The aggressive triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a challenging disease due to the absence of tailored therapy. The search for new therapies involves intensive research focusing on natural sources. Achillea fragrantissima (A. fragrantissima) is a traditional medicine from the Middle East region. Various solvent extracts from different A. fragrantissima plant parts, including flowers, leaves, and roots, were tested on TNBC MDA-MB-231 cells. Using liquid chromatography, the fingerprinting revealed rich and diverse compositions for A. fragrantissima plant parts using polar to non-polar solvent extracts indicating possible differences in bioactivities. Using the CellTiter-Glo™ viability assay, the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values were determined for each extract and ranged from 32.4 to 161.7 µg/mL. The A. fragrantissima flower dichloromethane extract had the lowest mean IC50 value and was chosen for further investigation. Upon treatment with increasing A. fragrantissima flower dichloromethane extract concentrations, the MDA-MB-231 cells displayed, in a dose-dependent manner, enhanced morphological and biochemical hallmarks of apoptosis, including cell shrinkage, phosphatidylserine exposure, caspase activity, and mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization, assessed using phase-contrast microscopy, fluorescence-activated single-cell sorting analysis, Image-iT™ live caspase, and mitochondrial transition pore opening activity, respectively. Anticancer target prediction and molecular docking studies revealed the inhibitory activity of a few A. fragrantissima flower dichloromethane extract-derived metabolites against carbonic anhydrase IX, an enzyme reported for its anti-apoptotic properties. In conclusion, these findings suggest promising therapeutic values of the A. fragrantissima flower dichloromethane extract against TNBC development.


Abstract. A large flux of neutrinos is expected in the forward direction of the pp collisions [1, 3] at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Several experiments have recently been proposed at CERN to detect these neutrinos and discussion has started on the possibility of building a Forward Physics Facility grouping many of them. Among the others, the FASER-nu [2] proposal consists of a lead+emulsion neutrino detector at a distance of 480 m from the ATLAS interaction region along the tangent to the LHC beamline. Old calculations of neutrinos rates in the forward direction were done to leading order in the QCD perturbative series. We have included next-to-leading order (NLO) terms in our calculation. We have also studied the effect of incorporating a non-perturbative Gaussian intrinsic kT . This kT effect mimics the contribution from missing higher-order terms in QCD calculations. We present the study of uncertainties due to scale variations and Parton Distribution Function (PDF) variations in the production rate of D and tau neutrinos in the far-forward Production at the Large Hadron Collider. We compare our predictions with the LHCb data with D production in the rapidity range of [2 −4.5] at the LHC. In our studies, for which we consider various modern PDF sets, we also include the comparison of predictions obtained by different dynamical central scale assumptions.


Educating the K-Gray engineering community in today's digital world requir es straightforward yet flexible access to high- quality educational resources. Inspires by this, we propose an automatic evaluation system for learning resources ranking in a real world digital library, Engineering Pathway (EP). The Engineering Pathway is a portal to high-quality teaching and learning resources in engineering, applied science and math, computer science/information technology, and engineering technology, which is designed for use by K-12 and university educators and students. We model the best and most popular leaning resource objects from Premier Award Winners to recognize high-quality and non-commercial courseware designed to enhance the engineering education. We adopt the D-S evidence theory to model our problem. After giving effective definition of the mass function, the model can be transferred into multinomial regression model. We try three different models: linear regression, quadratic regression and sextic regression to get the most practicable model. With the help of this model, it will be much more simple and precise to help our domain experts to select the most valuable learning resources in our EP digital library. Experiments show that out proposed model performs well through training and optimization.


Introduction Previous published work has shown that modifying the traditional Brooke ileostomy (MBI) by retaining the ileocolic sphincter (ICS) preserves a functional high pressure zone which may improve the clinical function of the stoma. The effect of this modification (MBI) on ileal fluid biochemistry has not been reported previously by this group. This study reports the results of this modification on the electrolyte concentration in ileal fluid and also its influence on the reabsorption of urinary electrolytes by way of renal compensation. Method Ileostomy fluid specimens were collected from stoma bags in two groups of patients. Group 1 – ileocolic sphincter retained (MBI); controls – patients undergoing formation of a loop ileostomy (10 cm from the ileocolic junction) as part of an operation for rectal cancer. These samples were collected from patients and controls from stoma bags after an overnight fast. Additionally, 24hr urine collections were made from MBI patients and controls to measure the concentration of routine urinary electrolyes and, in addition, urinary magnesium and calcium. In order to compensate for the changes in urinary volume, which can be accounted for by varied water intake and different kidney efficiency, the urine results for each analyte measured were adjusted against the change in creatinine using a standard formula: adjusted concentration = mmol of analyte/mmol of urinary creatinine. Contemporaneously, routine serum electolytes were collected from patients and controls. This study was approved by the regional ethics committee and statistical analysis was performed using the Wilcoxon paired test where appropriate with p < 0.05 considered significant. Results 13 MBI patients (mean (SD) age - 52.5(17.8)yrs) were compared with 11 controls age −58.4 (10.9) yrs). Routine serum and urinary biochemistry (except sodium) in both groups was the same. Urinary sodium, calcium and magnesium were raised in patients with a modified Brooke Ileostomy (MBI), when compared to controls: urinary sodium, 8.2 ± 4.5 vs. 4.43 ± 2.19 mmols/mmol creatinine, p < 0.05, urinary calcium, 0.28 ± 0.15 vs. 0.15 ± 0.13 mmols/mmol creatinine, p < 0.03 and urinary magnesium, 0.21 ± 0.09 vs. 0.08 ± 0.04 mmols/mmol creatinine, p < 0.01. Electrolyte concentrations in ileal fluid in both patients (MBI and controls) was the same. Conclusion These results suggest that retention of the ICS in an ileostomy (MBI) has beneficial effects on the retention of ileal sodium, calcium and magnesium by virtue of the reduced reabsorption of these electrolytes from the MBI patients' urine. Further work is required to confirm this initial finding. Disclosure of interest None Declared.


The paper presents constitutive model of the aluminium metal matrix composite reinforced by a silicon carbide. Developed equation includes an empirically estimated term which takes into account softening effects of the composite due to reinforcement damages at a large strain. Experimental investigation of the aluminium based MMCs reinforced by silicon carbide of volume fraction equal to 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% were carried out. Tests were conducted at wide range of strain rates and large magnitudes of strains. Comparison between experimental and predicted data shows that the elaborated model may be applied for composite materials in computer simulations of large deformations.


ABSTRACT Honey bee (Apis mellifera) colony maintenance depends on foraging workers to obtain food resources from flowering plants year round. Because diverse floral diets have a positive impact on honey bee health, identifying the plants preferred by foragers provides valuable information to manage bee-friendly habitats. Recent studies have utilized palynology to better understand honey bee nectar foraging preferences. Futhermore, the International Honey Commission has established standards for analyzing honey samples. However, standards for studying the plant taxonomic composition of honey bee pollen pellets have not been established. The goal of this project was to determine the minimum number of pollen grains that need to be counted to obtain an accurate floral taxonomic representation in a pollen pellet sample. To do this, pollen samples were collected from pollen traps placed outside honey bee hives, and a pollen subsample foraged by each colony was acetolyzed and identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible. Cohorts of 100 pollen grains obtained from homogenized pollen samples from three different colonies were counted successively 5 times for a total count of 500 pollen grains per colony. This was repeated for each of the replicates from the three separate colonies. We found no statistically significant differences in the number or proportion of floral taxa found between the 200 and 500 pollen grain counts in two out of the three colonies sampled. Species diversity index analysis suggested that the higher number of floral taxa found in some 500-grain counts were attributed to a relatively low presence of minor pollen types. Thus, a 200 pollen grain count seems sufficient to assess the predominant, secondary and important minor plant taxa present in a pollen sample, while a 500-grain count may be needed to elucidate a more specific taxonomic assessment of additional minor taxa floral types to determine a sample's geographic origin.


Norbert Elias's theory of civilising processes has been received only marginally in the USA, one of the obstacles being the absence of figurational or process studies of American society. In the first decade of this century this situation was changed by the publication of Stephen Mennell's The American Civilizing Process (2007) and Cas Wouters' Sex and Manners (2004) and Informalization (2007). By 2012, Randall Collins had reviewed the first and the third books in two essays (2009, 2011). His claims and criticism of civilising and informalisation theory are discussed in this paper by placing them in the context of the reception history of Elias's work since the 1960s, when a first round of discussion centred on criteria to be used for determining the direction of civilising processes. A second round was in the 1990s, and in this paper we contribute to a new round by presenting a summary of earlier critical discussions in an attempt to establish a more solid and subtler body of criteria for studying civilising processes. We use this in critically discussing Collins's contributions, linking them to symbolic interactionism, American National Ideology, and blind spots in American sociology.


The objective of this work was to evaluate agronomic and P recovery efficiencies of a granulated organomineral phosphate fertilizer (OMF) produced from poultry litter, compared with those of monoammonium phosphate (MAP), in soils with different textures. The experiment followed a 2x2x4+2 factorial arrangement, with two Oxisols (sandy loam and clay loam textures), two sources of P (OMF and MAP), four levels of P (50, 100, 200, and 400 mg kg-1), besides two control treatments without P application. The treatments were evaluated in 10-kg pots filled with soil, during four successive cultivations of corn without replacing the P absorbed by the plants, in order to evaluate the actual and residual effects of the fertilizers. Available P contents in the soil were higher with the MAP fertilizer in the sandy loam soil, with no significant differences between fertilizers in the clay loam soil. OMF had a greater immediate effect and promoted a higher dry matter yield in the first cultivation; however, the residual effects of the fertilizers did not differ in the other cultivations. P accumulation by plants was not affected by the fertilizer used. OMF had higher agronomic efficiency, but P recovery efficiency did not differ significantly between fertilizers. OMF performance indicates good potential use of poultry litter as fertilizer, in organomineral formulations.


Flesh reddening has been described as one of the manifestations of chilling injury (CI) symptoms in stone fruits, including plum, peach and nectarine fruit. Flesh reddening in peach and nectarine fruit is most evident around the pit cavity, while symptoms in plum appear initially as discoloration in the fruit flesh periphery that later is extended towards the pit cavity, covering the whole mesocarp. Intriguingly, ethylene has different effects on the incidence of flesh reddening symptoms in these phenotypically related, yet distinct species. While it is exacerbated in plums stored at 5°C under continuous ethylene exposure and is significantly reduced by 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treatments, in nectarines the opposite is true. This review study indicates that the nature of flesh reddening differs among stone fruits and suggests that in the case of plum ethylene synthesis is not merely an additional consequence of CI symptoms, it is important for the development of the disorder. Finally, the fact that flesh reddening has been observed in non-refrigerated plums during ripening after harvest suggests that flesh reddening in this fruit should be considered a general response to the stresses associated with postharvest storage and not only a CI disorder.


The world faces a challenge with pervasion of multidrug resistant bacteria which encouraged the scientists to develop and discover alternative ecofriendly and easy to produce new antibacterial agents. Two Egyptian cyanobacteria were isolated and identified according to 16S rRNA gene sequencing as Phormidium ambiguum and Desertifilum tharense . The sequences were deposited in the GenBank with accession numbers of MW762709 and MW762710 for Desertifilum tharense and Phormidium ambiguum, respectively. These isolates have the ability to produce silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) extra- and intracellularly under light and dark conditions. The results of UV-Vis analysis showed promising extracellular Ag-NPs synthesis by Desertifilum tharense and Phormidium ambiguum under light conditions. Therefore, these Ag-NPs were characterized and evaluated for antibacterial and antioxidant activity. TEM, SEM and XRD analyses revealed the spherical crystals with face-centered cubic structures and size range of 6.24–11.4 nm and 6.46–12.2 nm for Ag-NPs of Desertifilum tharense and Phormidium ambiguum , respectively. XRD and EDX results clearly confirmed the successful synthesis of Ag-NPs in its oxide form or chloride form. The FTIR spectrum data confirmed the presence of hydroxyl and amide groups. Desertifilum tharense Ag-NPs displayed the largest inhibition zone ranged from 9 mm against Micrococcus luteus ATCC 10240 to 25 mm against methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) ATCC 43300. For Phormidium ambiguum Ag-NPs, the inhibition zone diameter was in a range of 9–18 mm. The Ag-NPs of Phormidium ambiguum exhibited the highest scavenging activity of 48.7% comparing with that of Desertifilum tharense which displayed 43.753%.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Background: Bone mineral density (BMD) is a potential surrogate marker of lifetime estrogen exposure previously linked to increased risk of Alzheimer dementia among elderly women. We examine the association between BMD in the "young old" with imaging biomarkers of brain aging and cognitive performance. Methods: Offspring participants (N=1905, mean age 66) of a population-based cohort who had BMD, brain imaging and detailed cognitive assessment were included in the study. Sex-stratified, linear, and logistic regression models were used for analysis. Results: Higher femoral neck BMD was associated with lower white matter hyperintensity burden and better performance on Trails B-A in both sexes, even after adjustment for cerebrovascular risk factors. Among women, the positive association with Trails B-A performance was seen only in APOE4 allele carriers. Higher BMD measurements were linked to better visual reproductions test performance in men. Finally, among women, higher femoral trochanter BMD was associated with better logical memory and Hooper visual organization test performance. Conclusion: Among the "young old," higher BMD is associated with less white matter hyperintensity burden and better, domain-specific, cognitive performance. This suggests that lifetime estrogen exposure may modulate the degree of cumulative vascular brain injury independent of cerebrovascular risk factors.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive conceptual framework of visual-tactile interplay and consumer responses in brand, product and servicescape contexts.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper performs a literature review of visual-tactile interplay by reviewing prior research in marketing and psychology.

Findings
The review reveals that visual-tactile interplay provokes various consumer responses depending on whether brands, products or servicescapes are used. The paper develops a comprehensive conceptual framework mapping out visual-tactile interplay and the relationship with consumers' cognition, emotions and behaviors.

Research limitations/implications
A conceptual model was developed with a novel view on how visual and tactile cues can together influence consumer responses.

Practical implications
This paper shows how visual-tactile interplay is successful in brand, product and servicescape contexts and provides practical insight for firms into how to provoke consumers' cognitive, emotional and behavioral responses.

Originality/value
This paper contributes to existing literature by developing a conceptual framework and model of visual-tactile interplay and consumer responses by drawing on research in marketing and psychology.


Lateral root-tip chromosomes of Vicia faba were treated with mitomycin C. Chromatid aberrations were observed from 24 through 96 hours after treatment. The effect of mitomycin C was not altered appreciably by changes in pH, temperature, oxygen tension, or lack of adenosine triphosphate. The relationship of mitomycin C to other radiomimetic compounds is discussed.


Be informed. Be engaged. Be empowered.
This guide provides resources to help SCCC students, faculty and staff navigate ongoing changes in domestic & international policies, and their impact on education, society and global citizenship. Learn about SCCC's Title IX policies.


Background
Fear of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) has perpetuated delayed initiation and slow advancement of enteral feeding in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants with inherent risks of parenteral alimentation. The objective of this study was to assess effect of early total enteral feeding (ETEF) on day of achievement of full enteral feeds, feed intolerance, NEC and sepsis.

Methods
In total, 208 stable VLBW neonates (28-34 weeks) admitted during 6 month periods of three consecutive years were enrolled. First phase (n = 73) constituted the 'before' phase with standard practice of initial intravenous fluid therapy and slow enteral feeding. The second prospective phase (n = 51) consisted of implementation of ETEF with infants receiving full enteral feeds as per day's fluid requirement since Day 1 of life. The third phase (n = 84) was chosen to assess the sustainability of change in practice.

Results
Day of achievement of full feeds was significantly earlier in Phases 2 and 3 compared with Phase 1 (8.97 and 5.47 vs. 14.44 days, respectively, p = 0.0001). Incidence of feed intolerance was comparable between Phases 1 and 2 (22 vs. 14%, p = 0.28), with marked reduction in incidence of NEC (14 vs. 4%, p = 0.028). There was a significant decrease in sepsis, duration of parenteral fluid and antibiotic therapy as well as hospital stay with comparable mortality.

Conclusion
In stable preterm VLBW infants, ETEF is safe and has the benefit of optimizing nutrition with decrease in sepsis, NEC and hospital stay.


Dear Editors, We are grateful for the observations made by Bob Greenhalgh (BJVI, March 1993) on our paper 'Information used in rehabilitation decisions: some research results' (BJVI, November 1992). There does appear to be a conflict between our findings and the beliefs of his colleagues that &dquo;information obtained from ophthalmologists and optometrists is essential in developing relevant plans for the management of visual impairment&dquo;. Of course, there are many instances in psychology of peoples' espoused beliefs being at odds with their beliefs in action. Nonetheless, we wish to emphasise that the personal construct approach which we used in no way foreclosed the emergence of clinical information. Indeed, one of the claims made on its behalf is that it is a technique relatively free from interviewer bias so that the interviewee &dquo;tells it as it


Context. Although heavily obscured active galactic nuclei (AGNs) have been found by many observational studies, the properties of the surrounding dust are poorly understood. Using AKARI/IRC spectroscopy, we discovered a new heavily obscured AGN in LEDA 1712304 which shows a deep spectral absorption feature due to silicate dust.
Aims. We study the infrared (IR) spectral properties of circumnuclear silicate dust in LEDA 1712304.
Methods. We performed IR spectral fitting, considering silicate dust properties such as composition, porosity, size, and crystallinity. Spectral energy distribution fitting was also performed on the flux densities in the UV to submillimeter range to investigate the global spectral properties.
Results. The best-fit model indicates 0.1 μm-sized porous amorphous olivine (Mg2xFe2−2xSiO4; x = 0.4) with 4% crystalline pyroxene. The optical depth is τsil ∼ 2.3, while the total IR luminosity and stellar mass are estimated to be LIR = (5 ± 1)×1010 L⊙ and Mstar = (2.7 ± 0.8)×109 M⊙, respectively. In such low LIR and Mstar ranges, there are few galaxies that show such a large τsil.
Conclusion. The silicate dust in the AGN torus of LEDA 1712304 has properties that are notably similar to those in other AGNs overall, but slightly different in the wing shape of the absorption profile. The porosity of the silicate dust suggests dust coagulation or processing in the circumnuclear environments, while the crystallinity suggests that the silicate dust is relatively fresh.


The insect steroid hormone ecdysone triggers programmed cell death of obsolete larval tissues during metamorphosis and provides a model system for understanding steroid hormone control of cell death and cell survival. Previous genome-wide expression studies of Drosophila larval salivary glands resulted in the identification of many genes associated with ecdysone-induced cell death and cell survival, but functional verification was lacking. In this study, we test functionally 460 of these genes using RNA interference in ecdysone-treated Drosophila l(2)mbn cells. Cell viability, cell morphology, cell proliferation, and apoptosis assays confirmed the effects of known genes and additionally resulted in the identification of six new pro-death related genes, including sorting nexin-like gene SH3PX1 and Sox box protein Sox14, and 18 new pro-survival genes. Identified genes were further characterized to determine their ecdysone dependency and potential function in cell death regulation. We found that the pro-survival function of five genes (Ras85D, Cp1, CG13784, CG32016, and CG33087), was dependent on ecdysone signaling. The TUNEL assay revealed an additional two genes (Kap-α3 and Smr) with an ecdysone-dependent cell survival function that was associated with reduced cell death. In vitro, Sox14 RNAi reduced the percentage of TUNEL-positive l(2)mbn cells (p<0.05) following ecdysone treatment, and Sox14 overexpression was sufficient to induce apoptosis. In vivo analyses of Sox14-RNAi animals revealed multiple phenotypes characteristic of aberrant or reduced ecdysone signaling, including defects in larval midgut and salivary gland destruction. These studies identify Sox14 as a positive regulator of ecdysone-mediated cell death and provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the ecdysone signaling network governing cell death and cell survival.


Deep neural networks (DNN) have revolutionized the field of machine learning by providing unprecedented human-like performance in solving many real-world problems such as image or speech recognition. Training of large DNNs, however, is a computationally intensive task, and this necessitates the development of novel computing architectures targeting this application. A computational memory unit where resistive memory devices are organized in crossbar arrays can be used to store the synaptic weights in their conductance states. The expensive multiply accumulate operations can be performed in place using Kirchhoff's circuit laws in a non-von Neumann manner. However, a key challenge remains the inability to alter the conductance states of the devices in a reliable manner during the weight update process. We propose a mixed-precision architecture that combines a computational memory unit storing the synaptic weights with a digital processing unit and an additional memory unit that stores the accumulated weight updates in high precision. The new architecture delivers classification accuracies comparable to those of floating-point implementations without being constrained by challenges associated with the non-ideal weight update characteristics of emerging resistive memories. The computational memory unit in a two layer neural network realized using nonlinear stochastic models of phase-change memory achieves a test accuracy of 97.40% in the MNIST digit classification problem.


With an increasing demand for electric power, new transmission lines should be constructed with a rational plan in the long run to guarantee a reliable and economic operation. The transmission expansion planning (TEP) is a mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) optimization problem in nature, which requires tremendous computational efforts especially when it comes to a large-scale power system. Although a diversity of simplifications and computational techniques has been applied to TEP, it is still challenging to derive an optimal plan within little simulation time. Since equivalencing technique is able to reduce the size of a large-scale power system and help achieve remarkable computational performance, it is possibly effective and efficient to handle the intrinsic complexity of TEP problem. In this thesis, based on a detailed literature review, a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) approach in DC model is firstly formulated for a dynamic TEP problem considering N – 1 security criterion. Then, two traditional power flow based equivalencing techniques that are appropriate for simplifying TEP, REI and WARD, with necessary modifications, are respectively implemented in the initial TEP problem. The proposed algorithms are simulated on IEEE 24-bus reliability test system (RTS) to compare optimal plans between the original and equivalent system. Further assumptions and adjustments are searched and tested to get more accurate optimal plans. The results show that both modified equivalencing techniques can significantly decrease the simulation time. Regarding IEEE 24-bus RTS, the proposed algorithm for modified REI method can achieve relatively precise optimal plan with few errors while modified WARD method is not as good as modified REI method. Therefore, the modified REI method has a potential to be implemented in TEP problem to reduce the complexity and computational effort for large power system without jeopardizing accuracy. Further studies are needed to tune the modified REI method and revise the obtained optimal plan.


The primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) of the kidney is an extremely rare neoplasm, the diagnosis of which mainly depends upon histopathology, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and cytogenetics. A handful of cases reported in the literature mention about aggressive features of this neoplasm. The purpose of our study was to review our experience in not only the diagnosis and management of the patients with renal PNET but also to highlight its propensity to involve inferior vena cava (IVC) and also present a rare occurrence of Ewing's sarcoma (ES)/PNET of the renal pelvis. The clinical, operative, and histopathology records of four patients of renal PNET treated between January 2017 and December 2019 were reviewed and data analyzed concerning the available literature. Out of the four patients treated, two had level III and IV IVC thrombus, and one had dense desmoplastic adhesions with the IVC wall. One of the cases had a rare presentation of ES/PNET of the renal pelvis. All patients were managed surgically, while only one patient received adjuvant chemotherapy and following up with remission for the last 2 years and 4 months. On IHC, cluster of differentiation-99 (CD-99) was positive in all patients, and three were positive for Friend leukemia integration-1. PNET of the kidney is primarily an immunohistopathological diagnosis. This neoplasm has an increased propensity for the local invasion of surrounding structures. A multimodality approach with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy could offer better outcomes, although the prognosis of these tumors remains poor.


Several studies in the recent past have offered a contrasting and wide range of perspectives on economic and environmental implications of biofuels. In this study we develop a comprehensive and consistent framework for analyzing the global economic interactions and the direct and indirect impacts of biofuels production on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We utilize a global Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model which consists of interaction of energy commodities with explicit biofuels and their by-product sectors, land endowment classified by agro-ecological zones, and emission of four major GHGs - carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases from agricultural and economic activities, including emissions associated with biofuel feedstock, crop conversion to fuel, and land cover conversion through change in ecosystem carbon stock. This study also pays special attention to pasture-crop and Conservative Reserve Program land due to their potential sectoral competition for land. In this paper, we examine the proposed policies for biofuels expansion in the US, EU and Brazil, as well as alternative potential trajectories of larger and smaller growth, including a collapse of the traditional biofuels market. The impact on GHG emissions are decomposed and associated with the individual drivers behind the biofuels boom, including: changes in subsidies, rising oil prices, and other major policy drivers.


As demands of data processing and computing power are increasing, existing information system architectures become insufficient. Some organizations try to figure out how to keep their systems work without purchasing new hardware and software. Therefore, a Web- services-based model which shares the resource over the network like a P2P network will be proposed to meet this requirement in this paper. In addition, this paper also discusses some problems about security, motivation, flexibility, compatibility and workflow management for the traditional P2P power sharing models. Our new computing architecture - Computing Power Services (CPS) - will aim to address these problems. For the shortcomings about flexibility, compatibility and workflow management, CPS utilizes Web Services and Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) to overcome them. Because CPS is assumed to run in a reliable network where peers trust each other, the concerns about security and motivation will be negated. In essence, CPS is a lightweight Web-Services-based P2P power sharing environment and suitable for executing computing works in batch in a reliable network.


Community detection is a research hotspot in machine learning and data mining. However, most of the existing community detection methods only rely on the lower-order connectivity patterns, while ignoring the higher-order connectivity patterns, and unable to capture the building blocks of the complex network. In recent years, some community detection methods based on higher-order structures have been developed, but they mainly focus on the motif network composed of higher-order structures, which violate the original lower-order topological structure and are affected by the fragmentation issue, resulting in the deviation of community detection results. Therefore, there is still a lack of community detection methods that can effectively utilize higher-order connectivity patterns and lower-order connectivity patterns. To overcome the above limitations, this paper proposes the Hybrid-order Stochastic Block Model (HSBM) from the perspective of the generative model. Based on the classical stochastic block model, the generation of lower-order structure and higher-order structure of the network is modeled uniformly, and the original topological properties of the network are maintained while using higher-order connectivity patterns. At the same time, a heuristic algorithm for community detection is proposed to optimize the objective function. Extensive experiments on six real-world datasets show that the proposed method outperforms the existing approaches.


Objective: To evaluate the safety of CO2 laser cordectomy in the treatment of glottic carcinoma as a day-case procedure. Study design: This was a retrospective study of a cohort of 73 patients with glottic carcinoma treated by laser cordectomy as a day-case procedure using a CO2 laser, between January 2000 and June 2004. Results: There were no major complications and no patients required reintubation. More than 90 per cent of the patients were discharged on the day of the procedure. There were seven unplanned admissions to hospital but none of these appeared to be the direct result of the surgery, and the patients were discharged the next day. All the patients stated they would have further surgery in this manner if required. Conclusion: Laser cordectomy for glottic carcinoma can be safely performed as an out-patient procedure if patients are carefully selected according to specific criteria.


This paper analyzes the need of
applying the fine art print as an
expressive resource. It is about using
graphical techniques to enhance
multimedia educational environments.
We show the developed process and
why we have chosen this technique in
the educational field described.
We will explain the reasons that lead a
teacher to develop this kind of practice
in an superior educational center
where a high percentage of content
and projects are made and developed
through the use of computers.


Do the Geneva Conventions apply to the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT)? Of course, many object to the suggestion that the laws of war, including the Geneva Conventions, apply to the GWOT. There are three important reasons to question whether the GWOT is governed by the Conventions: (1) adverse legal and policy consequences might follow from characterizing the GWOT as a "war" in the legal sense; (2) terrorist organizations like al Qaeda are not states and conflicts with such entities are materially different from inter-state wars and civil wars; and (3) terrorist organizations enjoy no protection under the rules of war because they do not accept or observe these rules themselves. This Article is organized around a more sustained evaluation of each rationale. I conclude that the Conventions govern some aspects of the GWOT irrespective of the fact that hostilities are directed in substantial part against nonstate actors, irrespective of the fact that hostilities are not formally declared, irrespective of whether the "war model" of counter-terrorism is advisable, and irrespective of whether the terrorist groups accept or observe the rules of war themselves. The text, drafting history, and purpose of the treaties, properly understood, strongly support these conclusions.


The CDIO approach includes a methodology for embedding the development of student skills and attributes in an engineering program. The methodology starts with the CDIO Syllabus which features a comprehensive list of skills and attributes. After progressing through a series of steps, an explicit plan is produced which indicates how the required skills and attributes should be developed within the curriculum. Implementing the methodology poses a number of challenges and these are discussed. It is also noted that other initiatives to improve graduate skills, dating back 10 to 15 years, have not resulted in any discernable improvement. The literature is then consulted and this leads to a number of proposals for enhancing the CDIO methodology. The outcome is a methodology that is more demanding to implement and further work is needed to provide support for the additional tasks that have been proposed. However it is argued that the enhanced methodology is more likely to ensure that students will graduate with the skills and attributes they require to become professional engineers.


One young bull Asian elephant was fitted with satellite transmitters and subsequently the satellite collar was used to determine the home range sizes and behaviour of elephant, as well as human and ecological factors that affected the home range size on highly fragmented forest lanscape in Gua Musang,Kelantan. The home range sizes were estimated by using Minimun Convex Polygon (MCP) for four months from 25 March 2011 until 20 June 2011. The total home range size for four months was 9482664m², Among months,the home range size in March WAS 7837607.5m², in April was 5199931.5m², in May was 5528927m², and June was 6303860m². The mean daily movement rate was 94.57m per day and total movement distance for four months was 88513m. Kampung Pasir Tadoh was inside the home range of elephant whereas Kampung Machan was above 500m away from the home range. Elephant was found on the railway and no died of train-induced injuries. The relationship between elephant movements and monthly rainfall, elevation, spedd of movement and temperature were examined by using Geographic Information System (GIS). There was no correlation between average monthly home range sizes of elephant with the raifall precipitation. However, there was relatioship between average monthly home range sizes of elephant with elevation of the locations. Types of land uses had effected on elephant movement where elephant occurred predominately in rubber estate due to consistency of food supply and water availability. High human development surrounding the home range probably affects the home range size such as railroads and human settlements. The remaining forested areas in the home range need protection from expanding plantations and human developments.


In this demonstration, we show an energy measurement system that estimates the energy consumption of individual appliances using a wireless sensor network consisting of contactless electromagnetic field (EMF) sensors deployed near each appliance, and a whole-house power meter [1]. The EMF sensor can detect appliance state transitions within close proximity based on magnetic field fluctuations. Data from these sensors are then relayed back to the main meter using a low-latency wireless sensor networking protocol, where changes in the total power consumption of the house are used to determine the power usage of individual appliances. The sensors are low-cost, easy to deploy and are able to detect current changes associated with the appliance from a few inches away making it possible to externally monitor in-wall wiring to devices like overhead lights or heavy machinery that might operate on multiple phases of the AC distribution system of the building. Appliance-level energy data provide continuous feedback to end users about their consumption patterns and provide building managers accurate information that can be used to target the most effective update and retrofit strategies.


Populations are formed of their constituent interacting individuals, each with their own respective within-host biological processes. Infection not only spreads within the host organism but also spreads between individuals. Here we propose and study a multilevel model which links the within-host statuses of immunity and parasite density to population epidemiology under sublethal and lethal toxicant exposure. We analyse this nested model in order to better understand how toxicants impact the spread of disease within populations. We demonstrate that outbreak of infection within a population is completely determined by the level of toxicant exposure, and that it is maximised by intermediate toxicant dosage. We classify the population epidemiology into five phases of increasing toxicant exposure and calculate the conditions under which disease will spread, showing that there exists a threshold toxicant level under which epidemics will not occur. In general, higher toxicant load results in either extinction of the population or outbreak of infection. The within-host statuses of the individual host also determine the outcome of the epidemic at the population level. We discuss applications of our model in the context of environmental epidemiology, predicting that increased exposure to toxicants could result in greater risk of epidemics within ecological systems. We predict that reducing sublethal toxicant exposure below our predicted safe threshold could contribute to controlling population level disease and infection.


First experimental proof of a clear and strong dependence of the standard phase scintillation index (σφ) derived using Global Positioning System measurements on the ionospheric plasma flow around the noon sector of polar ionosphere is presented. σφ shows a strong linear dependence on the plasma drift speed measured by the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network radars, whereas the amplitude scintillation index (S4) does not. This observed dependence can be explained as a consequence of Fresnel frequency dependence of the relative drift and the used constant cutoff frequency (0.1 Hz) to detrend the data for obtaining standard σφ. The lack of dependence of S4 on the drift speed possibly eliminates the plasma instability mechanism(s) involved as a cause of the dependence. These observations further confirm that the standard phase scintillation index is much more sensitive to plasma flow; therefore, utmost care must be taken when identifying phase scintillation (diffractive phase variations) from refractive (deterministic) phase variations, especially in the polar region where the ionospheric plasma drift is much larger than in equatorial and midlatitude regions.


Suckling mice readily succumb to infection with small doses of many strains of vaccinia virus, but lethal vaccinial infection in mature mice can be established only with certain virus strains in appropriate doses and by certain routes of inoculation, and only in mice of certain genotypes (1,2). Lethal infection against which mice can be immunized, can be established by the respiratory route after intranasal inoculation(3). Infections established by this route, which have been used in studying antiviral drugs, would be useful in assaying the protective potency of inactivated vaccines. The infection is less unnatural than intracranial inoculation with neurovaccinia strains and possibly simulates the natural mode of infection in smallpox.(4)
The strains of vaccinia virus used (Table 1) were obtained from the following sources: lister—standard vaccine strain Elstree; levaditi—dried rabbit testicular passage Elstree (1939); copenhagen—glycerolated calf lymph Utrecht (1961); tashkent—dried vaccine strain Moscow (1962). The mouse neurotropic strains wr and ihd were obtained as dried infected mouse brain through the courtesy of Drs Kingsley Sanders and D. J. Bauer in 1955 and 1966 respectively.


Anthocyanins are a group of phenolic compounds with great importance, not only because they play a crucial role in a wine's quality, but also due to the fact that they can have beneficial effects on human health. In this work, a method was developed for the detection and identification of these compounds in solid wastes of the wine-making industry (red grape skins and pomace), using liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) prior to the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry technique (LC-MS). The complete process was investigated and optimized, starting from the extraction conditions (extraction solution selection, dried matter-to-solvent volume ratio, water bath extraction duration, and necessary consecutive extraction rounds) and continuing to the mobile phase selection. The extraction solution chosen was a methanol/phosphoric acid solution (95/5, v/v), while three rounds of consecutive extraction were necessary in order to extract the maximum amount of anthocyanins from the byproducts. During the LC-MS analysis, acetonitrile was selected as the organic solvent since, compared with methanol, not only did it exhibit increased elution strength, but it also produced significantly narrower peaks. To enable accurate identification of the analytes and optimization of the developed method, kuromanin chloride and myrtillin chloride were used as standards. Furthermore, the wine variety (Syrah) from which the specific byproducts were produced was analyzed for its anthocyanin content, leading to interesting conclusions about which anthocyanins are transferred from grapes to wine during the vinification procedure, and to what extent. The results of this study showed that the total concentration of anthocyanins estimated in wine byproducts exceeded almost 12 times the equivalent concentration in Syrah wine, while the four categories of detected anthocyanins, simple glucosides, acetyl glucosides, cinnamoyl glucosides, and pyroanthocyanins, were present in different ratios among the two samples, ranging from 18.20 to 1, to 5.83 to 1. These results not only confirmed the potential value of these byproducts, but also indicated the complexity of the anthocyanins' transfer mechanism between a wine and its byproducts.


The effect of a series of synthetic carbamates on the human (milk or pancreatic) bile-salt-dependent lipase (cholesterol esterase) was examined. N-isopropyl-O-phenyl, N-methyl-O-phenyl, N-butyl-(4-nitrophenyl), N-phenyl-(4-nitrophenyl), N-butyl-N-methyl and N-pentyl-O-phenyl carbamates were inhibitors of the enzyme activity, while O-isopropyl-N-phenyl, O-methyl-N-phenyl, O-benzyl-N-isopropyl and O-cyclohexyl-N-phenyl carbamates were not even recognized by the enzyme. The N-alkyl chain length is essential for the enzyme inhibition and N-butyl-(4-nitrophenyl) or N-pentyl-O-phenyl carbamates are more potent inhibitors than N-methyl-O-phenyl or N-isopropyl carbamates. The inhibition by reactive carbamates fits the criteria for mechanism-based inhibition: the inhibition is first-order with time, shows saturation kinetics with increasing carbamate concentration and leads to an inactive stoichiometric enzyme-inhibitor complex; the enzyme activity can be protected by a competitive inhibitor. Evidence is shown that the enzymatic nucleophilic attack of carbamates is directed at the carbonyl carbon atom and not the nitrogen atom. The inhibition of bile-salt-dependent lipase does not occur consecutive to the formation of a reactive isocyanate derivative of carbamate but via a tetrahedral intermediate involving essential residues implicated in the enzyme catalytic site. This intermediate evolves by liberation of alcohol (or phenol) and formation of an inactive carbamyl enzyme. Among the carbamates tested, N-butyl-N-methyl-(4-nitrophenyl) carbamate specifically inhibits the bile-salt-dependent lipase; the release of 4-nitrophenol from this carbamate is directly proportional to the enzyme inhibition and it may be defined as a specific active-site titrator for bile-salt-dependent lipases.


The aim of this prospective study was to assess whether norethisterone enantate can be recommended for use in patients with premenstrual syndrome (PMS) who also require effective contraception. The subjects were 20 patients with severe PMS who required effective contraception. Premenstrual symptom scores on norethisterone enantate and oral contraceptives were compared. Significantly fewer and less severe symptoms were experienced by patients on norethisterone enantate than those on oral contraceptives. Norethisterone enantate can therefore be recommended for use in patients with PMS who also require effective contraception.


Business Cycles was Joseph Schumpeter's least successful book, measured by its professed aims and several other yardsticks. Yet the book has two vital aspects that have largely been overlooked. First, the prodigious research that went into its writing caused a significant change in Schumpeter's thinking about capitalism. It moved him to a more historical and empirical approach that shaped nearly all his subsequent work. And second, much of the book constitutes a preview of modern, rigorous business history. This article explores both of these elements—not in the spirit of rescuing a neglected classic, because the book is not a classic. Instead, Business Cycles is a noble failure that paid unexpected dividends both to the author and to scholarship.


Most phenological traits are extremely sensitive to current climate change, and advances in the timing of important life‐history events have been observed in many species. In birds, phenotypic plasticity in response to temperature is thought to be the main mechanism underlying yearly adjustment in the timing of breeding. However, other factors could be important and interact to affect the levels of plastic responses between and/or within‐individuals. Here, we use long‐term individual‐based data on tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) to identify the spatial and environmental drivers affecting plasticity in laying date and to assess their importance at both population and individual levels. We found that laying date has advanced by 4.2 days over 10 years, and that it was mainly influenced by latitude and an interaction between spring temperature and breeder density. Analyses of individual plasticity showed that increases in temperature, but not in breeder density, resulted in within‐individual advances in laying date. Our results suggest that females can adjust their laying date as a function of temperature, but that this adjustment will be partly constrained in habitats with lower breeder densities. Such potential constraint is especially worrying for the broad array of species already declining as a result of climate change.


Regrettable disclosures (i.e., things people wish they had not posted/shared) on social media platforms have become a serious issue in recent years. When engaged in self-presentation and impression management on online social networks (OSN), users often make disclosures that they subsequently regret. Such regrets have been shown to typically revolve around disclosures on sensitive topics or sharing content with strong sentiment, lies, and secrets. As such, regrettable self-disclosures do not only jeopardize peoples' privacy but are also damaging to their public reputation and private relationships. In this work, we present WallGuard, a system for nudging OSN users towards detecting and avoiding embarrassing, privacy sensitive and regrettable online disclosures. WallGuard's key building block is a hierarchical machine learning framework which provides mechanisms to predict regret-specific labels associated with any given user-generated text. To achieve this goal, we designed and experimented with new deep learning models and propose Regret Embeddings. The latter are domain-specific pre-trained word embeddings for regrettable disclosures. Extensive evaluations of the proposed models demonstrate their high classification performances (with a weighted AUC score of up to 0.975) on a real-world corpus of annotated regrettable user-generated texts. WallGuard allows OSN users to specify individual preferences with respect to the types of topical content to be shared with specific audiences. Therefore, while content analysis is done in an objective manner, nudgy personalized disclosure recommendations are generated based on user's privacy preferences. A proof-of-concept of our tool is available, currently as a Facebook thirdparty app yet easily deployable on other social media platforms.


With growing numbers of older adults in the population, the number suffering from dementia will increase. The general practitioner has to try to determine the difference between Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia on the one hand, and fronto-temporal dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies on the other hand, while also considering the therapeutic options now and in the future. Support for patients and their family is the responsibility of the general practitioner, who must also consider the patient's driving proficiency and the wishes for euthanasia of the demented older adult. The revised version of the practice guideline 'Dementia' of the Dutch College of General Practitioners is well suited to the work of the general practitioner. It is advisable to read the practice guideline several times and in such cases not only to use the summary card but the entire practice guideline.


To solve the problem of gateway copyright protection,a new fast approach was put forward for embedding and extracting gateway watermark in digital video. In intra frame watermarking,the method elegantly detected and selected affine covariant regions in nearly linear complexity. Then,the overlapped affine covariant regions were eliminated based on minimal spanning tree. Last,watermark bits were embedded in Discrete Wavelet Transform(DWT) coefficients in linear time. In inter frame watermarking,the method effectively utilized the continuity inside video scenes to predict the affine covariant regions in no-boundary frames based on boundary frame. The attacking experimental results show that under geometric attacks and format conversion attacks,the accuracies of watermark detection are above 93% and 83% respectively. The simulation results show that in local network with 400 online hosts,the proposed method can block gateway watermark video transmission within 10frames.


The control of mutations Hugo de Vries' transition from physiology to genetics The central question of this article is why Hugo de Vries left the field of mechanistic plant physiology and became a geneticist in the mid-1880s. It is argued that this change of course can only be properly understood if we take de Vries' views on the role of science in society into account. For de Vries, science had a dual role. Firstly, scientific knowledge "had a civilizing effect. The spread of knowledge was one of the principal means to uplift the individual's spiritual level and to increase his happiness. This -view of science as an instrument of civilization can be traced back to the early nineteenth century and was still en vogue in the second half of the century. Secondly, science derived its importance from the practical benefits society might reap from it. According to de Vries, scientists should never lose sight of practice; their ultimate aim should always be to provide solutions for the problems of society, and 'useless' lines of inquiry had to be abandoned. In his view of society, de Vries sided with the progressive liberals, who took an important part in contemporary debates on the reform of society, and de Vries' scientific views nicely fit in with his political stance. Against this background, de Vries' switch to genetics does not come as a complete surprise anymore; it can be shown to have been a natural outcome of his constant effort to contribute to the improvement of agriculture and horticulture. I argue that practice was also central to de Vries' genetics research. His ultimate aim was to be able to control the mutations of plant and animals and to produce useful varieties at will. Finally I suggest that an additional incentive for de Vries to abandon plant physiology may have been provided by his Amsterdam colleague J.H. van 't Hoff In the 1880s, van 't Hoff took up his studies of osmosis and of diluted solutions, thereby invading, as it were, the field which de Vries had until then considered as his own. This prompted de Vries to redefine his field of competence as a biologist.


We prove that the mathematical framework for the de Sitter top system is the de Sitter fiber bundle. In this context, the concept of soldering associated with a fiber bundle plays a central role. We comment on the possibility that our formalism may be of particular interest in different contexts including MacDowell-Mansouri theory, two time physics and oriented matroid theory.


The task of answering natural language questions over knowledge bases has received wide attention in recent years. Various deep learning architectures have been proposed for this task. However, architectural design choices are typically not systematically compared nor evaluated under the same conditions. In this paper, we contribute to a better understanding of the impact of architectural design choices by evaluating four different architectures under the same conditions. We address the task of answering simple questions, consisting in predicting the subject and predicate of a triple given a question. In order to provide a fair comparison of different architectures, we evaluate them under the same strategy for inferring the subject, and compare different architectures for inferring the predicate. The architecture for inferring the subject is based on a standard LSTM model trained to recognize the span of the subject in the question and on a linking component that links the subject span to an entity in the knowledge base. The architectures for predicate inference are based on i) a standard softmax classifier ranging over all predicates as output, ii) a model that predicts a low-dimensional encoding of the property and subject entity, iii) a model that learns to score a pair of subject and predicate given the question as well as iv) a model based on the well-known FastText model. The comparison of architectures shows that FastText provides better results than other architectures.


CONTEXT
Autophagy is a housekeeping mechanism, involved in metabolic regulation and stress response, shown recently to regulate lipid droplets biogenesis/breakdown and adipose tissue phenotype.

OBJECTIVE
We hypothesized that in human obesity autophagy may be altered in adipose tissue in a fat depot and distribution-dependent manner.

SETTING AND PATIENTS
Paired omental (Om) and subcutaneous (Sc) adipose tissue samples were used from obese and nonobese (n = 65, cohort 1); lean, Sc-obese and intraabdominally obese (n = 196, cohort 2); severely obese persons without diabetes or obesity-associated morbidity, matched for being insulin sensitive or resistant (n = 60, cohort 3).

RESULTS
Protein and mRNA levels of the autophagy genes Atg5, LC3A, and LC3B were increased in Om compared with Sc, more pronounced among obese persons, particularly with intraabdominal fat accumulation. Both adipocytes and stromal-vascular cells contribute to the expression of autophagy genes. An increased number of autophagosomes and elevated autophagic flux assessed in fat explants incubated with lysosomal inhibitors were observed in obesity, particularly in Om. The degree of visceral adiposity and adipocyte hypertrophy accounted for approximately 50% of the variance in omental Atg5 mRNA levels by multivariate regression analysis, whereas age, sex, measures of insulin sensitivity, inflammation, and adipose tissue stress were excluded from the model. Moreover, in cohort 3, the autophagy marker genes were increased in those who were insulin resistant compared with insulin sensitive, particularly in Om.

CONCLUSIONS
Autophagy is up-regulated in adipose tissue of obese persons, especially in Om, correlating with the degree of obesity, visceral fat distribution, and adipocyte hypertrophy. This may co-occur with insulin resistance but precede the occurrence of obesity-associated morbidity.


Analytical, free of time consuming Monte Carlo simulations, framework for credit portfolio systematic risk metrics calculations is presented. Techniques are described that allow calculation of portfolio-level systematic risk measures (standard deviation, VaR and Expected Shortfall) as well as allocation of risk down to individual transactions. The underlying model is the industry standard multi-factor Merton-type model with arbitrary valuation function at horizon (in contrast to the simplistic default-only case). High accuracy of the proposed analytical technique is demonstrated by benchmarking against Monte Carlo simulations.


We use Eikonal tomography to derive phase and group velocities of surface waves for the plate boundary region in Southern California. Seismic noise data in the period range 2 and 20 s recorded in year 2014 by 346 stations with ~1‐ to 30‐km station spacing are analyzed. Rayleigh and Love wave phase travel times are measured using vertical‐vertical and transverse‐transverse noise cross correlations, and group travel times are derived from the phase measurements. Using the Eikonal equation for each location and period, isotropic phase and group velocities and 2‐psi azimuthal anisotropy are determined statistically with measurements from different virtual sources. Starting with the SCEC Community Velocity Model, the observed 2.5‐ to 16‐s isotropic phase and group dispersion curves are jointly inverted on a 0.05° × 0.05° grid to obtain local 1‐D piecewise shear wave velocity (Vs) models. Compared to the starting model, the final results have generally lower Vs in the shallow crust (top 3–10 km), particularly in areas such as basins and fault zones. The results also show clear velocity contrasts across the San Andreas, San Jacinto, Elsinore, and Garlock Faults and suggest that the San Andreas Fault southeast of San Gorgonio Pass is dipping to the northeast. Investigation of the nonuniqueness of the 1‐D Vs inversion suggests that imaging the top 3‐km Vs structure requires either shorter period (≤2 s) surface wave dispersion measurements or other types of data set such as Rayleigh wave ellipticity.


A recent review of psychological and pharmacological treatments for pathological gambling revealed a paucity of evidence for their effectiveness (Oakley-Browne, Adams, & Mobber-ley, 2000). Data from a national client database in New Zealand suggest that up to a quar-ter of clients (depending on the measure used) have not benefited from treatment (Paton-Simpson, Gruys, & Hannifin, 2003). Clearly, there is a need for a treatment program to address the particular requirements of this group. This paper documents the development and piloting of a multimodal program for clients who have not previously benefited from program-gambling treatments. The program employed a composite approach of education and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy. To the authors' knowledge, there is no published evaluative research on the use of this approach with problem gamblers. The intervention was trialled in three treatment centres within New Zealand. Results indicate that the inter-vention positively affected several measures of gambling behaviour and self-reported well-being.


Sequence learning is a vital cognitive function and has been observed in numerous brain areas. Discovering the algorithms underlying sequence learning has been a major endeavour in both neuroscience and machine learning. In earlier work we showed that by constraining the sparsity of the emission matrix of a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) in a biologically-plausible manner we are able to efficiently learn higher-order temporal dependencies and recognize contexts in noisy signals. The central basis of our model, referred to as the Cloned HMM (CHMM), is the observation that cortical neurons sharing the same receptive field properties can learn to represent unique incidences of bottom-up information within different temporal contexts. CHMMs can efficiently learn higher-order temporal dependencies, recognize long-range contexts and, unlike recurrent neural networks, are able to natively handle uncertainty. In this paper we introduce a biologically plausible CHMM learning algorithm, memorize-generalize, that can rapidly memorize sequences as they are encountered, and gradually generalize as more data is accumulated. We demonstrate that CHMMs trained with the memorize-generalize algorithm can model long-range structure in bird songs with only a slight degradation in performance compared to expectation-maximization, while still outperforming other representations.


This chapter examines diversity in Vollintine-Evergreen, a historic neighborhood located in the North-Midtown area of Memphis. This neighborhood is a success story and has remained racially diverse for more than 25 years. The chapter describes the racial diversity within the Vollintine-Evergreen community and discusses the reasons why it remains diverse. Explanations include the neighborhood organization's inclusive style, the quality of the housing, the role of neighborhood institutions (such as religious congregations and a college), and the impact of external groups (such as government agencies and foundations). Of these factors, the neighborhood organization has been especially central to the maintenance of diversity. One of the themes that emerges from a review of the organization and neighborhood institutions is that diversity is both a process and an outcome. To maintain its diversity, the community has relied on the participation of its diverse residents.


Mode III fracture failure of a through crack in an orthotropic functionally graded strip is investigated. The shear moduli in two directions of the material are respectively assumed to vary proportionately as a definite gradient. Fourier cosine transform is used to reduce the problem to solving a Fredholm integral equation. The crack tip stress field is obtained by considering the asymptotic behavior of Bessel function. Energy density factor criterion is applied to obtain the maximum of the minimum energy density and direction of crack initiation. Numerical results are given graphically to illustrate the effects of the material property parameters and geometry criterion on the energy density factor.


The ankle joint is the second most important weight bearing region next to the knee joint. There is a natural tendency for forward dislocation of leg bones from the talus which is prevented mainly by two factors-bony and muscular. A total of 160 participants were part of the study after obtaining the written informed consent. 80 participants are having recurrent ankle sprain belong were considered as cases (group I). 80 participants who did not have ankle sprains, but visited the hospital for other complaints were considered as controls (group II). The radiographs of the lateral view of their ankle joint were taken. Significantly higher values of radius of the talus, height of the talus and the tibiotalar angle were reported in males when compared with females of group I (P<0.001). Significantly higher values of radius of the talus (P<0.001), height of the talus (P<0.001) and the tibiotalar angle (P<0.05) were reported in males when compared with females of group II. Comparison of radius and height of the talus, tibiotalar angle between the cases and controls (groups I and II). Radius of the talus was significantly higher in cases when compared to controls (P<0.001). Height of the talus was significantly higher in cases when compared to controls (P<0.05). Tibiotalar angle was significantly lower in cases when compared with controls (P<0.001). A larger radius, corresponding to a flatter talus, the more the height of the talus and a smaller tibiotalar sector, reflecting less angular coverage of the talus in the tibia, are significantly correlated with ankle instability leading to recurrent ankle sprain.


The applicability of Doppler based, Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) sensors for track geometry monitoring is investigated in this article. The optimum configuration of the LIDAR lenses, suitable for effective lateral track geometry measurements, is presented. In the proposed embodiment, two low-elevation LIDAR optics are employed with their beams reflected off of the rail gage face on each side to capture speed signals from both rails individually. A processing technique is developed based on the frequency bandwidth dissimilarities between the vehicle speed and track geometry irregularity to separate the two from each other. LIDAR system is body-mounted to a geometry inspection car and tests are carried out on revenue service track. The results indicate that LIDAR optics can provide a reliable track monitoring instrument for use over substantial track mileage in inclement weather and harsh track conditions with minimal operator supervision.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


JavaScript has grown to be among the most popular programming languages. However, performing change impact analysis on JavaScript applications is challenging due to features such as the seamless interplay with the DOM, event-driven and dynamic function calls, and asynchronous client/server communication. We first perform an empirical study of change propagation, the results of which show that the DOM-related and dynamic features of JavaScript need to be taken into consideration in the analysis since they affect change impact propagation. We propose a DOM-sensitive hybrid change impact analysis technique for Javascript through a combination of static and dynamic analysis. The proposed approach incorporates a novel ranking algorithm for indicating the importance of each entity in the impact set. Our approach is implemented in a tool called Tochal. The results of our evaluation reveal that Tochal provides a more complete analysis compared to static or dynamic methods. Moreover, through an industrial controlled experiment, we find that Tochal helps developers by improving their task completion duration by 78% and accuracy by 223%.


The stochastic method of ground-motion simulation is often used in combination with the random-vibration theory to directly compute ground-motion in- tensity measures, thereby bypassing the more computationally intensive time-domain simulations. Key to the application of random-vibration theory to simulate response spectra is determining the duration (Drms) used in computing the root-mean-square oscillator response. Boore and Joyner (1984) originally proposed an equation for Drms, which was improved upon by Liu and Pezeshk (1999). Though these equations are both substantial improvements over using the duration of the ground-motion ex- citation for Drms, we document systematic differences between the ground-motion intensity measures derived from the random-vibration and time-domain methods for both of these Drms equations. These differences are generally less than 10% for most magnitudes, distances, and periods of engineering interest. Given the systematic nature of the differences, however, we feel that improved equations are warranted. We empirically derive new equations from time-domain simulations for eastern and western North America seismological models. The new equations improve the random-vibration simulations over a wide range of magnitudes, distances, and oscil- lator periods. Online Material: SMSIM parameter files, tables of coefficients and model parameters, and shaded contour plots of TD/RV ratios for two WNA models.


The Venerable SHENG-YEN, Ph.D., is President and Founder of the International Cultural And Educational Foundation of Dharma Drum Mountain. While Western views on the relationship between church and state have been studied and debated profusely, relatively little is known about the relationship between Buddhist tradition and the state. With the renewal of Buddhism in parts of East Asia and its rise in the West, an understanding of Buddhist views of the role of the state is of relevance in today's global society. The popular conception of Buddhism in the twentieth century is of a religion that emphasizes withdrawal from the world and pursuit of solely spiritual goals. It may therefore come as a surprise that Buddhism places great emphasis on positive engagement with the world at both the grassroots and governmental levels. While Buddhists as a rule have tended to maintain a low profile, except in instances where other Buddhists or their countrymen have been under attack, Buddhism's emphasis on positive engagement is based on a well-developed theory of social organization and government which can be traced back to the original teachings of the Buddha himself. Like many Western ideologies, Buddhism advocates equal rights for all people, including the right to life, education, and political enfranchisement. Human rights begin with education, and Buddhism thus recommends that people be taught the definition of these rights. In principle and in the strictest sense, Buddhism sees government as a violation of human rights because it serves to contain the people and set up laws that prohibit them from performing certain actions. In the ideal society, people would learn not to commit crimes against others. The people's motivation for respect of others' rights would lie exclusively within themselves and would not depend upon fear of punishment. This concept of the ideal society and state is not the only one of its kind. Because societies, as they have existed to date, have not been ideal, Buddhism recognizes the need for government and its role in promoting and maintaining peace and stability. From the Buddhist perspective, the objective of government is the protection of human rights. The state should ensure that the needs of all the people are well met, regardless of age, socioeconomic level, or educational background. The people should be happy and contented. Buddhist theory also advocates an ideal of democracy in which subjects of appropriate age and educational background have the right to vote to determine their future. Regarding the role of the government in providing for a society's social needs, Buddhist theory advocates that the government provide for the education of the populace, as well as maintenance of order with minimal infringement upon individual rights. Government should establish the necessary institutions, including those of education and criminal justice. However, unlike the systems of some Western democracies today, Buddhist theory advocates that more emphasis be placed on educating the populace about the importance of the law and why it should not be broken in the first place, rather than relying on harsh punishment. A Pragmatic Approach Buddhists also acknowledge that the instruments used to govern must match the requirements of society as it exists on a practical level. It is well known that compassion and non-violence are two of the basic Buddhist principles: adhering to them means that one should love one's enemy as oneself. However, Buddhism does not advocate an inflexible application of these principles. If these principles are applied literally, internal and external enemies can easily take advantage of a society's weaknesses and undermine the peacefulness and stability of that society. As long as the ideal society does not exist, the instruments of government must include the coercive power necessary to punish wrongdoers and to prevent military invasions. …


This paper discusses issues related to the Hybrid III dummy head/neck response due to deploying air bags. The primary issue is the occurrence of large moment at the occypital condyles of the dummy, when the head-rotation with respect to the torso is relatively small. The improbability of such an occurrence in humans is discussed in detail based on the available biomechanical data. A secondary issue is the different anthropometric characteristics of the head/neck region of the Hybrid III dummy when compared to humans. Different modes of interaction between the deploying air bag and the Hybrid III dummy's neck are discussed. Key features of the dummy's response in these interaction modes have been described in light of the laxity of the atlanto-occypital joint and the effect of the neck muscle pairs. Issues for improving the biofidelity of the Hybrid III dummy's neck response due to deploying air bags are discussed.


ABSTRACT For a long time, governments relied heavily on trade taxes as the main source of public finance, and for some countries, mainly less developed ones, they still account for a large share of revenue. Yet, with trade liberalization, governments have been forced to abandon these easy-to-collect taxes and to adopt modern hard-to-collect taxes, mainly internal income and consumption taxes. Surprisingly, we know little about how governments across the world have addressed this common challenge. In this paper, we analyze the rise of the most important present taxes: the personal and corporate income tax, the general sales tax and the value-added tax. Based on a self-coded dataset, we provide a historical-descriptive outline of the expansion of modern taxes since 1842 and test the effect of trade liberalization on the probability to adopt hard(er)-to-collect taxes. While trade is an important determinant for the legislation of modern taxes, we find that its influence is not universal but depends on the tax type. Only the personal income tax and the value-added tax have served as a revenue substitution to trade taxes, while the general sales tax and the corporate income tax were rather fueled by other factors such as spending pressures.


Abstract Developing an inhibitor to von Willebrand factor (VWF) is extremely uncommon. Consequently, patients with von Willebrand disease (VWD) tend not to be routinely evaluated for inhibitors, leading to the possibility of delay in inhibitor diagnosis. We present such an occurrence to raise awareness, with a view to avoiding such delays. A 1-year-old male with no family history of bleeding disorders or parental consanguinity presented with a tongue bleed lasting three days. Investigations confirmed a diagnosis of Type 3 VWD. Over the next few months, the patient received seven exposures to Humate-P (a plasma derived FVIII containing von Willebrand factor concentrate), but developed an anaphylactic reaction necessitating adrenalin and Benadryl (diphenhydramine). The reaction quickly abated and did not recur with further exposure to Humate-P. In 2013, due to recurrent epistaxis and tonsillar bleeding, the patient was commenced on prophylaxis receiving Humate-P 50 RCo U/kg twice weekly. Despite this regimen, he continued to experience recurrent epistaxis, leading to escalation of prophylaxis to 3/week. In November 2014, he showed persistent tonsillar bleeding, despite having received two doses of Humate-P (each 40 RCo U/kg) in the previous 12 hours. Testing revealed reduced VWF:Ag, VWF:RCo and FVIII:C recoveries. Further testing revealed an anti-VWF antibody (2.6 BU) of unspecified Ig type. Since diagnosis of the inhibitor, he has received 100 RCo U/kg daily for prophylaxis and immune tolerance. He is now bleed-free; however, monthly inhibitor testing shows that his inhibitor persists. Given the limited experience and literature on inhibitors in VWD, the prognosis for such cases is unknown.


Background and purpose Hydroxyapatite (HA) coating is believed to improve bone-implant ingrowth and long-term survival of prostheses. Recent studies, however, have challenged this view. Furthermore, HA particles may produce third-body wear and initiate aseptic loosening of implants. We report the performance of HA- and porous-coated acetabular cups in a prospective randomized trial. Methods This was an 8-year follow-up study of our previously published prospective randomized study to compare clinical outcomes, survival, periprosthetic bone mineral density, migration, and wear rates of HA- and porous-coated acetabular cups. Dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and Ein Bild Roentgen Analyse (EBRA) measurements were used. 100 patients who underwent unilateral cementless total hip arthroplasty were randomized to either porous-coated cups or HA-coated cups. Patients were examined preoperatively and at 3, 6, and 9 months, and also 1, 3, and 8 years after surgery. 81 patients were available for 8-year follow-up, 40 with porous-coated cups and 41 with HA-coated cups. Results Age, sex, bone mineral density, and clinical results (Harris hip score) were similar in the 2 groups. The survival, wear, and migration patterns of the cups were also similar in both groups. The results of periprosthetic bone mineral density scans in region of interest 2 was in favor of the porous-coated cups, but there were no differences between the 2 groups in all the remaining regions of interest. Interpretation HA coating had no statistically significant effect on clinical results, survival, wear, or migration at the 8-year follow-up.


Information about perception and memory is accumulating rapidly in both basic and clinical neuroscience, and this progress has been made using a variety of approaches while drawing jointly on the traditions of neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and neuropsychology. In order to disseminate research occurring in leading laboratories around the world, an international symposium on "Brain Mechanisms of Perception and Memory: From Neuron to Behavior" was held in Toyama, Japan, in October 1991. Planned in conjunction with this important meeting, this volume presents the work of over 40 eminent scientists from around the world. Their research covers many topics, including such core issues as the perception of form, perception of motion, memory and the limbic system, the neocortex, and neural plasticity. A prominent area of discussion at the symposium, and one which figures prominently in this volume, is work with nonhuman primates, especially useful in the study of perception and memory. The breadth of coverage of this volume in conjunction with its extensive studies of nonhuman primates makes this book a necessary reference for those interested in current perspectives on brain mechanisms of perception and memory. Neuroscientists, neuropsychologists, cognitive and physiological psychologists will find this authoritative, state-of-the-art review important and informative reading.


The purpose of this study is to examine the importance of creativity in entrepreneurship. Is it creativity that leads to entrepreneurial success, or are there subfactors of creativity, which are being examined as Opportunity Recognition, Programmatic, and Building Networks which, are more important? Or perhaps creativity stands alone and is separate from the three sub factors? A review of selected literature on the relationship between creativity and entrepreneurship suggests that creativity is in part pre-cognitive, as well as cognitive processing as described in much of the entrepreneurial literature. This suggests that the above described subfactors may not be easily identifiable as creativity at all, but may in fact be equally or more important to entrepreneurship than creativity itself.


In the Virocene epoch, global pandemics such as COVID-19 disrupt the world order organized by capitalism and racial privilege, making clear the unsustainability of 'normal' ways of organizing society and nature. Despite its failure to address these disruptions, the existing capitalist-racist system attempts to reproduce itself, posing greater risks of disease, inequalities, and injustice to the most vulnerable human and nonhuman populations. The Virocene epoch makes these workings visible, and challenges both hegemonic and counterhegemonic ways of organizing human–nature relations. Political ecology requires new emancipatory theoretical-political strategies firmly grounded in a theory of justice that embodies social and ecological rights in order to imaginatively produce new ways to counter such social and ecological crises arising from the global process of capitalism and viral activities. To this end, political ecology must develop a universal perspective on the justice-rights-power nexus with an explicit moral basis to enhance its emancipatory praxis against the globalizing challenges of the Virocene, without reproducing existing vulnerabilities and without dismissing hegemonic and counter-hegemonic narratives in the name of otherness, difference, universalism or sameness. In this article, I reconfigure the justice-rights-power nexus to dismantle oppression and injustice in pursuit of regenerative solutions. I chart an alternate 'multispecies theory of justice' building upon love as an embodiment of the moral foundations for critical multispecies justice praxis, which produces another world of diverse, interconnected communities committed to social and ecological wellbeing. The 'Lovecene' is an aspirational planetary-order shaped by multispecies (human and non-human) equality and justice that transcends the anthropocentricism of current periodizations of planetary-level social and economic change. It attempts to overcome the limitations of many political-ecological theories of justice centered on notions of 'right order', 'fairness', 'distribution', and 'opportunities and capabilities', thereby successfully addressing the sociological and ecological vulnerabilities of the Virocene. Key Words: Virocene; political economy of health; capitalism; racism, vulnerability, pandemic


Sir, David Luesley's article (October, Vol. 101 1994) was timely in that it reminded us of the need to present randomised, controlled, double-blind studies to justify the use of lasers in the management of several of the conditions that he mentioned. It happens to coincide, through no fault of his, with just such a publication from our department (Sutton et al. 1994). We published the results of our prospective, randomised, double-blind, controlled trial of laser laparoscopy in the treatment of pelvic pain associated with minimal, mild and moderate endometriosis. Sixty-three patients were randomised at the time of laparoscopy to laser ablation of endometriotic deposits and laparoscopic uterine nerve ablation or expectant management which involved laparoscopy and removal of the sero-sanguinous fluid that is invariably present in patients with endometriosis. Symptoms of pain were recorded both subjectively and by visual analogue scale, and the women were unaware of the treatment allocated, as was the nurse who assessed them at three and six months following surgery. Laser laparoscopy resulted in statistically significant pain relief, compared with expectant management six months after surgery. Of the patients randomised to laser treatment, 625 %O reported improvement or resolution of symptoms, compared with only 22.6 YO in the expectant group. Results were poorest for Stage 1 disease (minimal endometriosis), and it is possible that some of the minimal peritoneal appearances were not, in fact, due to endometriosis, but to various other inflammatory or post infective conditions. Indeed, if only patients with Stages 2 and 3 (mild and moderate endometriosis) were included, then 73.7 % of the patients achieved pain relief, which was almost identical to the figure reported in our long term retrospective study several years ago (Sutton & Hill 1990). This study is continuing in order to assess the effects of laser laparoscopy in patients who present with infertility associated endometriosis; this assessment should be available within the next six months and (it is hoped) can be presented at the British Congress.


Current analysis of Acoustic Emission (AE) signals is dominated by waveform parameter assessment, such as amplitude, rise-time, absolute energy, initiation frequency etc. whilst the actual waveform collected is often ignored. This paper explores the dispersive behaviour of Lamb Wave propagation as a means of estimating source to sensor distance and source orientation from collected waveforms.


The ferrite industries are expected to grow continuously and an estimated covering the market development of forthcoming years, in terms of produced annual tonnage, will be presented. The creation of uniform sintered structures, within the lower micron meter range, essentially free of duplex structures, is highly desirable for the production of a large proportion of soft and hard ferrite products. Several wet chemical processes have been proposed and are presently beeing carried out on a commercial scale for the production of ferrite powders. For the production of precisely controlled uncollapsed ferrite powders, exhibiting uniform primary particle sizes within the submicron meter range, should for cost savings, environmental and constant quality control purposes, be carried out at selected and integrated steel mills using short thermal sintering techniques. The advantage of an independent management - away from the core business stell - would be of mutual benefit to the ferrite and steel industries.


Robust pharmacodynamic (PD) assay results are valuable for informing go/no[[Unable to Display Character: ‐]]go decisions about preclinical and clinical development of new agents and for identifying optimal combinations of targeted agents. The NCI's Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis (DCTD) develops and validates PD assays to obtain accurate information about target engagement in first-in-human clinical trials. The Pharmacodynamic Assay Development and Implementation Section (PADIS) and National Clinical Target Validation Laboratory (NCTVL) were established at the Frederick National Laboratory to create robust PD assays for the research community by validating analytical performance, demonstrating fitness-for[[Unable to Display Character: ‐]]purpose for the clinical assay protocol in preclinical xenograft models, and finalizing companion standard operating procedures (SOPs) for clinical specimen handling and processing. Proven clinical assays are transferred from the NCI to requesting sites in academia and industry through laboratory[[Unable to Display Character: ‐]]based certification and training, centralized access to current SOPs, assistance with assay transfer, and participation in the assay's Quality Assurance Plan. A quantitative immunoassay for intra-tumoral topoisomerase 1 (Top1) levels that allows direct measurement of target engagement is one such assay. Initial evaluation of the Top1 immunoassay using tumor needle biopsies was complicated by high baseline variability in clinical samples and lower than expected protein yields. Top1 levels in baseline biopsies from multiple patients were near the assay's lower limit of quantitation, and therefore did not provide an adequate threshold to quantify decreased Top1 levels following Top1 inhibitor treatment. A more efficient extraction method was developed and validated with xenograft tumors that allowed for larger volumes of lysate to be loaded into the immunoassay without matrix interference. Analysis of second pass biopsies from a subset of the same patients was used to confirm that the new assay procedure increased assay sensitivity by ∼3-fold. Based on this evaluation, the revised set of SOPs is estimated to increase the proportion of clinical biopsies that will be evaluable with the assay to > 80%, compared to approximately 65% with the original procedure. PD assay training on the validated Top1-Immunoassay SOPs is now being offered by NCI's Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis. Funded by NCI Contract No HHSN261200800001E.

Citation Information: Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):A214.

Citation Format: Ralph E. Parchment, Katherine Ferry-Galow, Jay Ji, Yiping Zhang, Thomas D. Pfister, Robert J. Kinders, Yvonne A. Evrard, Shivaani Kummar, Joseph E. Tomaszewski, James H. Doroshow. Creating clinical target validation groups via quality assured transfer of robust clinical pharmacodynamic (PD) assays from the NCI: Improved performance of the Top1 immunoassay for analysis of tumor biopsies. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2013 Oct 19-23; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):Abstract nr A214.


Abstract Rationale: Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is rare genetic disease featuring progressive heterotopic ossification of soft tissues of the musculoskeletal system which leads to severe disability and premature death. Recognition of this disease is important since invasive diagnostic procedures can promote disease progression. However, despite its distinctive clinical manifestations, diagnosis can be difficult because of its rarity Patient concerns: A 20-year-old woman was referred to rheumatology clinic for management of "ankylosing spondylitis". The patent had begun to have hard subcutaneous nodules when she was 1 year old, and subsequently developed hip joint pain and flexion contractures of knees and hips leading to disability. Diagnoses: Based on characteristic bilateral great toe deformities and radiographic images of ossification of soft tissues, a clinical diagnosis of FOP was made. This was confirmed by genetic test showing a heterozygous mutation (c.G617A) of the activin receptor 1A gene (ACVR1). Interventions: The patient was treated symptomatically and with supportive measures, and her condition remained stable. Lessons: Diagnosis of FOP can be difficult, despite its distinctive clinical manifestations, because of its rarity. Recognition of this disease is important to avoid invasive diagnostic procedures which can promote progression.


Aims: Study of intrauterine infusion of autologous platelet rich plasma in unresponsive thin endometrium in frozen ET cycle .Thin endometrium still remains a big challenge for clinicians, creating so much burden in the form of cycle cancellation, unplanned freezing of embryo and even need for surrogacy. Intrauterine infusion of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is newer modality of treatment in thin endometrium, in various studies showing promising results. Material and methods: Our study was prospective randomised controlled trial done from 1 August 2018 to 31 May 2019 at a tertiary infertility centre, New Delhi, India. 30 patients undergoing frozen embryo transfer with history of thin endometriun (less than 7 mm) with normal hysteroscopic examination were enrolled. Patients with platelet count less than 1.50000/dl, uncorrected asherman syndrome, submucosal polyp, fibroid or congenital uterine anomaly and with history of systemic diseases were excluded from study. From day 2 of menses tab estradiol valerate was started in dose of 6–8 mg/day. It was increased up to 12 mg/day gradually after reviewing endometrial thickness serially. Patients with thin endometrium on day 10/11 received PRP on day 11 and repeat dose after 48 hours if endometrial thickness was less than 7 mm. Frozen embryo transfer was done in patients who achieved endometrial thickness 7 mm or more. Results: The mean pre-treatment endometrial thickness was 5.42 mm, which significantly increased to 6.64 mm, post treatment (P < 0.001). 8 patients out of 30 in our study could not achieve an optimal pattern of endometrium after treatment and embryo transfer was postponed. The positive beta human chorionic gonadotropin rate was 46.66%, and clinical pregnancy rate was 33.33% which is not statistically significant. Conclusion: In this study, we found PRP has effective role in thin endometrial cases.


Obesity is an important independent risk factor for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and many other chronic diseases. Adipose tissue inflammation is a critical link between obesity and insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes and a contributor to disease susceptibility and progression. The objective of this study was to determine the role of response gene to complement 32 (RGC32) in the development of obesity and insulin resistance. WTand RGC32 knockout (Rgc32 (Rgcc)) mice were fed normal chow or high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks. Metabolic, biochemical, and histologic analyses were performed. 3T3-L1 preadipocytes were used to study the role of RGC32 in adipocytes in vitro. Rgc32 mice fed with HFD exhibited a lean phenotype with reduced epididymal fat weight compared with WT controls. Blood biochemical analysis and insulin tolerance test showed that RGC32 deficiency improved HFD-induced dyslipidemia and insulin resistance. Although it had no effect on adipocyte differentiation, RGC32 deficiency ameliorated adipose tissue and systemic inflammation. Moreover, Rgc32 induced browning of adipose tissues and increased energy expenditure. Our data indicated that RGC32 plays an important role in diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance, and thus it may serve as a potential novel drug target for developing therapeutics to treat obesity and metabolic disorders.


In this study, a perturbed-TEM analysis was conducted on a two-wire transmission line with a two-layered metal system that represents a typical metallurgy used in thin-film multichip modules (MCM's). Closed-form solutions were obtained for the current density, resistance, inductance, attenuation, and phase velocity. The proximity effects were clearly illustrated in the current density plots. It was shown that the increase in the attenuation and the resistance was caused by the skin effect and the power loss in the cladding conductor (copper line clad with 0.1-/spl mu/m thick chromium), and the increase (decrease) in the phase velocity (internal inductance) of the thin-film lines was caused by the penetration of the magnetic field into the conductors. >