfully generated the
required car's racing controllers, (3) the proposed minimization algorithm had been
successfully minimize the number of RF sensors used, (4) the PDE algorithm could
be implemented to generate optimal solutions for car racing controllers, and (5) the
combination of components for average car speed and distance between the car
and track axis is very important compared to other components. As a conclusion,
this research has shown that the DE hybrid FFNN algorithm and PDE hybrid FFNN
algorithm are useful and promising in evolving autonomous car racing controller.


ABSTRACT Eight genera and 14 species of fungi were isolated from soil and eggshells samples collected from the nesting site of the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) at Ras Al Jinz Reserve, Oman. The genus Aspergillus was the commonly represented, including 6 species: A. flavus, A. niger, A. terrus, A. nidulas, A. fumigatus, and A. ochraceus. Seventy-five percent of A. flavus strains isolated from eggshells were aflatoxigenic, producing aflatoxins in a concentration range of 0.3–28 ppb. The growth of fungi on turtle eggs and secretions of mycotoxins may affect embryonic development and possibly contribute to the green turtle egg mortality.


A lightweight, deployable canopy system has been designed to provide weather protection for events seating. Built as a cantilever truss fixed to the back of seating systems, the canopy avoids the use of columns within the viewing area and is deployed from the ground level. A full-scale prototype has been tested to demonstrate its fulfilment of its functional requirements. Current research looks at methods to optimise the structural performance of the system to make it more reliable and efficient. The points considered include the use of curved and continuous members in the compression chord, the making of tension chord and diagonal bracing members from cables and the optimisation of the cantilever geometry. The potential use of straight and non-continuous compression chord members is discussed. The importance of controlling the geometry of the structure and how it can lead to more desirable internal force distributions is also studied. This work will help guide the ongoing development of the new system to make it both more reliable and more cost effective.


In this paper a technique to reduce the leakage power in the register file is presented. Power gating is one of the commonly used technique to reduce the subthreshold leakage current. But as the technology scales down, the effect of the leakage current increases since the supply voltage and the threshold voltage also has to be scaled down with technology scaling. With the power gating technique applied to the register file, it introduces a continuous leakage from the data retention element used to store the data. Since, it has to be powered up always to hold the data present in the register file. Thus an alternative technique called the supply switching with ground collapse technique (SSGC) is implemented where the supply is switched from the normally applied supply voltage to the lower voltage under the standby condition to reduce the leakage current compared to power gating technique. In this paper both of the above mentioned techniques is applied to the register file array of 8x8 with multiple read and write ports and leakage analysis is carried out in a Vdd=1V, 45nm CMOS technology. Also in this paper, the voltage and temperature variation is done to show the power variations.


Stories told by and about men who batter women in the courts of Hawai in the mid-19th century and in the late 20th century are strikingly similar. Courts, then as now, accept some justifications for battering and reject others, in the process constructing the boundary between legitimate and illegitimate violence. Throughout this period, the legal system claimed to focus only on the violent act itself, not the emotional or personal violation. The law interprets the violence as brute fact, knowable without regard to the social relationship or system of cultural meanings within which it occurs. There are persistent contradictions between the law's construction of domestic violence as an unambiguous physical act and litigants' and judges' views that these violent acts are moments within the social dynamics of gendered power relations. At the same time, there are recurrent tensions between the efforts of the legal system to portray violent acts against women in terms of rational categories of action and, in contrast, the experience of violence and the meanings within which it occurs that are often opaque to such sense-making, defiant of a simple means-ends calculus.


The Medicare hospice benefit was originally designed around a cancer disease paradigm but increasingly serves people living with dementia. At this time, almost half of all older adults receiving hospice care have dementia. Yet there is minimal evidence as to whether hospice benefits people living with dementia outside of nursing facilities. We asked whether and how the perceived quality of last-month-of-life care differed between people with and without dementia and whether hospice use among people living with dementia was associated with perceived quality of care compared with the quality of care for those who did not use hospice. We used nationally representative data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study and Medicare claims from the period 2011-17 to examine the impact of hospice enrollment on proxy perceptions of last-month-of-life care quality. Proxies of people living with dementia enrolled in hospice compared with proxies of those not enrolled more often reported care to be excellent (predicted probability: 52 percent versus 41 percent), more often reported having anxiety or sadness managed (67 percent versus 46 percent), and less often reported changes in care settings in the last three days of life (10 percent versus 25 percent). There were no differences in the impact of hospice on proxy ratings of care for people with and without dementia. Policy makers should consider these benefits when weighing changes to hospice policy and regulations that may affect people living with dementia.


According to Trade and Sustainable Development News and Analysis on Africa (2016),
Services now constitute the largest sector of the world economy, accounting for approximately
63.5 percent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). They also represent the largest sector
in 194 individual countries, among which 30 countries derive more than 80 percent of their
GDP from services-related activities.
African countries have also seen a considerable share of their GDP coming from the services
sector. As one of the key drivers of economic growth, services will have a significant role in
enabling Africa to meet the sustainable development goals (SDGs) adopted by the international
community. For Africa, to take full advantage of the economic and social opportunities offered
by services sector development, critical injections of foreign direct investment (FDI) are
required. However, inward FDI is currently mostly concentrated in the extractive and
agricultural sectors of only a few African countries, although evidence seems to indicate that
this is gradually changing.
African countries, including the East African ones, are opening their doors to attract service
FDI towards their country. Nowadays, Africa has become one of the strategic major regions of
global investing, which has grown strongly over the past five years. Ethiopia, the second
populous country in Africa, has been a leading Africa state for more than 50 years. The
comparatively central location of the country, coupled with being host to the headquarters of
several international organizations, has helped accelerating Ethiopian economic growth. This
has resulted in an increasing demand for both quantity and quality services.
However, due to the accelerating demand for all kinds of services there are currently huge
demand-supply and quality gaps. Therefore, attracting foreign investors towards this sector is
required as input to economic development.
Attracting service FDI has a lot of positive spill-over, such as technology transfer, management
skills and investment capital. Therefore, emerging economies like Ethiopia should take efforts
to further attract inward investment. To this end, Ethiopia should define her position with
respect to the service sector by identifying the most determining factors of attracting service
FDI, both at the regional and global levels. This would facilitate detecting and comparing the
gaps and, in turn, pinpoint to recommendations on what Ethiopia should do to enhance and
attract more FDI in the service sector and become more competent and competitive at the
regional and global levels.
As main objective, the research will identify and define the determinants that are significant to
increasing the inflow of service FDI and set guidelines to improve the services FDI flows
towards East Africa: Ethiopia. In addition, the study aims at adding knowledge in identification
of service FDI inflow at global level and African countries (both country and city scale) in
addition to examining their determinants of service FDI attraction.
The literature review conducted in Chapter 2 relates the main concepts of competitiveness,
multilateral cooperation, location factors, FDI and services sector. As the conclusion, the
conceptual framework is formulated and discussed.


The authors reviewed the results of continuous intraoperative electromyographic (EMG) monitoring of muscles innervated by cranial nerves in 17 children whose preoperative imaging studies showed compression or infiltration of the fourth ventricular floor by tumor to determine how intraoperative EMG activity correlated with postoperative cranial nerve morbidity. Bilateral lateral rectus (sixth) and facial (seventh) nerve musculatures were monitored in all children. Cranial nerve function was documented immediately postoperatively and at 1 year. Of the 68 nerves monitored, nine new neuropathies occurred in six children (sixth nerve in four children and seventh nerve in five). In five new neuropathies, intraoperative EMG activity could be correlated in one of four sixth nerve injuries and four of five seventh nerve injuries. Electromyographic activity could not be correlated in four children with new neuropathies. Of 59 cranial nerves monitored that remained unchanged, 47 had no EMG activity. Twelve cranial nerves (three sixth nerves and nine seventh nerves) had EMG activity but no deficit. Of four children with lateral rectus EMG activity, three had new seventh nerve injuries. Lateral rectus EMG activity did not predict postoperative abducens injury. The absence of lateral rectus EMG activity did not assure preserved abducens function postoperatively. Likely because of the close apposition of the intrapontine facial nerve to the abducens nucleus, lateral rectus EMG activity was highly predictive of seventh nerve injury. Although facial muscle EMG activity was not an absolute predictor of postoperative facial nerve dysfunction, the presence of facial muscle EMG activity was associated statistically with postoperative facial paresis. The absence of facial muscle EMG activity was rarely associated with facial nerve injury. The authors speculate that EMG activity in the facial muscles may have provided important intraoperative information to the surgeon so as to avoid facial nerve injury.


In this study Serratia sp. NCIMB 40259 and R. eutropha H16 were utilised for the accumulation of Polyhydroxybutyrate(PHB). Serratia sp. with high phosphatase activity (HPA)or low phosphatase activity (LPA) were fermented in order to accumulate intracellular PHB and biomineralise hydroxyapatite (HA) on the cell surface. The optimum conditions for the accumulation of PHB, in this study, were found to be after 216 h fermentation, producing a PHB yield of 14.6 %w/w and 3.3 %w/w for LPA and HPA respectively. The molecular and thermal properties of PHB were observed to be largely unaffected by the phosphatase activity of the cells and appeared to be dependent on the fermentation period. R. eutropha cells were fermented with the substrates olive oil and rapeseed oil and compared with glucose. The use of either olive oil or rapeseed oil as carbon sources resulted in the greatest accumulation of PHB. The thermal and molecular properties of the PHB samples were found to be almost identical. The use of oils in the production of PHB would make a viable replacement for the use of sugars as substrates. Electrospun fibres of PHB from glucose, olive oil and rapeseed oil were found to have diameters dependant on their solution concentrations. By adjusting the electrospinning parameters it may be possible to control the crystallinity and the diameters the PHB fibres.


As quantum chemical properties have a dependence on their geometries, graph neural networks (GNNs) using 3D geometric information have achieved high prediction accuracy in many tasks. However, they often require 3D geometries obtained from high-level quantum mechanical calculations, which are practically infeasible, limiting their applicability to real-world problems. To tackle this, we propose a new training framework, GeoTMI, that employs denoising process to predict properties accurately using easy-to-obtain geometries (corrupted versions of correct geometries, such as those obtained from low-level calculations). Our starting point was the idea that the correct geometry is the best description of the target property. Hence, to incorporate information of the correct, GeoTMI aims to maximize mutual information between three variables: the correct and the corrupted geometries and the property. GeoTMI also explicitly updates the corrupted input to approach the correct geometry as it passes through the GNN layers, contributing to more effective denoising. We investigated the performance of the proposed method using 3D GNNs for three prediction tasks: molecular properties, a chemical reaction property, and relaxed energy in a heterogeneous catalytic system. Our results showed consistent improvements in accuracy across various tasks, demonstrating the effectiveness and robustness of GeoTMI.


Zakat is an Islamic social financial instrument that has become an important factor in overcoming poverty. This paper aims to explain the practice of zakat from time to time: the practice of zakat on the Prophet Muhammad, during the Khulafaurrasyidin era, during the tabi'in period, during the Islamic Kingdom in Indonesia, during colonialism, and after independence. This article uses a approach qualitative. This article is library research. The results showed that the management of zakat on the Prophet Muhammad Saw. until khulafaurrasydin was handed over directly to the Prophet Muhammad Saw. and Khulafaurrasyidin or people who are mandated by the Prophet and Khulafaurrasyidin to manage them. The management of zakat in the Umayyah dynasty is getting better, but its performance has declined except during the time of Umar bin Abdul Aziz. During the Abbasiyah dynasty, people began not paying zakat due to the high burden of kharj and ushr taxes. In the Andalusian dynasty, the management of zakat became a bone of contention between tribal chiefs, as a result, the distribution of zakat could not meet the adequacy of the poor. During the Fatimiyah dynasty, the caliph asked each regional head to collect zakat, then deposited the zakat to him without any recording of expenses or receipts. The most important lesson in this era is that public trust and compliance in paying the zakat are the main determinants of zakat performance. During the Islamic Kingdom, zakat became a public obligation and contributed to the development of Islamic kingdoms. Then the zakat is managed by the kingdom and is considered as royal income. During colonialism, zakat served as a source of funds for the struggle for Indonesian independence. After Indonesia gained its independence, zakat again received attention from economists, fiqh experts, and the government in the Indonesian economy.


In physics, the Doppler effect describes how the properties of waves - as in sound waves - change in frequency as an observer, or listener, moves in relation to their source. This study of the modalities of reporting and commenting on the events of 1916 in Dublin across both the Unionist and Nationalist newspapers in what was to become Northern Ireland after 1922 offers new perspectives on the way in which both physical distance and embedded political positions will influence the selection and the presentation of news.
While it demonstrates – as might have been expected - that intra-communitarian and sectarian tensions are echoed in the reports concerned, it also reveals sometimes unexpected distortions and adds several layers of complexity to the study of both Unionist and Nationalist media in this period. It also indicates the weakness of the traditional Orange/Green dichotomy as an explanatory paradigm of the complexity of Northern Ireland at this time. The ways in which 1916 in Dublin is reported in Northern Ireland is, in this sense, therefore also a finely-tuned instrument for analysing the vagaries of the relationships there between Nationalists and Unionists, and within Nationalism, on the eve of one of the most profound shifts in Irish political history.
 Finally, it is a unique guide to how not only journalists but public figures, often with a confidence that was to be belied by subsequent events, interpreted or mis-interpreted the Rising and its potential consequences. It is worth remembering, especially by historians, that judging public figures by the effects of their actions sometimes ignores a possibly vital factor: these public figures – unlike the historians who comment on them - were not in a position to know what happened next. This is why the journalistic evidence of their mind-sets, properly understood, can and indeed should form a vital part of the interpretative framework.


The pathogenesis of pulmonary hypertension (PH) includes an inflammatory response. Thymulin, a zinc-dependent thymic hormone, has important immunobiological effects by inhibiting various proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines. We investigated morphological and hemodynamic effects of thymulin administration in a rat model of monocrotaline (MCT)-induced PH, as well as the pattern of proinflammatory cytokine gene expression and the intracellular pathways involved. Adult Wistar rats received an injection of MCT (60 mg/kg, sc) or an equal volume of saline. One day after, the animals randomly received during 3 wk an injection of saline, vehicle (zinc plus carboxymethyl cellulose), or thymulin (100 ng/kg, sc, daily). At d 23-25, the animals were anesthetized for hemodynamic recordings, whereas heart and lungs were collected for morphometric and molecular analysis. Thymulin prevented morphological, hemodynamic, and inflammatory cardiopulmonary profile characteristic of MCT-induced PH, whereas part of these effects were also observed in MCT-treated animals injected with the thymulin's vehicle containing zinc. The pulmonary thymulin effect was likely mediated through suppression of p38 pathway.


In a typical air turbine starter (ATS) engine testing application, compressed air is supplied to the turbine by means of an inlet duct usually with a 90 degree bend and discharged from the turbine into the exhaust chimney through a combination of two duct passages. The primary duct is integral to the engine for connecting to the containment ring. The secondary duct is a transition piece for connecting to the exhaust chimney. As these ducts consume additional pressure and adversely affect the performance of the ATS under test. The design of pressure-efficient outlet ducts is therefore essential, and is the topic of present study. The aerodynamic performance of the overall passage depends on the (i) angle of bend, (ii) the shape of the connecting bolt, (iii) the outlet area and shape of the exhaust duct transiting between the bend and the chimney. Combinations of different angular bends, different shaped bolts and varying size of transition pieces are analyzed using the enterprise version of CFD tool, ANSYS. Three dimensional mesh independent simulations using k-epsilon turbulence model are carried out for a combined geometry of inlet duct, rotor-stator combination, outlet ducts together with the bolts. A combination of the duct passages that has resulted in lowest possible pressure drop is suggested as result of the study i.e. the 90 degree bend duct gives 9% pressure difference between inlet and outlet and this might slightly affect the efficiency of the air turbine stator, however the mass flow rate values remains similar to the stator inlet mass flow rate. Hence the 90 degree bend duct is suitable for the test rig. The static pressure loss and total pressure gain is about 0.04% and −0.004% respectively for baseline and aggressive duct of stator and rotor, hence the baseline duct profile is better than aggressive duct. Among different shapes of connecting bolt, the baseline geometry gives slightly lower efficiency of 85.6% when compared to all other models. But due to manufacturing feasibility the baseline geometry is preferred. Exhaust duct model 7 gives pressure drop as 0.062 bar twice the amount of pressure drop in model 6, but it does not affect the efficiency of air turbine starter. The shapes and sizes of the bend, bolts and the transition piece are recommended.


An efficient microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) procedure has been optimized for the determination of polycyclic and nitro musks in sewage sludge. A centrifuged sludge cake sample (from 1 to 2.5 g ), mixed with 10 g of anhydrous sodium sulfate in a Teflon cell, was extracted with 30 mL of a 1:1 (v/v) mixture of acetone and hexane for 35 min, including a 15-min ramp with a 20-min hold at a controlled temperature of 110°C. After 30 min of cooling, the extract was evaporated and cleaned up on a silica gel column. A concentrated sample extract was then analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) in the electron impact mode for the polycyclic musks and in negative ion chemical ionization mode for the nitro musks. This new method has been validated by comparing it to an established accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) method, with method detection limits ranging from 27 to 41 ng/g for the polycyclic musks, and approximately 4 ng/g for the nitro musks. Recoveries of most compounds in spiked samples ranged from 80 to 105%, although the MAE method produced lower recoveries for the nitro musks than the ASE method in archived sludge samples. The results generated by this MAE method were consistent with those prepared by previously reported techniques such as supercritical fluid extraction.


A new disease of potatoes, tentatively named zebra chip (ZC) because of the intermittent dark and light symptom pattern in affected tubers which is enhanced by frying, was first found in Mexico in 1994 and in the southwestern United States in 2000. The disease can cause severe economic losses in all market classes of potatoes. The cause of ZC has been elusive, and only recently has been associated with 'Candidatus Liberibacter' sp. Field samples of potato plants were collected from several locations in the United States, Mexico, and Guatemala to determine transmission to potato and tomato by grafting of ZC-infected scions and psyllid feeding. The disease was successfully transmitted, through up to three generations, by sequential top- and side-grafting ZC-infection scions to several potato cultivars and to tomato. The disease was also successfully transmitted to potato and tomato plants in greenhouse experiments by potato psyllids collected from potato plants naturally affected with ZC. Transmission electron microscopic observation of ZC-affected tissues revealed the presence of bacteria-like organisms (BLOs) in the phloem of potato and tomato plants inoculated by grafting and psyllid feeding. The BLOs were morphologically similar in appearance to BLOs associated with other plant diseases. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplified 16S rDNA sequences from samples representing different geographic areas, including the United States, Mexico, and Guatemala, were almost identical to the 16S rDNA of 'Ca. L. solanacearum' previously reported from solanaceous plants in New Zealand and the United States. Two subclades were identified that differed in two single base-pair substitutions. New specific primers along with an innovative rapid PCR were developed. This test allows the detection of the bacteria in less than 90 min. These data confirm the association of 'Ca. L. solanacearum' with potatoes affected by ZC in the United States, Mexico, and Guatemala.


Background:
 Recent studies have shown that functional connectivity (FC), an MR method that maps synchronized neural activity throughout the brain during rest, is profoundly altered after stroke and may predict outcome better than structural imaging. However, logistic and care constraints limit its use in acutely ill stroke patients. Here, we evaluate a novel portable and inexpensive neuroimaging modality, Diffuse Optical Tomography (DOT), capable of monitoring FC at the bedside in a cohort of acute ischemic stroke patients.

 Methods:
 Brain activity was measured with DOT using a flexible imaging cap that covers much of the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes. Resting state brain activity was measured in 7 patients (6 females; mean age 66 years; median NIHSS14, range 3-20; tpa=2) as well as 5 healthy controls. Seed-based maps of FC were generated by calculating the correlation of the time trace of each voxel with the time trace of a given seed.

 Results:
 Data from a healthy subject and two stroke cases are shown below. The seed-based FC map for the healthy subject displays typical bilaterally symmetric correlation relative to the seed (black circle). Stroke subject 1 shows a moderate lesion and some disruption in the fc map. Stroke subject 2 displays a large infarct and profound disruption of the FC map. The level of disruption of FC of resting state networks is shown to be correlated with the severity of the stroke.

 Conclusion:
 This study demonstrates the feasibility of utilizing DOT at the bedside to monitor resting state networks in patients during acute ischemic stroke.


Abstract This study examines the influence of product attributes and socio-economic, demographic, cultural, psychological, and market-related factors on "preferences" and "intention" of seafood consumers in Oman using the classical economic choice theory, the theory of planned behavior (TPB), and their hybrid form. Primary data were collected using questionnaires administered through online and face-to-face survey. A total of 906 responses were received from the online (N = 778), hypermarkets (N = 93), and fish market (N = 35) sources. Descriptive and empirical analyses were performed to the survey data. Findings from the preference model suggest that nationality, habit, freshness (perceived as quality), taste, household size, income, and education are significantly influencing the purchasing frequency of seafood. While consumer attitudes and control beliefs (i.e., facilitating conditions) are significant in the intention model, the hybrid model identifies additional significant variables such as past and current consumption behavior that influence consumers' intention of seafood purchase. The findings will enable seafood firms and the concerned authorities to formulate appropriate management and marketing strategies.


Statement of Retraction We, the Editors and Publisher of the journal Cell Cycle, have retracted the following article: Jingru Zhang, Ling Wang, Jing Jiang, and Zhiwei Qiao. Elevation of microRNA-512-5p inhibits MUC1 to reduce radioresistance in cervical cancer. Cell Cycle. 2020:19(6):652-665. doi: 10.1080/15384101.2019.1711314. Since publication, significant concerns have been raised about the integrity of the data and reported results in the article. When approached for an explanation, the authors did not provide their original data or any necessary supporting information. As verifying the validity of published work is core to the integrity of the scholarly record, we are therefore retracting the article. The corresponding author listed in this publication has been informed. We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retractions. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as 'Retracted'.


Lost image areas with different size and arbitrary shape can occur in many scenarios such as error-prone communication, depth-based image rendering or motion compensated wavelet lifting. The goal of image reconstruction is to restore these lost image areas as close to the original as possible. Frequency selective extrapolation is a block-based method for efficiently reconstructing lost areas in images. So far, the actual shape of the lost area is not considered directly. We propose a centroid adaption to enhance the existing frequency selective extrapolation algorithm that takes the shape of lost areas into account. To enlarge the test set for evaluation we further propose a method to generate arbitrarily shaped lost areas. On our large test set, we obtain an average reconstruction gain of 1.29 dB.


Purpose: To describe the lived experience of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer using individual interviews. Data sources: Eleven women who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer within the past five years were interviewed with open‐ended guiding questions. The narrative responses were analyzed for constitutive patterns and relational themes according to Diekelmann and Allen's hermeneutic phenomenological process. Conclusions: This phenomenological study gave voice to the women's experience with ovarian cancer. The following six constitutive patterns and associated themes emerged: (a) The Revelation, (b) Jeopardy, (c) On the Lookout, (d) Becoming Normal, and (e) Living Every Moment. Implications for practice: An understanding of the common experiences and shared meanings of women with ovarian cancer may contribute to earlier diagnosis and improved quality of life. The women identified symptoms that should generate concern when reported to providers, potentially leading to diagnostic testing. The experiences may also serve to inform the development of interventions aimed at meeting the needs of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer.


A three dimensional carbon network material of seamless interconnected and hollow tubes, featuring a graphitic structure and an extremely low density has been designed and fabricated in cm3 volumes. The synthesis of this foam like material, named Aerographite, is based on highly-porous three dimensional networks from zinc oxide (ZnO) which are utilized as sacrifcial templates in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. Such type of ZnO templates are produced by the flame transport synthesis (FTS) and allow free control over the template pore size, porosity and structure sizes. By consequent minimization of the applied carbon masses and tailored template porosity of 97%, the density of Aerographite was reduced to 180 mg/cm3 which had broken the record for lightest solid and remains up to date among the lightest materials in literature.
The challenge to measure the mechanical response of super light materials has been tackled by a self built mechanical test set-up for an automated cyclic stress strain measurement. Highest specific moduli under tensile stress has been revealed. The microscopic deformation mechanisms of Aerographite networks are identified by detailed in situ studies in the scanning electron microscope and an analytical model is established to interpret the elastic properties of the bulk Aerographite. Further, the visco elastic properties of Aerographite are discussed and based on the findings in the in situ experiments, a first theory for the visco-elastic mechanisms in Aerographite is introduced.
Finally the functional application of Aerographite as electrode material is demonstrated by the construction of two prototypes: an electrical double-layer capacitor equipped with Aerographite electrodes and a rechargeable lithium-sulfur battery with sulfur infiltrated Aerographite cathode. The capacity fading of the lithiumsulfur battery has been studied by cyclic voltammetry and the specific capacity of the electrical double-layer capacitor was measured.


Corneal stroma previously damaged by herpes simplex virus (HSV) did not yield virus or cause seroconversion when transplanted into normal rabbit eyes. After penetrating keratoplasty, the recipient rabbits were observed for up to 15 months for evidence of keratitis, virus shedding, or seroconversion. Although five episodes of corneal ulceration occurred, two of them in contralateral ungrafted eyes, HSV was not recovered on culture, and seroconversion did not occur, even following challenge with corticosteroids and ultraviolet irradiation.


We are concerned with the issue of the quantization of a scalar field in a diffeomorphism invariant manner. We apply the method used in loop quantum gravity. It relies on the specific choice of scalar field variables referred to as the polymer variables. The quantization, in our formulation, amounts to introducing the 'quantum' polymer ∗-star algebra and looking for positive linear functionals, called states. As assumed in our paper, homeomorphism invariance allows us to derive the complete class of the states. They are determined by the homeomorphism invariant states defined on the CW-complex ∗-algebra. The corresponding GNS representations of the polymer ∗-algebra and their self-adjoint extensions are derived, the equivalence classes are found, and invariant subspaces characterized. In part I we outlined those results. Here, we present the technical details.


The actions of Balkan insurgents during Eastern Crisis of 1875-1878 were
 closely followed by Giuseppe Garibaldi and his supporters as well as by the
 Italian politicians and writers that were a part Mazzini?s school of
 thought. Garibaldi actively sustained the insurgents and his red shirts went
 to fight in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first year of the Crisis. When the
 uprising evolved into a war of Serbia and Montenegro against the Ottomans
 the involvement of red shirts as well as the one of volunteers in general
 was considerable reduced, with the exception of the Russian contingent under
 the commandment of the Russian general Mikhail Chernyaev. However, the
 interest for the ongoing developments in the Bosnia and Herzegovina only
 changed the form, since Italian politicians and journalists made several
 projects trying to mobilize Italian general public to support South Slav
 cause. The Venetian writer Marco Antonio Canini even imagined a confederal
 solution for the nations in the Danube basin thus trying to overcome the
 conflicts between the nascent nationalisms that could dispute among them the
 territorial heritage of the Austria-Hungary after its projected demise. None
 of the projects were put in practice, but they remain as testimony of
 Italian interest and involvement into the Great Eastern Crisis and its
 consequences.


In this paper, we propose a scalable resource allocation framework for streaming scalable videos over multiuser multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) networks. We exploit the utilities of scalable videos produced by the scalable extension of H.264/AVC (SVC) and investigate the multidimensional diversities of the multiuser MIMO-OFDM wireless networks. First, we study the rate-utility relationship of SVC via a packet prioritization scheme. Based on the rate-utility analysis, a scalable resource-allocation framework is proposed to achieve differentiated service objectives for different scalable video layers. To provide users with fair opportunities to acquire basic viewing experience, a fair scheme is designed to guarantee that each user is entitled to a MAXMIN fairness to have their base layer video packets received. After all users have their base layer packets successfully scheduled, resources are distributed to exploit the network efficiency. The two schemes are integrated into a unified bit loading and power allocation solution to enhance the practicability of the scalable framework. Experiment results confirms that the proposed scheme handles fairness and efficiency better at different scenarios than the conventional schemes.


Objective: Few longitudinal studies have examined outcomes of patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in relation to earlier, baseline cognitive function, or examined the relationship between specific cognitive domains and mortality. This study attempted to clarify the relationship between cognitive function and long-term outcomes, particularly mortality, in patients with cardiovascular disease. Methods: One hundred seventy seven participants between 55 and 85 years of age with an established history CVD were recruited from healthcare institutions. A comprehensive neurophysiological test battery was administered to all patients at baseline assessing 4 cognitive domains: language, visual-spatial, memory, and attention-executive function. Composite scores were calculated by averaging z-scores of all component measures. At 6-year the follow-up, of the 136 patients who were still enrolled, the 116 who were still alive were contacted by phone for assessment of level of independent living, and subjective assessment of cognitive function, and quality of life.Results were corrected for age. Results: At follow-up, participants who were deceased had significantly lower baseline attention-executive function (M=-0.51, SD=0.78 vs. M=0.06, SD=0.54 in survivors, p Conclusion: Impaired executive function was predictive of poorer outcomes, specifically, 6-year mortality. This finding reinforces the frontal nature of vascular cognitive impairments, especially in regard to the long term sequelae of cognitive dysfunction in patients with CVD. The higher mortality observed in patients with baseline executive domain impairment may be due to behaviors such as impaired self-care, treatment adherence and rehab participation or functional impairments that exacerbate health problems, resulting in death. Patients with cardiovascular disease and executive function impairment should be identified and measures taken to address these potential problems.


An increasing interest towards researching other forms of knowledges is taking place, expanding the boundaries of knowledge to include forms that have been historically marginalised, negated, and neglected by the Western academy. Parallel to this, we have identified a rising critique of how voices marginalized by colonial modes of academic knowledge production are included, through a single-sided focus on pain and suffering (Tuck & Yang 2014). Yet there are less discussions around the process of research itself and what it entails. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to challenge the concept of 'discovery' and the unproblematic and inherent right of knowing granted to the Western academy, to argue for a kind of research that refuses. Interrogating instances of refusal in different contexts of Indigenous sovereignty and migration studies, this collective work creates a dialogue across different disciplines and reveals that refusal turns the gaze at colonial modalities of knowing. The empirical analysis of our work also demonstrates that refusal is a generative process that redirects the attention to ideas otherwise unacknowledged, thus making space for relationality, reciprocity, solidarity, community, and care.


It is still an unresolved question how the visual system perceives surface lightness given the ambiguity of the sensory input signal. We studied lightness perception using two-dimensional images of variegated checkerboards shown as perspective projections of three-dimensional objects. We manipulated the contrast of a target check relative to its surround either by rendering the image under different viewing conditions or by introducing noncoincidental changes of the reflectance of the surfaces adjacent to the target. We examined the predictive power of the normalized contrast model (Zeiner & Maertens, 2014) for the different viewing conditions (plain view vs. dark and light transparency) as well as for the noncoincidental surround changes (only high or only low reflectances in the surround). The model accounted for lightness matches across different viewing conditions but not for the surround changes. The observed simultaneous contrast effects were smaller than what would be predicted by the model. We evaluated two model extensions that-both relying on contrast-predicted the observed data well. Both model extensions point to the importance of contrast statistics across space and/or time for the computation of lightness, but it awaits future testing to evaluate whether and how the visual system could represent such statistics.


The focus of this guide is the search for local land use laws relevant to siting small-scale solar energy systems. This research guide includes links to primary and secondary sources.


Epictetus' Enchiridion ends with a paradox—that the methods one learns to do philosophy have results contrary to one's reasons to do philosophy. One comes to philosophy to improve one's life, to live with wisdom. This requires that one find truths to live in light of, and in order to find those truths, one must perfect one's reason. And to perfect one's reason, one must attend to technical details of reasoning and metaphysics. The trouble is, in attending to these technical details, we develop the capacity for rationalization and find ways to prevent our journey to wisdom. Because we are not wise, we misuse the tools of wisdom. And so the Stoic methodological priority of learning logic first has a downstream consequence of standing in the way of what is of first importance for Stoic philosophy, the life of wisdom. The Enchiridion closes with the reminder that Stoic program must proceed in light of mitigating this conflict of methodological and valuational priority.


Wind-induced response was investigated on the chimney of a 100MW solar thermal power station. Firstly, dynamic characteristic of the chimney was analyzed and the first eight vibration mode shapes and frequencies were obtained. Wind velocity time-history simulation was then conducted utilizing harmonic superposition method with Fast Fourier Transformation. Followed that, transient dynamic analysis was carried out to obtain the wind-induced response and the wind vibration displacement coefficient calculated. Numerical results indicate that the maximal displacement and acceleration of the chimney appear on the top with a value of 0.5593m and 0.1933m/s2 respectively. Wind vibration displacement coefficient on the chimney increases with height with an average value of 2.303.


The porous near‐surface layer of the Earth's crust – the critical zone – constitutes a vital reservoir of water for ecosystems, provides baseflow to streams, guides recharge to deep aquifers, filters contaminants from groundwater, and regulates the long‐term evolution of landscapes. Recent work suggests that the controls on regolith thickness include climate, tectonics, lithology, and vegetation. However, the relative paucity of observations of regolith structure and properties at landscape scales means that theoretical models of critical zone structure are incompletely tested. Here we present seismic refraction and electrical resistivity surveys that thoroughly characterize subsurface structure in a small catchment in the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona, USA, where slope‐aspect effects on regolith structure are expected based on differences in vegetation. Our results show a stark contrast in physical properties and inferred regolith thickness on opposing slopes, but in the opposite sense of that expected from environmental models and observed vegetation patterns. Although vegetation (as expressed by normalized difference vegetation index [NDVI]) is denser on the north‐facing slope, regolith on the south‐facing slope is four times thicker (as indicated by lower seismic velocities and resistivities). This contrast cannot be explained by variations in topographic stress or conventional hillslope morphology models. Instead, regolith thickness appears to be controlled by metamorphic foliation: regolith is thicker where foliation dips into the topography, and thinner where foliation is nearly parallel to the surface. We hypothesize that, in this catchment, hydraulic conductivity and infiltration capacity control weathering: infiltration is hindered and regolith is thin where foliation is parallel to the surface topography, whereas water infiltrates deeper and regolith is thicker where foliation intersects topography at a substantial angle. These results suggest that bedrock foliation, and perhaps by extension sedimentary layering, can control regolith thickness and must be accounted for in models of critical zone development. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Bone metastases from gastric cancer(GC) are considered a relatively uncommon finding; however, they are related to poorer prognosis. Both primary GC and its metastatic progression rely on angiogenesis. Several lines of evidence from GC patients strongly support the involvement of mast cells(MCs) positive to tryptase(MCPT) in primary gastric tumor angiogenesis. Recently,we analyzed infiltrating MCs and neovascularization in bone tissue metastases from primary GC patients, and observed a significant correlation between infiltrating MCPT and angiogenesis. Such a finding suggested the involvement of peritumoral MCPT by infiltrating surrounding tumor cells, and in bone metastasis angiogenesis from primary GC. Thus, an MCPT-stimulated angiogenic process could support the development of metastases in bone tissue. From this perspective, we aim to review the hypothetical involvement of tumorinfiltrating,peritumoral MCPT in angiogenesis-mediated GC cell growth in the bone microenvironment and in tumor-induced osteoclastic bone resorption. We also focus on the potential use of MCPT targeting agents,such as MCs tryptase inhibitors(gabexate mesylate,nafamostat mesylate) or c-KitR tyrosine kinase inhibitors(imatinib, masitinib), as possible new anti-angiogenic and anti-resorptive strategies for the treatment of GC patientsaffected by bone metastases.


A product of the Comparative Research on the Events of Nations (CREON) Project, a cross-national study of the foreign behaviours of 36 nations, being conducted on a cross-disciplinary and multi-university basis. Following a brief general discussion, the authors examine seven different theoretical foreign policy behaviours. 'This book is useful to both scholars and students of foreign policy behavior. It provides a summary and critical analysis of the comparative foreign policy literature. The standard format used by the authors provides easy comparisons and cross-references.' -- American Political Science, Vol 54, June 1980


The author has proposed a fracture criterion for crack nucleation at stressconcentration points (notches, corner points, …). It involves both strength and toughness ofthe material and is consistent with the Griffith criterion for a crack. It is employed herein topredict failure of joints. Stress concentration occurs at the interfaces between the joint andthe substrates at the end of the joints and it is a privileged site for crack nucleation. Buttand scarf joints are studied with and without thermal residual stresses. The role of a spewfillet in a corner is discussed.


A testing means (6) tests the function of storage cells (3) of a memory (10). A first group (1) of the storage cells (3) is tested and the corresponding test results are temporarily stored in a second group (2) of the storage cells (3) before the results are released outside the memory (10).


This paper focuses on the low-computation harmonic-analysis procedure with sufficient suppression of spectral leakage and picket-fence effect. The interpolated FFT algorithm based on the minimized sidelobe window is considered, and its calculate procedure and formulas are given, which is free of solving high-order equations. The implementation of the proposed algorithm in the digital-signal-processor (DSP) based three-phase harmonic ammeter is also introduced. The proposed algorithm has the major advantages that the calculate formulas for harmonic parameters can be easily implemented by hardware multipliers, making the method a good choice for real-time applications. The simulation and application results validate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed algorithm.


We investigate the vertical correlations between temperature variations at 925 hPa, in the atmospheric boundary layer, and temperature variations in the free troposphere and lower stratosphere in the Tropics in daily and monthly averaged satellite and radiosonde measurements and in six General Circulation Models (GCMs). The results show generally positive correlations between the boundary layer temperatures and temperatures in the rest of the troposphere, with negative correlations occurring around the tropopause and in the lower stratosphere. In typically non‐convective regions, the variations at the surface show little connection to mid and upper tropospheric temperature variations. In the convective Western Pacific, the correlations are low in the mid troposphere and much larger around 200 hPa. GCMs generally capture the temperature correlations, although as a group they tend to overpredict the coupling between the boundary layer and the rest of the troposphere. The basic correlation patterns of monthly temperature are found similar to the daily results.


Dogs were exposed to 1% (v/v) (10,000 ppm) vapor of 1,1,1-Trichloroethane (1,1,1-TCE) by inhalation for 3 min repeated four times at 4 hr intervals under continuous anesthesia. Changes in the 1,1,1-TCE concentration in blood with time, as well as distribution of 1,1,1-TCE in the organs and tissues (lungs, liver, kidneys, heart, brain, and fat around the kidneys and on the abdominal wall) upon completion of the four exposures were studied. Concentrations of 1,1,1-TCE in blood showed the highest level immediately after exposure, and fairly decreased in about 30 min after exposure. The half life of 1,1,1-TCE in blood was 4-12 min after exposure. Upon completion of the exposures (3 min inhalations repeated four times), 1,1,1-TCE concentrations per gram wet weight of each organ ranged from 0.1 to 0.5 microgram/g in the lungs, liver, kidneys, heart and brain. On the other hand, the 1,1,1-TCE concentration in fat ranged from 16.9 to 54.6 micrograms/g, greatly exceeding those in other organs.


Prevailing deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for person re-IDentification (reID) are usually built upon ResNet or VGG backbones, which were originally designed for classification. Because reID is different from classification, the architecture should be modified accordingly. We propose to automatically search for a CNN architecture that is specifically suitable for the reID task. There are three aspects to be tackled. First, body structural information plays an important role in reID but it is not encoded in backbones. Second, Neural Architecture Search (NAS) automates the process of architecture design without human effort, but no existing NAS methods incorporate the structure information of input images. Third, reID is essentially a retrieval task but current NAS algorithms are merely designed for classification. To solve these problems, we propose a retrieval-based search algorithm over a specifically designed reID search space, named Auto-ReID. Our Auto-ReID enables the automated approach to find an efficient and effective CNN architecture for reID. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the searched architecture achieves state-of-the-art performance while reducing 50% parameters and 53% FLOPs compared to others.


PURPOSE
Granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) can induce differentiation of dendritic cells (DCs) in preclinical models. We hypothesized that GM-CSF-stimulated DC differentiation may result in clinical benefit in patients with high-risk melanoma.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
We conducted a prospective trial in patients with high-risk (stage III B/C, IV), resected melanoma, with GM-CSF 125 microg/m(2)/d administered for 14 days every 28 days. Patients underwent clinical restaging every four cycles, with DC analysis performed at baseline and at 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks.

RESULTS
Of 42 patients enrolled, 39 were assessable for clinical outcome and DC analysis. Median overall survival was 65 months (95% CI, 43 to 67 months) and recurrence-free survival was 5.6 months (95% CI, 3 to 11 months). GM-CSF treatment caused an increase in mature DCs, first identified after 2 weeks of treatment, normalizing by 4 weeks. Patients with decreased DCs at baseline had significant increases in DC number and function compared with those with "normal" parameters at baseline. No change was observed in the number of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). Early recurrence (< 90 days) correlated with a decreased effect of GM-CSF on host DCs, compared with late or no (evidence of) recurrence.

CONCLUSION
GM-CSF treatment was associated with a transient increase in mature DCs, but not MDSCs. Greater increase of DCs was associated with remission or delayed recurrence. The prolonged overall survival observed warrants further exploration.