Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is characterized by the accumulation of CD5+ B-lymphocytes that are long-lived in-vivo but die quickly by apoptosis when cultured in-vitro. The phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) cascade which is a critical component of survival signaling has increased activity in CLL lymphocytes as compared to normal B lymphocytes. There are three classes of PI3Ks of which class I is the most clearly implicated in human cancer. The PI3K-δ inhibitor, CAL-101, promotes apoptosis and abrogated protection from spontaneous apoptosis induced by CD40 in primary CLL lymphocytes in-vitro. Thus the PI3K pathway appears to play a critical role in B-CLL cell survival. BKM120 is a pan class I PI3K inhibitor developed by Novartis. Phase I trials demonstrated that plasma concentrations (Cmax) of 5 μM can be obtained. In view of the critical role of PI3K in CLL homeostasis, the activity of BKM120 was examined in CLL lymphocytes in-vitro. BKM120 was cytotoxic in the 3 CLL cell lines and in 78% of the primary B-CLL lymphocytes samples isolated from 65 B-CLL patients, including patients with del11 and del17. Interestingly, 60% of the B-CLL samples tested in our study have an IC50 below the Cmax. Furthermore, BKM120 cytotoxicity correlated with the basal expression of proteins involved in the PI3K/Akt pathway (Akt, rictor, raptor, p70S6K and 4E-BP1) but not with PTEN, mTor, IgVH or CD38 expression in these primary B-CLL lymphocytes. Further analysis of these different markers demonstrated that only patients very sensitive to BKM120 (IC50 ≤3 μM) expressed low basal levels of mTor, raptor and p70S6K simultaneously. Inhibition of PI3K was demonstrated by detection of phosphorylated Akt (S473) after BKM120 treatment in the cell lines. Molecular biomarkers such as p70S6K and 4E-BP1 have been used as indicators of PI3K pathway inhibition in-vivo. We also have demonstrated that BKM120 decreased the phosphorylation status of 4E-BP1 and p70S6K in the primary B-CLL lymphocytes tested. As detected by AnnexinV/propidium iodine staining and analysis of caspase-3 cleavage, BKM120 induced apoptosis in primary B-CLL cells culture in the presence and absence of stromal cell support.

Taken together, our results demonstrated that the class I PI3K inhibitor BKM120 may be useful as a single agent in CLL patients independently of their IgVh mutational status, CD38 expression or genomic deletions (del11 and del17). Furthermore, a combination of different biomarkers (expression of mTor, raptor, and p70S6K) may predict the response to BKM120 treatment. Also, BKM120 abolished the protection against apoptosis and drug resistance conferred by the microenvironment to the primary B-CLL lymphocytes in-vitro. Our preclinical study demonstrated that BKM120, a molecule with acceptable clinical toxicity, may be useful in the treatment for CLL.

Citation Format: Lilian Amrein, May Shawi, Jeremy Grenier, Raquel Aloys, Lawrence Panasci. Predictive markers of the in vitro anticancer effect of the pan class I PI3K inhibitor BKM120 in primary B-CLL lymphocytes. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 932. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-932


Home financing takes a large chunk of peoples' income. As alternatives to conventional interest-based home financing modes, several Islamic modes are currently in existence, the dominant among which are the al-Bay' Bithaman Ajil (BBA) and the Musharakah Mutanaqisah Partnership (MMP) contracts. The BBA is a murabahah contract, based on buy-and-sell principle while the MMP consists of a musharakah (partnership) contract and an ijarah (rental) contract where the equity of the financier follows a diminishing balance method. Scholars are consensus on the Shari'ah permissibility of the MMP contract, but nonetheless, are not consensus on the permissibility of the BBA contract. Middle Eastern scholars generally disapprove of the BBA, which on the contrary is popular in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei etc. This paper is a theoretical paper that compares these two contracts for the financing of assets, from Islamic and economic perspectives. The paper concludes that the MMP has several advantages over the BBA for the customer. Apart from being consensus Shari'ah-compliant, it can be made to avoid interest (riba) totally by means of using some rental or house price index while reducing the cost of homes and the duration of financing. The balance of financing, at any point in time, never exceeds the original price of the asset, unlike under the BBA where it can. When implemented through cooperatives, the MMP can also provide an investment avenue for members while not contributing to macroeconomic problems through the fractional reserve money creation process; and hence is argued to be consistent with the maqāsid al-Sharī'ah. The paper also provides a mathematical derivation note for the MMP.


AFS plays a prominent role in our plans for a mobile workstation. The AFS client manages a cache of the most recently used files and directories. But even when the cache is hot, access to cached data frequently involves some communication with one or more file servers to maintain consistency guarantees. Without network access, cached data is soon rendered unavailable.

We have modified the AFS cache manager to offer optimistic consistency guarantees when it can not communicate with a fileserver. When the client reestablishes a connection with the file server, it tries to propagate all file modifications to the server. If conflicts are detected, the replay agent notifies the user that manual resolution is needed.

Our system brings the benefits of contemporary distributed computing environments to mobile laptops, offering a fresh look at the potential for nomadic computing.


Updated, peer reviewed and published at Canadian Journal of Medicinehttps://cjm.cikd.ca/article_60573.html To date no treatment protocol of proven efficacy was approved to manage COVID-19. We have developed a novel COVID-19 immunomodulatory protocol basing on our early pioneering article that justified repurposing of nitazoxanide/azithromycin combination for early cases of COVID-19 which was followed by two articles to justify addition of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to nitazoxanide/azithromycin. We are presenting a prospective telemedicine protocol that managed more than 50 documented COVID-19 patients while fully presenting a case series of 36 patients/legal guardians COVID-19 Arab patients including 12 confirmed by PCR and 23 diagnosed by other measures. The patients included 14 adult males including an immunocompromised patient, 15 adult females including one lactating, 3 pregnant patients including one confirmed by PCR as well as 4 children. All patients have received a short 5-day-regimen of NSAIDs (diclofenac potassium in most of cases, ibuprofen, lornoxicam, meloxicam, celecoxib, naproxen, ketoprofen or ketorolac)/nitazoxanide/azithromycin +/- cefoperazone either in full or in part as illustrated in the manuscript. The primary endpoint of this protocol was full relief of all serious COVID-19 clinical manifestations and it was fully achieved in all patients within two weeks. Most of the patients treated early have fully recovered during its described five days; the leucocytic/lymphocytic count was significantly improved for those with prior leucopenia/lymphopenia. No significant adverse effects were reported. A novel 5-day-protocol to safely and effectively cure COVID-19 using repurposed immunomodulatory safe and inexpensive FDA approved drugs is illustrated and we recommend performing sufficiently powered double blind randomized clinical trials against any current standard protocol.


BACKGROUND
To study prospectively the activity of primary chemotherapy with cisplatin, fluorouracil and leucovorin (PFL) in patients with paranasal cancer receiving surgery and postoperative radiotherapy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Forty-nine patients, previously untreated, with resectable paranasal carcinoma were enrolled. PFL (leucovorin 250 mg/m2/day for 5 days as a 120 h continuous infusion (c.i.), 5-fluorouracil 800 mg/m2/day from day 2 as a 96 h c.i. and cisplatin 100 mg/m2 day 2 q 3 weeks) was planned for five courses.

RESULTS
Thirty-two patients (65%) completed three or more chemotherapy courses. Two deaths from thrombotic events were observed after the first cycle. Eight cardiac toxicities were recorded during chemotherapy causing treatment discontinuation. Objective response to PFL was observed in 21 patients [43%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 29% to 58%], including four complete responses (CRs) (8%; 95% CI 2% to 20%) and 17 partial responses (PRs) (35%). Pathological complete remission (pCR) was achieved in eight of 49 patients (16%). At 3 years, overall survival was 69% and event-free survival 57%. Overall and event-free survival in patients achieving pCR is 100%.

CONCLUSIONS
PFL is active in paranasal cancer. Patients who attain a pathological complete remission have a favorable prognosis. Cardiovascular complications represent the limiting toxicity. Primary chemotherapy combined with surgery-sparing treatment approaches deserves further investigation.


Creation and transformation of defects in single crystalline (001) oriented Si-Ge with about 5.6 at. % Ge content, containing oxygen interstitials, Oi's, at 9x1017cm-3 level, were investigated, after processing for 5 h at up to 1400 K (HT) under Ar pressure to 1.1 GPa (HP), by X-ray, synchrotron, infrared and photoluminescence methods. To create nucleation centres for Oi's precipitation, some samples were pre-annealed for 10 h at 1000 K under 105 Pa. HT-HP treatment at 1230/1400 K results in improved sample homogeneity and crystallographic perfection. HT-HP induced changes in Si-Ge are related mainly to HP-stimulated diffusivity of Ge.


Background Resolvin-D1 (RvD1) is a derivative of omega-3 fatty acids and a potent anti-inflammatory agent synthesized during the resolution phase of inflammation. In human cartilage, we recently reported that RvD1 strongly inhibited a number of factors involved in inflammation, catabolism, oxidative stress, and apoptosis. Objectives The overall objective of this study is to further investigate RvD1 effects on bone metabolism in vitro. Methods First, murine macrophages RAW267.4 were used to assess osteoclasts (OC) recruitment and bone resorption. RAW264.7 cells were incubated with 50 ng/ml LPS with or without RvD1 (0 - 10 μM) for 48 hours. Cell viability was verified with the MTS test. OC phenotype markers, namely TRAP and cathepsin-K, were assessed by western blot, enzymatic staining and immunocytochemistry. Levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, were measured by ELISA, and PGE2 levels by EIA. NO release was measured by Greiss reaction. To investigate bone resorption, RAW264.7 cells were seeded in hydroxyapatite plates, then treated with 50 ng/ml LPS with or without RvD1 (0.5 and 1 μ M) for 48 hours. Plot formation was assessed by Von Kossa staining. Second, human osteoblasts (Ob) were obtained from post-surgery discarded trabecular bone of osteoarthritic (OA) patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty. First passage human OA Ob were treated either with RvD1 (0.1 - 1 μM) alone, or with 20 nM VitD3 with or without RvD1 (0.1 - 1 μ M), for 48 hours. Cell viability was evaluated with the MTS test. Alkaline phosphatase (PAL) activity and osteocalcin (OCN) release was determined by colorimetric reaction and ELISA, respectively. Results In RAW264.7 cells, our results clearly show that RvD1 strongly reduces OC recruitment and activation as indicated by the inhibition of TRAP and cathepsin K expression as well as TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, PGE2 and NO release, as well as the concurrent enhancement of IL-10 levels. Besides, RvD1 decreases bone resorption through the inhibition of plots formation in hydroxyapatite matrix. In human OA Ob, RvD1 partially decreases VitD3-induced PAL activity, while it maintains OCN expression at control levels. Conclusions Our in vitro results clearly show that RvD1 may play an important role in the regulation of bone metabolism. Additionally to our previous data, our findings suggest that RvD1 may offer a novel and original perspective to make a real contribution to musculoskeletal and bone diseases therapy. Acknowledgements This study was supported by Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) grant (#IMH 131570) and by the Center of Excellence for Arthroplasty Research. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Tetraploidy was induced in embryos of Rurlifapesppliilippinarum by treating thc ggs with cytochalasin Il (CI%). Two trcatment times were found to bc effective in inducing tetraploidy: O to 10 minutes afler inscmination (beforc formation of the lirst polar body) and 45 minutes after insemination Gust before the first cleavage). Treatments, started 5 and 45 minutes after inscmination, produccd 64.42 7.8% and 28.3i2.3% tetraploid embqos, respectively, after 6 hours (on the averagc over 3 experiments). IIowcver, no tetraploids were detected in 4-month-old spat. Spcrm entry delayed by thc CB could be involved in induction of tetraploidy by early treatment. Key~ords : Cytochalasin B, tctraploidy, bivalve, Ruditapes philippinarum.


We argue that the Correlates of War dataset on sovereign state membership has two weaknesses: a requirement that states maintain diplomatic relations with Britain and France, and a size inconsistency that disqualifies many mid-sized states in the pre-1920 period. As a consequence, entire state systems are excluded from the data, and the total number of states during the nineteenth century is undercounted. After reviewing two other approaches to identifying states, we offer an alternative set of criteria that identifies 100 completely new cases, and a total of 363 states between 1816 and 2011. These modifications reveal several previously overlooked patterns. Most importantly, the global trend in the number of states over time is concave. From a high of 134 in 1816, states declined precipitously in the mid-nineteenth century through the processes of accession, conquest, and unification. This pattern of state consolidation bottomed out in 1912, and states have proliferated since 1945. However, the pattern of state death and state birth varied by region in the nineteenth century. Whereas the state systems of South Asia and Southeast Asia experienced a steady reduction in the number of states, Africa underwent a more dynamic process of state formation, consolidation, and death.


This thesis presents the design, fabrication and characterisation of a thermal micro-sensor capable of operating on small scale samples. It was initially characterised by measuring the thermal conductivity of 100 μl liquid droplets and thin materials (sheets of paper) before being applied to the measurement of the water content of plant leaves. The device consists of a micro-heater and two thin-film thermocouples formed on a flexible polyimide substrate and used microfabrication techniques to precisely pattern the sensing elements.
The heater was used to induce a temperature gradient within a sample in contact with the device, which was recorded as a difference in temperature (ΔT) between the two thermocouples. Various experiments have demonstrated that ∆T was dependent on the total thermal resistance (consisting of the bulk thermal conductivity and thermal contact resistance) of the sample under inspection. The device's sensitivity to bulk thermal conductivity was shown by recording the variation in ∆T for 100 μl droplets of glycerine/water mixtures. Different compositions of the mixture served as thermal conductivity standards. The measurement of mixtures of propanol/water further demonstrated that the device could be used to indirectly monitor the composition of small volume binary solutions by measurement of the thermal conductivity.
By monitoring the thermal conductivity of wetted paper, it was shown that the device was sensitive to the increase in the total thermal resistance as the paper dried out. Furthermore, theoretical and experimental drying times were in agreement and exhibited a similar dependence on the air temperature. This provided clear evidence of the device's ability to monitor thermal conductivity of small samples.
The final element of this work was the real-time monitoring of the water content of plant leaves. The device was clamped to an abscised leaf which was allowed to dry over a period of 6 hours. A comparison between the weight of the leaf and ∆T measurements showed a linear dependence. It was found that the changes in thermal properties were dominated by the water content of the leaf. The device was subsequently shown to be sensitive to changes in the water content of the leaves of plants subjected to water stress conditions, demonstrating its ability to monitor the real-time water content in-situ.


Pulses from a 10 PW laser are predicted to produce large numbers of gamma-rays and electron–positron pairs on hitting a solid target. However, a pair plasma, if it accumulates in front of the target, may partially shield it from the pulse. Using stationary, one-dimensional solutions of the two-fluid (electron–positron) and Maxwell equations, including a classical radiation reaction term, we examine this effect in the hole-boring scenario. We find the collective effects of a pair plasma 'cushion' substantially reduce the reflectivity, converting the absorbed flux into high-energy gamma-rays. There is also a modest increase in the laser intensity needed to achieve threshold for a non-linear pair cascade.


The philosophy of Kant reveals, as he expressed it, a "awakening of the Dogmatic Dream", which is based on a copernicanic twist in Western philosophy. This article displays some reflections on this philosophical turn that can be understood in the link between body, timespace and language, where the poetic formulas: the time is out of its hinges, I am another and the deepest of the human is the skin, allow To open a comprehensive panorama of the problem of reason, understanding and sensibility of Kantian transcendental aesthetics. Therefore, the Copernicanic Giro advocated by Kant is guided by his premise according to which "we only know of things what we ourselves put in them" (Critique of Pure Reason), deriving in the problem on the conditions of possibility of knowledge Expressed in the relationship between body, time-space and language. From this last point of view, there is an analysis of the schematism Kantian and the Diagramatismo Foucault in what could be thought of as what beats in the corporeality of an inhabiting the world in what we project of ourselves in the margins of the Language.


The following case is reported because of the unique presentation and diagnostic problem the patient presented. This is the first reported instance of emphysema of the leg caused by toothpick perforation, and the first case resulting from perforation of the small intestine. Report of a Case A 51-year-old white male bartender, was admitted to Milwaukee County General Hospital on Dec 1, 1967, because of increasing lethargy. He had been in good health until five days prior to admission when he developed diarrhea, vomiting, and malaise. Within 24 hours, his appetite improved and he experienced no further gastrointestinal symptoms. He continued to be weak and fell two days prior to admission but sustained no apparent injury. On the morning of admission, he appeared lethargic and, within six hours, he was unresponsive. His only previous hospitalization was two years earlier for treatment of chronic dermatitis of his right lower leg. On admission,


Differences in oxygen isotope compositions between quartz and alkali feldspar in partially melted pelitic and semipelitic rocks from the aureole of the Ballachulish igneous complex (Scotland) range from relatively normal values of 1‰ down to nonequilibrium reversed values of -0.7‰. Normally, an open- system process (i.e., fluid infiltration after crystallization) would be invoked to explain such reversed values. However, application of a closed-system model to these rocks shows that the observed isotopic differences are actually consistent with such behavior. In this case, no fluid infiltration is required to explain the observed oxygen isotope compositions.


Global positioning system (GPS) devices have been considered as a substitute for conventional travel diaries for some time. However, only in the past year has a serious effort been made to trial replacement of travel diaries with GPS. GPS devices are very accurate at recording the time and positional characteristics of travel, but cannot record travel modes, trip purposes, or number of occupants in private vehicles, all of which are important attributes normally acquired in a household travel survey. The authors of this paper have developed software that is able to deduce the missing data from a combination of the GPS records, other data collected from respondents, and data available in GIS records. However, the level of accuracy has not been checked. As part of an ongoing GPS-only survey, a prompted recall survey is being conducted on a sample of households. In this paper, we report on comparisons between the results from the processing software and the prompted recall web survey, with respect to identifying trips, modes and purposes of travel, and number of household members travelling together. These results will be used subsequently to develop refinements to the processing software.


Understanding where people are looking is an informative social cue. In this work, we present Gaze360, a large-scale remote gaze-tracking dataset and method for robust 3D gaze estimation in unconstrained images. Our dataset consists of 238 subjects in indoor and outdoor environments with labelled 3D gaze across a wide range of head poses and distances. It is the largest publicly available dataset of its kind by both subject and variety, made possible by a simple and efficient collection method. Our proposed 3D gaze model extends existing models to include temporal information and to directly output an estimate of gaze uncertainty. We demonstrate the benefits of our model via an ablation study, and show its generalization performance via a cross-dataset evaluation against other recent gaze benchmark datasets. We furthermore propose a simple self-supervised approach to improve cross-dataset domain adaptation. Finally, we demonstrate an application of our model for estimating customer attention in a supermarket setting. Our dataset and models will be made available at http://gaze360.csail.mit.edu.


At the beginning of this reaction, 1 molecule of 'pPF2K-Pase complex' is present. At the end of this reaction, 1 molecule of 'Orthophosphate', and 1 molecule of 'PF2K-Pase1 homodimer' are present. This reaction takes place in the 'cytosol' and is mediated by the 'phosphatidate phosphatase activity' of 'PP2A-ABdeltaC complex'.


OBJECTIVE
The capsular extent of traumatic hepatic lacerations may be limited to the bare area of the liver--an area not covered by peritoneal reflection. In these cases, intraperitoneal bleeding may not occur, classic peritoneal findings may be absent, and results of diagnostic peritoneal lavage may be normal. We undertook a study to evaluate the frequency, CT appearance, and significance of injury of the bare area of the liver.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed radiologic reports of 1469 hemodynamically stable trauma patients referred for abdominal CT between January 1986 and September 1992 and selected 155 patients whose CT reports indicated hepatic injury. Retrospective review of the abdominal CT scans of these 155 patients confirmed intrahepatic laceration or contusion in all of them. The study involved the 25 (16%) patients in whom the capsular extent of injury was limited to the bare area of the liver.

RESULTS
In all cases, CT scans showed simple or complex lacerations involving predominantly or exclusively the posterior segment of the right hepatic lobe, with capsular extent limited to the superomedial hepatic surface. Abnormal retroperitoneal findings were present in all but two cases. Twenty-two (88%) of 25 patients had right-sided retroperitoneal hemorrhage or fluid collections; adrenal hematoma or periadrenal fluid was seen in 12 (48%) patients. Abnormal pericaval fluid collections were present in nine (36%). Only five (20%) patients had free intraperitoneal fluid. Diagnostic peritoneal lavage, performed as a correlative procedure in four patients, revealed intraabdominal hemorrhage in one, equivocal findings in one, and normal findings in two. Patients who had isolated injuries of the bare area of the liver did well clinically and were discharged after an uneventful hospital stay of an average of 3 days (range, 2-7 days).

CONCLUSION
A small percentage of hemodynamically stable patients who have hepatic trauma may have lacerations that primarily involve the bare area and that are not suspected clinically or detected by diagnostic peritoneal lavage. In these patients, CT may be helpful to show the extent of liver injury, identify associated retroperitoneal abnormalities, and provide prognostic information.


Abstract Hydration of the <1 μm size fraction of SWy-1 source clay (low-charge montmorillonite) was studied by modeling of X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns recorded under controlled relative humidity (RH) conditions on Li-, Na-, K-, Mg-, Ca-, and Sr-saturated specimens. The quantitative description of smectite hydration, based on the relative proportions of different layer types derived from the fitting of experimental XRD patterns, was consistent with previous reports of smectite hydration. However, the coexistence of smectite layer types exhibiting contrasting hydration states was systematically observed, and heterogeneity rather than homogeneity seems to be the rule for smectite hydration. This heterogeneity can be characterized qualitatively using the standard deviation of the departure from rationality of the 00l reflection series (ξ), which is systematically larger than 0.4 Å when the prevailing layer type accounts for ~70% or less of the total layers (~25% of XRD patterns examined). In addition, hydration heterogeneities are not distributed randomly within smectite crystallites, and models describing these complex structures involve two distinct contributions, each containing different layer types that are interstratifed randomly. As a result, the different layer types are partially segregated in the sample. However, these two contributions do not imply the actual presence of two populations of particles in the sample. XRD profile modeling also has allowed the refinement of structural parameters, such as the location of interlayer species and the layer thickness corresponding to the different layer types, for all interlayer cations and RH values. From the observed dependence of the latter parameter on the cation ionic potential (v/r; v = cation valency and r = ionic radius) and on RH, the following equations were derived: Layer thickness (1W) = 12.556 + 0.3525 × (v/r . 0.241) × (v × RH . 0.979) Layer thickness (2W) = 15.592 + 0.6472 × (v/r . 0.839) × (v × RH . 1.412) which allow the quantification of the increase of layer thickness with increasing RH for both 1W (one water) and 2W (two water) layers. In addition, for 2W layers, interlayer H2O molecules are probably distributed as a unique plane on each side of the central interlayer cation. This plane of H2O molecules is located at ~1.20 Å from the central interlayer cation along the c* axis


Cimadronate (YM175) is a novel bisphosphonate with potent inhibitory activity on bone resorption under development for the treatment of tumor-induced hypercalcemia, metastatic bone disease and osteoporosis. We conducted intravenous single and repeated dose toxicity studies of cimadronate in beagle dogs. In the single dose study, animals received a single dose of 0.3, 1, 3 or 10 mg/kg of cimadronate and the animals were observed for at least 14 days. At 10 mg/kg, both the male and female dog showed toxic signs such as vomiting, decreased locomotor activities and hypothermia and were killed in extremis within a week after dosing. In the 30-day study, animals received cimadronate at a dosage of 0 (vehicle), 0.03, 0.1, 0.3 or 1 mg/kg/day. At 0.03 mg/kg/day or more, histological findings indicated an increased amount of primary spongiosa in the rib and ilium. At 1 mg/kg/day, degenerative nephropathy, aggregation of spermatozoa and glandular hypoplasia of the prostate gland were observed. On day 16 of dosing one male animal died of acute renal failure. In the 26-week study, animals received cimadronate once weekly at a dosage of 0 (vehicle), 0.31, 0.62, or 1.25 mg/kg. Histopathological examination showed an increased amount of primary spongiosa in the rib at all dosage levels. In addition, similar findings were observed in the lumbar vertebrae at 1.25 mg/kg/week. Histopathological changes in the kidney and male reproductive organs were not observed.


Abstract In the Calatrava province of central Spain, numerous Quaternary pyroclastic vents have erupted carbonatite magmas carrying silicate melt fragments, mantle debris and megacrysts. Lava flows are rare. Maar and scoria deposits have carbonate matrices and pass into tuff sheets with carbonate contents >50%, which are spread widely away from the eruptive centres and constitute the most abundant form of effusive carbonate. Immense quantities of mantle debris are present in the erupted material. The tuffs have a distinctive fabric, which consists of a pale matrix carrying black silicate glass clasts that contain globules of immiscible carbonate and carbonate phenocrysts. There is evidence of similar volcanism in the Limagne province of central France and in other intra-continental provinces in Europe and Africa. About 500 vents have been identified in France and Spain: all the vents examined to date have erupted carbonatite magma. Such eruptions are not generally recognized in classical volcanology. As pyroclastic carbonatite was not previously recognized in Spain and France, a detailed examination of other mafic and ultramafic alkaline provinces, where research has traditionally concentrated on lava flows, is vital. For any search to be successful, evidence from the pyroclastic rocks will be required.


The following
investigations were conducted to evaluate grassy strips of different age for organic
arable fields. From September 2009 to October 2010, adult ground beetles were
sampled by pitfall traps in three grassy strips (2, 4, and 9 years old), their
adjacent cropping areas, their field edges, and a control field (age 0) in
Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany. Carabid assemblages were similar among
the fields, strips and edges. Grassy strips and edges had higher species
richness and lower activity density than the control field. Activity density increased
with increasing distance from the field edge in grassy strips and in the
adjacent fields. In cropping areas, species richness andShannon's
H increased with increasing age of strips, whereas evenness and activity
density decreased with increasing distance from the field edges. Compared to
carnivorous and phytophagous carbides, omnivorous species were affected less by
age of strips and distance from field margins. In the strips, species richness
of the dominant species increased with age and decreased with distance, but the
effect of strip age on species richness was still found in more than150 mfrom the margin. A positive effect
of the age of grassy strips on species richness was found for cropping fields,
grassy strips and field edges. Old grassy strips also exerted greater influence
on the species richness and biodiversity of the adjacent arable fields than the
younger strips.


The European Union's common public sphere project dates back to the 1960s and relies on Europeanisation through the gradual eradication of communication boundaries between its member countries. However, it is evident by now that Europeanisation of national public spheres is hard to achieve by increasing overlaps between national public spheres, synchronisation of news reporting across national boundaries, or diffusion of Europeanist norms into national politics. The European Union's common public sphere project may hence be in danger. This calls for explorations of other imaginable models of the public sphere for Europe. Are there traces of other modes of transnational public sphere emerging in Europe? In this article, we explore a models of the transnational public sphere which is based on an alternative concept of Europeanisation derived from the cleavage theory. By drawing on social media data and employing tools of social network analysis, we demonstrate the empirical possibility of a cleavage model of the European public sphere.


IN NON-OILY AND FREE-FLOWING FORM A major environmental problem in food, feed, and biodiesel industries is how to deal with their oily byproducts and wastes, which are in oily and viscous liquid form and easy to be rancid. There are many food, feed and biofuel processing plants in the US, which produce million tons of the oily byproducts and waste every year. The oily wastes are usually disposed onto or into land, which causes environmental pollution. Another way is to use heat and separate the wastes into low-value fat materials in paste form for feed applications. Unfortunately the process is not cost effective and does not cover the processing costs. Also the paste fat materials need to be heated into low-viscosity liquid before the applications, which need more energy to be used. Manufacturers prefer to dispose these wastes as a low cost method, which is not a long-term solution both practically and environmentally. We have developed two novel encapsulated processes to encapsulate the non-polar materials in liquid and oily form and to convert into the dry fat products in non-oily and free-flowing form and to increase the number of applications for such as (1) fat energy products in solid form for dairy, pork, poultry and aquaculture feeds; (2) a binder for heating processes and (3) a stabilizer in plastic product production. The fat products in solid form are easily handled, delivered and applied with significantly added value. If the proposed methodology is used for the industries to convert the oily wastes into the solid fat products, this would resolve above problem and add more than hundred millions/year. Our research and scale up were done. We filed patent applications after demonstrating the feasibility of the technologies. Then commercialization was done with related manufacturer and customers. Now our facility in MO produces the value-added product in dry non-oily and free-flowing form from the oily materials in liquid form for resolving the problems and economic development.


Almost all public-sector organisations in Bangladesh now offer online services through web applications, along with the existing channels, in their endeavour to realise the dream of a 'Digital Bangladesh'. Nations across the world have joined the online environment thanks to training and awareness initiatives by their government. File sharing and downloading activities using web applications have now become very common, not only ensuring the easy distribution of different types of files and documents but also enormously reducing the time and effort of users. Although the online services that are being used frequently have made users' life easier, it has increased the risk of exploitation of local file disclosure (LFD) vulnerability in the web applications of different public-sector organisations due to unsecure design and careless coding. This paper analyses the root cause of LFD vulnerability, its exploitation techniques, and its impact on 129 public-sector websites in Bangladesh by examining the use of manual black box testing approach.


Detecting life-threatening diseases is a major challenge in biomedicine, as it requires pathogen identication on the molecular level. One promising detection strategy relies on attaching molecular probes to nanoparticles (NPs), which support localised surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). Probe-functionalised NPs can then detect molecular DNA-binding events via a macroscopic change in their optical response. Until now, NP-sensing schemes have been primarily implemented using planar substrates, requiring complex launching techniques and cost-intensive microscopy. An alternative approach adopted in this work involves inltrating optical bres with NPs allowing LSPR excitation and spectral multiplexing within one device. The principle idea relies on probing deposited plasmonic NPs by propagating optical fibre modes, leading to hybrid plasmonic-photonic fibres for biosensing. An important class of innovative bres exploited in this work are microstructured optical bres (MOFs) containing longitudinally invariant microstructures. These structures enable unprecedented adjustment of light matter interaction resulting in a high degree of sensitivity and an optofluidic environment ideally suited for biochemical application. In this thesis optofluidic channels are integrated in direct proximity to the light guiding core, boosting the light-analyte interaction length by orders of magnitude. This concept thus represents a multiscale approach, fundamentally connecting the microscopic level via LSPR-mediated sensing with the macroscopic world using MOFs leading to a novel and unexplored sensor platform. This study shows that combining plasmonic-bre waveguides with microuidics yields a highly integrated, reusable, optouidic interface for efcient refractive index sensing with outlook for DNA diagnostics. This unique combination is extremely attractive from both device and clinical point of view, as the flexible handling of optical fibres principally enables in-vivo application.


We examined the role of prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) in the formation of E-selectin following inter-leukin-1 (IL-1) stimulation in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) transfected with lipocaline-type PGD2 synthase (L-PGDS) genes. HUVEC were isolated from human umbilical vein and incubated with 20 U/mL IL-1 and various concentrations of authentic PGD2. The isolated HUVEC were also transfected with L-PGDS genes by electroporation. The L-PGDS-transfected HUVEC were used to investigate the role of endogenous PGD2 in IL-1-stimulated E-selectin biosynthesis. We also used an anti-PGD2 antibody to examine whether an intracrine mechanism was involved in E-selectin production. PGD2 and E-selectin levels were determined by radio-immunoassay and enzyme- immunoassay, respectively. E-selectin mRNA was assessed by real-time RT-PCR. IL-1-stimulated E-selectin production by HUVEC was dose-dependently inhibited by authentic PGD2 at concentrations greater than 10–6 mol/L. L-PGDS gene-transfected HUVEC produced more PGD2 than HUVEC transfected with the reporter gene alone. IL-1 induced increases in E-selectin production in HUVEC transfected with the reporter genes alone. However, this effect was significantly attenuated in the case of IL-1 stimulation of HUVEC trans-fected with L-PGDS genes, and accompanied by an apparent suppression of E-selectin mRNA expression. Neutralization of extracellular PGD2 by anti-PGD2- specific antibody influenced neither E-selectin mRNA expression nor E-selectin biosynthesis. HUVEC transfected with L-PGDS genes showed increased PGD2 synthesis. This increase was associated with attenuation of both E-selectin generation and E-selectin mRNA expression. The results suggest that endogenous PGD2 decreases E-selectin synthesis and E-selectin mRNA expression, probably through an intracrine mechanism.


Introduction: Pre-school orthoptic vision screening (POVS) was implemented by the Scottish government and is a standardised assessment to promote early detection of visual problems in children. The target conditions are amblyopia, refractive errors and strabismus. We present the preliminary findings for the first three years of the screening program. Methods: The data from POVS was collected retrospectively. The data includes screening years 2013 to 2016 inclusive. Data was collected from each health board in Scotland. We report the coverage, referral rate, true positives and positive predictive values. Results: A total of 167,962 children were due to have vision screening over the 3 screening years included in this paper. This figure does not include the children that opted out of the eye test (mean opt-out rate 1.8%) and children that already attend the hospital eye service (mean already attend rate 3.1%). The POVS program had a mean coverage of 85.5%, ranging from 63.7% to 94.8% between health boards. Over the 3 year screening period, the mean referral rate was found to be 17.9%. The mean true positive rate was 88.9%, and the mean positive predictive value was 86.9%. Conclusion: The Scottish data set on pre-school orthoptic vision screening has shown excellent mean coverage. A consistently high true positive rate over the three screening years demonstrates it is a sensitive screening program, which is essential for the detection of visual problems in children.


This paper looks at the use of the standard and the vernacular in the Moroccan novel Qiṣṣat ḥadīqat al-ḥayawān (The Zoo Story) by Youssef Fadel. It demonstrates that the writer uses the vernacular as an ideological stance, and to comment on political predicaments, domestic and global. I argue that the use of the two varieties are used along ideological lines, not as each other's opposite, but to put each other into relief, and that they are competing for hegemony rather than being in a static relationship.


The discovery of breast cancer (BC) predisposing genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, is apparently the most impressive example of the triumph of translational medical research. BRCA1 and BRCA2 were initially identified through the linkage analysis of uniquely large cancer pedigrees, but their contribution to BC and ovarian cancer (OC) morbidity turned out to extend beyond clearly familial cancer cases: indeed, frequency of BRCA1 and BRCA2 germ-line mutations approaches close to 10% in BC and 15% in OC patients, being even higher when the affected women are selected for young age, presence of multiple tumors, specific tumor histology, etc. BRCA1 and BRCA2 play a role in cancer incidence worldwide, although significant country- and ethnicity-specific variations in frequency and spectrum of these mutations are recognized. Great efforts were invested into the estimation of BRCA1- and BRCA2-associated disease risks; based on these calculations, appropriate guidelines for BC/OC screening and prevention were formulated and subjected to clinical validation. Finally, novel drugs, which were intentionally designed to target vulnerabilities in BRCA1/2-driven cancers, recently entered clinical practice. Virtually all current standards of clinical management of healthy people and cancer patients carrying BRCA1/2 germ-line mutations rely on solid medical evidence (1-4).


Archaeology of Spanish Civil War (SCW) is an emerging subfield within the discipline which present a challenging set of problems about our knowledge of recent past and specifically modern warfare. In this way, the starting point of this paper arises from the question of applying what British school of later historical archaeology call the "defamiliarization" process of the superficially famiiar recent past to interpret recent sites.  The aim of this paper is to present the methodological and theoretical framework developed to study the airfields of the Spanish Republican Air Forces in Penedes Region (Spain) which were surveyed from 2008 to 2010 by metal detector and combined (GPR and gradiometer) geophysical prospection. Different buildings part of each airfield complex were recorded for a better understanding as well as using textual sources and historical air photographies. All this information was integrated in Geographic Information System (GIS) for synthesis and interpretation. What we argue here is that an archaeological approach to aviation materiality could provide us new insights into the study of Air Warfare. In order to understand it, we have to take into account our use of defamiliarizing. Furthermore, historical background needs to be considered. In this sense, b etween 1936 and 1939, the Republican Air Force created a large and heterogeneous network of almost 400 airfields scattered throughout the peninsula: some of them were built with this purpose; others reused civilians airfields and airports made in the 1920s. It was in the SCW when the role of air power completely switched in terms of technology, strategies and tactics in a short period of time: emblematic examples are the extensive use of bombings against civilian population and the assessment in aerial photography. In this sense, it was evident, from this moment, that aerial war and aerial attacks would be a key point in the development of conflicts, so we can argue SCW represents a culminating phase in the emergence of modern warfare. However, traditional historical research has often underestimated the role of republican aviation. What we want to show here is the study of the materiality of sites linked to aviation could show the impact of air warfare in the territory. In fact, there are many remains from this network which are remarkably preserved. Characteristics of the sites surveyed have a significant role for selecting methodology. Thus, because of the extension of the surface area of this sites and the fact stratigraphical record is not found, these were surveyed by metal detector and all the objects were georeferenced using a GPS what allow us to apply statistical analysis in order to better understand the organization of these places. Relevant results from the excavations of this airfields are discussed with the purpose of finding common patterns of use of space.


Background The province of Jujuy is located in a seismic zone with increasing activity. It is essential that your people know how to act in emergencies and know first-aid; key then is to teach and strengthen the community first responders. Methods courses of theoretical and practical training in medical first aid are made: for university students and representatives of NGOs to increase the number of "Health Lifeguards: trained to train" that expand the coverage and call this training to all the population of the Province of Jujuy. Courses are taught from the race for Health Educator, Faculty of humanities and social sciences. They have zero cost to those who perform and is planned for 1200 graduation trainers, which will allow the creation of 240 training teams for training gives coverage to the whole province of Jujuy. The political-economic framework is guaranteed by agreements concluded between the National University of Jujuy and the Secretariat of the Community Protection of the Ministry of Government of the Province of Jujuy . Results In 2014 certified 235 university students and NGO representatives as "Lifeguard Health trained to train" in 2015 training is extended to members of social and sporting institutions, neighbourhood and social organisations and members of non-formal education, with 456 students for certified "Lifeguard Health: trained to train" strengthening Courses are conducted in "First responder" to police, firefighters and civil protection and first responders, granting 95 certifications. Conclusions The general population and in particular the first respondent properly trained how to act in an emergency, helps reduce fatal consequences and the consequences of the same, reducing YPLL injuries and disabilities.


Automatic Directory Assistance (DA) for business listings poses many application specific problems. One of the main problem is that customers formulate their requests for the same listing with a great variability. This paper presents the results of a study aiming at the evaluation of an approach towards automatic learning, from field data, of expressions typically used by customers to formulate their requests for the most frequent business listings. We use a clustering procedure that exploits the association of the phonetic string produced by a lexical unconstrained search for a given denomination pronounced by the user and the phone number provided by the system or by the human operator, in case of failure of the automatic DA service. We show that an unsupervised approach allows to detect user formulations that were not foreseen by the designers, and that can be added, as variants, to the denominations already included in the system to reduce its failures.


Infrared (IR) spectroscopy is a broadly applicable, composition sensitive analytical technique. By leveraging the high spatial resolution of atomic force microscopy (AFM), the photothermal effect, and wavelength-tunable lasers, AFM-IR enables IR spectroscopy and imaging with nanoscale (< 10 nm) resolution. The transduction of a sample's photothermal expansion by an AFM probe tip ensures the proportionality between the AFM-IR signal and the sample absorption coefficient, producing images and spectra that are comparable to far-field IR databases and easily interpreted. This convergence of characteristics has spurred robust research efforts to extend AFM-IR capabilities and, in parallel, has enabled AFM-IR to impact numerous fields. In this tutorial review, we present the latest technical breakthroughs in AFM-IR spectroscopy and imaging and discuss its working principles, distinctive characteristics, and best practices for different AFM-IR measurement paradigms. Central to this review, appealing to both expert practitioners and novices alike, is the meticulous understanding of AFM-IR signal transduction, which is essential to take full advantage of AFM-IR capabilities. Here, we critically compile key information and discuss instructive experiments detailing AFM-IR signal transduction and provide guidelines linking experimental parameters to the measurement sensitivity, lateral resolution, and probed depth. Additionally, we provide in-depth tutorials on the most employed AFM-IR variants (resonance-enhanced and tapping mode AFM-IR), discussing technical details and representative applications. Finally, we briefly review recently developed AFM-IR modalities (peak force tapping IR and surface sensitivity mode) and provide insights on the next exciting opportunities and prospects for this fast-growing and evolving field.


279 Background: Oral chemotherapy is a progressively growing portion of antineoplastic agents. Although convenient for the patient, it creates a unique challenges for the drug complacency and safety. To address these issues variety of programs and solutions were proposed, ranging from the smart pill bottles and mobile phone applications to telemedicine monitoring programs. This presentation describes development and implementation of the integrated monitoring program within a large health care system and assess impact of this program on patients safety and compliance. Methods: This is a retrospective, quasi-experimental study that compared outcomes of the patients treated with capecitabine, before and after implementation of OCMP (Oral Chemotherapy Management Program) in the Henry Ford Health System. The primary outcome was incidence of all grade and specifically grade 3-4 toxicities commonly associated with capecitabine. Secondary outcomes included emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations due to toxicity, adherence rates, and number of clinical interventions. Results: The incidence of adverse effects of Any Grade was significantly lower in the post-OCMP group compared to pre-OCMP group (70.3% vs 58.9%; 95% CI, 0.39-0.94; P = 0.03). All grade and grade 3-4 nausea, vomiting and diarrhea along with grade 3-4 hand-foot syndrome were significantly lower in the post-OCMP group, as well as decreased ED visits (18.9% vs. 8.6%; P = 0.005) and hospitalizations due to toxicities (17.1% vs. 6.3%; P = 0.002). The study also found higher adherence rates in the post-OCMP group. In the post-OCMP period, more than 50% of the patients required clinical interventions by OCMP nurse, mostly for side effect management. Conclusions: Administration of capecitabine on OCMP reduced rate of higher grade adverse events, most likely due to early intervention. OCMP implementation was associated with decreased rate of ED visits and hospitalizations due to the side effects. Patients who were managed by OCMP had higher adherence rates to the prescribed oral chemotherapy.


Intervention in an international proceeding is only permissible with the consent of the parties to a case, expressed either as a general consent for a certain category of matters or as a specific consent for a particular case or a particular request for intervention. Treaty practice demonstrates this point. The UNCLOS, including Annex VII, does not contain such consent (more in terms of general consent if at all) to intervention in an Annex VII arbitral proceeding, although intervention is possible by separate consent if given by the parties in an act additional to the UNCLOS. Article 5 of Annex VII authorizing rule-making does not extend so far as to allow an Annex VII arbitral tribunal to make, without the consent of the parties, a rule that would permit intervention. Nor does such a tribunal have any inherent power or jurisdiction — independent of the consent of the parties in a case — that would allow it to permit intervention without the consent of the parties. Any innovation in this area will bring great harm to the institution of international arbitration under the UNCLOS and generally.


In this paper I want to approach the theme of "globalization and Japan" from the standpoint of constitutional studies. Constitutions and constitutionalism are important means of reining in political power, and in the modern sovereign state system, constitutions and constitutionalism have been conceived on the level of single states. However, as many scholars have observed, one can see the global spread of power in, for example, the worldwide deployment of the US military using overseas bases throughout the world, and the worldwide activities of transnational corporations based in the US, Europe, and Japan. In sum, this is the global spread of military and social power. It is urgent that we rein in this global power. Although controlling power through single-state-level constitutions and constitutionalism is perhaps still the most important priority, we must also consider the possibilities of global constitutionalism or regional constitutionalism now when power is spreading globally. This paper will explore global constitutionalism, which is now the subject of vigorous discussion for those concerned with global governance. Finally, the paper will link global constitutionalism with the pacifism in Japan's constitution.


Antigen applied to the epidermis of 4-day-old mice results in antigen specific
immune suppression and is linked to a decrease in the amount of antigen transported
to the draining lymph node by epidermal Langerhans cells (LC). It was therefore
proposed that a decrease in receptor-mediated endocytosis was responsible for the
reduced antigen transport by the LC. Consequently the aims of this study were to
characterise the expression of antigen uptake receptors during development of
neonatal mice, evaluate their capacity to internalise antigens via receptor-mediated
and fluid phase uptake and to assess antigen proteolysis and MHC-II complexing
following exposure to maturation stimuli.
Langerhans cells isolated from 4-day-old epidermis express reduced levels of the Ctype
lectin receptors DEC-205 and Langerin in comparison to LC isolated from 6-
week-old epidermis. Despite this reduction neonatal LC were efficient in the uptake
of the mannosylated antigen FITC-dextran. When incubated in the presence of the
macropinocytosis inhibitor wortmannin, antigen uptake was reduced to a greater
extent in neonatal LC than adult counterparts. As such, neonatal LC preferentially
utilise a wortmannin-sensitive fluid phase pathway, such as macropinocytosis, to
internalise antigens such as FITC-dextran. Despite the presence of LAMP-1 +MHC-II+ vesicles within LC from neonatal
epidermis, proteolysed DQ-OVA was localised to a MHC-II" compartment. This
suggests that antigen was internalised via macropinocytosis and retained in a LAMPmacropinosome.
As no differences were observed in DQ-OVA+ vesicle
localisation, it was evident that neonatal and adult LC were associated with a
comparable proteolytic activity. 24 hours following exposure to a maturationinducing
dose of LPS, membrane MHC-II:peptide complexes were evident on adult
LC, but not on neonatal LC. Although neonatal LC demonstrated both CD86 upregulation
and MHC-II redistribution following LPS exposure, the transport of
MHC-II:peptide complexes to the membrane was diminished. This reduced transport
was not simply due to a defect in MHC-II recycling as LPS stimulation of LC caused
a redistribution of MHC-II from an intracellular endosome to the cell surface. Therefore the reduced transport of MHC-II:peptide to the cell surface was most
likely a consequence of a failure to associate with MHC-II in the cytoplasm.
The capacity of neonatal LC to sample their external environment without inducing
immunity has important biological consequences for the protection against
inappropriate responses during the developmental period.


CeF3 and CeF3:Tb3+ water soluble nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared by wet chemistry, and their structure and luminescence properties were studied systematically. The results of XRD indicate that the obtained CeF3 and CeF3:Tb3+ NPs have a hexagonal structure with the P 6(3)/mcm space group. The average size of CeF3 NPs is about 10 nm, and that of CeF3:Tb3+ NPs is about 5.5 nm as measured from transmission electron microscope (TEM). The aqueous solution sample of CeF3 NPs has an emission peaking at 325.5 nm, which is from the 5d-->4f transition of Ce3+, and CeF3:Tb3+ NPs have a broad emission at 355.5 nm, which is from the 5d--4f transition of Ce3+ (325.5 nm), and several sharp emissions in the visible ranges that are from the (5)D4-->7F(J) transition of Tb3+. As the concentration of Tb3+ increases, the emission intensity of Ce3+ decreases gradually, while the emission intensity of Tb3+ first increases and then decreases. Our observations indicate that there is an energy transfer from Ce3+ to Tb3+ in the CeF3:Tb3+ nanoparticles, and the maximal energy transfer rate is estimated to be 93.2% at the Tb3+ concentration of 25%.


Ketotifen-induced histamine release from isolated rat mast cells is inhibited under conditions of ATP content depletion in the mast cells. The histamine release is a temperature-dependent process and is blocked at a low temperature. It is concluded that ketotifen is a selective histamine liberator. Time course of ketotifen-induced histamine release corresponds with the process of partial cellular uptake of histamine released.


Large area reduced graphene oxide (RGO) thin films have been grown using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. A very large carrier mobility of 372 cm2 V-1s-1 has been observed in a PLD grown RGO thin film with a large sp2 carbon fraction of 87% along with narrow Raman 2D peak profile. The fraction of sp2 carbon and carbon/oxygen ratios are tuned through PLD growth parameters, and these are estimated from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data. The electrical properties of the RGO thin films are comprehended by the intensity ratios between different optical phonon vibrational modes of Raman Spectra. The photoluminescence spectra also indicate a less intense and broader blue fluorescence spectrum detecting the presence of miniature sized sp2 domains in the near vicinity of π* electronic states which favor the variable range hopping transport phenomena. This study on large area RGO thin films with very large carrier mobility fabricated by PLD process will be very useful for high mobility electronic device applications and could open a roadmap for further extensive research in functionalized 2D materials.


Key-Word Spotting (KWS) in handwritten documents is approached here by means of Word Graphs (WG) obtained using segmentation-free handwritten text recognition technology based on N-gram Language Models and Hidden Markov Models. Linguistic context significantly boost KWS performance with respect to methods which ignore word contexts and/or rely on image-matching with pre-segmented isolated words. On the other hand, WG-based KWS can be significantly faster than other KWS approaches which directly work on the original images where, in general, computational demands are exceedingly high. A large WG contains most of the relevant information of the original text (line) image needed for KWS but, if it is too large, the computational advantages over traditional, image matching-based KWS become diminished. Conversely, if it is too small, relevant information may be lost, leading to degraded KWS precision/recall performance. We study the trade off between WG size and KWS information retrieval performance. Results show that small, computationally cheap WGs can be used without loosing the excellent KWS performance achieved with huge WGs.


: The new Hawaii law creating the Comfort Care Only-Do Not Resuscitate order allows terminally ill patients to be treated by ambulance personnel for comfort and pain control, and to not be resuscitated when they are near death.


Using structured elements from Electronic Health Records (EHR), we seek to: 1) build predictive models to stratify patients tested for COVID-19 by their likelihood for hospitalization, ICU admission, mechanical ventilation and inpatient mortality, and 2) identify the most important EHR-based features driving the predictions. We leveraged EHR data from the Duke University Health System tested for COVID-19 or hospitalized between March 11, 2020 and August 24, 2020, to build models to predict hospital admissions within 4 weeks. Models were also created for ICU admissions, need for mechanical ventilation and mortality following admission. Models were developed on a cohort of 86,355 patients with 112,392 outpatient COVID-19 tests or any-cause hospital admissions between March 11, 2020 and June 4, 2020. The four models considered resulted in AUROC=0.838 (CI: 0.832-0.844) and AP=0.272 (CI: 0.260-0.287) for hospital admissions, AUROC=0.847 (CI: 0.839-855) and AP=0.585 (CI: 0.565-0.603) for ICU admissions, AUROC=0.858 (CI: 0.846-0.871) and AP=0.434 (CI: 0.403-0.467) for mechanical ventilation, and AUROC=0.0.856 (CI: 0.842-0.872) and AP=0.243 (CI: 0.205-0.282) for inpatient mortality. Patient history abstracted from the EHR has the potential for being used to stratify patients tested for COVID-19 in terms of utilization and mortality. The dominant EHR features for hospital admissions and inpatient outcomes are different. For the former, age, social indicators and previous utilization are the most important predictive features. For the latter, age and physiological summaries (pulse and blood pressure) are the main drivers.


The present work was undertaken to study some physic-chemical characteristics of Portuguese crowberry, namely: sizeable properties (dimension and weigh), chemical components (water, crude fiber, total and reducing sugars, total soluble solids and acidity), and finally physical characteristics (color and texture). The determination of the chemical components followed standard procedures, for color a colorimeter was used and texture was evaluated by a texturometer. The results obtained indicated that the Portuguese crowberries showed a mean diameter of about 9 mm, and a mass of ~0.7 g. Relating to the chemical analyses, the moisture content was 88% (expressed in fresh weight), the crude fiber was 37% (dry basis), the total and reducing sugars were 63% and 41% (dry basis), respectively. The total soluble solids were ~6 oBrix and total acidity was 11% (expressed in citric acid). Hence, the work undertaken permitted concluding that the white crowberries at study constitute an important source of fibers and sugars.


Mango consumers only use pulp and consider the kernel as wastes. This study aims to valorize the kernel of mango (Mangifera indica). In this study, the kernel of ten mango varieties (Ruby, Kent, Retard, Key, Assabony, Smith tete de chat, Smith normal, Palmer, Governeur and Aravia) collected at Yamoussoukro in the center of Cote d'Ivoire were used. The oils of these kernels were extracted by maceration method. Their physicochemical properties were determinate using standard methods. The yields of oils extracted are higher than 10%. The acid value of these oils varies from 2.50±0.25 to 27.06±0.35 mg of KOH/g, the saponification value ranges between 164.17±1.30 and 199.21±0.32 mg of KOH/g, iodine value varies from 36.38±0.96 to 54.46±0.54 g of iodine per 100 g of fat and the refractive index ranges between 1.458±0.001 and 1.480±0.002. The water and volatile matter content are varying between 1.08±0.19 and 12.30±0.46%. The study of the lipid composition of these fats showed a significant presence of fatty acid and unsaponifiables. The major fatty acids are palmitic acid (6.77-12.80%), stearic acid (36.36-45.76%), oleic acid (43.20-52.42%) and arachidic acid (0.85-1.65%). The major unsaponifiables are ergosterol (1.94%), sitosterol (78.65%), stigmasterol (10.67%), campesterol (5.33%) and 3-hydroxy-pregn-5-en-20-one (3.39%). The results of the study indicated that mango kernel oils could be used in cosmetics and also in human nutrition for prevention against arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases.

 Key words: Mangifera indica, Anacardiaceae, fatty acids.


Magnesium based composite with 2.5 weight percentage of nano-sized Al2O3 particulates reinforcement was fabricated using powder metallurgy technique. Al2O3 particulates with an equivalent size of 50-nm were used as reinforcement. Microstructural characterization of the materials revealed recrystallization and grain refinement due to the presence of nano-Al2O3. Mechanical properties characterization revealed that the presence of nano-Al2O3 particulates as reinforcement lead to a significant increase in hardness, elastic modulus, 0.2% yield strength and UTS and ductility of pure magnesium. The results revealed that the specific tensile properties of these materials are superior when compared to high strength magnesium alloy AZ91 reinforced with much higher weight percentage of SiC. An attempt is made in the present study to correlate the effect of nano-sized Al2O3 particulates as reinforcement with the microstructural and mechanical properties of magnesium.


We examined the sequence of decision problems that are encountered in the game of Tetris and found that most of the problems are easy in the following sense: One can choose well among the available actions without knowing an evaluation function that scores well in the game. This is a consequence of three conditions that are prevalent in the game: simple dominance, cumulative dominance, and noncompensation. These conditions can be exploited to develop faster and more effective learning algorithms. In addition, they allow certain types of domain knowledge to be incorporated with ease into a learning algorithm. Among the sequential decision problems we encounter, it is unlikely that Tetris is unique or rare in having these properties.


Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, is a site of exceptional diversity. However, its fragile balance is presently under threat, mainly from hydrological issues. Scientists and politicians have different hypotheses concerning the condition and availability of water on the mountain, thus far without consensus. Some of these hypotheses infer that the local Chagga communities living on Kilimanjaro's slopes are implicated in the overall degradation of natural resources. A major part of the research presented in this paper focuses on the Chagga people's view of their environment. The research uses the Actor in 4 Dimensions (A4D) methodology. This multidisciplinary conceptual model helps one to understand a territory by analysing the relations between individuals (social link) and the relations between humans and no humans (natural link). This paper aims to (1) present the A4D model and its innovative methodology, (2) analyse the stakeholders' dynamics around environmental issues on the mountain and (3) focus on the Chagga's perception of natural resource evolution and management. The A4D results show that the Chagga display a profound attachment to their territory, the forest is the element creating social relations, technical progress can mean social regression, conflicts over natural resources are increasing and hydrological risks on Mount Kilimanjaro are primarily of a social nature.


The research presented in this thesis discusses an electromagnetic (EM) analysis tool which is based on the partial element equivalent circuit (PEEC) method and is appropriate for combined EM and circuit simulations especially power electronics applications. EM analysis is important to ensure that a system will not affect the correct operation of other devices nor cause interference between various electrical systems. In power electronic applications, the increased switching speed can cause voltage overshoots, unbalanced current share between semiconductor modules, and unwanted resonances. Therefore, EM analysis should be carried out to perform design optimizations in order to minimize unwanted effects of high frequencies. The solver developed in this work is an appropriate solution to address the needs of EM analysis in general and power electronics in particular. The conducted research consists of performance acceleration and implementation of the solver, and verification of the simulation results by means of measurements. This work was done in two major phases.In the first phase, the solver was accelerated to optimize its performance when quasi-static (R,Lp,C)PEEC as well as full-wave (R,Lp,C,tau)PEEC simulations were carried out. The main optimizations were based on exploiting parallelism and high performance computing to solve very large problems and non-uniform mesh, which was helpful in simulating skin- and proximity effects while keeping the problem size to a minimum. The presented results and comparisons with the measurements confirmed that non-uniform mesh helped in accurately simulating large bus bar models and correctly predicting system resonances when the size of the problem was minimized. On-the-fly calculation was also developed to reduce memory usage, while increasing solution time.The second phase consists of methods to increase the performance of the solver while including some levels of approximations. In this phase sparsification techniques were used to convert a dense PEEC system into a sparse system. The sparsification was done by calculating the reluctance matrix, which can be sparsified by maintaining the accuracy at the desired level, because of the locality and the shielding effect of the reluctance matrix. Efficient algorithms were developed to perform sparse matrix-matrix multiplication and assemble the sparse coefficient matrix in a row-by-row manner to reduce the peak memory usage. The sparse system was then solved using both sparse direct and iterative solvers with proper preconditioning. The acquired results from the sparse direct solution confirmed that the memory consumption and solution time were reduced by orders of magnitude and by a factor 3 to 5. Moreover, the Schur complement was used together with the iterative approach, making it possible to solve large problems within a few iterations by preconditioning the system, and using less memory and lower computational complexity. Bus bars used in two types of power frequency converters manufactured by ABB were modelled and analysed with the developed PEEC-based solver in this research, and the simulations and measurements agreed very well. Results of simulations also led to improvement in the physical design of the bars, which reduced the inductance of the layout.With the accelerated solver, it is now possible to solve very large and complex problems on conventional computer systems, which was not possible before. This provides new possibilities to study real-world problems which are typically large in size and have complex structures.


Designing and Building a Battery-Powered Car
For many years now Electrical Engineering students at the US Naval Academy have been involved in renewal energy types of projects, including electric boats and cars, and have participated in various competitions across the US. Of particular interest to us is the electric car, since it involves various aspects of electrical engineering. As part of their senior capstone project, and under our guidance and supervision, four students designed, built, and tested the power generation and distribution system, the motor control system for an electric car. This was accomplished by converting an originally gas-powered car into a battery-powered car, whereby solar panels are used to recharge the batteries. Towards this end, a mix of off the shelf parts and components, and homebuilt circuits were used. The design considerations include selecting an appropriate control system, choosing suitable batteries, utilizing solar panels to recharge the batteries, designing the lighting system for the vehicle, and implementing several key safety features, including an emergency shut-off switch.


This paper proposes a framework named TIPMR, for designing tangible user interfaces (TUIs) within projector-based mixed reality applications. The framework divides the target application into three parts: GUI-based application, TUI and an assistant. The assistant is employed as an adapter to translate between TUI operations and general GUI commands like mouse or keyboard events. This architecture makes it easier to focus on designing GUI-based applications and TUI separately. We built a tourist guidance system with two different tangible interaction modes based on TIPMR to demonstrate its usefulness and efficiency.


Home states that are actively engaged in global mining have considered and rejected calls to regulate the conduct of transnational mining corporations so as to prevent and remedy human rights and environmental harms. This reluctance to regulate is often expressed as a concern that extraterritorial regulation will conflict with the sovereignty of foreign states. This paper argues that the public international law of jurisdiction is permissive of home state regulation that can be justified under the nationality or territoriality principles, provided that there is no true conflict with an exercise of host state jurisdiction. In the human rights and environment contexts, it is more likely that home state regulation would result in concurrent but not conflicting jurisdiction, particularly where the regulation is designed to further shared international norms. Beyond permissibility, this paper argues that international sustainable mineral development law imposes an emerging obligation on all states, including home states, to ensure that the three pillars of public participation rights are respected. These rights are access to information, public participation in decision-making, and access to justice in environmental matters, and they are formulated in the global mining context as a right of indigenous and local communities to free, prior and informed consent. Support for the existence of such a home state obligation may be found in the recommendations of international human rights treaty bodies, and in the work of the International Law Commission on both state responsibility, and the prevention and allocation of loss for transboundary harm.


The study uses primary data collected from a survey conducted in Georgia to analyze consumer preferences for testing and certification of fresh produce and consumers' willingness to pay for fresh produce that is certified as free of pesticide residues (FPR). An ordered probit model was estimated to identify the impacts of various exogenous variables on the probability of consumers' willingness to pay for a number of alternative price premiums. The results indicate that consumers' willingness to pay differs with respect to a number of factors. The study concludes that most of the consumers recommend testing and certification, but they oppose large price markups for certified-FPR fresh produce.


Camera / Machine is built on an audio interview with 'Peeping Tom' [1960] scriptwriter Leo Marks. In the interview Marks discusses Michael Powell and their working relationship before, during and after 1960's 'Peeping Tom'. Mark's interview was candid, at times salacious, and at times funny but what really interested me was his discussion of the working relationship between writer and director.

The exploration of this relationship is at the heart of the film and provides a platform for academic investigation into the collaborative process between the film's director and its scriptwriter. Marks is candid about his influence on the final version of the film, stating that Powell 'didn't object to an author putting in the shots as the author saw them…' This assertion openly problematises the traditional accepted authority of the director as visual storyteller and when juxtaposed with Marks reputation for paranoia and his suspicion that his words might be used inappropriately or out of context, presents Marks as a questionable and possibly unreliable narrator. Using both archive and footage shoot specifically for the project, the film challenges traditional spectator expectations through its structure, its audio/visual composition and its editing strategy. Through the nature of the original audio recording, the use of an unexplained note taking 'tape operative' and a considered and abstracted image, viewers are encouraged to 'lean into' the film to fully grasp the significance and implications of Mark's words and the insights offered through the connections presented. The film is designed to ask for active participation through a pro-active engagement with the material articulating the significance of the writer/director dichotomy and the reliability or not of a paranoid narrator.


ABSTRACT Marine carbonates of the Burlington-Keokuk Fm. (Miss.) of the midcontinent region have been subject to two major episodes of regionally extensive (100,000 km2) dolomitization. Previous studies of the cathodoluminescent petrography, Sr, C, and O isotopic compositions, and Sr, Fe, Mn, and Ca concentrations of Burlington-Keokuk dolostones outline a diagenetic history in which lime mud was pervasively dolomitized by a seawater-dominated fluid. At many localities, this early dolomite generation (dolomite I) was recrystallized by nonmarine diagenetic fluids at shallow-burial depths to produce dolomite II. Dolomites I and II have similar rare earth element (REE) patterns and abundances and a narrow range of initial 143Nd/144Nd isotope ratios of 0.511906 ± 0.000025 (1 ). This consistency in the Nd isotope ratios and REE patterns, along with the presence of anomalously low abundances of cerium in the dolomites, cherts, glauconite pellets, fish apatite, and crinoids, suggests that 1) seawater-derived REE dominated the system, and 2) the extensive water-rock interaction that produced profound textural and compositional changes during the formation of dolomite II did not significantly alter the REE patterns or Nd isotopic signatures of the dolomites. The results of quantitative modeling of isotopic and trace lement exchange during water-rock interaction in carbonate systems indicate that extremely large water: rock ratios are required to alter the REE signatures of diagenetic carbonates. Such large water: rock ratios can reflect either 1) large extents of fluid flow during carbonate recrystallization, or 2) minimal interaction between diagenetic fluids and host rocks during carbonate cement crystallization. Late vug-filling calcite and dolomite have low Sm/Nd and high (Ce/Nd)n ratios relative to the dolostones. Such distinct REE signatures probably reflect limited interaction between late diagenetic fluids and Burlington-Keokuk host rocks. Penecontemporaneous clastic sediments have similar initial 143Nd/144Nd isotope ratios (0.511857-0.511877) and lower Sm/Nd ratios compared to the dolomites, suggesting 1) a common crustal source of REE for the clastics and carbonates, and 2) REE fractionation during the formation of carbonate, apatite, glauconite, and other authigenic phases in the marine environment.


Background and purpose The aim of our study was to evaluate the safety and eficacy of the Pipeline endovascular device for the treatment of anterior circulation aneurysms at the level of circle of Willis and beyond. Methods A consecutive series of 23 patients with unruptured and 1 with ruptured anterior circulation aneurysms treated with Pipeline endovascular device. Complication rates, aneurysm obliteration, modified Rankin Scale (mRS) outcomes were assessed. Results All devices were placed properly, without technical difficulties. We found 1 minor clinical event (resolved within 7 days from procedure) and 1 major event (symptoms present after 7 days) (table), and no mortality. There were no aneurysm rupture or parenchymal haemorrhage during follow-up. The mRS at 3 and 6 months did not change from prior mRS in all cases but 1. We had 2 asymptomatic periprocedural ischemic events: 1 perforator stroke in the case of a recanalised A1-A2 where we used 2 PEDs, and 1 lacunar stroke. Both cases were discovered incidentally at the control CT predischarge. We had 3 intraprocedural complications, resolved without clinical consequences:1 acute branch occlusion during hypotension state which was solved after TA raise (case 4), 1 slow opacification of the inferior trunk of MCA resolved with intraarterial bolus of reopro (case 20), and 1 focal SAH secondary to distal perforation with the microwire during and exchange manoeuvre which was resolved with coil occlusion and glue at the level of the perforation, with no symptoms (case 14) Six-month follow-up angiograms were obtained in 16 aneurysms, showing complete occlusion in 9 and significantly decreased residual filling in 7. 5 cases are still pending on 6 months DSA and 1 case showed residual filling at the 3 months follow-up. Patency of PEDs and status of branches originating from the aneurysm sacs were evaluated in 17 and 11 angiograms respectively. All PEDs were patent, but we found 4 intrastent stenosis at 6 months DSA where only 1 symptomatic case (an angioplasty was done successfully). In the 11 branches evaluated, 7 were patent, 2 moderate reduced and in 2 cases were occluded asymptomatically. Conclusion The PED provides a safe and effective solution for aneurysms at and beyond the circle of Willis. Preliminary results are promising but larger series with longer-term follow-up examinations are required to show the long-term safety and durability of this treatment alternative. Disclosures M. Martínez-Galdámez: 2; C; Covidien. I. Linfante: 2; C; Covidien, Stryker, Codman. E. Lin: None. G. Dabus: 2; C; Covidien, Microvention, Reverse Medical.


Abstract Hugh Blair's Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres was published far more frequently and in more substantively different formats than has yet been recognized. Its publishing history suggests that as the book circulated across diverse locations for over a century, it supported a large array of uses, values, and meanings. By providing detailed bibliographic information on a single influential rhetoric, and by comparing its publication record to several other influential rhetorics, this essay seeks to use research in the history of the book to articulate a more nuanced history of rhetoric.


The conventional methods for pika observation and investigation are costly both in material resources and manpower, moreover these approaches are difficult to use in long-term and continuous investigation. In this context, a plateau pikas monitoring scheme based on image processing technology was described, and the steps of pika identification is presented. Furthermore, the most challenging issue of pika identification, feature extraction was analyzed in detail. Based on the analysis, the image graying method was utilized to avoid redundance and compress data capacity, and image binarization technology was utilized to eliminate the background noise. Moreover, in order to effectively extract the features, four edge detectors: Sobel, Prewitt, Roberts and Canny were chosen for evaluation, and among these algorithms Roberts detector were found has better performance in the application. At last, median filtering method was utilized in image smoothing for spiky noise elimination and sharp edges preservation. The experiment results showed that the pika detection method based on image processing has the advantages to achieve dynamic and continuous monitor of pika in close quarters, and significantly improved the technique in meadow biogeocenose protection.


A measurement of the correlations between the polar angles of leptons from the decay of pair-produced t and ¯ t quarks in the helicity basis is reported, using proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4 . 6 fb − 1 at a center-of-mass energy of ffiffiffi s p ¼ 7 TeV collected during 2011. Candidate events are selected in the dilepton topology with large missing transverse momentum and at least two jets. The angles θ 1 and θ 2 between the charged leptons and the direction of motion of the parent quarks in the t ¯ t rest frame are sensitive to the spin information, and the distribution of cos θ 1 · cos θ 2 is sensitive to the spin correlation between the t and ¯ t quarks. The distribution is unfolded to parton level and compared to the next-to-leading order prediction. A good agreement is observed.


Out-of-distribution (OOD) detection is important for machine learning models deployed in the wild. Recent methods use auxiliary outlier data to regularize the model for improved OOD detection. However, these approaches make a strong distributional assumption that the auxiliary outlier data is completely separable from the in-distribution (ID) data. In this paper, we propose a novel framework that leverages wild mixture data, which naturally consists of both ID and OOD samples. Such wild data is abundant and arises freely upon deploying a machine learning classifier in their natural habitats. Our key idea is to formulate a constrained optimization problem and to show how to tractably solve it. Our learning objective maximizes the OOD detection rate, subject to constraints on the classification error of ID data and on the OOD error rate of ID examples. We extensively evaluate our approach on common OOD detection tasks and demonstrate superior performance.


This study comprises the identification of the locust outbreak that happened in February 2020. It is not possible to conduct ground-based surveys to monitor such huge disasters in a timely and adequate manner. Therefore, we used a combination of automatic and manual remote sensing data
 processing techniques to find out the aftereffects of locust attack effectively. We processed MODIS -normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI ) manually on ENVI and Landsat 8 NDVI using the Google Earth Engine (GEE ) cloud computing platform. We found from the results that, (a) NDVI computation
 on GEE is more effective, prompt, and reliable compared with the results of manual NDVI computations; (b) there is a high effect of locust disasters in the northern part of Sindh, Thul, Ghari Khairo, Garhi Yaseen, Jacobabad, and Ubauro, which are more vulnerable; and (c) NDVI value suddenly
 decreased to 0.68 from 0.92 in 2020 using Landsat NDVI and from 0.81 to 0.65 using MODIS satellite imagery. Results clearly indicate an abrupt decrease in vegetation in 2020 due to a locust disaster. That is a big threat to crop yield and food production because it provides a major portion
 of food chain and gross domestic product for Sindh, Pakistan.


During the Progressive Era, a rehabilitative agenda took hold of American juvenile justice, materializing as a citizen - and state-building project and mirroring the unequal racial politics of American democracy itself. Alongside this liberal "manufactory of citizens," a parallel structure was enacted: a Jim Crow juvenile justice system that endured across the nation for most of the twentieth century. In "The Black Child-Savers", the first study of the rise and fall of Jim Crow juvenile justice, Geoff K. Ward examines the origins and organization of this separate and unequal juvenile justice system. Ward explores how generations of "black child-savers" mobilized to challenge the threat to black youth and community interests and how this struggle grew aligned with a wider civil rights movement, eventually forcing the formal integration of American juvenile justice. Ward's book reveals nearly a century of struggle to build a more democratic model of juvenile justice - an effort that succeeded in part, but ultimately failed to deliver black youth and community to liberal rehabilitative ideals. At once an inspiring story about the shifting boundaries of race, citizenship, and democracy in America and a crucial look at the nature of racial inequality, "The Black Child-Savers" is a stirring account of the stakes and meaning of social justice.


In the present situation of architectural design in China, the form is too impetuous for the design field. The middle pro-cess is not silent for the creative and innovative state of mind. The deep foundation is the big loss of the traditional culture soil. It will inevitably lead to the designer of the future creation of the concerns of the program, which naturally evoke the track of design of the creation. The track is the objective existence of the law of development. It is not up to the designer's will for the transfer, only to make personal creation along the track. However, the track is far from its repair, and it still need clear knowledge, practical exploration and understanding to enhance. In this paper, the devel-opment rules of architectural design creation are summarized as three levels, including small products, master works and master, which also involved inheritance, evolution and innovation. Each level has three practical projects as evi-dence, including style, inspiration and philosophy. Many other aspects were analyzed in-depth and designed to specify the architect track in the correct direction.


Objective:The present study examined the association between body composition measurements, using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry and anthropometry, with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in nonosteoporotic, postmenopausal women. Methods:Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, intact parathyroid hormone, insulin-like growth factor I levels, dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry measurements of fat and fat-free mass, anthropometric and handgrip strength measurements, dietary intake estimations, ultraviolet B radiation exposure, and physical activity levels were collected from 112 nonosteoporotic, postmenopausal women (age, 60.3 ± 5.0 y; body mass index, 29.5 ± 4.8 kg/m2). Results:At a bivariate level, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were inversely associated with regional and total body fat mass (P < 0.05), whereas positive associations were observed with regional and total body fat-free mass (P < 0.05). After controlling for age, serum intact parathyroid hormone, insulin-like growth factor I levels, ultraviolet B radiation exposure, and physical activity levels, most of the associations observed at a bivariate level between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and body composition indices (as obtained by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry) remained significant. No significant associations were observed between anthropometric indices of body mass and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels. Conclusions:An independent inverse association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry measurements of total body and regional fat mass was observed in nonosteoporotic, overweight, postmenopausal women. Further clinical trials are required to come to safe conclusions on whether it is the fat mass that affects serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels or vice versa and whether there is a need to also take into account body composition when providing recommendations for vitamin D intake in postmenopausal women.


The physical, thermal and pasting properties of "gari", a fermented and toasted cassava granule, enriched with 10% full fat soy-melon protein supplements, at different processing stages, were studied. The stages at which the gari meal was enriched were: after fermentation but before toasting (PRT, soak-mix method) and after toasting (AFT, dry-mix method). Based on the result of the analysis of the physical properties, the swelling index of the samples decreased from 3.79 for the control sample to a range of 3.15-3.34 for the enriched samples. Wettability values increased from 49 s for the control sample to about 135-148 s for the enriched gari. A decrease in porosity from 42% for the control sample to 29.33 % -32.33% for the enriched samples relative to their moisture contents was observed in the enriched samples. Enriched "gari" sample of minimum average particle size (AFT) have the highest angle of repose of 37° while the control sample of maximum average particle size have the lowest angle of repose of 29°. There was an increase in the degree of penetration by cone penetrometer from 19 mm for the control sample to a range of 22.43-23.90 mm for the enriched samples indicating higher gel strength for the control sample. On the basis of the thermal properties, there was increase in swelling power and the solubility of all the samples with increase in temperature. The control "gari" had significantly higher swelling power in a range of 5.17-6.68 g / g compared to that of the enriched samples (4.61-5.27 g / g) between the temperature of 45 and 90 ℃ . The control sample exhibited higher specific heat capacity of 1.222 kJ /( kg · K ) than the enriched samples that ranged between 1.085-1.118 kJ /( kg · K ) . On the basis of the pasting properties, the control sample had the highest viscosity of 300.92 RVU while the enriched samples had lower viscositiy. The enriched samples formed paste at lower temperature 79.20-80.05 ℃ and took shorter time 3.93-4.07 min to gelatinize. The enriched "gari" sample exhibited high setback and breakdown viscosity values of indicating that its paste will have lower stability against retrogradation than the un-enriched gari samples. Keywords: Physico-thermal, pasting, toasting, enrichment, soy-melon "gari"


Using a large data set of Western European employees, I examine two sets of reasons behind employers decisions to give discretion: performance concerns (firms give discretion in order to improve performance) and family concerns (firms wish to improve the employees workfamily balance). I find more support for the former than for the latter. Discretion is positively related to the use of high-performance work practices and to employee position and ability, and is smaller in larger establishments, which suggests that loss of control matters to employers. Evidence about family concerns is less compelling. Female participation in the labor force has a positive effect on discretion over work schedules, but women have less discretion than men, and employees with small children do not have more discretion than other employees. Large and governmental organizations, which are expected to care more about workfamily balance, do not offer more discretion over work schedules than other types of organizations.


The development of a plantation eucalypt wood-based forest products industry in South Africa is outlined. Forest research that has contributed to increasing wood production from the ultimately finite land resource available for industrial plantations is reviewed. The application of this technology to eucalypt plantations by Sappi Forests is described and evidence for resultant increased wood production is presented. Improved silviculture, introduction of alternative species and deployment of genetically superior planting stock coupled to site classification and site-specific application of these technologies have all contributed to measured gains. The continued development and application of appropriate forest technology will be critical to a sustainable future for the industry in South Africa. Issues pertaining to this are discussed.


Background: This study illustrates alternative statistical methods for estimating cumulative risk of screening mammography outcomes in longitudinal studies. Methods: Data from the US Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC) and the Nijmegen Breast Cancer Screening Program in the Netherlands were used to compare four statistical approaches to estimating cumulative risk. We estimated cumulative risk of false-positive recall and screen-detected cancer after 10 screening rounds using data from 242,835 women ages 40 to 74 years screened at the BCSC facilities in 1993–2012 and from 17,297 women ages 50 to 74 years screened in Nijmegen in 1990–2012. Results: In the BCSC cohort, a censoring bias model estimated bounds of 53.8% to 59.3% for false-positive recall and 2.4% to 7.6% for screen-detected cancer, assuming 10% increased or decreased risk among women screened for one additional round. In the Nijmegen cohort, false-positive recall appeared to be associated with subsequent discontinuation of screening leading to overestimation of risk of a false-positive recall based on adjusted discrete-time survival models. Bounds estimated by the censoring bias model were 11.0% to 19.9% for false-positive recall and 4.2% to 9.7% for screen-detected cancer. Conclusion: Choice of statistical methodology can substantially affect cumulative risk estimates. The censoring bias model is appropriate under a variety of censoring mechanisms and provides bounds for cumulative risk estimates under varying degrees of dependent censoring. Impact: This article illustrates statistical methods for estimating cumulative risks of cancer screening outcomes, which will be increasingly important as screening test recommendations proliferate. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 25(3); 513–20. ©2015 AACR.