Introduction Long-acting β2-agonists (LABAs) and long-acting muscarinic antagonists (LAMAs) are established maintenance bronchodilator treatments for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with the potential to increase heart rate (HR) and impact blood pressure (BP). While previous studies indicate that HR and BP are not negatively influenced by tiotropium or olodaterol monotherapy, the effect of tiotropium/olodaterol has not been evaluated. We report a post hoc analysis of the effect of dual bronchodilation with tiotropium/olodaterol versus monocomponents on HR and BP in patients with moderate-to-very-severe COPD included in the large TONADO® study. Methods The TONADO® trials (1237.5 [NCT01431274] and 1237.6 [NCT01431287]) were two replicate, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, 52-week, Phase III trials that compared tiotropium/olodaterol (5/5 μg and 2.5/5 μg) with tiotropium (5 μg and 2.5 μg) and olodaterol (5 μg) in patients with moderate-to-very-severe COPD. Patients with cardiovascular comorbidities were included. Changes in HR and systolic/diastolic BP were measured before and after dosing with the study medication at each visit (baseline, Week 12, Week 24 and Week 52). Results Overall, 3,100 patients were included in this analysis. Over 52 weeks, small changes from baseline in mean HR (<2 beats per minute [bpm]) and small changes from pre- to post-dose (<1 bpm) were evident at different time points. There was a non-significant increase from baseline in mean diastolic and systolic BP (<2 mmHg) observed over 52 weeks of treatment. The short-term (1 hour pre- to 1 hour post-dose) mean changes in systolic and diastolic BP over 52 weeks in the tiotropium/olodaterol 5/5 µg group were comparable with those observed for the monocomponents at all time points. Conclusion There were no differences in HR or BP among patients on tiotropium/olodaterol when compared with monocomponents. This supports the already demonstrated cardiovascular safety profile of tiotropium/olodaterol as long-acting maintenance bronchodilator treatment for COPD, including patients with cardiovascular comorbidities.


Fruit processing and preservation technologies must keep fresh-like characteristics while providing an acceptable and convenient shelf life as well as assuring safety and nutritional value. Processing technologies include a wide range of methodologies to inactivate microorganisms, improve quality and stability, and preserve and minimize changes of fruit fresh-like characteristics. Infrared (IR) heating offers many advantages over conventional heating under similar conditions, which include reduced heating time, uniform heating, reduced quality losses, versatile, simple and compact equipment, and significant energy saving. The integration of IR with other matured processing operations such as blanching, dehydration, freeze-dehydration, thawing, roasting, baking, cooking has been shown to open up new processing options. Combinations of IR heating with microwave heating and other common conductive and convective modes of heating have been gaining momentum because of increased energy throughput. A number of publications and patents have demonstrated novel and diverse uses of this technology. This review aims at identifying the opportunities and challenges associated with this technology. The effect of IR on food quality attributes is also discussed. The types of equipment commonly used for IR processing have also been summarized.


This paper presents an accurate compact scalable RLCG (Resistance, Inductance, Capacitance, and Conductance) model for electrical modeling of through-silicon vias in 3D IC packaging. Closed-form formulas for R and L are derived by full-wave approach, while C and G are taken from static solutions. The equivalent circuit model can capture almost all the parasitic effects, such as skin, proximity and MOS capacitance effect of through-silicon vias and the effect of lossy silicon. Therefore, it yields accurate results comparable to the full-wave solver.


Multiage Teachers ' Beliefs and Practices -Hoffman This study examines the instructional and organizational practices of multiage teachers in the intermediate elementary grades and the beliefs that guide their practices . Qualitative case study design was used to construct individual portraits and a cross-case analysis of four teachers in multiage classrooms serving students in grades 3 through 5 . Data collected via interviews and classroom observations revealed four categories of beliefs to be salient across the cases: differentiated instruction, social collaboration , flexible grouping, and student interest. Other commonalities among the cases included team teaching, a separation by grade level for one content area, and identifying the role ofthe teacher as a facilitator ofthe learning process. Also , three ofthe four teachers had special education backgrounds, and all teachers were instrumental in initiating multiage programs in their districts.


In this paper the perfect Ni2MnGa cluster model is studied by use of the first principles discrete variational method (DVM), which is based on the framework of density- function theory. To study the characteristic properties of the alloy and the influence of the impurities which substitute for Mn at the central, the electronic structure、the binding energy and site energy are calculated. The result illuminates that Ni2MnGa complex obviously has metallic property. Ga plays to transmit electron for the exchange actions between Mn and Mn. And the periodic influence of 11 impurity elements on the binding energy and the site energy is gived. From the microcosmic the reason of the martensitic temperature changed with the concentration of element is analyzed.


We consider empirical measurement of equivalent variation (EV) and compensating variation (CV) resulting from price change of a discrete good using individual‐level data when there is unobserved heterogeneity in preferences. We show that for binary and unordered multinomial choice, the marginal distributions of EV and CV can be expressed as simple closed‐form functionals of conditional choice probabilities under essentially unrestricted preference distributions. These results hold even when the distribution and dimension of unobserved heterogeneity are neither known nor identified, and utilities are neither quasilinear nor parametrically specified. The welfare distributions take simple forms that are easy to compute in applications. In particular, average EV for a price rise equals the change in average Marshallian consumer surplus and is smaller than average CV for a normal good. These nonparametric point‐identification results fail for ordered choice if the unit price is identical for all alternatives, thereby providing a connection to Hausman–Newey's (2014) partial identification results for the limiting case of continuous choice.


"Fibrenamics Green - Platform for the develop-
ment of innovative waste-based products
", code NORTE-01-0246-FEDER-000008, which is co-
financed by the European Union, through the European Regional D
evelopment Fund (ERDF)
under the NORTE 2020 - North Portugal Regional Operational Program 2014–2020


As current and future experiments probe strong gravitational regimes around neutron stars and black holes, it is desirable to have theoretically sound alternatives to General Relativity against which to test observations. Here we study the consequences of one such generalization, Einstein-aether theory, for the properties of non-rotating neutron stars. This theory has a parameter range that satisfies all current weak-field tests. We find that within this range it leads to lower maximum neutron star masses, as well as larger surface redshifts at a particular mass, for a given nuclear equation of state. For non-rotating black holes and neutron stars, the innermost stable circular orbit is only slightly modified in this theory. E-mail: email@example.com E-mail: email@example.com E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


Inquiry-based, student-centered projects were designed and implemented in a food microbiology
laboratory setting. Students work in groups (three to five people) to ask a researchable question,
design and complete experiments, analyze data, prepare a scientific poster, and defend their
research in a public poster presentation. Groups are organized based on topic interest and guided to
complete successful projects through a series of assignments and structured and open discussions
during and outside of class time. Instructors guide students through the scientific method.
Inclusion of projects in curriculum has increased students' interest in the food microbiology course
and in this area of research.


Departing from traditional digital forensics modeling, which seeks to analyze single objects in isolation, multimedia phylogeny analyzes the evolutionary processes that influence digital objects and collections over time. One of its integral pieces is provenance filtering, which consists of searching a potentially large pool of objects for the most related ones with respect to a given query, in terms of possible ancestors (donors or contributors) and descendants. In this paper, we propose a two-tiered provenance filtering approach to find all the potential images that might have contributed to the creation process of a given query q. In our solution, the first (coarse) tier aims to find the most likely "host" images — the major donor or background — contributing to a composite/doctored image. The search is then refined in the second tier, in which we search for more specific (potentially small) parts of the query that might have been extracted from other images and spliced into the query image. Experimental results with a dataset containing more than a million images show that the two-tiered solution underpinned by the context of the query is highly useful for solving this difficult task.


We report for the first time label-free quantification of xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes (XME), transporters, redox enzymes, proteases, and nucleases in six human skin explants and a three-dimensional living skin equivalent model from LabSkin. We aimed to evaluate the suitability of LabSkin as an alternative to animal testing for the development of topical formulations. More than 2000 proteins were identified and quantified from total cellular protein. Alcohol dehydrogenase 1C, the most abundant phase I XME in human skin, and glutathione S-transferase pi 1, the most abundant phase II XME in human skin, were present in similar abundance in LabSkin. Several esterases were quantified and esterase activity was confirmed in LabSkin using substrate-based mass spectrometry imaging. No cytochrome P450 (P450) activity was observed for the substrates tested, in agreement with the proteomics data, where the cognate P450s were absent in both human skin and LabSkin. Label-free protein quantification allowed insights into other related processes such as redox homeostasis and proteolysis. For example, the most abundant antioxidant enzymes were thioredoxin and peroxiredoxin-1. This systematic determination of functional equivalence between human skin and LabSkin is a key step toward the construction of a representative human in vitro skin model, which can be used as an alternative to current animal-based tests for chemical safety and for predicting dosage of topically administered drugs. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The use of label-free quantitative mass spectrometry to elucidate the abundance of xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes, transporters, redox enzymes, proteases, and nucleases in human skin enhance our understanding of the skin physiology and biotransformation of topical drugs and cosmetics. This will help to develop mathematical models to predict drug metabolism in human skin and to develop more robust in vitro engineered human skin tissue as alternatives to animal testing.


In this work, we present a methodology for the embedded systems domain that allows the design of models for partial reconfigurable Hardware. The dynamic modifiable high-level Petri-nets are used as a specification language for this methodology. They inherently offer parallelism and are a natural choice for any hardware design. The special mechanisms- scopes and transitions with transformation rules- allow the modelling of dynamical activities.


Innovation lies in a breakthrough has its own unique view, concrete expression to generate a novel and unique, there is social value or value of the individual thoughts, ideas, methods and products. Business Administration field embodies the innovation and spark creative thinking. In recent years, it is not satisfactory under a variety of educational models in parallel quality of training. TRIZ innovation theory behavior perspective analysis can effectively identify the level of innovation capability in different groups of university students, a series of targeted training activities can practice in this basis in order to achieve creativity in our students the accumulation of knowledge, effective identified and enhanced innovation and practical ability and quality of innovation.


In this paper, application of HRC fuses and MCCBs in low voltage distribution network is examined. Performance of HRC and MCCB are compared under a typical system performance condition. The law of equivalence of contact wear was used to determine life expectancy of MCCB. It is shown that MCCBs are not economically viable in areas where incidence of short-circuit faults are rampant. Where electro-dynamic stress associated with circuit interruptions is of a major concern, application of HRC fuses is proposed. The study goes further to recommend a suitable combination of MCCBs and HRC fuses as effective means of protecting distribution transformers.


The induction of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) by ionising radiation and subsequent
rejoining were studied in normal human fibroblasts in vitro, using radiation of
different qualities. Radiation of increasing linear energy transfer (LET) can induce local
hot spots of energy deposition that may result in DNA damage that is difficult to repair,
and can potentially be mis-repaired. Due to the spatial association of the energy deposition
events after the passage of ionising radiation, double-strand breaks (DSBs) and
other types of DNA damage may be induced at genomic distances that reflect chromatin
structure and radiation quality, introducing higher orders of damage complexity. The
pulsed field gel-electrophoresis (PFGE) technique was used to resolve the fragmentation
patterns after induction and rejoining of DSBs, separating double–stranded DNA
fragments between 30 kbp and 5·7 Mbp. Several analytical and numerical methods of
quantification of DNA damage were used and critically analysed. A novel method of
DSB quantification based on random breakage was developed, which was applied to an
extensive data–set along with several other methods. Results of this comparative analysis
suggest that conventional methods of DSB quantification may be misleading, due
to the way they handle the unwanted background damage that is produced during manipulation
of the samples. Significant deviations from the random breakage predictions
were observed for 238Pu α-particle irradiation, using a numerical method based on DSB
clustering to analyse experimental data. In order to have an indication of the relative
biological relevance of DSBs induced by radiation of different LETs, DSB rejoining kinetics
were measured in living cells, and a detailed fragmentation analysis was carried out.
A simple rejoining kinetics numerical model was designed and developed, based on a
semi-empirical approach. The kinetic model was applied to the analysis of many experiments
from this study. The results of the computer simulations are in good agreement
with the experimental data. Even if the initial fragmentation patterns were significantly
different for X-rays vs α-particles, DSBs induced by both radiations seem to rejoin according
to a first order kinetics with two decay components, that do not depend on the
size of the fragments being rejoined. For the molecular–weight size distribution that was
observed in this project, the results indicate that the complexity of individual DSBs, rather
than proximity effects between distinct DSBs, determine the rejoining kinetics.


EARLIER METHODS AS EXEMPLIFIED BY PROFESSOR AGASSIZ In that priceless human document, "Autobiography of Nathaniel Southgate Shaler," the author tells us of his entry, in 1859, into the laboratory of Prof. Louis Agassiz and of the methods of instruction which then and there prevailed. Professor Agassiz gave him a rusty tin basin and seated him at a small pine table in front of a window in a greatly crowded room, 15 feet wide by 30 feet long. His neighbors were Alpheus Hyatt, P. W. Putnam, A. E. Verrill, E. S. Morse, Richard Wheatland, and Caleb Cook.

Professor Agassiz supplied him with a small fish, taken from a bottle of old alcohol, whose fragrance is described by our author as a "stench." To his inquiry, "What shall I do ?" the Professor replied, "Find out what you can without damaging the specimen. When I think you have done the work I will question you." The new student was, . . .


Underwater sensor networks (UWSNs) are instructed for critical applications like military surveillance and underwater oil spills that conducted in a very massive three‐dimensional (3‐D) space that needs many underwater nodes (UNs) to cover the target area. Those UNs are not easy to recharge and cannot exploit solar power. MAC protocols deployed for UWSN ought to consider the energy efficiency, so as, to extend the network lifetime with total connectivity and significant throughput. Terrestrial MAC protocols could not be used for UWSN due to long and unpredictable propagation delay. Consequently, the development of a new MAC protocol for the harsh environment as underwater is a challenging task. In this study, we focus on the deployment of TDMA in UWSN for this, two schemes entitled TDMA slot sharing (TSS) and free time slots reallocation (FTSR) are proposed. Received data stored in the buffer waiting for processing and forwarding might lead to an unlimited data transfer latency those results in the buffer overflow. Otherwise, free time slots appearing during the communication process resulting from dead nodes increase uselessly sleep time for the rest of the nodes. Both schemes based on signaling game are proposed to overcome those problems, TSS is used to enable the slot sharing between UNs during the communication process to reduce the buffer overflow. FTSR scheme aims to increase the throughput of UNs by allowing the reuse of free time slots. Numerical results conducted in this work show good improvement in the network performance concerning throughput.


PURPOSE
To compare the prevalence of germline mutations in metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) and metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) and assess the impact of mutations on progression to castration resistance and overall survival.

METHODS
Targeted sequencing of germline DNA from 704 men (221 at the time of mHSPC and 483 at the time of mCRPC) enrolled in two advanced prostate cancer registries at Mayo Clinic between 2003 and 2013 was performed for 21 predisposition genes. Frequencies of pathogenic mutations were compared in patients and reference controls to identify genes enriched in metastatic prostate cancer. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression was used to identify predictors of progression to mCRPC and overall survival.

RESULTS
Sixty-eight germline mutations in 12 genes were identified in 66 men (9.4%). Mutations in ATM, BRCA2, CHEK2, FANCM, and TP53 were significantly enriched (odds ratio greater than 2.0) in the metastatic cohorts compared with reference controls. The frequency of germline mutations was similar for patients with mHSPC and mCRPC (11.8% v 8.3%; P = .16). The median time to progression from mHSPC to mCRPC was 23.1 and 32.5 months for patients with and without mutations, respectively (P = .96). Although older age at diagnosis, Gleason score greater than 7, elevated alkaline phosphatase level, and high volume of disease were associated with shorter duration of progression to mCRPC and poor overall survival, mutation status was not (progression to mCRPC hazard ratio, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.61 to 1.09; P = .17; overall survival hazard ratio, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.75 to 1.34; P = .98).

CONCLUSION
Similarly elevated rates of germline predisposition gene mutations in mHSPC and mCRPC suggest that germline genetic testing may help to guide medical management for all patients with advanced metastatic prostate cancer. Mutation status was not associated with shorter progression to mCRPC or poor overall survival.


The  adsorption of cephalexin.H2O from aqueous solution on attapulgite, bentonite and kaolin has been studied at the human body temperature (37.5˚C) and at 5, 27, 47˚C in 0.1M hydrochloric acid (pH 1.2). The value of pH 1.2 has been chosen to simulate the pH of stomach fluid. The clays show the following order: Bentonite > attapulgite > kaolin, for their activity to adsorb cephalexin.H2O. The charged clay particles can attract molecules either by electrostatic forces, for the molecules of oppositely charged, or by inducing dipole formation in the neutral molecule. The L-shaped adsorption isotherm indicated that drug molecules arrangement in a flat geometry on the clay surface. The results indicated the applicability of Langmuir isotherm for adsorption of drug on three clays. The amount of cephalexin.H2O adsorbed on  the  three  clays was increased with  increasing pH value from 1.2 to 5. At the acidic pH, the competition between cephalexin.H2O molecules and hydronium ions results in a reduction in adsorption process. At fixed temperature and pH, the adsorption of cephalexin.H2O on the three clays was increased with increasing the ionic strength of solution. The data showed a little increase in the amount of drug adsorbed by attapulgite and bentonite with increasing temperature, so the adsorption process appeared endothermic. The reverse was observed with adsorption of cephalexin.H2O on kaolin surface (exothermic).The extent of desorption of cephalexin.H2O from the clays increased when the concentration of drug increased. This result may  refer to the difficulty of desorption of the drug at low concentrations, which reflects a relatively higher adsorbate - adsorbent interaction.


Wound healing occurs through a well-orchestrated series of events encompassing hemostasis, inflammation, cellular proliferation and tissue remodeling. Platelets are specialized vascular secretory cells that rapidly accumulate at sites of injury, quickly becoming the most prevalent cell type. They undergo expansive activation within damaged tissue, initiated by the exposure of extracellular matrix proteins and by the local generation of thrombin. Platelets contain numerous granule types which hold more than 300 biological active components. The content of these granules are released upon platelet activation. A wealth of studies now demonstrates that the contents of these granules are able to regulate most stages of wound healing. In the past two decades an increased understanding of the physiological roles of platelets in wound healing has led to the idea of using platelet products as therapeutic tools to enhance skin repair. This article highlights the mechanisms by which platelets enhance wound closure and discusses the clinical effect of platelet therapy on wound healing.


This article evaluates several low-volatility portfolio strategies to identify the return penalty, if any, associated with increased downside safety. The authors compare the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index with standard benchmarks and with portfolios specifically constructed to have low-volatility characteristics. They find that portfolios constructed using low-frequency economic measures for stock screening and portfolio optimization outpaced the S&P Low Volatility Index in absolute and relative terms. The authors conclude with practical suggestions for wealth managers about incorporating low-volatility methods into their practices.


Since 1980 the amount of palm oil sold on the market has increased more than ten-fold. A critical public discussion regarding the cultivation of palm oil – and above all in the developing countries of South-East Asia – has developed (in the western countries). Above all local Asian companies are pushing ahead with the exponential growth of the palm oil market. There are three decisive factors for the expansion of palm oil production: 1. Trans fats in food are also held responsible for the emergence of cardio-vascular diseases. Food manufacturers now increasingly use trans fat-free palm oil in western countries for certain products. 2. Consumption of and demand for palm oil are increasing with the rise in the world's population. 3. Thanks to its technical properties and the fact that it may be used in a variety of ways, palm oil is an alternative to crude oil-based raw materials for many areas of industry. The consumption of palm oil as a biofuel and for energy generation is rising continually. Compared to other agricultural crops found in the tropics, oil palms provide the highest yield as a ratio of the required growing area. Furthermore, there are no genetically-modified variants in palm oil and palm kernel oil production. Palm oil is nevertheless the subject of criticism as the expansion in the areas cultivated with oil palms has been accompanied by the dramatic destruction of forest areas and the drastic decimation of many species. In addition, with the establishment of new palm oil farms indigenous peoples and small farming cooperatives are often robbed of their established habitats and natural resources.The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was formed in 2003 on the initiative of the WWF. The RSPO brings together the major palm oil producers in South-East Asia, representatives of companies along the entire supply chain, and stakeholders from the main consumer markets in Europe and the USA so as to elaborate sustainability solutions. Yet the Roundtable is also coming in for criticism. Western brand manufacturers may well be prepared to buy sustainable palm oil, but only account for a small proportion of global production. The majority of buyers from less environmentally-conscious threshold countries such as India and China, which are buying ever greater quantities of palm oil, also have to be motivated to participate in sustainability concepts.


It is a fashion now to talk about China & India in year 2050. Whether it is a political meeting, economic forum, seminar, symposium, workshop and conference or by whatever name you call of public gathering, everywhere one talks about possible size of two economies after half century, irrespective of level of gathering whether local, national or international. If the miracle leads and India supercedes developed nations to become largest economy, it will be pleasure for all. But all projections that have taken place so far considered deteriorating social health of the nation? And can economic growth be independent of individual efforts & social health? Do one agree that better psychic & social health improves economic efficiency? Here, I want to bring few observations to the audience that seems to be very relevant for projected economic growth of India. If planners are convinced they should take review of the projections in this directions, or the rulers who are helm of affairs should take serious measures to mitigate them. It implies therefore, that projections are not impossible to achieve, but to be super economy; India has to do lot more on social front. I am just narrating few of my observations that need to be musing seriously. The number of suicides particularly by farmers, in Maharashtra has raised from 1083 in 1995 to 4,147 in 2004. Total suicides in 2001, Maharashtra (14618), Karnataka (11881), Tamil Nadu (11290), Andhra Pradesh (10522) have highest suicide rates respectively. According to Emile Durkheim, this kind of suicide falls within the purview of 'Anomic Suicide' - one of the classifications of suicide. In fact, anomic suicide results from normlessness or deregulation in society. Suicide per 100,000 population in Kerala, 27.7, Goa, 21.4, Tamilnadu, 20, AP, 17.2, Maharashtra, 14.5, Gujarat 8.9. If we go by Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist says that suicide is a social fact and not simply an individual act but a product of social forces external to the individual. A survey report conducted by the agency of the Govt. of India that reveals most developed states have more suicide rate as compared to the most backward states. Does it means that it is the side effect of reform therefore? Carry out projections by 2050 without ignoring these facts. The another front, as a teacher I see that during this academic year, at least six of my students comes in the class with bandage, plaster or walker in the class. There are approximately 400,000 road crashes causing injury in India each year, resulting in 85,000 deaths and 1.2 million seriously injured. The World Health Organization (WHO) has projected that by 2020 road accidents will be a major killer in India accounting for 546,000 deaths and 15,314,000 disability-adjusted life years lost. Vehicles are increasing at accelerated growth but road does not commensurate with that rate. 70% of the fuel is imported by India. Carry out projections by 2050. 11 thefts in my city every day, 1000 accidents, 500 death by accident, 600 murders in the city every year, 1 dacoity in a day and all type of crime on high growth rate. This is scenario of Ahmedabad, a peaceful & prosperous city. In my neighboring three marriages took place in last one year. All broken. My brother visited me few months back, narrated story of my village like this, 32 marriages took place in the peak season and by Diwali 28 were broken. Carry out projections by 2050. 800 female per 1000 male in many districts of state of Gujarat and even same scenario in other state like Hariyana. Replication through out the country in more or less in the same proportion and carry out projections by 2050 carefully. According to recent media reports, some three crore cases are pending in all courts. There are many other international survey that has taken place, on corruption front, as some time back in a corruption index India was ranked 83 among 133 countries, India's low health spending means India ranks an abysmal 171 out of 175, doing business India is ranked on very low preference on different number on different criterions. India's Human Development Indicator rank is 127. India's literacy rate is around 65% and only 12 out of 1000 are able to complete higher education. Since last decade there is no single party government at the center, and in foreseeable future it seems to be unattainable. There is continuous friction between constituents of the ruling parties at center & states, legislation & judiciary and fluctuations in various state policies. In the name of name of reforms many are made homeless, evacuated from houses to build roads and to satisfy builders. In a week 5000 families' houses were demolished. Houses are evacuated because they were possessing 'illegal' land. I have put the word in italic, because slums dwellers were staying there since 148 years! Law is like wheat flour, you can make bread or chapatti or pudding as you like. By merely interpreting land may become 'illegal'. What I propose here is reform without social concern, without human face may no succeed in long run. And the serious problem in the country is no body is bothering about the pain of society. India is peaceful & generous society, ancient & since time memorial. Family system is considered one of the reasons of robust economy status by many authors. India brought Domestic Violence Act to prevent crime against women by relatives. Now the government is likely to propose Act that ensures Parents' welfare by the children. Can society be build by intervention in household affairs? And is it really so bad situation in family widely that government need to bring series of law to curb family disruptions? There are many fronts where deteriorating social health is a great concern and creates doubt whether economic growth is possible without healthy society? And whether economic performance at macro level is not depending upon micro level? There is no interdependence? And if it is so, whether the projections have taken care of very essential elements of development at social & economic front? To achieve 5-7% growth rate for half century require power supply at same or higher growth rate. Automobile & Mobile industry is growing at fast rate, is it possible to accommodate produced vehicles on the roads? Is it possible to import fuel even if fuel prices goes up internationally? I must say, I am not pessimistic, but would like to be cautious and as a torchbearer, would like to bring the facts to the notice of thinkers. I conclude by saying that, the detail survey of the household problems be conducted nation wide, inviting social activists, educationists, psychiatrists, economists, engineers, environmentalist and other intellectuals.


Flavin radical semiquinones are intermediates in important physiological processes. Resonance Raman (RR) spectroscopy is an important tool to determine the interactions between these radical intermediates and their protein environment that regulate their reactivity and role in the reaction mechanisms. RR spectra of flavin radical semiquinones have been available for several flavoproteins, and those in the glucose oxidase (GO) seem significantly different from all the other available data. Since GO is often used not only as a standard for flavin-containing proteins but also in biotechnological applications, we decided to reexamine the RR spectra of the neutral and anionic radical semiquinone forms of the flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) cofactor in this enzyme. The new data show that the vibrational wavenumbers of the neutral and anionic radical semiquinone forms of FAD in GO are very similar to those in other flavoproteins. The discrepancies that were observed earlier seem related to contributions of the FAD in different redox and protonation states. We also obtained the first RR spectra of the oxidized FAD cofactor in GO. Analysis of the vibrations of the oxidized FAD and its anionic radical semiquinone in GO in H2O and D2O solutions indicates that the subtle differences between these spectra in GO and in other flavoproteins are related to the weak hydrogen-bonding environment of the FAD cofactor in GO. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


INTRODUCTION
Returning to work is a goal for many people after brain injury. The failure to return to work after injury brings both economic and personal (quality of life) costs to those living with stroke or brain injury, their families, and society. This study explored the barriers to providing work-focused interventions during hospital-based rehabilitation and co-created solutions with rehabilitation providers to increase the provision of work-focused intervention during inpatient rehabilitation.

METHODS
This study used an Intervention Mapping approach (a six-step protocol that guides the design of complex interventions) based on an action research methodology. Focus group data, in addition to best evidence from systematic reviews, practice guidelines and key articles were combined with theoretical models for changing behaviour and clinician experience. This was then systematically operationalised into an intervention process using consensus among clinicians. The process was further refined through piloting and feedback from key stakeholders, and group consensus on the final process.

RESULTS
A detailed five phase return to work intervention process for inpatient rehabilitation was developed. The key features of the process include; having one key allied health clinician to coordinate the process, choosing assessments based on pre-injury work demands, emphasising the importance of core work skills and considering the most appropriate service for referral at the conclusion of rehabilitation.

CONCLUSION
We used a systematic approach, guided by the intervention mapping approach and behaviour change theory to tailor existing workfocused interventions to the inpatient setting.


In this study, an algorithm for mesh-based detection of occlusion caused by a newly entering object into the scene, which covers the information present in the current frame, and mesh-based representation of it is proposed. A 2D Delaunay triangulated dynamic mesh is initially designed on the first frame of the sequence. The motion of each node is then compared to its average motion. Frames with nodes of high activity, with different directions and forming a region are selected to be analyzed for detection of newly entering object(s) into the scene. A region formed by detection of bad motion vectors is enlarged using a distance criterion. The detected frame and the preceding one are range filtered, The luminance components of these two frames are formed. The difference of the range filtered frames and of their respective luminance components are taken into account. The differences are checked with respect to a threshold value inside the formed region. Pixels exceeding this threshold form the newly entering object. Since there may be separate regions formed by these pixels, mesh-based merging of these regions is then accomplished. The detected newly entering object is then meshed and tracked as a new object in the scene in accordance with the occluded object. The proposed 2D mesh-based occlusion detection and representation method can be applied in object-based video coding, storage and manipulation.


Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the most common hospital-acquired infections associated with a significant morbidity and mortality. Healthcare workers (HCWs) act as carriers for MRSA and transmit the organism across individuals. Hence, we undertook this study to assess the prevalence of MRSA among HCWs in a tertiary care hospital and their hand washing hygienic practices. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study between March and November 2014 was conducted. Dry swabs were taken from the nasal mucosal membrane, both the palms, web space between the fingers from each of the participants and were subsequently cultured on mannitol salt agar and antibiotic susceptibility to methicillin was assessed using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method using cefoxitin. In addition, information on demographics, occupation, and use of antiseptics were collected from the study participants. Results: A total of 17/150 (11.3%) were found to be MRSA positive of which 10 were staff nurses, three each were laboratory technicians and class IV employees and one was a doctor. Of the 17, 11 (64.7%) had shown growth from nasal swabs, 5 (29.4%) from digital and 1 (5.9%) in both the regions. Of them, 8/15 (53.3%) reported the use of only soap for hand washing whereas 7/15 (46.7%) were using soap and hand sanitizers and the remaining two not responded to this question. Only 9/15 (60%) frequently washed their hands, and the rest rarely did. Conclusion: More awareness and training sessions on the importance of MRSA and hand hygienic measures to contain the carrier status of MRSA among hospital care workers is warranted.


The phenomenon of Undulator Induced Transparency (UIT) in a magnetized plasma is a particular case of the Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) effect where the absorption of the EM wave at the electron cyclotron frequency in the plasma is eliminated by adding a pump EM field. The UIT effect take place when static helical magnetic undulator is used instead of an EM pump wave, thus enabling the coupling of the transverse and longitudinal EM waves in the plasma. The electromagnetic waves with slow group velocity are generated resulting in an extreme compression of the wave energy in the plasma. The polarization of the hybrid compressed waves are primarily longitudinal and their phase velocity is controllable by the undulator period, making UIT attractive for electron and ion acceleration. Numerical simulations (fluid and PIC) reveal several different scenarios of propagation of the EM waves in the UIT regime depending on the strength of the mode coupling between the two polarizations (right‐hand an...


Analyzing biological data (e.g., annotating genomes, assembling NGS data...) may involve very complex and interlinked steps where several tools are combined together. Scientific workflow systems have reached a level of maturity that makes them able to support the design and execution of such in-silico experiments, and thus making them increasingly popular in the bioinformatics community. However, in some emerging application domains such as system biology, developmental biology or ecology, the need for data analysis is combined with the need to model complex multi-scale biological systems, possibly involving multiple simulation steps. This requires the scientific workflow to deal with retro-action to understand and predict the relationships between structure and function of these complex systems. OpenAlea (openalea.gforge.inria.fr) is the only scientific workflow system able to uniformly address the problem, which made it successful in the scientific community. One of its main originality is to introduce higher-order dataflows as a means to uniformly combine classical data analysis with modeling and simulation. In this demonstration paper, we provide for the first time the description of the OpenAlea system involving an original combination of features. We illustrate the demonstration on a high-throughput workflow in phenotyping, phenomics, and environmental control designed to study the interplay between plant architecture and climatic change.


In this paper we address the topics of scale-space and phase-based signal processing in a common framework. The involved linear scale-space is no longer based on the Gaussian kernel but on the Poisson kernel. The resulting scale-space representation is directly related to the monogenic signal, a 2D generalization of the analytic signal. Hence, the local phase arises as a natural concept in this framework which results in several advanced relationships that can be used in image processing.


The problem of second harmonic guided wave generation in transversely isotropic plates is investigated from a theoretical and numerical standpoint. The strain energy function of transversely isotropic materials is written down using five invariants in terms of the Green-Lagrange strain tensor and contains five linear terms and nine nonlinear terms.Theoretical investigations reveal that second harmonics in a weakly nonlinear transversely isotropic plate are cumulative only when the phase matching and nonzero power flux criteria are satisfied. Also, only cumulative secondary symmetric Lamb wave modes can be generated — a conclusion in line with what is observed for isotropic plates. Finally, numerical simulations are carried out to examine the cumulative second harmonic generation from the S0 mode and the results obtained are discussed in the light of the theory.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


In this paper we report on introductory lessons to the Poisson distribution and on statistical modeling in regards to probability distributions in secondary school in Japan. "Statistical modeling" is the use of data analysis and modeled data to describe, explain and predict real-world phenomena. In statistical modeling, we often see some examples which treat probability distributions as a separate data model. When students analyze some given data, we think that it is important they understand the statistics models to be used more deeply. We also think that the ability to determine "what kind of model applies to what kind of data" is also important from a viewpoint of "statistical literacy." We therefore prepared some lessons about the Poisson distribution for high school students with modeling in mind. After that we instructed some task-based lessons as an example of count data analysis. In statistical analysis of count data, there are various cases. Some will fit the normal distribution, and some will fit the binomial distribution. However it is well known that the case with small integral-value observed data tend to fit the Poisson distribution. By the way, we cannot usually find the Poisson distribution in mathematics textbooks in secondary schools in Japan, but we can find it in many overseas textbooks. By knowing some properties of the Poisson distribution, students can get a typical model in the analysis of various observational data, especially count data. As a result, students were actually verifying the example with which the observed data fit the Poisson distribution. In the viewpoint of statistical modeling, we think that students get the technique of analyzing an actual phenomenon through a model by recognizing some typical statistics models.


The quintessence of Byzantine faith is the twofold identification of the God-Man. Yet, the image of God Jesus Christ and the transcendent Trinity is a one-God concept. Inevitability, I argue Byzantine aesthetics had to recognize God as both anthropomorphous and divine. Since, omission of God's divinity would verify God as divisible. In line with apophatic theology, Byzantine aesthetics used non-categorizations and non-identifications, what I denominate meta-images, to teach about God's divinity and that God is. Since 'holy' equals right (ὀρθοδόξως) manner and right teaching about God (θeολογία), anything else would have been heresy. The desired effect of salvation would come to naught if the image did not concur with 'right opinion' (ὀρθοδοξία). Contemplation and imitation as well as communion with God depend on aesthetics 'of right belief' (ὀρθόδοξος). God is Beauty and God is Truth, and vice versa. In context of aesthetics, the idea of beauty refers to potential impetus to restore the natural image in the believer. Beauty identifies in deification (θέωσις), spiritual knowledge of the supreme beauty of God. Beauty does not refer to the perishable, but to the imperishable, not to physical strength and vigor, but to spiritual strength, yearning, and purity. Aesthetic approaches that help believers go beyond physical law to divine law, beyond the corporeal mundane to spiritual knowledge are good and beautiful. Interaction of narration, flattened corporeality, inverted perspectives, and meta-images such as light, brilliance, and patterned borders identifies the twofold reality of God and the historical event within and beyond time and space. This interaction of Incarnation (human visibility/suffering in the flesh) and Grace (divine incomprehensibility) refers to the Beauty of God, the prerequisite for salvation of humankind.


Community ecologists, who consider the interdependence among organizations of different forms (Hannan and Freeman, 1986), have argued that that legitimacy can flow between organizational forms if they are sufficiently related or proximate in cognitive space (Ruef, 2000). De alio legitimation, the process by which an established population can facilitate the institutionalization of an emergent population, greatly minimizes the time period needed for the new form to achieve a taken-for-granted status (Dobrev, 2001). While some studies have looked at how this process operates across populations of organizations within the commercial sector, no study has looked at how this legitimacy might travel between populations of organizations which vary in their goals, from those following a purely commercial mission to those organizations which follow a social mission, or social enterprises (Mair and Marti, 2006; Phills et al., 2008). Our study fills this gap. Utilizing data from three major social entrepreneurship foundations – Ashoka, Schwab, and Skoll – as well as from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, we study the emergence of social entrepreneurship relative to commercial entrepreneurship in three countries: Brazil, Mexico, and India. We show that there is a relationship between the traditional commercial entrepreneurship and the growth of social entrepreneurship. However, varying institutional environments between countries impacts the extent to which social entrepreneurship and commercial entrepreneurship co-evolve.


This study aims to reveal the situation about proverb instruction in EFL classrooms by seeking future English teachers' opinions. It is based on the argument that proverbs are an important part of cultural references, figurative, functional and formulaic language; thereby, they lend themselves well to enhancing communicative competence. This study investigates what EFL student-teachers think and feel about English proverb instruction, how they conceptualize proverbs, how they define their knowledge and use of English proverbs, and what they think about the extent to which their English teachers and coursebooks at high school taught English proverbs. In doing so, a questionnaire was designed and administered to freshman EFL student-teachers and semi-structured interviews were conducted with volunteers. The findings revealed that despite those student-teachers' positive attitudes towards proverb instruction, they did not view their knowledge of English proverbs as well as the teaching of proverbs by their English teachers and coursebooks at high school sufficient enough. Furthermore, traditional definitions were reflected in the participants' conceptualization of proverbs. The study has important implications for curriculum and syllabus design in which knowledge of phraseology in general and proverbs in particular should be incorporated as an important component of learners' language competence.


Background Cell proliferation in all rapidly renewing mammalian tissues follows a circadian rhythm that is often disrupted in advanced-stage tumors. Epidemiologic studies have revealed a clear link between disruption of circadian rhythms and cancer development in humans. Mice lacking the circadian genes Period1 and 2 (Per) or Cryptochrome1 and 2 (Cry) are deficient in cell cycle regulation and Per2 mutant mice are cancer-prone. However, it remains unclear how circadian rhythm in cell proliferation is generated in vivo and why disruption of circadian rhythm may lead to tumorigenesis. Methodology/Principal Findings Mice lacking Per1 and 2, Cry1 and 2, or one copy of Bmal1, all show increased spontaneous and radiation-induced tumor development. The neoplastic growth of Per-mutant somatic cells is not controlled cell-autonomously but is dependent upon extracellular mitogenic signals. Among the circadian output pathways, the rhythmic sympathetic signaling plays a key role in the central-peripheral timing mechanism that simultaneously activates the cell cycle clock via AP1-controlled Myc induction and p53 via peripheral clock-controlled ATM activation. Jet-lag promptly desynchronizes the central clock-SNS-peripheral clock axis, abolishes the peripheral clock-dependent ATM activation, and activates myc oncogenic potential, leading to tumor development in the same organ systems in wild-type and circadian gene-mutant mice. Conclusions/Significance Tumor suppression in vivo is a clock-controlled physiological function. The central circadian clock paces extracellular mitogenic signals that drive peripheral clock-controlled expression of key cell cycle and tumor suppressor genes to generate a circadian rhythm in cell proliferation. Frequent disruption of circadian rhythm is an important tumor promoting factor.


The ethnographic museum in the West has a long and troubling history. The display of 'exotic peoples' in travelling exhibitions began as early as the sixteenth century, but it was the mid and late nineteenth century that saw the great expansion of museums as sites to show artefacts collected - under anything but reputable circumstances - from what were considered the 'primitive', 'natural', or 'tribal' peoples of the world. Today the ethnographic museum is still a feature of large European cities, though faced with newly formulated dilemmas in the postcolonial world. For how can the material culture of a non-western people be collected and displayed in the West without its makers being translated into wordless and powerless objects of visual consumption? In national museums the processes of choosing, contextualizing and commentating exhibits help form national identity; in the ethnographic museum, similarly, they shape perceptions of the apparently distant Other. Like written ethnography, the museum is a 'translation of culture', with many of the associated problems traced by Talal Asad (1986). Like the written form, it has to represent the dialogic realities of cultural encounters in a fixed and intelligible form, to propose categories that define and order the material it has gathered. As the public face of academic ethnography, the museum interprets other cultures for the benefit of the general reader, and in that task museum practice, like all ethnography, operates within very specific historical and political parameters. How are museums in western Europe responding to the issues raised by critical ethnographers like James Clifford (1988), with their focus on the politics of representation? Is globalisation increasing the degree of accountability imposed on the ethnographic museum, or merely reinforcing older patterns? What opportunities and problems are raised by the use of more words - more 'translation' in the narrower sense - in ethnographic museums, and how do museums gain from introducing a reflexive and contextualizing concept of "thick translation" (Appiah 1993) into their work of interpretation?


This article examines whether the temporal clustering of flood events can be explained in terms of climate variability or time‐varying land‐surface state variables. The point process modelling framework for flood occurrence is based on Cox processes, which can be represented as Poisson processes with randomly varying rate of occurrence. In the special case that the rate of occurrence is deterministic, the Cox process simplifies to a Poisson process. Poisson processes represent flood occurrences which are not clustered. The Cox regression model is used to examine the dependence of the rate of occurrence on covariate processes. We focus on 41 stream gauge stations in Iowa, with discharge records covering the period 1950–2009. The climate covariates used in this study are the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Pacific/North American Teleconnection (PNA). To examine the influence of land‐surface forcing on flood occurrence, the antecedent 30 d rainfall accumulation is considered. In 27 out of 41 stations, either PNA or NAO, or both are selected as significant predictors, suggesting that flood occurrence in Iowa is influenced by large‐scale climate indices. Antecedent rainfall, used as a proxy for soil moisture, plays an important role in driving the occurrence of flooding in Iowa. These results point to clustering as an important element of the flood occurrence process. Copyright © 2012 Royal Meteorological Society


OBJECTIVE
It is not automatically given that the paper-based medical record can be eliminated after the introduction of an electronic medical record (EMR) in a hospital. Many keep and update the paper-based counterpart, and this limits the use of the EMR system. The authors have evaluated the physicians' clinical work practices and attitudes toward a system in a hospital that has eliminated the paper-based counterpart using scanning technology.

DESIGN
Combined open-ended interviews (8 physicians) and cross-sectional survey (70 physicians) were conducted and compared with reference data from a previous national survey (69 physicians from six hospitals). The hospitals in the reference group were using the same EMR system without the scanning module.

MEASUREMENTS
The questionnaire (English translation available as an online data supplement at ) covered frequency of use of the EMR system for 19 defined tasks, ease of performing them, and user satisfaction. The interviews were open-ended.

RESULTS
The physicians routinely used the system for nine of 11 tasks regarding retrieval of patient data, which the majority of the physicians found more easily performed than before. However, 22% to 25% of the physicians found retrieval of patient data more difficult, particularly among internists (33%). Overall, the physicians were equally satisfied with the part of the system handling the regular electronic data as that of the physicians in the reference group. They were, however, much less satisfied with the use of scanned document images than that of regular electronic data, using the former less frequently than the latter.

CONCLUSION
Scanning and elimination of the paper-based medical record is feasible, but the scanned document images should be considered an intermediate stage toward fully electronic medical records. To our knowledge, this is the first assessment from a hospital in the process of completing such a scanning project.


A novel method to coat electrospun poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) fiber surfaces evenly and efficiently with low-crystalline carbonate apatite crystals using a poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) vehicle system carrying calcium ions was presented. A non-woven PLGA fabric was prepared by electrospinning: a 10 wt% PLGA solution was prepared using 1,1,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol as a solvent and electrospun under a electrical field of 1 kV/cm using a syringe pump with a flowing rate of 3 ml/h. The non-woven PLGA fabric, 12 mm in diameter and 1 mm in thickness, was cut and then coated with a PVA solution containing calcium chloride dihydrate (specimen PPC). As controls, pure non-woven PLGA fabric (specimen P) and fabric coated with a calcium chloride dihydrate solution without PVA (specimen PC) were also prepared. Three specimens were exposed to simulated body fluid for 1 week and this exposure led to form uniform and complete apatite coating layer on the fiber surfaces of specimen PPC. However, no apatite had formed to the fiber surfaces of specimen P and only inhomogeneous coating occurred on the fiber surfaces of specimen PC. These results were explained in terms of the calcium chelating and adhesive properties of PVA vehicle system. The practical implication of the results is that this method provides a simple but efficient technique for coating the fiber surface of an initially non-bioactive material with low-crystalline carbonate apatite.


In this paper, we investigate the role of judgement in the formation of forecasts in commercial property markets. The investigation is based on interview surveys with the majority of UK forecast producers, who are using a range of inputs and data sets to form models to predict an array of variables for a range of locations. The findings suggest that forecasts need to be acceptable to their users (and purchasers) and consequently forecasters generally have incentives to avoid presenting contentious or conspicuous forecasts. Where extreme forecasts are generated by a model, forecasters often engage in 'self‐censorship' or are 'censored' following in‐house consultation. It is concluded that the forecasting process is significantly more complex than merely carrying out econometric modelling, forecasts are mediated and contested within organisations and that impacts can vary considerably across different organizational contexts.


Economically efficient prices for the passenger transportation system in the Greater Cairo Metropolitan Area would account for broader societal costs of traffic congestion and accidents, and local and global pollution. A $2.20 per gallon gasoline tax (2006 US$) would be economically efficient, compared with the current subsidy of $1.20 per gallon. Removal of the existing subsidy alone would achieve about three-quarters of the net benefits from subsidy elimination and the tax. Per-mile tolls could target congestion and accident externalities more efficiently than fuel taxes, although they are not practical at present. A combination of $0.80 per gallon gasoline tax to address pollution (versus $2.20 without tolls), and $0.12 and $0.19 tolls per vehicle mile on automobiles and microbuses, respectively, to address traffic congestion and accident externalities (versus $0.22 without fuel taxes) would be most efficient. Current public bus and rail subsidies are relatively close to efficient levels in the absence of such policies; however, if automobile and microbus externalities were fully addressed through more efficient pricing, optimal subsides to public transit would be smaller than current levels.


Sexuality is a crucial part of people's health, general well-being and quality of life and enjoying a healthy sexuality is well thought-out as a human right. But it is counted as sexual assault or rape if it is without her consent or against her will or when it is obtained by unlawful manners such as fraud, putting her in fear of death or hurt, drugging or impersonation. Sexual offences are traumatic at the time of occurrence and may also leave a very bad and negative impact on her physical and mental health. A retrospective study was performed after collecting Medico-legal reports done on survivors and accused in Government Hospital Karnal from January 2012 to April 2016. In the present study, Total 69 cases of alleged history of sexual assault were taken, out of which 38 cases of male accused and 31 cases of female survivors' medico-legal reports were studied. The highest percentage of female survivors was among age group between 11-20 years (64.5 %). The highest percentage of male accused was among age group between 21-30 years (55.3 %). During examination it was found that 2 female survivors (6.5%) out of 31 cases had alleged h/o sexual assault at the same time. There were 3 cases (7.9%) of gang rape. Out of these three cases of gang rape, in two cases (66.7%), two each accused persons were involved and in one case (33.3%) four accused were involved. In rest of the cases single male accused was involved. It is seen that younger aged females are at maximum risk for sexual assault threat and young adult males are active in these sexual assault activities. So it is important to give sex education to our young generation and make them aware.


Density functional theory calculations with dispersion corrections were employed to investigate the hydrogen (H2) adsorptive properties of siligraphene (SiC8), pristine and decorated with selected alkali (Li, Na, and K) and alkaline-earth (Be, Mg, and Ca) metals. We found that all the considered metals (Me), except Mg and Be, bind strongly to SiC8 even at high doping concentrations (SiC8Me2) by donating a major portion of their valence electrons to SiC8. Ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations confirmed the thermal stabilities of SiC8Me2 (Me = Li, Na, K, Ca) at 300 K. We showed that Li, Na, and Ca-doped SiC8 adsorbed multiple H2 molecules with binding energies (Ebind) at least two times stronger than that of the pristine SiC8 (Epristinebind = −70 meV per H2). Overall, both SiC8Li2 and SiC8Ca2 adsorbed two and four H2 molecules per metal adatom, respectively, having Ebind within the desirable range for an effective adsorption/desorption process. The resulting gravimetric densities of SiC8Li2 and SiC8Ca2 were 5.5 wt% and 7.3 wt%, respectively, surpassing the U.S. Department of Energy's 2025 goal of 5.5 wt%. The estimated H2 desorption temperatures exceed substantially the boiling point of liquid nitrogen, confirming the potential of light metal decorated SiC8 as a promising material for H2 storage.


A deterministic annealing (DA)-based expectation-maximisation (EM) algorithm is proposed for robust learning of Gaussian mixture models. By combing the DA approach, trimmed likelihood function and Bayesian information criterion (BIC), the proposed algorithm can simultaneously perform model selection and outlier detection, and mitigate the problems of local optima and boundary of parameter space with the conventional EM algorithm. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can determine the number of components correctly even though the data are contaminated by outliers.


A homologous series of hexa-n-alkylcyclotrisiloxanes and poly(di-n-alkylsiloxane)s has been prepared with alkyl side groups varying in length between 4 and 10 carbon atoms. Melting transition enthalpies of the hexa-n-alkylcyclotrisiloxanes indicated a reversed odd-even effect, showing higher melting enthalpies for cyclotrisiloxanes with n-alkyl side groups with an odd number of carbon atoms. The melting behaviour of the heptyl- and octyl-substituted cyclotrisiloxanes was rather complex. Multiple melting transitions could be observed, which are presumably due to formation of a kinetically favoured crystalline phase next to the thermodynamically stable crystal modification. All hexa-n-alkylcyclotrisiloxanes could be polymerized by anionic or cationic ringopening polymerization. The observation of longer polymerization times and formation of relatively larger amounts of cyclic byproducts in the case of hexadecylcyclotrisiloxane compared to hexaethylcyclotrisiloxane indicated that with increasing side group length, the anionic polymerization propagation rate constants kp decreased, whereas the rate constants of depolymerization kdx increased. Cationic polymerization with trifluoromethanesulfonic acid as the initiator, offered a way to enhance kp relative to kdx, which allowed the preparation of high molecular-weight polymeric products in good yields even in case of cyclotrisiloxanes substituted with long n-alkyl groups. Apart from poly(dimethylsiloxane), poly(diheptylsiloxane) and poly(dinonylsiloxane), all poly(di-n-alkylsiloxane)s showed two crystalline phases which were separated by a crystal-crystal transition signifying melting of the side groups. Starting from poly(diethylsiloxane), poly(di-n-alkylsiloxane)s up to poly(dihexylsiloxane) displayed a hexagonal columnar mesophase as well, the stability of which increased with longer alkyl side groups. However, further elongation of the n-alkyl side groups to decyl appeared to destabilize the columnar mesophase. Poly(didecylsiloxane) only exhibited a metastable columnar mesophase in combination with the high-temperature crystalline phase.


Thermal shock resistance of the RE-Si-Mg-O-N glasses (RE = La, Nd, Yb, Lu) with 0 and 20 eq.% of nitrogen was investigated by the indentation-quench method based on propagation of Vickers cracks. Crack growth was measured on the same sample for a test series of different quenching temperatures. Thermal shock resistance of the studied materials was determined as a temperature difference resulting in 10 % growth of the initial cracks (∆T10) and by the thermal shock parameter R calculated from the material properties. Although the comparison of ∆T10 and R values as a function of glass composition revealed some differences between these two approaches, also a common trend was observed. Thermal shock resistance increased with the fractional glass compactness resulting from RE type and N content increase.


A discussion is presented of the most important and difficult aspect of the design of fully integrated continuous-time filters: continuous, real-time, on-chip tuning of filter parameters against errors caused by such factors as fabrication tolerances, changes in operating conditions, parasitic effects, and aging. The origins of the errors in filter parameters are pointed out, and the generally adopted methods for automatic error correction are discussed. These methods are a phased-locking loop for tuning of frequency parameters and a magnitude-locking loop for maintaining the transfer characteristic's shape. Guidelines are given to aid the designer in avoiding the most prevalent pitfalls, and an illustrative example is presented which incorporates the ideas and concepts discussed.<<ETX>>


Azuaje offers an approach to the co-evolution of competing virtual creatures and a model for the evolution of game strategies and their emerging behaviors (F. Azuaje, see ibid., vol. 33, p.498-502, 2003). This model can be greatly simplified and optimal solutions can be obtained more quickly and easily by using an analytical approach. We emphasize the importance of performing a model analysis before choosing an evolutionary or analytical approach to a problem. Furthermore, Azuaje's model is derived from the Prisoner's Dilemma, a classical model in game theory; some results have already been discussed in the literature. We discuss his model from the perspective of game theorists.


Introduction The XIMA trial was a randomised comparison of BMS or DES in patients undergoing stenting for CAD in patients aged 80 and over. Recruitment of 800 patients across 20 centres proved straightforward and timely with a high uptake rate in suitable patients. The RINCAL trial randomised patients to a conservative or an invasive approach for the management of NSTEMI in patients aged 80 and above. Recruitment of 250 patients across 10 sites was laboured and recruitment challenging with participation reluctance. We determined to understand the causes of this enrolment discrepancy. Methods Review of the RINCAL study screening log over an 18-month period at a single high recruiting site, and reasons tabulated for lack of enrolment. Results During an 18-month period within the RINCAL study at a single site, 102 out of 136 octogenarians with NSTEMI were eligible for inclusion. Of the 34 excluded patients, 14 were due to cognitive impairment [including dementia, lacking capacity to consent to participation, not understanding the patient information sheet], and 20 had concomitant medical comorbidities restricting invasive management. Of the 102 eligible patients, 24 [24%] patients participated. 37 [36%] eligible elderly patients declined to participate. The reasons for declining were: 1) patient declined invasive management, 2) patient wanted invasive management. In 41 [40%] eligible patients, the managing cardiologist decided that randomisation was not appropriate in one or other of the treatment arms. Conclusion Evidence is needed to guide management of acute anginal syndromes in older patients. Studies asking simple binary questions have been able to recruit reasonably well [as in the XIMA trial]. Trials asking more complex questions, including RINCAL, have observed high numbers of octogenarians declining to participate. This needs to be borne in mind when designing studies in the elderly, with a greater focus on supporting patients through the consent process. Conflict of Interest None


The collapse of a heavy fluid column in a lighter environment is studied by direct numerical simulation of the Navier-Stokes equations using the Boussinesq approximation for small density difference. Such phenomenon occurs in many engineering and environmental problems resulting in a density current spreading over a no-slip boundary. In this work, density currents corresponding to two Grashof (Gr) numbers are investigated (10 5 and 1.5 × 10 6 ) for two very different geometrical configurations, namely, planar and cylindrical, with the goal of identifying differences and similarities in the flow structure and dynamics. The numerical model is capable of reproducing most of the two- and three-dimensional flow structures previously observed in the laboratory and in the field. Soon after the release of the heavier fluid into the quiescent environment, a density current forms exhibiting a well-defined head with a hanging nose followed by a shallower body and tail. In the case of large Gr, the flow evolves in a three-dimensional fashion featuring a pattern of lobes and clefts in the intruding front and substantial three-dimensionality in the trailing body. For the case of the lower Gr, the flow is completely two dimensional. The dynamics of the current is visualized and explained in terms of the mean flow for different phases of spreading. The initial phase, known as slumping phase, is characterized by a nearly constant spreading velocity and strong vortex shedding from the front of the current. Our numerical results show that this spreading velocity is influenced by Gr as well as the geometrical configuration. The slumping phase is followed by a decelerating phase in which the vortices move into the body of the current, pair stretch and decay as viscous effects become important. The simulated dynamics of the flow during this phase is in very good agreement with previously reported experiments.


Excitation of non-reciprocal magnetostatic surface wave (MSSW) has been studied in an ultra-thin yttrium iron garnet (YIG) film. The YIG films were grown on a gadolinium gallium garnet (111) substrate using pulsed laser deposition. The films exhibit an exceptional crystalline quality and an extremely low magnetic damping at radio frequency and microwave. Non-reciprocal MSSWs in a 20-nm-thick YIG film has been observed using a coupled coplanar waveguide structure with a shared common ground. Increase of the YIG film thickness to 190 nm, the non-reciprocity has been significantly enhanced, resulting in a maximum 10-dB amplitude gain and 55.5° phase shift in 30-mT magnetic field between the MSSWs traveling in opposite directions. In the absence of magnetic field, the device shows a reduced amplitude gain of 2 dB and a phase shift of 15.8°. These results can find broad applications in building self-biased spin-wave-based components in integrated signal processing and communication system.


During the 2000 field season at North GRIP (Greenland), high-resolutionchemical analyses have been done using the Bern Continuous FlowAnalysis (CFA) system. Among other substances, sulphate (SO4=) hasbeen recorded continuously over the last glacial period, i.e. fromapproximately 100 kyr to 9.5 kyr before present. The one-centimetreresolution of the record allows us to obtain a comprehensive list ofpotential volcanic sulphuric acid events from which a frequencydistribution can be derived. Taking background sulphate into account,the events can be assigned to different strength categories. Therecord from North GRIP is then compared to other time series ofvolcanic activity, which allows us to distinguish regional, hemisphericor global events.


As the amount of information grows exponentially online, Information Systems role in support knowledge flows encouraged by linked data increases as a driver to innovation, culture, business practices and people behavior. Web search engines are particularly affected by the open world challenges, notably as part of the growing digital ecosystems of networks and platforms of technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) companies delivering personalized and customized services (e.g. Amazon in retailing, Uber in ride service hailing, food delivery, and bicycle-sharing system, and Airbnb in lodging). To recognize search intent drawn from user's behavior allows to provide personalized search results. The work presented in this paper has the purpose of exploring methods to represent semantic relationships between concepts indexed by Web search engines in order to aid them recognize search intent and display results that meet the search intent. The performance of two different types of data structures based on entity-centric indexing was compared. The data structures were: a knowledge base that used an entity-centric mapping of Wikipedia categories and the KBpedia Knowledge Graph. Through analysis of entity ranking and linking, we detected that the Knowledge Graph could identify approximately three times more properties and relationships, which increases Web search engines capability to "understand" what is being asked.


In this paper, a one-layer recurrent neural network is presented for solving pseudoconvex optimization problems subject to linear equality constraints. The global convergence of the neural network can be guaranteed even though the objective function is pseudoconvex. The finite-time state convergence to the feasible region defined by the equality constraints is also proved. In addition, global exponential convergence is proved when the objective function is strongly pseudoconvex on the feasible region. Simulation results on illustrative examples and application on chemical process data reconciliation are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and characteristics of the neural network.


There are a growing number of open source and commercial implementations of the Visvalingam algorithm for line generalisation. The algorithm provides scope for implementation-specific interpretations, with different outcomes. This is inevitable and sometimes necessary and, they do not necessarily imply that an implementation is flawed. The only restriction is that the output must not be so inconsistent with the intent of the algorithm that it becomes unusable. This paper provides some ideas, data and sample output to help users compare the output from their implementations with those produced by Visvalingam. This may help them ascertain whether some problems they may encounter appear to be specific to their implementation or whether they are a general feature of the algorithm. This paper assesses the utility and limitations of the Mapshaper options for Visvalingam's algorithm. Similar, but not identical, depictions of coastlines are produced by Visvalingam's implementation and by Mapshaper. However, the programs produce very dissimilar output for the rectangular Koch island, also known as the quadratic Koch island - Mapshaper's output is unbalanced for both its Visvalingam and Douglas-Peucker options. This suggests that the problem, which is not immediately obvious, is in some function inherited by both options. Both programs produce near identical output when Mapshaper's Visvalingam/weighted area option was compared using coastlines. This suggests that the problem arises from Mapshaper's treatment of equal-valued metrics; this can be changed. Implementers and users may wish to use the data and methods given in this paper to test their own implementations if and when necessary.


This study's objective was to analyze the spatial distribution pattern of new leprosy cases under 15 years and their contacts. A cross-sectional descriptive study covering sociodemographic characteristics and spatial analysis was carried out. The participants were from the city of Sobral, Ceará and the study was conducted between August 2014 and September 2015. Contacts were identified by the persons responsible for the children. Seropositivity was determined with the NDO-LID antigen, and positive cases were plotted on Voronoi polygons. Nine new cases of leprosy under 15 years of age have been found. The average number of people living with the cases was higher than the number of people living with non-household contacts. All household contacts were aware of other leprosy cases and had a higher rate of seropositive tests than non-household contacts. The index cases lived in the poorest regions of the municipality and hyper-endemic areas. Spatial analysis revealed a cluster of subclinical infection within a radius of 102 meters, suggesting that non-household transmission is related to proximity with seropositive individuals. In conclusion, the search for new leprosy cases cannot be restricted to household contacts.


It has been well-established that social determinants prevent far more deaths than medical care. Both behavior and social circumstance are closely linked to transportation. The connection between health and transportation is both direct (pedestrian injury, for example) and indirect (commuting access to work leading to employer-based health insurance, for example). Thus, transportation policy and health policy are interrelated. Neurologists should join community partnerships to promote safe and healthy transportation options for all people but especially for their patients.


Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the main infectious diseases to simultaneously cause poverty and be caused by poverty. Reducing the economic burden of TB patients in China is essential to improving patient compliance and reducing the impact of the TB epidemic. In accordance with the national reform of the medical and health system and the current status of the country's TB prevention and treatment service system, representatives of the government proposed the concept of a multichannel financing mechanism. This mechanism is in harmony with the overall government strategy for TB. Key provisions are that after accessing free government services, the medical expenses of TB patients should be reimbursed using medical insurance first and then the remainder should be covered by local funds. Three provincial-level administrative divisions (PLADs) have used this approach and introduced policy documents to improve the medical security and reduce the economic burden for TB patients.


The goal of this thesis is to explore, improve and implement some advanced modern computational methods in statistics, focusing on applications in genetics. The thesis has three major directions.First, we study likelihoods for genetics analysis of experimental populations. Here, the maximum likelihood can be viewed as a computational global optimization problem. We introduce a faster optimization algorithm called PruneDIRECT, and explain how it can be parallelized for permutation testing using the Map-Reduce framework. We have implemented PruneDIRECT as an open source R package, and also Software as a Service for cloud infrastructures (QTLaaS).The second part of the thesis focusses on using sparse matrix methods for solving linear mixed models with large correlation matrices. For populations with known pedigrees, we show that the inverse of covariance matrix is sparse. We describe how to use this sparsity to develop a new method to maximize the likelihood and calculate the variance components.In the final part of the thesis we study computational challenges of psychiatric genetics, using only pedigree information. The aim is to investigate existence of maternal effects in obsessive compulsive behavior. We add the maternal effects to the linear mixed model, used in the second part of this thesis, and we describe the computational challenges of working with binary traits.


Educational practice is influenced, in part, by the constant visualization of gender stereotypes throughout society in various forms, in both the old and new technologies. The imagery of computer technology as male turf has been carried into the World Wide Web through graphic advertisements. Male administrators make decisions about school practice that influence the implementation of new distance education technologies. The pervasive message of gender stereotypes has a tremendous influence on children and adults, and can bring biased value systems into what seems to be otherwise technologically innovative environments. The paper discusses developing male and female stereotypes; culture and groups; and gender stereotypes in print media, television, cyberspace, and ITV educational environments. Instructional designers can influence the educational industry, home market, school environment, and practices in business and military environments. Instructional designers can influence educational practice by designing instructional environments that attend to the needs of the female population as well as those of the males. Even though the majority of network users are males, females must be encouraged to learn skills and be provided with opportunities to have equal access to information. (Contains 41 references.)


Precise leveling has been used for the determination of accurate heights for many years. The application of this technique is difficult, time consuming, and expensive, especially in rough terrain. These difficulties have forced researchers to examine alternative methods of height determination. As a result of modern high-tech instrument developments, research has again been focused on precision trigonometric leveling. In this study, a leap-frog trigonometric leveling (LFTL) is applied with different sight distances on a sample test network at the Selcuk University Campus in Konya, Turkey, in order to determine the optimum sight distances. The results were compared with precise geometric leveling in terms of precision, cost, and feasibility. Leap-frog trigonometric leveling for the sight distance S=150 m resulted in a standard deviation of ±1.87 mm∕km and with a production speed of 5.6 km∕day .


Themismatch in the supply and demand of graduates is fast becoming a central issue for employee performance nowadays. A primary concern of this issue is a result of a higher competence demanded by employers, the change in the industry, competition among graduates, and new global economic practices. Enabling industries to lead curriculum development is one of the initiatives in enhancing the quality of the programme to improve graduate employability and producing quality technical and vocational education and training (TVET) graduates. Despite the various models that have been employed towards individual career development, there are problems of job skills mismatch and the lack of qualified graduates with technical and non-technical skills. Thus, this study attempts to clarify a mismatch in the supply and demand of building surveying graduates' skills from the perspectives of employers, lecturers, and the students. This study investigates building surveying academicians and the industry's perspective regarding building surveying graduates' performance, as well as to identify students' awareness towardsthe current industry demand. Data for this study was collected using a qualitative method approach that involved a semi-structured interview with 10 building surveying students, 5 lecturers, and 5 building surveyor practitioners; the non-probability sampling design that was used in this study was based on the snowball sampling technique, and acontent analysis approach had been employed in the analysis of the data using NVivo 11 software. The findings indicate that there is a mismatch in the supply and demand of building surveying graduates' skills. This study offers an important insight into the building surveying programme towards the improvement of the programme's syllabus and its learning outcomes. The study suggests that building surveying graduates should acquire and demonstrate both technical and non-technical skills that are demanded by the industry. Further research is suggested to identify the competency level among entry-level building surveyor graduates in real working practices.


ABSTRACT

Background: The research question investigated was: do female Emergency Medical Services (EMS) professionals exert less emotional labor (less surface acting and deep acting) than male EMS professionals, and do females report higher job satisfaction? Surface acting involves displaying emotions that are not felt, for example an EMS professional who "puts on" a sympathetic face for a patient's problem but s/he is actually irritated. Thus surface acting focuses on one's outward behavior, such as regulating or modifying one's emotional expression. Deep acting focuses on modifying inner feelings, where one attempts to "actually feel" the emotions one wishes to display, such as compassion for a patient's problem.

Methods: A large sample of 24, 586 (33.9% response rate) nationally certified EMS professionals filled out a short paper and pencil survey in the Fall, 2011 to test the research question. Gender, surface acting, deep acting and job satisfaction were measured.

Results: The results showed that while female EMS professionals had statistically significant lower surface acting and deep acting, and higher job satisfaction than EMS males, the mean differences in scale scores were practically or clinically trivial. However the results also showed that for all EMS respondents, as surface acting increased, job satisfaction decreased.

Conclusion: Very small, non-meaningful differences in female versus male surface acting, deep acting and job satisfaction were found. However, surface acting had a substantial negative relationship to job satisfaction while deep acting did not. Continued research into emotional labor, including its impact on EMS professionals is recommended, as well as role play training to help EMS professionals increase their deep acting skills.


Background: Hodgkin's lymphoma is one of the maligant diseases with the highest rate of cure particularly if diagnosed in early stage. Nevertheless a small proportion of patients with localized stage do not respond to therapy and become chemorefractory. FDG-PET clearly showed the high predictive value in identifing patients with bad prognosis in advanced stages. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the prognostic value of FDG-PET in patients with localized Hodgkin's disease. Patients: From 2002, 122 new localized stage Hodgkin's lymphoma patients were consecutively admitted to seven Italian hematological centers on behalf of Intergruppo Italiano Linfomi. Patients with stage I-IIA according to Ann Arbor stage, independent of presence of bulky disease, were considered for the study. FDG-PET was mandatory at baseline, after two cycles (immediately before the start of the third cycle) and at the end of therapy. We evaluated the progression free survival of patients starting from the time of diagnosis to relapse or progression of disease or last follow-up. Patients were candidate to receive 3 or 4 course of ABVD followed by involved field radiotherapy at 30 Gy, except in the cases in which physician decided to omit radiotherapy due to excess of toxicity. All patients were given the planned therapy except in case of overt progression. All patients were treated with ABVD Results: The median age was 31 years (16–75), 63 patients were female and 59 male, 10 patients presented stage I and 112 stage II, bulky was reported in 29 patients. One-hundred and ten patients were treated with combined modality (CT+RT) and 12 patients were treated with chemotherapy alone (all with 6 cycles). One hundred and eleven patients attained CR while 11 were chemoresistent: 6 showed disease progression during CT and 5 showed an early relapse. The FDG-PET performed after two cycles (PET2) was positive in 18 patients (15%) and the FDG-PET performed at the end of therapy was positive in 12 patients. Fourteen patients showed disease progression during therapy or within 6 months after having reached CR, three patients died due to the disease. In univariate analysis negative FDG-PET performed after two cycles (p .0000), absence of bulky disease at diagnosis (.003) and the use of radiotherapy (.0006) were statistically correlated with a better progression free survival. In multivariate analysis only PET2 was independently predictive of relapse/progression probability (p .007). With a median follow-up of 29 months (range 6–79) 119 patients are alive and 108 (88%) are free from progression. The 2-yr FFS probability for PET2 negative and for PET2 positive patients were 95% and 46% respectively Conclusion: This prospective and multicentric study confirms that FDG-PET scan performed after two courses of conventional standard dose chemotherapy was able to predict treatment outcome in early stage Hodgkin disease.


Orienting movements of the eyes and head are made to both auditory and visual stimuli even though in the primary sensory pathways the locations of auditory and visual stimuli are encoded in different coordinates. This study was designed to differentiate between two possible mechanisms for sensory-to-motor transformation. Auditory and visual signals could be translated into common coordinates in order to share a single motor pathway or they could maintain anatomically separate sensory and motor routes for the initiation and guidance of orienting eye movements. The primary purpose of the study was to determine whether neurons in the superior colliculus (SC) that discharge before saccades to visual targets also discharge before saccades directed toward auditory targets. If they do, this would indicate that auditory and visual signals, originally encoded in different coordinates, have been converted into a single coordinate system and are sharing a motor circuit. Trained monkeys made saccadic eye movements to auditory or visual targets while the activity of visual-motor (V-M) cells and saccade-related burst (SRB) cells was monitored. The pattern of spike activity observed during trials in which saccades were made to visual targets was compared with that observed when comparable saccades were made to auditory targets. For most (57 of 59) V-M cells, sensory responses were observed only on visual trials. Auditory stimuli originating from the same region of space did not activate these cells. Yet, of the 72 V-M and SRB cells studied, 79% showed motor bursts prior to saccades to either auditory or visual targets. This finding indicates that visual and auditory signals, originally encoded in retinal and head-centered coordinates, respectively, have undergone a transformation that allows them to share a common efferent pathway for the generation of saccadic eye movements. Saccades to auditory targets usually have lower velocities than saccades of the same amplitude and direction made to acquire visual targets. Since fewer collicular cells are active prior to saccades to auditory targets, one determinant of saccadic velocity may be the number of collicular neurons discharging before a particular saccade.


Abstract It has been shown that [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET) provides robust and reproducible data for early metabolic response assessment in various malignancies. This led to the initiation of several prospective multicenter trials in malignant lymphoma and adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction, in order to investigate whether the use of PET-guided treatment individualization results in a survival benefit. In Hodgkin lymphoma and aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma, several trials are ongoing. Some studies aim to investigate the use of PET in early identification of metabolic non-responders in order to intensify treatment to improve survival. Other studies aim at reducing toxicity without adversely affecting cure rates by safely de-escalating therapy in metabolic responders. In solid tumors the first PET response-adjusted treatment trials have been realized in adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction. These trials showed that patients with an early metabolic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy benefit from this treatment, whereas metabolic non-responders should switch early to surgery, thus reducing the risk of tumor progression during chemotherapy and the risk of toxic death. The trials provide a model for designing response-guided treatment algorithms in other malignancies. PET-guided treatment algorithms are the promise of the near future; the choice of therapy, its intensity, and its duration will become better adjusted to the biology of the individual patient. Today's major challenge is to investigate the impact on patient outcome of personalized response-adapted treatment concepts.


The relation of intravascular fibrin to the leucocytic sticking reaction in ear chambers of rabbits injured by heat was investigated in two ways. First, attempts were made to destroy the thin layer of fibrin believed to coat the surfaces of cells involved in the sticking reaction. Second, white cell sticking was studied after fibrinogen had been removed from the blood stream. The results of these experiments were as follows:— 1. Activation of fibrinolysin in vivo by streptokinase did not impair sticking of white blood cells. 2. Administration of streptokinase parenterally did not lower fibrinogen blood levels appreciably even when the amount used was large. 3. Thromboplastin infusions alone reduced circulating fibrinogen to low levels but leucocytic sticking was not prevented. Furthermore, frequent death of animals due to pulmonary embolism made such experiments prohibitive. 4. Addition of streptokinase to thromboplastin infusions protected against embolic deaths but did not influence sticking even though the fibrinogen levels achieved were quite low. 5. Finally, when thrombin was added to infusions of thromboplastin and streptokinase, no circulating fibrinogen could be detected. Under such circumstances leucocytic sticking following heat injury occurred without reduction. These findings were interpreted as evidence against a primary role of the blood clotting mechanism in causing the sticking of white blood cells to injured endothelium. Alternative explanations were discussed.


We analyze 10-Gb/s nondispersion-managed and dispersion-managed wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) systems that use pre-compensation, post-compensation, or dual-compensation of each channel to minimize dispersion and nonlinear effects. We find that dual-compensation gives the minimal penalty for each channel in dispersion-managed WDM systems. Furthermore, we find that the optimal amount of pre- or post-compensation depends upon the specific dispersion map used in the WDM system.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relevance of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) gene -863C/A polymorphism with thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO).

METHODS
TNF-alpha gene polymorphism at position -863 was determined by PCR-RFLP in 76 normal people, 54 patients with TAO and 60 patients with autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) who had no ophthalmopathy. All the subjects were collected from July 2002 to December 2003 in out-patient department of endocrinology in the hospital. The difference of genotype and the variation of allele frequencies were analyzed by Chi-square test.

RESULTS
(1) Frequencies distribution of CA + AA genotype in TAO, non-ophthalmopathy and control groups were 46.3%, 30.0%, 25.0% respectively, and allele A were 27.8%, 15.0%, 12.5% for those three groups respectively. (2) Frequencies of allele A in TAO group were significantly higher than those in non-ophthalmopathy and control groups (P = 0.018 and 0.002 respectively). (3) When the three groups were stratified according to sex, frequencies of -863 CA + AA genotype and allele A in male TAO patients were significantly higher than those in control group (OR = 4.31, P = 0.019; OR = 4.81, P = 0.003) and non-ophthalmopathy group (OR = 4.87, P = 0.027; OR = 5.38, P = 0.008). No significant difference was found in female patients (P > 0.05). (4) Frequencies of CA + AA genotype and allele A in TAO patients with 5 + 6 grade were significantly higher than those in non-ophthalmopathy group (CA + AA genotype: OR = 20.68, P = 0.021; allele A: OR = 39.67, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION
Allele A of TNF-alpha gene at position -863 may be associated with TAO especially in male patients.