Carabao mangoes are among the highly produced fruit crops in the Philippines. The processing and consumption of carabao mangoes leave a significant amount of waste seeds. Mango kernel butter extracted from waste seed kernels is a potential additive to cosmetic products or as a cocoa butter substitute. This study determined the pretreatment conditions that produce optimum yield prior to the mechanical extraction of the crude butter. Moreover, this study provided a general sensory evaluation of the finished product. Microwave power (160, 500, and 850 W), microwave exposure time (2.0, 3.5, and 5.0 min), and size levels (1.5, 3.0, and 4.5 mm) were tested for their effects on the yield of the mechanically extracted crude butter in wet basis percentage. The optimization procedures resulted to optimum pretreatment conditions of 160 W, 4.25 min, and 1.5 mm. Size level was the most significant factor in the crude butter yield. Sensory evaluation of the crude butter extracted at optimum pretreatment conditions through acceptance test by a test panel resulted to below neutral scores in visual appearance and odor, and above neutral score in texture, indicating the potential of mango butter as a good substitute to cocoa butter in cosmetic products. Keywords: Microwave-assisted crude butter extraction from Carabao mango kernels, optimization LAYMAN'S ABSTRACT This paper discusses the microwave-assisted mechanical screw extraction of mango butter from waste carabao mango seed kernels resulting from the processing and consumption of carabao mangoes. Moreover, the physical proper ties of the extracted butter, as well as its sensory properties as evaluated by the sensory taste panel, were also examined. The study explored the effects of the following on the microwave-assisted screw pressing of mango seed kernels: microwave power (160, 500, and 850 W), exposure time (2.0, 3.5, and 5.0 min), and size levels (1.5, 3.0, and 4.5 mm). The optimum extraction conditions were identif ied by the RSM methodology as 160 W, 4.25 min, and 1.5 mm. Sensory evaluation of the mango butter determined that it has a high overall acceptability as a substitute to cocoa butter in pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and skin care products.


A measure of location relative to employment is often included in hedonic housing price models. This is most often distance to the center, based on the monocentric model, which does not consider the decentralization of employment in urban areas. This paper tests the perfor-mance of alternative measures of location, considering both distance and time to the center and to multiple employment centers and measures of accessibility to employment and change in accessibility. The measures using multiple employment centers and accessibility perform better than simple distance to the center, with the combination of accessibility to employment and change in accessibility doing best.


A fasting mimicking diet (FMD) is a new form of an intermittent energy restricted (IER) diet, which depends on low energy intake rather than actual fasting. We hypothesized that a FMD would reduce systemic inflammation and that a FMD with higher protein content would facilitate adherence to the diet. Method: In this pilot study, we developed a dietary system that used whole foods and investigated the relationship between fasting FMDs and health indicators. Six healthy women, 33-55y, BMI 27-33 kg/m2, were recruited. Subjects were randomized to one of two diets, which they followed for 3 weeks; they then returned to their normal diets for a week, and then adhered to the second diet for 3 weeks. Each test diet consisted of 3 low energy intake days followed by 4 days of isocaloric energy intake. The diets differed only by protein content. High sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) tests, Glucose tests, weight, and waist circumference were measured at the beginning and end of each dietary intervention. Analyses of the results were on a case basis. Visual analogue scales were used to assess fullness and satiety.


The complexity of modeling friction between rough surfaces has prompted many researchers to use Greenwood and Tripp's sum surface assumption to simplify the analysis. This assumption approximates the contact between two rough surfaces as contact between their equivalent sum surface and a rigid plane. In this work, we develop detailed finite element models to test the sum surface assumption for surfaces with Gaussian and exponential autocorrelation functions. We consider surfaces with differing surface roughness and correlation length values. For each case, we conduct simulations of two rough surfaces interacting in compression followed by shear, and a corresponding equivalent surface model based on the sum surface assumption. Multiple realizations of each parameter combination are simulated to obtain a statistical picture of the responses. We find that (a) the sum surface assumption consistently under-predicts the static coefficient of friction and (b) the equivalent surface model is less accurate for surfaces with differing correlation length-to-surface roughness ratios.


Neonatal seizures are common among infants and can be detected with an electroencephalogram (EEG). The EEG signals are complex time-series using multiple channels. Human domain experts are often in disagreement when labelling neonatal seizure data. Only few studies will include labels from multiple experts, as annotating hours of EEG recordings is time consuming and expensive. In this study we investigated the differences in performance of a deep-learning-based neonatal seizure detector trained using single expert labelling versus data labelled using the consensus of multiple experts. Results indicate that there are differences even when the experts are in minor disagreement. We find that excluding ambiguously labeled data is important when training a neonatal seizure detector.


Abstract The Generation IV gas-cooled fast reactor (GCFR) is intended to have a closed fuel cycle: During irradiation enough fissile material is produced to allow refueling of the same reactor, adding only fertile material. This is the well-known "zero breeding gain" objective. In this paper a theoretical framework is derived to track compositional changes of the fuel during irradiation, cooldown, and reprocessing, in order to calculate the reactivity of the new fuel compared to the original fuel material. Using first-order perturbation theory, the effect of variations of the initial fuel composition on the reprocessed material and breeding gain can be calculated. The theory is applied to the fuel cycle of a 600 MW(thermal) GCFR. The result is that the change of material composition during cooldown has a nonnegligible effect on the breeding gain. A truly closed fuel cycle can be obtained if the reprocessing efficiency is high enough (<1% loss). If this high efficiency cannot be obtained, adding a small amount of minor actinides (Np, Am, Cm) to the new fuel results in a zero breeding gain. Perturbation theory provides a powerful tool to estimate the effects of changing fuel cycle parameters.


In December 2010, a 40‐year flood occurred in the lower Virgin River (SE Nevada, southwestern United States), a braided river segment with riparian vegetation largely dominated by invasive shrubs in the genus Tamarix. We assessed geomorphological and vegetation responses to this large magnitude disturbance event by comparing pre‐ and post‐flood remote sensing and field survey data in four river reaches. Analyses of orthophotos and light detection and ranging‐derived topography showed that both the active channel area and channel width increased between 80% and 258%, representing an increase from 13% to 30% of the total river corridor area. Erosion predominated in the outer bends of the enlarged channel and deposition in the pre‐flood channel, causing local avulsions of the low‐flow channel. Field‐based topographic data recorded before and after the flood in 385 plots also showed that deposition occurred in parts of the floodplain that were not eroded. Two thirds of woody vegetation cover (mainly dominated by Tamarix, with some native shrub Pluchea sericea) was lost in areas that eroded (~20% of the river corridor). In the remaining ~80% of stable river corridor (aggrading or no change in elevation) Tamarix remained dominant. Following erosion, but also where sediment deposition predominated under the Tamarix canopy, the most common colonizing vegetation in the understory was comprised of annual plants, especially Salsola tragus. Our study supported previous studies describing large floods in braided rivers; we documented the first phase of a cycle of channel widening and increase in vegetation heterogeneity that is commonly followed by narrowing and vegetation homogenization.


The large rumen ciliate protozoon Polyplastron multivesiculatum grown in vitro engulfed a wide range of bacteria (from a population density of 10(9) bacteria ml(-1)) at a rate of 1500 to 137000 bacteria h(-1) protozoon(-1). No evidence was found for the preferential engulfment of bacteria of rumen origin. Except for Proteus mirabilis none of the bacteria were digested with the liberation of soluble materials into the medium. Glucose and amino acids were taken up rapidly by P. multivesiculatum compared with the rate of uptake by Entodinium caudatam. Glucose was incorporated into protozoal polysaccharide and into bacteria associated with the protozoa and was used for the synthesis of a wide range of amino acids. Evidence showed that bacteria and free amino acids at the concentrations found in the rumen could supply the protein requirements of the protozoa for division at least once each day.


New information and computing technologies offer cost efficient and effective learning opportunities for health care professionals. The Assisted Electronic Communication project is prototyping, administering and evaluating a digital discourse system for health care professionals within an acute Hospital. Health care staff participating in the study are able to access and contribute to threaded, asynchronous discussions and themed information in the context of critical work documents. Early indications are that the system is viewed very positively, and seen as a way of critically engaging with new material that is getting closer to an idealized learning in the workplace.


BACKGROUND
Xenografts that have been protected from hyperacute rejection (HAR) are termed accommodated if they are not then rejected despite the presence of xenoantibody. It has been proposed that IgG may confer resistance to complement dependent cytotoxicity (CDC), a conventional in vitro marker of accommodation. We hypothesized that noncytotoxic IgG2 anti-Galalpha1-3Gal was responsible for this effect.

METHODS AND RESULTS
We purified IgG anti-Galalpha1-3Gal from pooled human normal immunoglobulin and three sera, by elution from protein G and Galalpha1-3Gal-R immunoadsorbents. The eluates were IgM free and > or =95% IgG2. They bound to Galalpha1-3Gal, porcine aortic endothelial cells (PAEC) and lymphocytes. It was not possible to block IgM binding to PAEC or lymphocytes using IgG anti-Galalpha1-3Gal (200 microg/ml). The eluates were noncytotoxic in micro-CDC assays. To investigate accommodation, PAEC were cultured with subsaturating doses of the four IgG eluates for up to 144 hr. Resistance of nontrypsinized PAEC to CDC by human serum was measured in a cell viability assay. PAEC were not rendered resistant to CDC in any of the experiments. To investigate the possibility that accommodation might be induced by non-Galalpha1-3Gal IgG, the experiments were repeated using HNIg, again with no protection demonstrated.

CONCLUSIONS
Using primary PAEC monolayers, we were unable to induce resistance to CDC with human normal immunoglobulin and its IgG2 anti-Gabeta1-3Gal subset. This contradicts previous experiments using trypsinized, immortalized cells. Although resistance to CDC is not an ideal marker of accommodation, the detrimental effects of IgG make it unlikely that it will become a useful clinical means of inducing accommodation.


This thesis is concerned with the development and application of conformal techniques to numerical calculations of asymptotically flat spacetimes. The conformal compactification technique enables us to calculate spatially unbounded domains, thereby avoiding the introduction of an artificial timelike outer boundary. We construct in spherical symmetry an explicit scri-fixing gauge, i.e. a conformal and a coordinate gauge in which the spatial coordinate location of null infinity is independent of time so that no resolution loss in the physical part of the conformal extension appears. Going beyond spherical symmetry, we develop a method to include null infinity in the computational domain. With this method, hyperboloidal initial value problems for the Einstein equations can be solved in a scri-fixing general wave gauge. To study spatial infinity, we discuss the conformal Gauss gauge and the reduced general conformal field equations from a numerical point of view. This leads us to the first numerical calculation of the entire Schwarzschild-Kruskal solution including spatial, null and timelike infinity and the domain close to the singularity. After developing a three dimensional, frame based evolution code with smooth inner and outer boundaries we calculate a radiative axisymmetric vacuum solution in a neighbourhood of spatial infinity represented as a cylinder including a piece of null infinity. In this context, a certain component of the rescaled Weyl tensor representing the radiation field is calculated unambiguously with respect to an adapted tetrad at null infinity.


Polybius uses two terms to describe the extent of Roman power, ἡ οἰκουμένη ('the inhabited world') and τῶν ὅλων ('the whole'), in his account of Rome's rise to hegemony over the Mediterranean. Scholars and translators have treated these two terms as essentially identical, yet this erases a subtle distinction in Polybius' language. While ἡ οἰκουμένη occurs in a variety of cases, τῶν ὅλων is always in the genitive plural, regularly paired with some noun such as ἀρχή ('rule'), δυναστεῖα ('power'), or ἐπιβολή ('attempt'). Polybius uses the less precise expression, τῶν ὅλων, to refer to objects of the Romans' own ambitions; ἡ οἰκουμένη describes either the extent of Roman power or the goal towards which fortune, τύχη, directs world events. Polybius does not deny that the Romans, like most ancient states, acted aggressively. However, by not using the more exact term to describe Roman aims, he qualifies their agency, making their expansionist tendency an insufficient explanation of their hegemony over the Mediterranean. Moreover, these same passages lack the rich vocabulary that Polybius used to describe deliberation and planning. This re-evaluation of key programmatic passages suggests that they have been over-interpreted in the search for Polybius' verdict on Roman imperialism.


Abstract: Quantifying the history of biodiversity requires counts of fossil specimens to estimate the number of individuals per taxon in a sample. Counting fragments of individuals may introduce biases that are not present when examining only whole body fossils or other non-repeating skeletal elements that represent a known fraction of an individual (e.g., one valve of a bivalve representing half an individual). This study reports on biases revealed by quantitative comparisons of counts of non-repeating skeletal elements of Pleistocene bivalves (hinge fragments and whole valves) with counts of other shell fragments (non-hinge fragments). Compared to the hinge fragments and whole valves, non-hinge fragments yielded lower measured diversity with specific biases toward large-sized species and species whose shell microstructure was foliated or nacreous. The faunal composition preserved in non-hinge fragments was distinct from that preserved in whole valves and hinge fragments according to multivariate analysis, even though all specimens were drawn from the same sediment bulk samples. These biases should be considered when agglomerating data from multiple studies to address questions about large-scale patterns in the history of life.


Research results of the synthetic decapeptide SLTCLVKGFY (the author's term is immunorphin) corresponding to the 364-373 sequence of G heavy-chain human immunoglobulin are summarized. Special attention is paid to the interaction between immunorphin and a nonopioid (insensitive to the opioid antagonist naloxone) beta-endorphin receptor. Using radioligand analysis, data were found regarding the distribution and functions of a nonopioid beta-endorphin receptor in human and animal bodies and the binding characteristics of immunorphin with a nonopioid receptor.


Synopsis In the southern part of the Scottish Midland Valley Lower Old Red Sandstone sedimentary and volcanic strata of the Lanark Group unconformably overlie inliers of largely marine Silurian rocks. The oldest of the four formations of the Lanark Group is the Greywacke Conglomerate Formation which contains clasts predominantly of greywacke, with subordinate volcanic rocks, cherts and limestones. The greywackes are known to have been derived from a cryptic source which lay to the south and east of the Midland Valley. Contrary to earlier, Silurian, age assessments of limestone clasts from the Greywacke Conglomerate Formation of the Pentland Hills, a conodont faunule described herein belongs in the uppermost Llanvirn to lower Caradoc P. anserinus Biozone. There are no Ordovician rocks exposed within the Pentland Hills inlier, and thus our new age data suggest that along with the other clasts, the limestones in the Greywacke Conglomerate are exotic to the Pentlands Sub-basin. The source area had a cover succession that included mid-Ordovician shallow marine carbonate and flysch.


On 25 November 2015, the European Union enacted new rules for international mobile roaming (IMR) under Regulation 2015/2120, which seeks to implement a Roam Like at Home (RLAH) regime among the member states of the European Union. Questions remain, however, as to whether it is possible to implement RLAH without mandating below-cost pricing and thus introducing significant regulatory and economic distortions. It is difficult to see how RLAH could be implemented for other than trivial amounts of IMR traffic without significant cross-subsidisation of the IMR service in many different dimensions. Identifying ways to maintain the ubiquity of the IMR service without unduly distorting the economics of European mobile markets and networks would appear to pose serious challenges; the saving grace, however, might well be that IMR revenue now represents a small enough fraction of total mobile revenue (thanks to previous regulation) that the necessary cross-subsidies might be manageable. The European Commission, which is required to assess the situation and to provide legislative proposals by 15 June 2016, faces a daunting task.


In automotive component design criteria such as weight, strength, stiffness, manufacturing cost are sensitive issues for boosting its performance which in turn has direct impact on fuel economy and cost. This thesis deals with the design of gear shifter housing for Volkswagen car by using modern topology optimization techniques to the existing design. gear shifter housing holds the shifting mechanism and guides the lever to select the respective gear for different speed. Optimizing the design in terms of topology, material and structural is very important in arriving at practical solution. To determine the optimum material layout distribution of material within the component with given set of loads and boundary conditions by placing a constrain on volume by minimizing sum of weighted compliance as well as maximizing lowest eigen value frequency. The process starts by applying loads to the gear shifter and constraining it in all directions thereby making the gear shifter a stiff design which can withstand loads from all direction. Boundary conditions play a major role in designing the component geometry. Contact formulation has been complex task from several years. Optimization with contact for minimizing the volume by maintaining uniform deformation between contact surfaces between two commercial softwares, HyperWorks V10.0 and TOPO4ABQ has been compared with benchmarks. By using these techniques weight reduction has been achieved in automobile gear shifter housing and benchmarks with contact condition had been compared using Altair OptiStruct V10.0 and TOPO4ABQ by Niclas Stromberg.


Vascularization is a key issue for the clinical translation of tissue engineering strategies. This has been recognized in the field for almost two decades. Several strategies to solve this issue are proposed but none has decisively tackled the problem. This is in part due to an excessive focus on microvascularization that ignores the need of having macrovessels capable of being surgically connected to the patient's circulation upon implantation. Indeed, a strategy for macrovessel engineering must co-exist with a strategy for microvessels. And if this is true, all the intermediate scales have to be addressed as well. Therefore, multiscale vascular networks must be the focus of tissue engineering vascularization efforts. In this work, a reflection is made on a possible path forward for researchers and engineers in the field to achieve the ultimate goal of efficient vascularization of engineered tissues and organs.


In this study, a qualitative perspective of how 13 women (aged 25 to 61 years) with spinal cord injury perceive the importance of social support for their participation in occupation is presented. The data were collected through repeated in-depth interviews and field notes, and the analysis used a grounded theory approach. The women needed both emotional and practical support, which was important in a time perspective and motivated them to participate in occupation. The women needed to receive support soon after the injury, but after a period of time they needed to give and receive support in a reciprocal fashion. Social support is therefore an effective rehabilitation strategy that can motivate people with disabilities to participate in meaningful occupation. The importance of social support for a person's motivation and ability to participate in occupation expands our knowledge of the relationship between individuals, their social environment, and occupation.


Because interfaces impede phonon transport of thermal energy, nanostructuring can transform fully dense solids into ultralow thermal conductivity materials. Here we report a simple self-assembly approach to synthesizing organoclay nanolaminates with cross-planar thermal conductivities below 0.10 W m(-1) K(-1)-a 5-fold decrease compared to unmodified clay. These organoclays are produced via alkylammonium cation exchange with colloidally dispersed montmorillonite clay sheets followed by solvent casting. Time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR) is used to evaluate the thermal conductivity of the organoclay nanolaminates. Variations in both organic layer thickness and cation chemistry are investigated. At these interface densities (1.0-1.5 interfaces/nm), we demonstrate that thermal conductivity is relatively independent of nanolaminate spacing. A simple series resistance model describes the behavior and gives an interfacial thermal conductance value of ≈150 MW m(-2) K(-1) for the organic/clay interface, consistent with similar organic-inorganic interfaces. The wide range of compositional substitutions and structural variations possible in these materials, make organoclays a versatile new platform for investigating the underlying physics of nanolaminate structures.


Sixty-four colistin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates recovered from clinical specimens from 57 patients admitted to Hospital de Clinicas Jose de San Martin during the period 2010-2012 were studied to describe the microbiological and epidemiological characteristics and factors associated with the emergence of colistin-resistance. Fifty-four colistin-susceptible K. pneumoniae isolates from the same period were also included in the study. The genetic relatedness among the isolates was studied by a PCR assay. Fifty percent of the resistant isolates were KPC-2 producers, 45.3% were ESBL producers and 4.7% only showed resistance to aminopenicilins. All KPC-producers (resistant and susceptible to colistin) were genotipically indistinguishable except for one, whereas the presence of 7 clonal types, which were different from the ones identified in the colistin-susceptible isolates, were detected among ESBL producers. The previous use of colistin was the main factor associated with the acquisition of resistance, and in the case of non-KPC producers the stay in ICU was another significant factor observed. Colistin resistance emerged in our hospital in the year 2010, reaching 3% in nosocomial isolates and maintaining this rate in successive years, due to the selection of resistant subpopulations in the epidemic clonal type in KPC-producers and due to the dispersion of colistin-resistant clonal types in non-KPC producing-isolates.


Abstract We investigate the nature and duration of incompatibility between certain combinations of Acromyrmex leaf‐cutting ants and symbiotic fungi, taken from sympatric colonies of the same or a related species. Ant‐fungus incompatibility appeared to be largely independent of the ant species involved, but could be explained partly by genetic differences among the fungus cultivars. Following current theoretical considerations, we develop a hypothesis, originally proposed by S. A. Frank, that the observed incompatibilities are ultimately due to competitive interactions between genetically different fungal lineages, and we predict that the ants should have evolved mechanisms to prevent such competition between cultivars within a single garden. This requires that the ants are able to recognize unfamiliar fungi, and we show that this is indeed the case. Amplified fragment length polymorphism genotyping further shows that the two sympatric Acromyrmex species share each other's major lineages of cultivar, confirming that horizontal transfer does occasionally take place. We argue and provide some evidence that chemical substances produced by the fungus garden may mediate recognition of alien fungi by the ants. We show that incompatibility between ants and transplanted, genetically different cultivars is indeed due to active killing of the novel cultivar by the ants. This incompatibility disappears when ants are force‐fed the novel cultivar for about a week, a result that is consistent with our hypothesis of recognition induced by the resident fungus and eventual replacement of incompatibility compounds during force‐feeding.


The inability to oxidize fat is a key factor in the etiology of obesity. However, improved performance and VO2max resulting from physical training leads to increased rates of oxidation of fats. Although, there is still a lack of information about the intensity of exercise can interfere with metabolism of carbohydrates and lipids in obese women during a session of exercise and its recovery, because only in an experimental study there is a negative relationship of obesity on the reinstatement of power after a year. Therefore, this study aims to assess the behavior of the metabolism of carbohydrates and lipids in moderately obese women on a test of acute exercise effects on the intensity of ventilatory threshold and the recovery period, in the stage of pre-and post-training physical. This study had the participation of seven women slightly obese (BMI=4.03 kg/m2), with an average age of 43.0 ± 4.0 years, 163 ± 0.2±33.59 cm and previously sedentary who were submitted to the ergospirometry acute test before and after 16 weeks of training in the intensity of ventilatory threshold. During the test respiratory quotient was evaluated to determine the fats and carbohydrates oxidation during exercise and recovery period. The results found that the volunteers used predominantly the energy that comes from carbohydrates during the session of exercise (67.64% and 69.35% of the total spent provided pre-and post-training, respectively). During recovery the percentage of the fats contribution increase of (46.52% of the total oxidized) to the total energy generated, which discreetly marked with training (53.48% of the total oxidized). Based on the findings was observed that the metabolism of carbohydrates provides the muscle contraction support during the exercise in the intensity of ventilatory threshold and that the recovery period lipid metabolism is the counterpart to repay the body stores energy in obese women.


High bit rates optical communication systems pose the challenge of their tolerance to linear and nonlinear fiber impairments. Coherent optical receivers using digital signal processing techniques can mitigate the fiber impairments in the optical transmission system, including the chromatic dispersion equalization with digital filters. In this paper, an adaptive finite impulse response filter employing normalized least mean square algorithm is developed for compensating the chromatic dispersion in a 112-Gbit/s polarization division multiplexed quadrature phase shift keying coherent communication system, which is established in the VPI simulation platform. The principle of the adaptive normalized least mean square algorithm for signal equalization is analyzed theoretically, and at the meanwhile, the taps number and the tap weights in the adaptive finite impulse response filter for compensating a certain fiber chromatic dispersion are also investigated by numerical simulation. The chromatic dispersion compensation performance of the adaptive filter is analyzed by evaluating the behavior of the bit-error-rate versus the optical signal-to-noise ratio, and the compensation results are also compared with other present digital filters.


There are many algorithms for 3D-shooter game artificial intelligence that are based on automatic target recognition with the help of ray casting, scriptbased event systems and many others. In such models game agents have an advantage over human player because computers do not need time for enemy recognition and target aiming processes. The main goal of our research is to imitate a realistic enemy player under PC control, which acts similar to a human reaction. We consider such aspects of shooter in-game processes as visual recognition of players, the delay for the response on each game event and distributed strategies of decision making. The paper presents method of visual recognition of player's 3D-model with the use of geometry knowledge of the three-dimensional maze and target sighting with respect to human motor reflexes. The implementation is made in Unreal Engine 4, which provides large variety of methods for programming game agents.


Whole-liver decellularization comprises the removal of the antigenic cellular content, while maintaining intact 3D extracellular matrix architecture and the complex native vascular cues. As a result, it challenges the classical hurdles of xenotransplantation and hypotheti- cally allows the production of bioengineered human-size liver constructs. The associated technique and understanding of the determinants of successful application evolved rapidly during the last decade. In this chapter, the authors offer a comprehensive walk-through, starting from the simplicity of the concept to the complexity of clinical application. Avoiding repetition, the chapter covers the fundamentals and advances of decellularization, recellularization, ex vivo perfusion culture, and sterilization techniques. The interplay between the main pivots of whole-liver decellularization, namely intrinsic matrix potentials, immune response, and vasculature is described. An effort was made to dissect the hurdles facing the whole-liver decellularization approach and to highlight the gaps in current literature. The authors also offer insights about some critical concepts including intra-scaffold flow dynamics, gradient zonation, critical cell mass/density, mechano-sensitivity, modifications, nondestructive analysis, and the surgeon's perspective, together with the discussion of published in vivo trials and large-scale production parameters.


This study analyzed the correlation between the equatorial electrojet (EEJ) and the occurrence of equatorial ionisation anomaly (EIA) over the East African region. The study was carried out during both geomagnetically quiet and disturbed conditions when Kp index values were < 2+ and > 5+, respectively. The EEJ data were obtained using a pair of magnetometers located at Adis Ababa (geographic 9.04°N, 38.77°E, geomagnetic 0.17°N, 110.47°E) and Adigrat (geographic 14.281°N, 39.46°E, geomagnetic 6.0°N, 111.06°E), both in Ethiopia while the EIA data were derived from the total electron content (TEC) data that were obtained using a set of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers within the East African region. The data used were for the years 2008 and 2009. The TEC data over the crest of EIA were divided by those over the trough to quantify EIA strength over the region. The EEJ intensity was estimated from the difference in the horizontal component of the geomagnetic field observed by the pair of magnetometers. The results during quiet geomagnetic conditions showed that peak values of EEJ which range from 48nT - 110nT occurred between 10:00 and 14:00 LT. The EIA's peak which varies from 1.20 to 1.45 occurs between 20:00 to 22:00 LT. The correlation coefficients were found to vary from moderate (0.58) to strongest (0.74). During geomagnetically disturbed conditions, the correlation coefficient ranges from 0.28 to 0.45. The increased eastward electric field and photo-ionization on TEC are responsible for the strong link between EEJ and EIA. This study reveals the trend in the variation of the strength of EEJ and EIA over the East African region which can be used as a basis for developing regional models to forecast or nowcast scintillations and the ionospheric space weather prediction over this region.


Principal-agent theory suggests that tighter monitoring will raise an agent's work effort and will be applied provided that transaction costs are low. However, when a psychological contract exists between principals and agents, the agents perceive increased monitoring as an indication of distrust and this induces them to reduce work effort. This 'crowding out effect'is likely to dominate when the relationship between principals and agents is personal, while the 'disciplining effect'is likely to dominate when the relationship is abstract, as in a competitive market setting. Empirical evidence from neighboring sciences and from an econometric study supports this proposition. Copyright 1993 by Oxford University Press.


We evaluated the influence of chronic hypertriglyceridemia and endothelial dysfunction on myocardial glucose uptake (MGU) in Type 2 diabetic patients without coronary heart disease. Patients were divided into two groups according to fasting triglyceride (TG) levels: 5.4 +/- 1.1 and 1.5 +/- 0.3 mmol/l for high- and normal-TG groups, respectively. Five subjects were assigned to the high-TG group and 11 to the normal-TG group. Age, gender, body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, glucose, insulin, HbA1c, cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol were similar in the two groups, whereas free fatty acid (FFA) levels were higher in the high-TG group basally and at the end of the clamp. Furthermore, five healthy subjects were subjected to the same protocol and used as the control group. MGU was assessed by using 18F-labeled 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose under hyperglycemic-hyperinsulinemic conditions. Basal endothelin-1 and nitric oxide levels were significantly higher in the high-TG group than in the normal-TG and control groups, and cGMP and maximal postischemic vasodilation were significantly decreased in the high-TG group compared with the normal-TG and control groups. However, significant alterations were found in the same parameters in the normal-TG group compared with the control group. By the end of the hyperglycemic clamp, in the high-TG group, MGU was approximately 40 and 65% of that in the normal-TG and control groups. MGU negatively correlated with TG, FFA, and endothelin-1, whereas a positive correlation was found with cGMP and maximal postischemic vasodilation. In conclusion, increased TG and FFA levels are risks, in addition to Type 2 diabetes mellitus, for myocardial insulin resistance, endothelial dysfunction, and alteration of nitric oxide/cGMP levels.


Technology readiness is a crucial issue for decision-makers in technology-driven enterprises, determining whether the technology will or won't be adopted for use in products or as a process technology. We know that, in some cases, lower technology readiness will be accepted by the users; these could be end-users, but, more often, it will be used in companies. The impact of a too early or too late adopted technology can be huge for companies and can even threaten market position or the existence of the company itself. Research institutes and technology developers, in particular application-oriented research organizations, might be also interested in which parameters or technology attributes should be improved or extended, according to the addressed application field, so that the technology fulfils the market-requested functions and a fast diffusion in the market can be achieved. Existing technology readiness models cover the various usages of the technology. In many cases, they assess the technology's use in across different industries and application fields. However, the requirements in many fields are mostly different and very specific; thus, evaluation at such a high level can't conclude whether the technology should be considered and adopted in the applications involved. This paper introduces an approach on how to determine and map the application-specific readiness of technology by decomposing both the application and the technology into its requested functions, as well as dynamically mapping the individual technology performance criteria. The applicability of this model will be demonstrated and discussed by a use case in the area of OLED-technology.


PURPOSE
To investigate the expression and distribution of estrogen receptor protein and mRNA in bovine and rat retinas.

METHODS
Western blot analysis with an antiestrogen receptor monoclonal antibody (mAb) was used to detect estrogen receptor protein in the bovine retina. Immunohistochemistry with an antiestrogen receptor mAb and in situ hybridization with an oligodeoxynucleotide sequence coding for estrogen receptor were applied to study the cellular distribution of estrogen receptor protein and its mRNA in male bovine retina and rat retina of both sexes.

RESULTS
Estrogen receptor protein was detected in bovine retina by Western blot analysis. Immunohistochemical staining with the antiestrogen receptor mAb was widespread throughout the neural retina. Specific staining showed extensive distribution localizing in the nerve fiber layer, the ganglion cell layer, the inner nuclear layer, and the outer plexiform layer. Retinal pigment epithelium and choroid were also stained with the antiestrogen receptor mAb. By in situ hybridization, the expression of estrogen receptor mRNA was predominantly observed in ganglion cell layer, the inner nuclear layer, and outer portion of the outer nuclear layer. No significant difference was found between male and female rats in the immunostaining of retinas with the antiestrogen receptor mAb.

CONCLUSIONS
This study provides the first evidence for the presence of estrogen receptor in bovine and rat retinas. Expression of estrogen receptor throughout the retina suggests that estrogen may have important functions in the retina.


ABSTRACT Invasion and metastasis via induction of matrix metalloproteinases are the main causes of death in melanoma cancer. In this study, we investigated the inhibitory effects of heat killed saprophytic bacterium Mycobacterium indicus pranii (Mw) on B16F10 melanoma cell invasion. Mw reported to be an immunomodulator has antitumor activity however, its effect on cancer cell invasion has not been studied. Highly invasive B16F10 melanoma was found sensitive to Mw which downregulated MMP-9 expression. Mw treatment inhibited nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and activator protein-1 (AP-1) transcriptional activity and respective DNA binding to MMP-9 promoter. Moreover, Mw also overcame the promoting effects of PMA on B16F10 cell invasion. Mw decreased PMA-induced transcriptional activation of NF-κB and AP-1 by inhibiting phosphorylation of AKT and ERK-1/2. Furthermore, Mw strongly suppressed PMA-induced membrane localization of protein kinase C α (PKCα) since PKCα inhibition caused a marked decrease in PMA-induced MMP-9 secretion as well as AKT/ERK-1/2 activation. These results suggest that Mw may be a promising anti-invasive agent as it blocks tumor growth and inhibits B16F10 cell invasion by reducing MMP-9 activation through inhibition of PKCα/ AKT/ ERK-1/2 phosphorylation and NF-κB/AP-1 activation.


The growing interest in the issue of intangible assets not only in the scientific community but also in some professional bodies internationally can be explained by several points of view. From the business perspective, enterprises are increasingly motivated by external and internal forces to measure and proactively manage their intangibles. With respect to the issue of intangibles, goodwill has been debated in many countries throughout the world. Despite the numerous efforts and the existence of international accounting standards there is not yet a common accepted accounting treatment for goodwill. This study attempts on the one hand to impress the accounting treatment of goodwill internationally, on the other hand analyses the major subjects in relation to the accounting treatment of goodwill in Greece, since 2005, year where the international accounting standards have been in use for the Greek listed companies. The results indicate that the accounting treatment for the goodwill in Greece, despite the effort for accounting harmonization in Europe from 2005, sustains many differences especially for the no listed companies. Keywords—Intangible Assets, Goodwill, International Accounting Standards, Greek Accounting System and Law


A computer-aided system for seal discriminating is developed. The system uses the state-of-the-art technology of digital image processing. The conventional methods such as diagonal match and full match are computerized. The advantage of the computerized method is that it is nondestructive and fast. With the use of proper optical lens, it offers good accuracy. The computerized method can compare the geometry and the intensity variation, while the conventional method is limited to the geometry match. The intensity variation carries information about the seal surface smoothness, the ink concentration, the seal material, the paper material, the paper support, and so forth. The seal surface smoothness is the kind of characteristic which cannot be reproduced easily. It is believed that the surface smoothness is the key to breaking the advanced forging techniques. The system was made and is used at the Central Investigation Bureau of Taipei, Taiwan.


Vision-Based Emergency Landing of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Parker Chase Lusk Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, BYU Master of Science Emergency landing is a critical safety mechanism for aerial vehicles. Commercial aircraft have triply-redundant systems that greatly increase the probability that the pilot will be able to land the aircraft at a designated airfield in the event of an emergency. In general aviation, the chances of always reaching a designated airfield are lower, but the successful pilot might use landmarks and other visual information to safely land in unprepared locations. For small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS), triplyor even doubly-redundant systems are unlikely due to size, weight, and power constraints. Additionally, there is a growing demand for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, where an sUAS operator would be unable to guide the vehicle safely to the ground. This thesis presents a machine vision-based approach to emergency landing for small unmanned aircraft systems. In the event of an emergency, the vehicle uses a pre-compiled database of potential landing sites to select the most accessible location to land based on vehicle health. Because it is impossible to know the current state of any ground environment, a camera is used for real-time visual feedback. Using the recently developed RecursiveRANSAC algorithm, an arbitrary number of moving ground obstacles can be visually detected and tracked. If obstacles are present in the selected ditch site, the emergency landing system chooses a new ditch site to mitigate risk. This system is called Safe2Ditch.


Incubation of human platelets in plasma containing a suspension of latex particles for 1-90 min resulted in progressive accumulation of particles in the open-channel system, followed by localization of latex in electron-opaque vacuoles. After 60 min, acid phosphatase was localized within latex-containing vacuoles. The periodate-alkaline-bismuth reaction intensely stained external membranes and membranes of the open-channel system. Membranes of latex-containing organelles were not stained. Latex phagocytosis was independent of both anticoagulant choice and aspirin effects. Our results indicate that the platelet can act as a true phagocyte, and we suggest that the phagocytic process is chronologically similar to that reported for polymorphonuclear leukocytes.


Improving systematic observations of land cover, as an Essential Climate Variable, should contribute to a better understanding of the global climate system and thus improve our ability to predict climatic change. The aim of this paper is to bring global land cover observations closer to meeting the needs of climate science. First, consultation mechanisms were established with the climate modeling community to identify its specific requirements in terms of satellite-based global land cover products. This assessment highlighted specific needs in terms of land cover characterization, accuracy of products, as well as stability and consistency needs that are currently not met or even addressed. The current land cover representation and mapping techniques were then called into question to specifically focus on the critical need of stable products expressed by climate users. Decoupling the stable and dynamic components of the land cover characterization and using a multi-year dataset were proposed as two key approaches to allow generating consistent suites of global land cover products over time.


Financially savvy hospitals are getting aggressive with their investment management strategies, using healthy returns from wisely invested nonoperating dollars to finance construction projects, make acquisitions and expand services. Industry estimates show hospitals have a large nest egg to work with--some $400 billion in assets available for investment.


Diabetic cardiomyopathy increases the risk of heart failure in individuals with diabetes, independently of co-existing coronary artery disease and hypertension. The underlying mechanisms for this cardiac complication are incompletely understood. Research on rodent models of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and the use of genetic engineering techniques in mice, have greatly advanced our understanding of the molecular mechanisms responsible for human diabetic cardiomyopathy. The adaptation of experimental techniques for the investigation of cardiac physiology in mice now allows comprehensive characterization of these models. The focus of the present review will be to discuss selected rodent models that have proven to be useful in studying the underlying mechanisms of human diabetic cardiomyopathy, and to provide an overview of the characteristics of these models for the growing number of investigators who seek to understand the pathology of diabetes-related heart disease.


The mussel Sernirnytilus algosus (Gould) often dominates the space on exposed rocky shores of subtropical South America. Dynamics of space occupancy was investigated in a rocky intertidal habitat in central Peru. A series of colonization expenrnents and quantitative sampling of musselassociated faunas were conducted to clarify interspec~f~c relationships anlong resident organisms. Spatial gaps created within the S. algosus zone were colonised successively by the barnacles Jehlius cirratus (Darwin) and Notochtharnalus scabrosus (Darwin), a gallery-building polychaete, Phragmatopoma moerchi Kinberg, and a mussel, S. algosus. The rate of colonisation/recruitment was highest for barnacles, intermediate for l? moerchi and lowest for S. algosus. There was no evidence that barnacles either facilitate or inhibit colonisation by later colonists l? moerchi and S. algosus. Three filter-feeding taxa showed a clear competitive hierarchy. l? moerchi was competitively superior to barnacles and S. algosus was competitively superior to both barnacles and P rnoerchi. Therefore, there are trade-offs between colonisation ability and competitive ability among these taxa. In addition to recruitment of young larvae on free rock surfaces, S. algosus individuals demonstrate continuous lateral migration at the edge of their aggregation, constantly expanding the boundaries. Gaps can be closed in this manner, with an average rate of edge advance of 1.2 cm mo-', which is comparable to the values estimated for Mytllus californianus on North American rocky shores The S. algosus bed constitutes an important habitat to a range of organisms, many of them (particularly polychaetes) being restricted to this habitat on exposed rocky shores. Comparisons were made between faunas on free rock surfaces and in the mussel bed. Proportions of taxa restricted to the mussel bed were high among all invertebrates found there, in the range of 67 to 78 % in terms of number of taxa and 80 to 94 % in terms of number of individuals. Furthermore, juveniles of many organisms find refuge in the S. algosus bed, and barnacles which are competitively inferior to S. algosus can nevertheless exist epizoically on their shells. Thus, monopolisation of space by S. algosus generally leads to an Increase in total species richness.


Supernumerary arcs on rainbows are historically important because in the early 1800s they provided evidence in favor of the wave theory of light. The success of Airy's rainbow integral has overshadowed the earlier contribution from Young, who proposed that supernumerary arcs were caused by interference between two geometrical rays that emerge from the raindrop at the same scattering angle. Airy dismissed Young's idea as "the imperfect theory of interference" because it predicted supernumerary arcs at the wrong angles. Young was unaware that a light ray encountering a focal line can suffer a phase shift of 90°. If these phase shifts are taken into account, the theory of interference becomes surprisingly accurate.


Inspired by the successful synthesis of Fe/Cu-5,5 0 -bis(4-pyridyl)(2,2 0 -bipirimidine) (PBP), a family of two-dimensional (2D) metal – organic frameworks (MOFs) with the Shastry-Sutherland lattice, i.e. , transition metal (TM)-PBP (TM ¼ Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn) has been systematically investigated by means of fi rst-principles density functional theory calculations and Monte Carlo simulations. Mn-PBP is discovered to be the fi rst ferromagnetic 2D MOF with the Shastry-Sutherland lattice and the Curie temperature is predicted to be about 105 K, while Fe-PBP, TM-PBP (TM ¼ Cr, Co, Ni) and TM-PBP (TM ¼ Cu, Zn) are found to be stripe-order antiferromagnetic, magnetic-dimerized and nonmagnetic, respectively. The electronic structure calculations reveal that TM-PBP MOFs are semiconductors with band gaps ranging from 0.12 eV to 0.85 eV, which could be easily modulated by various methods. Particularly, Mn-PBP would exhibit half-metallic behavior under compressive strain or appropriate electron/hole doping and a Mn-PBP based spintronic device has been proposed. This study not only improves the understanding of the geometric, electronic and magnetic properties of the 2D TM-PBP MOF family, but also provides a novel spin lattice playground for the research of 2D magnetic systems, which has diverse modulating possibilities and rich potential applications.


Literature has identified formal and informal channels in university knowledge and technology transfer (KTT). While formal KTT typically involves a legal contract on a patent or on collaborative research activities, informal transfer channels refer to personal contacts and hence to the tacit dimension of knowledge transfer. Research is, however, scarce regarding the interaction of formal and informal transfer mechanisms. In this paper, we analyze whether these activities are mutually reinforcing, i.e., complementary. Our analysis is based on a comprehensive data-set of more than 2,000 German manufacturing firms and confirms a complementary relationship between formal and informal KTT modes: using both transfer channels contributes to higher innovation performance. The management of the firm should therefore strive to maintain close informal relationships with universities to realize the full potential of formal KTT.


In this paper, the theoretical and industrial definitions of metallic calcium production by the metallothermic process in a vacuum atmosphere were investigated. In the experiments, Al is the only reductant used for metallothermic calcium production. The effects of Al stoichiometry, time variances, and temperature changes were investigated. The experiments were carried out at 1200 °C, 1250 °C, and 1300 °C, and with 100% Al, 125% Al, and 150% Al stoichiometry to produce metallic calcium from the residue of metallic magnesium production. Both the raw materials and the residue phases were characterized by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectrometry, and chemical analysis techniques. Experimental results were investigated to determine the highest efficiency of reduction conditions. From the results of the experiments, reaction kinetics and activation energy were calculated. According to the experimental results, the highest recovery rate parameters for the reduction of calcium are 150% stoichiometric Al for 480 min at 1300 °C, with 72% recovery.


Neuropsychological studies on the processing of some specific cognitive functions throughout aging are essential for the understanding of human cognitive development from ages 19 to 89. Objectives This study aimed to verify the occurrence of differences in the processing of episodic memory, concentrated attention and speed of attentional processing among four age groups of adults. Methods A total of 136 neurologically healthy adults, aged 19-89, with 9 or more years of schooling, took part in the study. Participants were divided according to four age groups: young, middle-aged, elderly and oldest old adults. Subtests of the Brief Neuropsychological Evaluation Instrument (NEUPSILIN) were applied for the cognitive assessment. Mean score of corrected answers and of response times were compared between groups by means of a one-way ANOVA test with post-hoc Scheffe procedures and ANCOVA including the co-variables of years of schooling and socio-economical scores. Results In general, differences in performance were observed from 60 years old on. Only the episodic memory task of delayed recall reflected differences from the age of around 40 onwards and processing speed from around the age of 70 onwards. Thus, differences were found between the age groups regarding their cognitive performance, particularly between young adults and elderly adults, and young adults and oldest old adults. Conclusions Our research indicates that the middle-aged group should be better analyzed and that comparative cross-sectional studies including only extreme groups such as young and elderly adults are not sufficient.


Electronic commerce has attracted much attention with the development of security technology on the Internet. We established an electronic commerce system that is based on NTT electronic money technology and is connected with the Japanese banking system. It has been operated in the InternetCash trial step2 since April 1999. The aim of this trial is to evaluate the security features of NTT electronic money and to verify the merits of electronic money for consumers and other parties concerned. In this paper, we introduce the whole service concept of this trial, discuss the problems and solutions related to the design of the system, and report on the current results of the trial.


A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Science in Medical Microbiology in the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology 2012


Traffic incident influences the security of people in the popularity of navigation. It is urgently necessary to develop intelligent vehicles by using new technologies and advanced methodologies. In this paper, a new approach based on holonic conception is presented to study the intelligent control in vehicle tool. The control structure in car is divided into three levels and is defined three holonary, the function of every holon level is discussed, then a distributed multilevel intelligent control architecture in car based on holon is developed. The cooperation relation is analyzed between different levels; the cooperative model is established to study cooperation mechanisms among different holon level, which will help to improve the intelligent control and vehicle security for car.


Water governance in South Africa is challenged by natural as well as socially constructed water scarcity. 15 years after the transition from Apartheid to the new democratic era, this paper shows that water resources are still distributed along racial lines. Based on a case study in rural KwaZulu Natal, results indicate that outcomes of water policies which aimed at redressing historic inequalities have not yet been able to create the expected benefits for the disadvantaged black farming community. This paper uses an ecosystem service (ESS) approach to assess how those benefits that are derived from different water-related ecosystem services (WES) developed in the smallholder community and its adjacent commercial farming area. The change in the distribution of water for household use, water for irrigation, water flow regulation and water for scenic beauty is further discussed in regards to its response to water policies on local and national level. Hereby, the paper addresses the research need to provide insight into ESS responses to policy outcomes, which in turn is expected to reveal challenges and opportunities for policy makers to incorporate the complex yet important interactions between social and ecological systems into their decision making. Practically, this paper contributes by making gaps in ESS utilization between smallholder and commercial farmers explicit. Focusing on the material aspects of equality, i.e. the redistribution of water resources is argued to be neither feasible nor unequivocally desirable in the near future. Rather, I encourage capacity building to increase possibilities of the smallholder farmers to effectively use existing resources.


Blades are the key parts of turbines. The materials used for making blades have many excellent performances such as high intensity, corrosion resistant and temperature resistant. They are of hard to machine materials. However, there is little information available in the literature related to abrasive belt grinding blades materials. And its mechanisms have not yet been fully explained. This paper aims to make a contribution to the understanding of the wear mechanisms of the abrasive belt and its influence factors. A series of tests were conducted on 1Cr13 stainless steel. The surface roughness and the surface topography of abrasive wear were observed. The influences of grinding force and grinding time on surface roughness were discussed. The wear mechanisms are revealed based on the model of abrasive grain's wear. It revealed that existence of an optimum surface roughness reachable dependent of the grinding force and grinding time. It has also been shown that the type of abrasive and grinding depth have great influence on abrasive wear.


We provide evidence on the causal link between financing constraints and the risk of corporate cash flows and returns. For identification, we compare public US firms in the same industry, location, and size quintile, but whose access to bank credit was differentially affected by WorldCom's demise in 2002. A credit shortage induces a permanent increase in the volatility and skewness of operating cash flows and an increase in the correlation between firm stock and market returns. We document how firms' cash, payout, and investment policies respond endogenously to mitigate the impact of constraints on risk. Copyright 2013, Oxford University Press.


In an effort to probe Co(II) binding to metallo-beta-lactamase CcrA, EPR, EXAFS, and (1)H NMR studies were conducted on CcrA containing 1 equiv (1-Co(II)-CcrA) and 2 equiv (Co(II)Co(II)-CcrA) of Co(II). The EPR spectra of 1-Co(II)-CcrA and Co(II)Co(II)-CcrA are distinct and indicate 5/6-coordinate Co(II) ions. The EPR spectra also reveal the absence of significant spin-exchange coupling between the Co(II) ions in Co(II)Co(II)-CcrA. EXAFS spectra of 1-Co(II)-CcrA suggest 5/6-coordinate Co(II) with two or more histidine ligands. EXAFS spectra of Co(II)Co(II)-CcrA also indicate 5/6 ligands at a similar average distance to 1-Co(II)-CcrA, including an average of about two histidines per Co(II). (1)H NMR spectra for 1-Co(II)-CcrA revealed seven paramagnetically shifted resonances, three of which were solvent-exchangeable, while the NMR spectra for Co(II)Co(II)-CcrA showed at least 16 shifted resonances, including an additional solvent-exchangeable resonance and a resonance at 208 ppm. The data indicate sequential binding of Co(II) to CcrA and that the first Co(II) binds to the consensus Zn(1) site in the enzyme.


In this paper, we concentrate on the direct semi-blind spatial equalizer design for MIMO systems with Rayleigh fading channels. Our aim is to develop an algorithm which can outperform the classical training-based method with the same training information used and avoid the problems of low convergence speed and local minima due to pure blind methods. A general semi-blind cost function is first constructed which incorporates both the training information from the known data and some kind of higher order statistics (HOS) from the unknown sequence. Then, based on the developed cost function, we propose two semi-blind iterative and adaptive algorithms to find the desired spatial equalizer. To further improve the performance and convergence speed of the proposed adaptive method, we propose a technique to find the optimal choice of step size. Simulation results demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithms and comparable schemes.


Public governance constitutes an answer to the limitations regarding the possibilities of reforming public administration in the stream of new public management. One of the detailed concepts of public governance was originally formulated by the World Bank. Its use in practice is limited to operationalization through formulating a variety of indices which are usually dedicated to countries and regions. Scientific discourse lacks studies indicating the possibility of using good governance in public administration at the level of its smaller exponents such as the units of local self-government. Equally, there are no available results of research regarding the influence of the functioning of units of public administration according to the principles of good governance on their perception on the part of citizens. This study aims at operationalizing the concept of good governance through the formulation of a model of activity of local government administration according to the principles of good governance, as well as proposes a tool for evaluating the level of maturity of management solutions based on the concept of good governance. The research results regarding the level of compatibility of these offices with the rules of good governance are compared with the results of surveys examining opinions and levels of satisfaction among inhabitants of selected boroughs. The aim of this comparison was to find the answer to the question of dependence between the activities of local administration in accordance with good governance and satisfaction on the part of local inhabitants.


Term paper of the 9th semester for the course of School Libraries at the Undergraduate Program of Library and Information Studies, School of Philosophy and Letters, Nuevo Leon Autonomous University, Mexico, to organize the school library at the "Vasco de Quiroga" kindergarten.


The cDNA sequence of 5' non - coding region (5'NCR) of GBV - C/HGV strain from China was determined. According to the previously reported sequences of HGV, two pairs of primers specific for HGV from relatively conserved regha in the 5' NCR was designed- GBV - C/HGV RNA derived from the plasma of a intravenous drug user in Kunming district (Yunnan Province,China) was extracted using the heat denaturization method and was subsequently converted to cD-NA by reverse transcription before nested RCR. The amplified product with 238 bp was purified and then directly sequenced by dideoxy nucleotide chain termination method. A Comarison of the nucleotlde sequence of GBV - C/HGV from China with that of several previously reported isolates from abroad showed the homology to be 86. 36 % ~ 90. 91 % and a divergent region. The results demonstrated that the amplified fragment was derived from the genome of GBV - C/HGV. The sequence of the GBV - C/HGV 5' NCR determined here was useful for the selection of primers and for the


Background: Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is an autologous product having a high concentration of growth factors well known to stimulate different tissues healing. This study was made to determine the effect of PRP on healing of femoral cancellous bone defect in rabbit.

Materials and Methods: The experiment was conducted on 16 male adult New Zealand white rabbits. The animals were divided into the control group and the treated group including 8 rabbits in each group. Under general anesthesia, using a dental drill, a hole 4 mm in diameter 5 mm in depth was made in the inner aspect of the medial condyle of left femor. In the treated group the created hole was filled with autologous PRP. In the control group, the defect was left untreated. The bone healing was evaluated histopathologically at the end of the first and the second month post surgery. In addition, the samples were assessed histomorphometrically 2 month post surgery.

Results: In the control group, the defect seemed to be filled with adipose tissue including sparse hematogenic cells 1 month after surgery. A poor osteogenic activity and some osteoblasts were visible two month post surgery. In the treated group, within 1 month, a mass of osteoblasts as well as neoformed vessels occupied the gap 1 month after surgery. One month later we observed increased young bone trabeculas in addition to a more compact bone neoformation.

Conclusion: We concluded that PRP with some characteristics such as ostegoenesis and osteoinduction provide a more rapid regeneration of bone defects.
Keywords: Platelet-Rich plasma, Osteogenesis, Histopathology, Histomorphometry, Rabbits,


The identification of past glacial refugia has become a key topic for conservation under environmental change, since they contribute importantly to shaping current patterns of biodiversity. However, little attention has been paid so far to interglacial refugia despite their key role for the survival of relict species currently occurring in climate refugia. Here, we focus on the genetic consequences of range contraction on the relict populations of the evergreen shrub Myrtus nivellei, endemic in the Saharan mountains since at least the end of the last Green Sahara period, around 5.5 ka B.P. Multilocus genotypes (nuclear microsatellites and AFLP) were obtained from 215 individuals collected from 23 wadis (temporary rivers) in the three main mountain ranges in southern Algeria (the Hoggar, Tassili n'Ajjer and Tassili n'Immidir ranges). Identical genotypes were found in several plants growing far apart within the same wadis, a pattern taken as evidence of clonality. Multivariate analyses and Bayesian clustering revealed that genetic diversity was mainly structured among the mountain ranges, while low isolation by distance was observed within each mountain range. The range contraction induced by the last episode of aridification has likely increased the genetic isolation of the populations of M. nivellei, without greatly affecting the genetic diversity of the species as a whole. The pattern of genetic diversity observed here suggests that high connectivity may have prevailed during humid periods, which is consistent with recent paleoenvironmental reconstructions.


Based on field investigations of initiatives to increase stakeholder participation in water management in Brazil and India, this paper provides insights into the practice of water sector reforms. Looking at the pace of reforms across both countries, we find that the process of creating institutions to facilitate stakeholder participation is proceeding rapidly, but greater attention is required on administrative reforms and capacity building. We find that the supply and demand of participation opportunities is often mismatched, and that participation reforms in the water sector may follow two very different paths: the bureaucratic and the entrepreneurial.


Fourteen authors explore the recent past, the present, and the future of music librarianship through an examination of topics of importance to the profession: collection development, preservation, cataloging, technology, copyright, reference, reference sources, user education, music publishing, sound recordings, the antiquarian music market, archives, and education for music librarianship. First published in the quarterly journal Notes, these essays reflect the views of today's professionals at the fin de siecle. The set of essays is framed by a foreword and afterword by editor Richard Griscom.


Germanium (Ge) nanocrystals combined with multiwalled carbon nanotube (Ge–MWCNT) composites were synthesized via a solvothermal approach and characterized through X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy and scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM). The electrochemical behaviour during lithium insertion and de-insertion was investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and galvanostatic charge–discharge measurements. The as prepared Ge–MWCNT nanocomposite exhibits improved cycling performance with higher capacity retention than pristine Ge. The Ge–MWCNTs exhibit a discharge capacity of ∼1160 mA h g−1 after 60 cycles at a current rate of 0.1C. Furthermore, they showed an excellent rate performance at a current rate of 5C (where 1C is 1600 mA g−1) by delivering a specific capacity of ∼406 mA h g−1 over 400 charge–discharge cycles.


The modelling of rare events via a Poisson distribution sometimes reveals substantial over-dispersion, indicating that some unexplained discontinuity arises in the data. We suggest modelling this over-dispersion by a Poisson mixture. In a hierarchical Bayesian model, the posterior distributions of the unknown quantities in the mixture (number of components, weights, and Poisson parameters) will be estimated by MCMC algorithms, including reversible jump algorithms which permits varying the dimension of the mixture. We will focus on the difficulty of finding a weakly informative prior for the Poisson parameters: different priors will be detailed and compared. Then, the performances of different moves created for changing dimension will be investigated. The model is extended by the introduction of covariates, with homogeneous or heterogeneous effect. Simulated data sets will be designed for the different comparisons, and the model will finally be illustrated on real data.


Properties of biosorbent prepared from biomass of  Chlorella  sp immobilized on chitosan (Chlo-Kit) have been studied for adsorption of Chromium(III). Chlo-Kit adsorbent prepared by following steps: dissolving chitosan to get hydrogel form, immobilization of biomasson chitosan hydrogel,  beads  formation and crosslinkingthe adsorbent beads using epichlorohydrin reagent. Characterization using FT-IR spectrophotometry  and SEM showed that mechanism of biomass immobilization on chitosan involves electrostatic interactions between the functional groups of such both materials. Biomass immobilized on chitosan (Chlo-Kit) showed the higher stability in acid medium than un-immobilized biomass. Adsorption of Cr(III) metal ion on Chlo-Kit occured at optimum pH of 4-5 and followed well the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. The adsorption capacity of Cr(III) on Chlo-Kit was 68.965 mg/g, about 91% higher than that on Chlorella biomass


The success of shape optimisation depends significantly on the parametrisation of the shape. Ideally, it defines a very rich variation in shape, allows for rapid grid generation of high quality, and expresses the shape in a standard Computer Aided Design (CAD) representation. While most existing parametrisation methods fail at least one of these criteria, this work introduces a novel parametrisation method, which satisfies all three. A tri-variate B-spline volume is used to define the volume to be optimised. The position of the external control points are used as design parameters, while the internal control points are repositioned to ensure regularity of the transformation. The grid generation process transforms a Cartesian grid (defined in parametric space) to the physical space using the tri-variate net of control points. This process guarantees a high grid quality even for large deformations, and has extremely low computational cost as it only involves a transformation from parameter space to physical space. This allows the computation of the grid sensitivities with respect to the design variables at a fraction of the cost of a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) iteration, therefore allowing the use of one-shot methods. This novel parametrisation is applied to the shape optimisation of a U-bend passage of a turbine-blade serpentine-cooling channel with the objective to minimise pressure losses. A steady state, Reynolds-Averaged, density-based Navier-Stokes solver is used to predict the pressure losses at a Reynolds number of 40,000. The sensitivities of the objective function with respect to the control points are computed using a hand-derived adjoint solver and geometry generation system. A one-shot approach is used to simultaneously converge flow, gradient and design, resulting in a rapid design approach with a design time equivalent to approximately 10 normal CFD runs, while still maintaining a CAD representation of the geometry. A large reduction in pressure loss is obtained, and the flow in the optimal geometry is analysed in detail.


Transpeptidation reinforces the structure of cell wall peptidoglycan, an extracellular heteropolymer that protects bacteria from osmotic lysis. The clinical success of transpeptidase-inhibiting β-lactam antibiotics illustrates the essentiality of these cross-linkages for cell wall integrity, but the presence of multiple, seemingly redundant transpeptidases in many bacterial species makes it challenging to determine cross-link function precisely. Here we present a technique to covalently link peptide strands by chemical rather than enzymatic reaction. We employ bio-compatible click chemistry to induce triazole formation between azido- and alkynyl-D-alanine residues that are metabolically installed in the cell walls of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Synthetic triazole cross-links can be visualized by substituting azido-D-alanine with azidocoumarin-D-alanine, an amino acid derivative that undergoes fluorescent enhancement upon reaction with terminal alkynes. Cell wall stapling protects the model bacterium Escherichia coli from β-lactam treatment. Chemical control of cell wall structure in live bacteria can provide functional insights that are orthogonal to those obtained by genetics.


Background - This second report provides an update of information and interim results for a two year study being conducted at the Satake Centre for Grain Process Engineering in the University of Manchester, investigating the feasibility of producing value-added products from algae.

Project Aim - To examine in detail and optimise the production of generic fermentation feedstocks from algae wastes and evaluate the feasibility of producing a range of potential end-products (in particular ethanol and algae nutrients).

Achievements to Date - Process development and design: The materials under investigation were two feedstocks of microalgae sent by Cellana on 13th January 2010 (samples 1323 and 1584). Currently, the algae are harvested by centrifugation or spray-drying, and lipids are then extracted using hexane. At UoM, various process scenarios to produce glucose were tested: fermentation with Aspergillus awamori, fermentation with indigenous microorganisms, acid hydrolysis and enzymatic hydrolysis. All the data accumulated with the different strategies were used to develop flowsheets that can help to estimate the ethanol production for each scenario.

The characterisation work enables to conclude that both samples differ by their lipids and other chemicals content. In this work, a variety of indigenous microbes were also isolated from both samples, and such microbes now form part of a culture collection.

Pre-treatment of unextracted samples: As part of process development and design, various techniques were tested to disrupt the algae in order to facilitate access to lipids and carbohydrates without the utilization of hexane. The use of a physical and biological disruption method to break open the cells would have the advantage to be a cleaner process as no chemical will be involved. Consequently, the lipids could be harvested by skimming the oil layer at the surface of the cell suspension. Several cell disruption methods were tested: mortar and pestle, bead mill, liquid nitrogen, autoclaving, microwaving, falling number hammer mill, ultrasound and French press. It was found that ultrasound and the French press were the most effective methods. Further tests are needed to determine if an oil layer can be obtained at the surface after these 2 pre-treatments.

From the process point of view, the acid hydrolysis treatment involves simultaneous cell-disruption and saccharification, which can take place in the same unit. However, lipids and proteins degradation could occur.
There were no benefits associated with the use of A. awamori for breaking the cells open, releasing lipids or glucose, and converting carbohydrates into glucose.

Fermentation process: The highest glucose production was achieved with indigenous microbes degrading ultrasound-treated and untreated samples. Sample 1584 had higher lipid and carbohydrates content and gave greater glucose production during indigenous fermentation (55 mg of glucose per gram of sample).

Since the best performances (in terms of glucose) were obtained with the indigenous microbes degrading the raw sample, it can be concluded that no further pre-treatment is required before the microbial conversion step.

Depolymerisation process: A detailed account of experiments with commercial enzyme is presented in this part, whereby algal samples with or without cell-disruption treatment were used as feedstock in parallel experiments to enzymatically produce glucose. Although enzyme addition increases glucose production its contribution is thought to be low.

Combined fermentation-depolymerisation process (indigenous microorganisms and added enzyme) with and without treatment:
Sample 1584 produced the highest levels of glucose and the best results were observed when the indigenous microbes were mixed with enzymes. After 100 hours of running the experiment, glucose was not consumed and remained approximately constant until the end of the experiment.

With the best combination of processes, about 27% of total carbohydrates in sample 1323 was converted into glucose whereas, in the case of the disrupted sample 1584, about 55% was converted into glucose by indigenous microbes and 60% by combining indigenous microbes and enzymes. This investigation gives grounds to decide if commercial enzymes and cell-disruption pre-treatment is economically interesting.

In the case of fermentation and enzymatic hydrolysis, a pre-treatment step might be required to facilitate the conversion of carbohydrates. This should be followed by the depolymerisation of carbohydrates into simple sugars.
Preliminary results with samples D09 and D10: Progress has been gained working with the new unextracted feedstocks sent by Cellana (D09 and 10) on February. The Characterisation work is undergoing and it has been found that glucose can be produced from D09 and D10 when treated with indigenous microorganisms from samples 1323 and 1584. Noteworthy is to mention that D09 and D10 also contain their own indigenous microbes but, in this case, such microbes produced and consumed glucose.

Culturing the oleaginous yeast R. toruloides: This aims at growing oleaginous yeast to extract the oil. In one project, the algae by-product will serve as substrate to grow the yeast whereas a synthetic substrate will be used in the second project. The plan of actions and the time to achieve the goals is presented (Gantt chart).

Literature review: An introduction to algae is presented and is followed by a review on the properties of the algal biomass. An account of the cultivation methods and productivity is also given. Besides, there is a summary of upstream processes employed to eliminate water from the harvested algae. Finally, the review presents an account of the extraction and purification of added-value products such as biodiesel, bioethanol, biomethane and other bioactive compounds and fine chemicals.

Other deliverables and task on hold: A culture collection of known microbes is now available at UoM. Another task that has been put on hold is the growth of Nannochlorepsis sp, which was the model chosen for growing microalgae with the fermentation products from A. awamori and A. oryzae.

Overall progress - More realistic numbers in terms of ethanol production have been obtained and are presented in the process development and design spreadsheets. Further improvements will be gained with new experimental results.
The search for a physical disruption method is now concluded. More tests are needed to determine if an oil layer can be obtained at the surface after ultrasound or French press treatment.

Samples 1323 and 1584 have been characterised and therefore this task is finished. On the other hand, chemical and biological methods to produce glucose have been tested in samples 1323 and 1584. Similar work has been done with D09 and D10 and the results reported herein show that glucose can be produced from these samples when treated with indigenous microbes from 1323 and 1584.

The depolymerisation process of 1323 and 1584 is finished but it still needs to be deployed to treat algae D09 and D10. Enzyme, indigenous microbes and a combination of both need to be studied in the disrupted D09 and D10. There is now a plan of actions and timing for growing oleaginous yeast with algae or a synthetic medium.


The complex formation between Pr(III) & Sm(III) metal ions and 3-(2-hydroxy-3-nitro-5-methylphenyl)-5-(3- nitrophenyl)isoxazoline L1, 3-(2-hydroxy-3-nitro-5-methylphenyl)-5-(4-chlorophenyl) isoxazoline L2, 3-(2-hydroxy-3-nitro- 5-methylphenyl)-5-(2-furyl)isoxazoline L3 have been studied at 0.1 M ionic strength (26 ± 0.1oC) in 70% dioxane water mixture by Bjerrum method as adopted by Calvin & Wilson. It is observed that Pr(III) & Sm(III) metal ions form 1:1 & 1:2 complexes with ligand L1, L2 & L3. The data obtained were used to estimate & compare the values of proton ligand stability constant (pK) & metal ligand stability constant (log K). From estimated data (pK & log K), the effect of substituents were studied.


obstruction of the superior vena cava as its main clinical characteristic. When the fibrosis develops at the hilar level, typically in the age group 15 to 35, a mainly unilateral mass may cause only mild respiratory disability. If both hila are affected, increasing incapacity may lead to death. The diagnosis of hilar fibrosis is often difficult, especially when the mass is not obvious radiologically. The clinical findings vary according to whether the arteries or veins are predominantly affected.3 When the arteries bear the brunt, recurrent pulmonary and pleural infections are the rule; haemoptyses may result from widespread bronchopulmonary anastomoses. Radiographs show a shift of the mediastinum to the affected side, a small pulmonary artery, and a thickened pleura. Angiograms and studies of lung function confirm the diminished arterial blood flow. Pulmonary hypertension develops when both pulmonary arteries are involved. When the veins are mainly infiltrated, severe haemoptyses may arise from capillary congestion. Pulmonary hypertension may lead to right heart failure. Radiographs usually show a small lung with venous congestion and pleural thickening. Cardiac catheterization may show an exceptionally high pulmonary artery pressure. Additional diagnostic evidence of idiopathic hilar fibrosis may come from bronchography or bronchoscopy, when a long smooth bronchial stricture may be evident owing to compression of the associated large airways by fibrous tissue. The main differential diagnosis is from primary lung cancer, and it may be resolved only at thoracotomy. Primary pulmonary venous sclerosis is not associated with a hilar mass, nor are the larger bronchi affected. Medical treatment has nothing effective to offer. Surgical correction of obstruction is rarely feasible and attempts to dilate bronchial strictures may lead to dangerous haemorrhage. Perhaps these unfortunate patients, few as they are, will be afforded relief when more is known of the cause of this obscure malady.


Occupational disease lists are essential legal mechanisms for recognizing pathologies related to hazardous workplace exposures. In Switzerland, 1.1 million workers are affected by work-related health problems annually. In terms of financial repercussions, the situation is not negligible: the cost of occupational diseases amounts to at least CHF 20 billion per year. However, there is currently no centralized database on workers' exposures to occupational hazards in Switzerland; nor a national register of chronic effects due to occupational exposures. Moreover, Switzerland has made limited progress in its stategy for updating the recognized occupational disease list. In October 2017, a revision to the occupational disease list was proposed for the first time in ten years, highlighting the urgent need to ameliorate the system of occupational disease reporting and recognition in Switzerland. This review will focus on the importance of occupational disease lists towards occupational safety and health strategies and prevention efforts, while highlighting the unique case of Switzerland, with the aim to gather evidence and good practices towards the improvement of its own occupational disease list.


Iron (Fe) deficiency is among the 10 leading human health risks causing "hidden hunger" in subSaharan Africa. Iron concentrations and bioavailability are often higher in leafy vegetables than in staple crops like maize and sorghum. Therefore, increasing food diversity through vegetable production and consumption is an option to mitigate Fe deficiency. The aim was to quantify Fe uptake and distribution between roots, stems and leaves in selected African indigenous vegetable (AIV) species, and to compare species responses to different rates of Fe supply. Plants of five leafy AIV species (African night shade Solanum scabrum, amaranth Amaranthus cruentus, cowpea Vigna unguiculata, spider plant Cleome gynandra, Ethiopian kale Brassica carinata) and a standard species commonly grown in Kenya (kale Brassica oleracea acephala group) were grown in nutrient solution at three rates of Fe supply (sub-optimal to induce Fe deficiency responses, optimal for growth, supra-optimal to test if Fe density in edible organs can be enhanced by additional Fe fertiliser application). Leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD-meter) and pH of the nutrient solution were measured at regular intervals to quantify shoot and root responses to Fe deficiency. At harvest, biomass and mineral nutrient concentrations were measured separately for roots, stems and leaves. The species markedly differed in their early root responses to Fe deficiency. Whereas in amaranth, proton extrusion from roots was significantly increased at low Fe supply compared to medium and high Fe supply, in spider plant and kale proton extrusion was not influenced by Fe supply. Fe concentrations in the plant dry mass strongly varied among plant organs and decreased in the order roots >> leaves > stems. In all organs, Fe concentrations were significantly affected by species. Concentrations in shoots varied from 17 (Ethiopian kale) to 39 mg Fe kg−1 dry mass (amaranth) at low Fe supply, and from 42 (Ethiopian kale) to 127 mg Fe kg−1 dry mass (cowpea) at high supply respectively Responses of Fe density in edible plant organs indicate that the potential for increasing the nutritional value of leafy vegetables by Fe fertilisation (biofortification) is largest in cowpea and spider plant.


Freshly prepared aqueous solutions of cigarette smoke suppressed the elastase inhibitory capacity (EIC) of the acid-stable proteinase inhibitor present in bronchial mucus (BMPi) and human seminal plasma (HUSI-I). Thin-layer gel-immunofiltration analysis of mixtures of smoke-treated BMPi and human leukocyte elastase showed decreased elastase: BMPi complexes, increased uncomplexed BMPi and increased free elastase. Phenolic antioxidants prevented the suppression of the EIC of BMPi or HUSI-I by cigarette smoke. In addition, treatment of BMPi or HUSI-I with chemical oxidants caused a similar suppression of EIC. Furthermore, treatment of BMPi or HUSI-I with the phagocyte-derived oxidizing system, myeloperoxidase + H2O2 + Cl-, suppressed EIC. Finally, the functional activity of BMPi was significantly reduced in tracheal aspirates of human smokers compared to that of nonsmokers. These results support the hypothesis that local inactivation of BMPi in the conducting airways of the lung by inhaled cigarette smoke or by phagocyte-derived oxidants may play a role in the pathogenesis of obstructive lung disease in smokers.


We compare the accuracy of three motif-finding algorithms for the discovery of novel transcription factor binding sites among co-regulated genes. One of the algorithms (YMF) uses a motif model tailored for binding sites and an enumerative search of the motif space, while the other two (MEME and AlignACE) use a more general motif model and local search techniques. The comparison is done on synthetic data with planted motifs, as well as on real data sets of co-regulated genes from the yeast S. cerevisiae. More often than not, the enumerative algorithm is found to be more accurate than the other two on the yeast data sets, though there is a noticeable exclusivity in the accuracy of the different algorithms. The experiments on synthetic data reveal, not surprisingly, that each algorithm outperforms the others when motifs are planted according to its motif model.


In the course of the past three centuries, much of Europe was transformed from an oral culture into one that was fundamentally grounded in the printed word. Print culture flowered for more than 200 years. However, thanks, in large part, to fundamental social changes, coupled with significant developments in writing technologies, the future of written culture as we have known it is increasingly in question. This paper identifies specific parameters that historically came to define written culture and considers the viability of these parameters in the new millennium. Particular emphasis is given to the role of the computer (and computer-based technologies) in reshaping our relationship with both the written and the printed word. While the discussion focuses on the United States, the paper's conclusions should resonate in other contemporary societies in which similar technological and social variables are at work.


Collecting rock and roll sheet music is an excellent (and different) way to enjoy popular songs -- and you don't have to know how to read music! This lively look at the songs and fashions that were all the rage in the Swingin Sixties is presented through over 630 color photos of sheet music from that remarkable decade. Many offer seldom-seen images of the band or recording artist and often include facts about the song composer or album as well. Popular styles such as Motown, R&B, surf, pop, and garage rock are represented, all from memorable groups like The Rolling Stones, Monkees, Beach Boys, Supremes, Doors, and of course, The Beatles. Collector hints, musical facts, and trivia appear along with current values, an index, and rare, foreign printings from the United Kingdom, Australia, and Italy. You'll be humming along and tapping your foot as you turn the pages of this nostalgic and visually exciting book!


Background Laparoscopic hepatectomy was initially reported in 1992. However, the reported experiences are scarce, and this operation has not been a standard procedure until now. The aims of this study were to assess our results of laparoscopy-assisted left lateral hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to compare them with those of open conventional procedures. Methods From 1984 to 2002, left lateral hepatectomy for HCC less than 5 cm in diameter was carried out in 21 patients. Ten patients received a laparoscopy-assisted procedure, and remaining 11 patients received an open procedure. Results There were no significant differences in the operation time, blood loss, resected liver weight, and resection margin between the 2 groups. The total time that analgesics were given, body temperature on postoperative day 1, weight loss on postoperative day 7, and postoperative hospital stay in the laparoscopic group were significantly better than in the conventional group. With regard to the long-term prognosis, there were no differences in patient survival or disease-free survival rates between the 2 groups. Conclusions Laparoscopy-assisted left lateral hepatectomy for HCC is superior to the conventional open surgery in terms of its short-term results and does not cause the long-term survival to deteriorate. Therefore, laparoscopic hepatectomy may be an alternative choice for treatment of HCC.


I The Confucian Classics and Christian Scriptures speak often about the role "the past" plays in shaping individual and communal character, life, perception, morality and purpose. In both Christianity and classical Confucianism, memory, rite and tradition are each accorded a central place in preserving and interpreting the past as a dynamic force in the present. The first part of this paper studies points of thematic similarity in Christian and Confucian interpretation of memory, rite and tradition. In the second part of the paper, however, critical points of divergence are addressed; for behind the formal similarities lie deeper intellectual, relational and moral differences in understanding the nature and function of "the past" in determining both the present and the future. Comparative literary analysis provides a rich resource for contemporary application of the Confucian Classics and Christian Scriptures to discussion of cultural memory and global harmony. The comparative reading of 'texts' also provides an important point of access for understanding the role literature itself plays in determining the form, content and power of memory, ritual and tradition in both Confucianism and Christianity.


This paper investigates the problem of the resilient control for cyber-physical systems (CPSs) in the presence of malicious sensor denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, which result in the loss of state information. The concepts of DoS frequency and DoS duration are introduced to describe the DoS attacks. According to the attack situation, that is, whether the attack is successfully implemented or not, the original physical system is rewritten as a switched version. A resilient sliding mode control scheme is designed to guarantee that the physical process is exponentially stable, which is a foundation of the main results. Then, a zero-sum game is employed to establish an effective mixed defense mechanism. Furthermore, a defense-based resilient sliding mode control scheme is proposed and the desired control performance is achieved. Compared with the existing results, the differences mainly lie in two aspects, that is, one where a switched model is obtained, based on which the average dwell-time like approach is utilized to derive the resilient control scheme, and the other where the zero-sum game in employed to make the attacks satisfy the concepts of DoS frequency and DoS duration. Finally, simulation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed resilient control approach.


Family conflict has several adverse impacts on caregivers. Thus, there is significant value in determining the prevalence and predictors of family conflict, which can enable the health care provider to intervene if family conflict arises during end‐of‐life care. Accordingly, we aimed to explore the prevalence and predictors of conflict among the families of patients with advanced cancer who died in palliative care units.


Aim: To assess the efficacy of vitamin E oral spray in pregnancy. Materials & methods: This was a retrospective study aimed to evaluate efficacy of vitamin E oral spray (vitamin E acetate in a medium chain tryglicerides vehicle – patented formulation) starting from the first trimester of pregnancy, with a control group. Results: A total of 100 women were included in the study and were compared with a matched control group. Only 25/200 women reported to have at least one teeth cleaning during pregnancy. Women who received the oral spray had a significantly lower risk of preterm birth compared with the control group, and lower risk of periodontal diseases. Conclusion: Use of oil-based vitamin E oral spray in pregnancy is associated with a decreased risk of periodontal diseases and therefore preterm birth.