This is your one stop gateway to information in Mining Engineering. This includes Library Resources, Links to websites and contact details for support.


Iron-doped Zinc oxide, synthesized using wet chemical technique, was employed to degrade a commonly used textile dye namely Reactive Golden Yellow dye CRL in order to assess the effectiveness and feasibility of the catalyst towards degradation. The degradation efficiency was evaluated by studying the effects of parameters like initial dye concentration (0.05-0.25mg), catalyst amount (0.1-1.0g), temperature (25-100°C), pH (1-14) and contact time (10-120min). The percentage degradation was calculated from residual concentration spectrophotometrically. It was found that optimum degradation was obtained using 0.5g of the catalyst and maintaining temperature and pH at 85oC and 5, respectively for the contact time of 60min.


We present the first simultaneous observations of so-called "hot explosions" in the cool atmosphere of the Sun made by the New Solar Telescope (NST) of Big Bear Solar Observatory and the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) in space. The data were obtained during the joint IRIS-NST observations on 2014 July 30. The explosion of interest started around 19:20 UT and lasted for about 10 minutes. Our findings are as follows: (1) the IRIS brightening was observed in three channels of slit-jaw images, which cover the temperature range from 4000 to 80,000 K; (2) during the brightening, the Si iv emission profile showed a double-peaked shape with highly blue and redshifted components ( − 40 ?> and 80 km s−1); (3) wing brightening occurred in Hα and Ca ii 8542 Å bands and related surges were observed in both bands of the NST Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph (FISS) instrument; (4) the elongated granule, seen in NST TiO data, is clear evidence of the emergence of positive flux to trigger the hot explosion; (5) the brightening in Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly 1600 Å images is quite consistent with the IRIS brightening. These observations suggest that our event is a hot explosion that occurred in the cool atmosphere of the Sun. In addition, our event appeared as an Ellerman bomb (EB) in the wing of Hα, although its intensity is weak and the vertical extent of the brightening seems to be relatively high compared with the typical EBs.


Nuclear and cytoplasmic scaffold proteins have been shown to be essential for temporal and spatial organization, as well as the fidelity, of MAPK signaling pathways. In this study we show that nesprin-2 is a novel extracellular signal-regulated MAPK1 and 2 (ERK1/2) scaffold protein that serves to regulate nuclear signaling by tethering these kinases at promyelocytic leukemia protein nuclear bodies (PML NBs). Using immunofluorescence microscopy, GST pull-down and immunoprecipitation, we show that nesprin-2, ERK1/2, and PML colocalize and bind to form a nuclear complex. Interference of nesprin-2 function, by either siRNA-mediated knockdown or overexpression of a dominant negative nesprin-2 fragment, augmented ERK1/2 nuclear signaling shown by increased SP1 activity and ELK1 phosphorylation. The functional outcome of nesprin-2 disruption and the resultant sustained ERK1/2 signal was increased proliferation. Importantly, these activities were not induced by previously identified nuclear envelope (NE)-targeted nesprin-2 isoforms but rather were mediated by novel nuclear isoforms that lacked the KASH domain. Taken together, this study suggests that nesprin-2 is a novel intranuclear scaffold, essential for nuclear ERK1/2 signaling fidelity and cell cycle progression.


Mutation of adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene results in incidence or development of polyps and colorectal cancer. It has been reported that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) inhibit cell growth, cause cell cycle arrest, and induce apoptosis. The aims of this study are to investigate chemopreventive effects of piroxicam and elucidate its mechanism. All APC j 474 mice have intestinal polyps. Thirty-five APC j 474 mice were divided into three groups: 0.005% solution of piroxicam in tap water was given for P group ( n = 15) and 0.001% solution for P' group ( n = 5), and water without piroxicam for C group ( n = 15) from 4 weeks of age to 12 weeks, respectively. All mice were sacrificed at the 12th week after birth. Hematoxylin-eosin staining for number and size of polyps, immunohistochemical staining for cyclooxygenase (COX)-1 and -2, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), TUNEL method, and Western blot analysis of COX-2 and VEGF were performed. Polyps were divided into two types of large polyps of S 300 w m in diameter and small polyps of <300 w m. The number of large polyps in P group decreased significantly compared with C group ( p < .0001), but without significant difference in small polyps. There were no significant differences in PCNA index in both of large and small polyps among the three groups. Apoptotic index of polyps in P group increased more than those in C group ( p < .05). There was immunohistochemically no significant difference in COX-1 positivity of normal intestinal epithelia and adenomas among three groups. Both numbers of VEGF-positive cells and COX-2 positive cells in the stroma of the small intestine were significantly downregulated in P group ( p < .05). COX-2 expression was inhibited in dose-dependent manner without significant difference. There were no significant differences in VEGF expression between P' and C groups. In conclusion, piroxicam suppressed the development of large polyps in APC j 474 mice by inducing apoptosis and inhibiting VEGF expression in interstitial cells of polyps.


Optical network survivability relies on automatic fiber cut detection. Cost-effective and unambiguous fiber cut localization remains an open problem for transparent optical networks. In this paper, we focus on out-of-band monitoring techniques based on the concept of monitoring trail (m-trail) recently proposed in the literature [1]. An m-trail-based solution guarantees the exact localization of any single link failure. Two approaches have been proposed for the design of m-trails: an exact Integer Linear Program formulation and a heuristic approach based on the Random Code Assignment-Random Code Swapping (RCA-RCS) concept. Numerical applications underline two drawbacks of these approaches. The former is not scalable in terms of computational complexity. The latter provides monitoring solutions that strongly depend on the choice of the initial conditions. Thus, the final solutions can be relatively far from the optimal in the case of large networks. We propose an original meta-heuristic approach called MEMOTA that overcomes these drawbacks. Numerical results show that MEMOTA provides near optimal solutions with much shorter computing delays than the ILP formulation. In addition, unlike RCA-RCS, MEMOTA is less sensitive to initial conditions.


In some situations the use of dispersants to control marine oil spills is environmentally desirable and is an accepted practice in many areas of the world. In the United States the use of dispersants has historically (1967) been discouraged by Federal regulation, due primarily to the early concern over the use of some toxic dispersants. Since 1967 it has become very apparent that the use of low-toxicity dispersants to control oil spills may be the most environmentally sound control approach in offshore areas, particularly when an oil spill may approach a sensitive coastline. A task force was appointed over a year ago by the American Petroleum Institute to make recommendations on the utilization of dispersants based on studies of current information on dispersants and mechanical recovery equipment. The task force believes that the use of low-toxicity dispersants should be encouraged where it is justified, specifically when it would be the most effective and biologically sound method of controlling an offshore oil spill. For this reason the National Contingency Plan should be revised so that the responsible on-scene coordinator (OSC) has authority over the use of dispersants. The OSC should be able to decide to use dispersants, as part of preplanned contingency plan implementations, to control offshore oil spills that threaten to move into sensitive environmental areas.


The permeability of an idealized unidirectional reinforcement consisting of regularly ordered, parallel fibres is derived starting from first principles (Navier-Stokes equations) both for flow along and for flow perpendicular to the fibres. First, an approx imate analytical solution for transverse flow is derived which differs from the Kozeny- Carman equation for the permeability of a porous medium [9] in that the transverse flow stops when the maximum fibre volume fraction is reached. The solution for flow along the fibres has the same form as the Kozeny-Carman equation. A comparison shows excellent agreement between a numerical solution of the full flow equations and the approximate one at medium to high fibre volume fractions (V f > 0.35). The theoretical predictions of permeability were tested in a specially designed mould. The results from the experiments with an unsaturated polyester resin (Jotun PO-2454) and the unidirectional reinforcement did in all cases show excellent agreement with results predicted by Darcy's law (the square of the flow front position increases linearly with time if the injection pressure is kept con stant). The theoretical model could be fitted to the experimental data both for flow along the fibres and for cross flow based on data for flow along the fibres only. The fitting is ob tained by adjusting one parameter in the model, the effective fibre radius, to a value about four times larger than the real fibre radius (15 μm). Scanning electron microscopy shows that the fibres are arranged in bundles looking like cylinders with ellipsoidal cross section which may be the explanation for the effective fibre radius in the fitted model equation be ing larger than the real fibre radius.


Specimens of the rust fungus Uromyces erythronii were recorded on Erythronium dens-canis, a rare species listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine, in April 2016 near Chemeryntsi village (Lviv Region, Ukraine) and in May 2016 near Zaluzhne village (Zhytomyr Region, Ukraine). An investigation of the Erythronium specimens deposited in the herbaria of vascular plants of Lviv Natural History Museum (LWS) and M.G. Kholodny Institute of Botany (KW) revealed four more samples of this fungus. A list of all localities in which U. erythronii was recorded in Ukraine is provided. The article is illustrated by micrographs obtained by scanning electron microscopy.


When people have different opinions in a group, they often adjust their own attitudes and behaviors to match the group opinion, known as social conformity. The affiliation account of normative conformity states that people conform to norms in order to 'fit in', whereas the accuracy account of informative conformity posits that the motive to learn from others produces herding. Here, we test another possibility that following the crowd reduces the experienced negative emotion when the group decision turns out to be a bad one. Using event related potential (ERP) combined with a novel group gambling task, we found that participants were more likely to choose the option that was predominately chosen by other players in previous trials, although there was little explicit normative pressure at the decision stage and group choices were not informative. When individuals' choices were different from others, the feedback related negativity (FRN), an ERP component sensitive to losses and errors, was enhanced, suggesting that being independent is aversive. At the outcome stage, the losses minus wins FRN effect was significantly reduced following conformity choices than following independent choices. Analyses of the P300 revealed similar patterns both in the response and outcome period. Our study suggests that social conformity serves as an emotional buffer that protects individuals from experiencing strong negative emotion when the outcomes are bad.


PURPOSE
Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) procedures are known to deliver a very high dose per fraction and thus, the increased risk of secondary types of cancer due to increased peripheral dose could be a limiting factor for the long term survival of the patients. The aim of this study is to evaluate the peripheral dose (PD) received at preselected anatomical sites in an anthropomorphic phantom for treatments of intracranial lesions with the CyberRnife.

METHODS
Eight patients treated using the CyberRnife were selected for this study. Organs at risk and target were delineated on volumetric CT data and treatment planning (Multiplan v.4.5.0) was optimized accordingly, in order to achieve the required prescribed target dose and critical structures sparing for each patient. The final treatment plan was delivered with a CyberRnife VIS (Accuray, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA) operating with a dose rate of 1000 MU/min at a flattening filter free mode and upgraded shielding. We performed our measurements using a male anthropomorphic RANDO phantom (Alderson Research Laboratories, Inc., Stamford, CT). Groups of three TLD 100 were placed anteriorly inside RANDO at a depth of 5 cm at locations corresponding to the thyroid, breast or lung, uterus and inferior abdomen for each treatment plan.

RESULTS
The average percentage dose normalized to the prescribed dose for the thyroid gland was 0.92+0.23 % with a max of 1.95%. The maximum reduction of the PD (expressed as percentage of the prescribed dose) was 80% between the thyroid gland and the lower pelvic area. Similarly the PD normalized to the number of MU showed an average of 0.84×10-3 (cGy/MU), with a max of 0.0025 (cGy/MU) for the thyroid gland region.

CONCLUSIONS
It is evident that the PD is proportional to the number of MU as well as to the prescribed dose. These correlations can be utilized to estimate the PD during intracranial treatments.


I.Bound up amidst Peiresc's copies of his letters to the Paduan antiquary Lorenzo Pignoria from the winter of 1615-16 is a text of four sides entitled, in large letters, "Delli Popoli della China" and continuing, in smaller ones, "written by P. Ioannes Pietro Maffei History of the Indies, Fr. Antonio di Saint Roman, in the History of the East Indies, Fr. Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza Augustino, in the books on China, and others."1 The reading notes that follow are interesting for one reason: though labelled "Delli Popoli della China" they are almost entirely about religion in China. At this stage of Peiresc's thinking at least, history of religion seems interchangeable with ethnography.In his letter to Pignoria of 4 January 1616, Peiresc acknowledges having time to page through ("di transcorrere un poco") Maffei, Gonzales, and Saint Roman where he found some information about figures they had discussed, and also about artificial grottoes used for domestic refrigeration, "which I did not note when I read it the first time." He asked if Pignoria wouldn't mind inquiring as to whether there was a more precise impression of a particular Chinese plaque or medallion-Pignoria had sent him one but Peiresc pronounced it "not as exact as I would like."2Peiresc begins with the gods that were worshipped (these included deceased parents and friends, as well as the occasional living person) and auguries. This then leads to mention of the clothing and hair styles of those priests making offerings to the gods. Some of this information was derived from that octagonal medallion. Peiresc also noted down the presence of a vase, as if for libation, and other instruments for offerings.These authors, he continued, observed that the Chinese revered the God of Heaven above all the others. Peiresc recorded that Gonzalez mentioned that he was indicated by use of the first letter of the alphabet, that this character looked a bit like "AF," that it was called "Guant," that he was honored with a solemn festival every near year, at the new moon in March, with vocal and instrumental music during which his priests applied themselves for an entire day to a board groaning with meat, poultry, fish, and fruits (no wonder the earlier reference to the gluttony of the priests). For the greater veneration of the King he was called the "Son of Heaven."Mention of the King led to discussion of the monthly festivals in the provinces when priests bore a portrait of the King, on gold, through the streets with great reverence. But then, citing from Maffei, Peiresc proceeded to jot down observations made about Chinese seaside towns and the domestic interior. This, in turn, led to some observations about dining-and, therefore, feasting-practices.Finally, Peiresc returned to the aforementioned medallion, whose details now seemed to him to represent just such an honorific feast. But he was especially interested in the practice of indicating the name of God with a single Chinese character, or cipher. This reminded him, he wrote, that the Basilidian gnostics, as recorded in Epiphanius, represented the god of heaven with the seven Greek vowels AEHIOUY. He went on to observe that this "religion or sect" spread widely in the eastern lands (probably meaning the eastern Mediterranean and Levant) and "embraced a large part of the Egyptian mysteries and superstitions." Through this religion, Peiresc wrote in the draft version of the essay, many Egyptian customs could have passed to the Far East.3In the finished version, Peiresc added one crucial element to an Egyptogenetic argument otherwise like that of Pignoria, who made it as early as 1615 in his additions to Cartari's Imagini degli dei de gli ant ich i. Peiresc wrote that the Basilidians embraced many Egyptian superstitions "which easily could have been introduced and insinuated, over time, with some patina of Christianity, even to China, Japan, and Mexico, many centuries after the dissipation of this most ancient and grand Egyptian Empire. …


BACKGROUND
Congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) is a rare genetic disorder resulting from mutations in the PHOX2B gene located on chromosome 4p12.3, characterized by hypoventilation secondary to missing responses to both hypercapnia and hypoxia.

CASE REPORT
Proband. A girl, hospitalised 5 times for respiratory failure from 6 weeks old, presented at 4 years of age severe cyanosis related to pneumonia. Tracheostomy was done, and she was discharged home using a portable positive pressure ventilator during sleep. Proband's father: The father was retrospectively found out to suffer from severe headache and excessive daytime sleepiness. Molecular genetic evaluation of PHOX2B gene was performed and casual polyalanine repeat expansion mutation c.741_755dup15 in exon 3 was found both in proband and her father in heterozygous form. The proband's grandmother died of respiratory failure after administration of benzodiazepine at the age of fifty years. Considering the grandmother's history, she is highly suspected of having had CCHS as well.

CONCLUSION
Repeated respiratory failure of girl was explained by PHOX2B mutation and Ondina curse. Proband´s father has incompletely penetrated PHOX2B heterozygous mutation as well and proband´s grandmother died probably from the consequences of drug interaction with PHOX2B mutated background as well. Both daughter and father currently require overnight mechanical ventilatory support. Although most PHOX2B mutations occur de novo, our case is a rare three generation family affected by autosomal dominant inheritance with incomplete penetrance manifested as the late-form of CCHS and proven PHOX2B mutation in two generations.


The constitutional narrative plays perhaps a surprisingly important role in American society. It claims to unfold present judgment from past precedent, according to the doctrine of stare decisis, given an eloquent exposition by the Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, where the Constitution is referred to as a "covenant" among generations. Analysis of this and other covenantal narratives spun by the Court suggests that despite the emphasis on precedent they may work according to the retrospective logic of narrative itself, in which elements become functional in terms of what follows them. Plots work from end to beginning, reinterpreting the past in terms of the present. The Supreme Court opinion, when subjected to an analysis sensitive to its narrative rhetoric, suggests something akin to the structure of prophecy and fulfillment in its composition of the covenantal narrative.


The cognitive dissonance between the need for relocation as an adaptation strategy and the reluctance to consider this option among stakeholders may result in maladaptation in communities highly vulnerable to coastal hazards. This study presents an interactive communication tool, Coastal Relocation Leaf (CRL), designed to facilitate an understanding of the circumstances that may lead to relocation. The tool is designed to allow users to explore "what-if" scenarios, fostering further conversation about the complexities and trade-offs associated with the possibility of relocation in coastal communities. The tool is visualized using the Adobe Flash platform and refined using expert evaluation.


End-to-end models (or sequence-to-sequence models) based on deep neural networks have recently become popular within the machine learning community. These techniques are also increasingly used in automatic speech recognition as an alternative to the state-of-the-art, hybrid HMM-DNN (hidden Markov model, deep neural network) system. The end-to-end systems contain a purely neural architecture that eliminates the need of any time alignment between the input acoustic feature vector sequence and output phone sequence. In this paper, we present progress within the IBM Watson Multimodal Group on end-to-end models for spoken language processing. We present our work on two types of end-to-end models applied to speech-to-text and keyword search tasks, namely, 1) recurrent neural networks (RNNs) based on connectionist temporal classification loss, and 2) attention-based encoder–decoder RNNs. We present results on several languages (such as Pashto, Mongolian, Javanese, Amharic, Guarani, Dholuo, Igbo, and Georgian) from the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity funded Babel Program. We also present a detailed analysis of some salient characteristics of these models compared with the state-of-the-art HMM-DNN hybrid systems, and also discuss future challenges in using such models for spoken language processing.


The economic crisis that hit Indonesia in 1998 had a negative impact on the stability of the Indonesian economy, including the banking sector. The banking sector as the coffers that drain funds to all sectors of the economy cost the restructuring is not small. The stress test is a method used to measure the stability of the financial system through the calculation of credit risk. In addition, stress tests can provide information about the nature of the financial system in crisis conditions and assist policymakers in calculating the level of financial system vulnerabilities. So that if the vulnerability of the financial system can be detected early, the government can take preventive measures to minimize the consequences. Thus, this study aims to examine the effect of macroeconomic variable shock on the probability of default of conventional banking and sharia banking in Indonesia through a logistic regression method. The probability of default occurrence as the dependent variable in this study is determined by using the credit failure ratio. While the independent variables used in this study are macroeconomic variables consisting of growth variables Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Exchange rate, inflation, and IHSG. The result of this research using the data of period 1st quarter of 2006 to 3rd quarter of 2017 concludes that IHSG is chosen as the main variable in forming stress test scenario. Based on the results of macroeconomic stress tests, great shock on IHSG holds the most significant change to the possibility of a banking default. By using the curve-fitting method, it is known that Syariah Rural Bank (BPRS) has the greatest possibility of default when shock occurs on IHSG variables compared to 8 other banks.
 Keywords: Probability of Default, Stress Test, Macroeconomic Stress Testing, Financial Stability


This work was compiled in order to identify and analyze the tourism potential of the North-West Development Region as a whole and the tourism potential of Bistriţa-Năsăud County in detail, as well as its capitalization degree. In order to achieve this approach, in our analysis we used evolution and structure indicators for the next indicators of the tourism potential: touristic units structure, their dispersal within the North-West Development Region, the areas of this perimeter which presents potential for touristic development, etc. As a result of this analysis, the data showed an area with a very high tourism potential for developing competitive touristic products, but unfortunately this potential is extremely poorly capitalized. The same trend was noticed also to Bistrița-Năsăud County which although has an important potentially in agrotourism, the basis for its exploitation is insufficient.


Background The Alpha variant (B.1.1.7 lineage) of SARS-CoV-2 emerged and became the dominant circulating variant in the UK in late 2020. Current literature is unclear on whether the Alpha variant is associated with increased severity. We linked clinical data with viral genome sequence data to compare admitted cases between SARS-CoV-2 waves in London and to investigate the association between the Alpha variant and the severity of disease. Methods Clinical, demographic, laboratory and viral sequence data from electronic health record systems were collected for all cases with a positive SARS-CoV-2 RNA test between 13 March 2020 and 17 February 2021 in a multisite London healthcare institution. Multivariate analysis using logistic regression assessed risk factors for severity as defined by hypoxia at admission. Results There were 5810 SARS-CoV-2 RNA-positive cases of which 2341 were admitted (838 in wave 1 and 1503 in wave 2). Both waves had a temporally aligned rise in nosocomial cases (96 in wave 1 and 137 in wave 2). The Alpha variant was first identified on 15 November 2020 and increased rapidly to comprise 400/472 (85%) of sequenced isolates from admitted cases in wave 2. A multivariate analysis identified risk factors for severity on admission, such as age (OR 1.02, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.03, for every year older; p<0.001), obesity (OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.28 to 2.26; p<0.001) and infection with the Alpha variant (OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.26 to 2.24; p<0.001). Conclusions Our analysis is the first in hospitalised cohorts to show increased severity of disease associated with the Alpha variant. The number of nosocomial cases was similar in both waves despite the introduction of many infection control interventions before wave 2.


Our goal was to examine the incidence and consequences of stent loss during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and the retrieval techniques used. We retrospectively reviewed 11,773 consecutive PCI cases involving stents performed at our institution between January 1994 and March 2004 to identify cases of stent loss. Stent loss occurred in 38 of 11,773 PCI procedures involving stents (0.32%; 95% CI = 0.23–0.44%). Mean age of the patients was 67 ± 11 years and 82% were men. Stent loss occurred more frequently in lesions with calcification and/or significant proximal angulation. In three patients, the stent was crushed and covered with another stent without attempting retrieval. Stent retrieval was attempted in 35 of 38 cases and was successful in 30 (86%). The following retrieval methods were used (more than one method was used in some cases): advancing a balloon through the stent, inflating the balloon, and withdrawing the stent (45%); twirling two wires around the stent (5%); loop snare (26%); biliary forceps (12%); Cook retained fragment retriever (10%); and basket retrieval device (2%). Patients in whom stent loss occurred had a higher incidence of bleeding requiring transfusion (24% vs. 7%; P < 0.001) and more often required emergency coronary artery bypass surgery (5% vs. 0.4%; P < 0.001). No patients in whom the stent was crushed or deployed in the coronary artery had any major cardiac complication. Stent loss during PCI occurs infrequently. Lost stents can be successfully retrieved in the majority of cases using a variety of retrieval techniques, yet stent loss is associated with an increased risk of complications. Stent deployment or crushing may be a good alternative to retrieval. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Facies associations and sequence stratigraphy of the Lower Jurassic shallow platform to peritidal carbonates of the Cuevas Labradas Formation (Sinemurian to Pliensbachian) have been studied in the Barranco de la Hoz section, located in the central−southern part of the Iberian Range. Four stratigraphical units (A to D) have been differentiated. Unit A, deposited in a restricted platform, is organized in aggradational thickening- and shallowing-upward sequences. Unit B, deposited in external restricted platform environments, is composed of shallowing- and deepening-upward sequences. This unit contains Polymorphites sp., Uptonia cf. jamesoni (SOW.) and Uptonia cf. angusta (QUENST.) that characterize the upper part of the Jamesoni Zone of the Lower Pliensbachian. The transgressive peak of 3rd order Cycle LJ2−2 is located in the marly facies of unit B. Unit C is composed of shallowing-upward sequences of "muddy" type in the lower part, deposited in the proximal part of the shallow restricted external platform and "grainy" type in the upper part, representing wave-dominated bioclastic shoals. Unit D is constituted by peritidal shallowing-upward sequences deposited in shallow restricted subtidal environment of the internal platform to the intertidal and supratidal environments. The 5th order cycles constituting the 3rd order facies Cycle LJ2−2, have been grouped into 4th order cycles. The duration of the 3rd order Cycle LJ2−2 is estimated as 2.6 Myr, and the possible average duration of the 4th order cycles as 0.4 Myr. This figure is close to the most frequent duration of the long-term Milankovitch orbital eccentricity cycles. Comparison of the obtained results with other Lower Jurassic sections in Spain, Europe and with the global cycles shows that the boundary between cycles LJ−1 and LJ−2, which represents the onset of the first Jurassic transgression and the peak transgression identified in this work at the Lower Pliensbachian Jamesoni Zone as well as the boundary between cycles LJ−2 and LJ−3 seem to represent good criteria for correlation between the different palaeogeographical domains.


There is much discussion about effective public policies that allow the proper treatment of asthma, providing care that is comprehensive and centered on asthma patients within their social context. Educating health professionals and asthma patients provides better recognition of symptoms and the triggers of asthma exacerbations, as well as disseminating strategies for avoiding such triggers, thereby ensuring better treatment and quality of life for asthma patients. Asthma imposes an ever-increasing burden on society, in terms of impaired quality of life, morbidity, and health care costs, making this a very important discussion in the field of public policy.


: The results of examination and treatment of 17 patients for relaxation of the diaphragm were analyzed. There was proved the efficacy of application of the biological tissues welding while operative treatment of patients, using a duplicature method. While the biological welding application a reduction of the intervention total duration time was noted, and of intraoperative blood loss - by 17%, and a need for analgetic preparations - in 1.3 times. Minimal irritation impact of biological welding on parietal pleura and the pain intensity reduction was established.


The prevalence of peanut allergies, the most common food allergy in children, has tripled in the past 2 decades. Today, up to 2.5% of the pediatric population has been diagnosed with a peanut allergy. Peanut allergies result in significant medical, out-of-pocket, and opportunity costs to payers, parents, and employers. They are also a leading cause of food allergy-related deaths in children. Although there is evidence that peanut oral immunotherapy may be effective in reducing the severity of the allergy, such approaches require a long intervention with no standardized protocol available. The introduction of biologic compounds to treat peanut allergies has the potential to revolutionize how these patient cases are managed. Their anticipated high cost, however, raises several issues for payers as to how to integrate these new therapies into formularies and treatment continuums.


Compound section is referred to a section the surface of which is made of several sub-sections with different flow characteristics. The difference in the hydraulic and geometry characteristics causes a complexity in flow hydraulic and creates an interaction between the main channel and floodplains, resulting in an apparent shear stress and a transverse momentum transfer. The amount of such a stress plays an important role in many river engineering measures. Due to the flow complexity, the common approximate analytical methods are not enough to identify the flow profile. The FLOW3D Software with its great features in three- dimensional analysis of flow field is used as a tool to investigate the shear stress in a direct symmetrical compound rectangular channel. After the simulation of models, it was found that an increase in the relative width parameter decreases the percentage of apparent shear stress and an increase in the relative roughness causes it to be increased.


Tapentadol exerts its analgesic effects through opioid receptor agonism and noradrenaline reuptake inhibition in the central nervous system. Clinical studies show that tapentadol effectively relieves moderate to severe pain in both post-operative and chronic pain. In these trials with equianalgesic doses of tapentadol and oxycodone, treatment with tapentadol was associated with significantly fewer gastrointestinal-related adverse events. Furthermore, in a placebo-controlled study, tapentadol has shown good efficacy in painful diabetic polyneuropathy.


In this paper, we identify reasons for the high school achievement of some migrant children, in spite of the language barriers faced by themselves and their parents. We explore the literature to determine the factors used to overcome such barriers, particularly those beyond social economic status (SES) and other largely inherited factors that remain a common focus of migration and school effectiveness literature. We identify the need to pay greater attention to non-conventional factors, such as aspirations, expectations and creativities. We also examine school effectiveness literature in South Africa, arguably a typical case of a developing country, and note that much of the literature centres on analysis and lamentation of physical and human resource constraints, instead of experimenting on non-conventional factors.


Pre- and postsynaptic adenosine 5′-triphosphate-sensitive potassium (ATP-K+) currents were studied using whole-cell recordings from substantia nigra zona compacta "principal" neurons in midbrain slices. The GABAA and GABAB receptor-mediated synaptic potentials were unaffected by the ATP-K+ channel inhibitor glibenclamide (30 microM) or by the opener diazoxide (500 microM), indicating that ATP-K+ channels on GABA-ergic terminals are not active, nor can they be activated pharmacologically, under control conditions. However, application of a glucose-free solution to reduce intracellular ATP levels caused a reduction of the GABAB IPSP in all neurons. This was substantially reversed by the sulfonylurea inhibitor tolbutamide (300 microM) in 50% of the neurons tested. The reduction of the GABAB IPSP was a presynaptic effect since postsynaptic hyperpolarizations induced by the GABAB receptor agonist baclofen (10 microM) were unaffected by glucose- free solutions. Diazoxide (500 microM) induced a slowly developing hyperpolarization or outward current in 64% of principal neurons, which was tolbutamide- (100–300 microM) or glibenclamide- (30 microM) sensitive. In contrast, the GABAB receptor agonist baclofen (30 microM) induced a rapid hyperpolarization or outward current in all neurons tested that was unaffected by tolbutamide (300 microM). Although both the diazoxide-induced current and the baclofen-induced current were inhibited by Ba2+ (300 microM), the currents elicited by diazoxide and baclofen summated. The reversal potential for the diazoxide-induced current was also less negative than that for baclofen, which was close to EK. In the presence of intracellular cesium, diazoxide induced a tolbutamide-sensitive inward current in a proportion of neurons, indicating that it has other actions in addition to activating a potassium current. Our results suggest that functional ATP-K+ channels exist both pre- and postsynaptically in the SN, where they modulate the activity of principal neurons. They are different to the potassium channels activated by the GABAB receptor agonist baclofen.


We analyze the phenomena of phase group synchronization between the different nominal frequency signals and propose a new theory of the equivalent comparison between them. The exact expression of the equivalent comparison is deduced. High resolution frequency measurement and phase comparison can be realized using this theory with the divider. For avoiding the frequency mixing, multiplication and synthesis, the system phase noise is improved and the higher resolution comparison and measurement are achieved between the different nominal frequencies by theory.


No matter whether young or old, almost everyone likes to play games. Even though digital games have the opportunity to motivate students and foster digital skills, games in an educational context are typically described as a minor matter in class. However, games can provide an environment to work intensively on and consolidate topics from the classroom. Especially if students have the task of developing a game themselves, it is necessary to work on the topic in depth while the content is learned and anchored playfully. As part of the COOL Informatics project, which had the goal of spreading digital education and programming in the educational sector, a Game Design Challenge was launched. In this challenge, pupils, and teachers from all over Austria were invited to develop their own educational games. It is planned to relaunch the Game Design Challenge in 2021 with the goal that more and more students can be introduced to the basics of Computational Thinking.


The WTO is witnessing an increasing intrusion of its remit into areas that hitherto were the preserve of the state. This makes the legitimacy of its law creation process critical. The article engages in analyses of the conditionalities in developed countries' Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) schemes, notably those of the EU. It argues that the maintenance of conditionalities in developed countries' GSP schemes can result in extra regulatory burdens for developing countries and can have the effect of creating WTO law by stealth. The analyses centre on the Appellate Body decision in the EC – Tariff Preferences case.


This paper studies participation of unspecified donors in kidney exchange through simultaneous domino paired donation (DPD) and non-simultaneous extended altruistic donor (NEAD) chains. It extends existing research by investigating the termination of chains, the possibility of transplantation across the blood type barrier, and the impact of incentives in multi-center exchanges. Furthermore, it looks into the effect of various configuration parameters such as the time interval between exchanges. Our analysis is based on a simulation study that uses data of all 438 patient-donor pairs and 109 unspecified donors who were screened at Dutch transplant centers between 2003 and 2011. Because multi-center coordination may raise incentive issues, special attention is paid to individually rational implementation. We find that chains are best terminated when no further segment is part of an optimal exchange within 3 months. Transplantation across the blood type barrier allows for longer continuation of chains, more transplants and more equity among patient groups. NEAD chains perform slightly better than DPD chains, provided that the renege rate is sufficiently low. Additional substantial gains are due to national individually rational coordination. Particularly highly sensitized and blood type O patients benefit. Appropriate timing of ex-changes can further improve these results.


Sexual conflict is understood as differential optimal reproductive fitness between the sexes of a species, which can lead to an evolutionary arms race between the sexes. Typically,males evolve mechanisms to induce females to mate more often than is optimal, and females are selected to inhibit the effects of male manipulation. This antagonism, known as sexual conflict, has shaped the interactions of virtually all sexual species. Understanding the genetic basis of these conflict-based characteristics is key not only to increasing our understanding of sexual conflict but also to our understanding of the reproductive physiology and behavior of species. Drosophila melanogaster males and females possess a gene that codes for a putative serine endopeptidase, CG18125, which may mediate male sexual conflict mechanisms through influencing female fecundity and fertility. We hypothesized that heightened expression of CG18125 post-mating was due to its defensive purpose toward male manipulation, and that by deactivating the gene's functionality, we would increase fecundity and fertility as compared to that of normal female serine endopeptidase activity, thereby demonstrating that the gene in females acts as a mediator for male manipulation. Alternatively, we hypothesized that the drastically increased post-mating expression of the gene product may in fact be triggered by males as a way of ensuring an increased level of egg production, meaning that when the gene is absent, female egg production might decrease. In order to acquire this data, we performed a targeted suppression of expression within the female reproductive tract by RNA interference Compromised Mating Responsive Gene in Drosophila ׀ 2 (RNAi), which inhibited serine endopeptidase functionality, and recorded day-to-day egg deposition as well as viability counts for 12 days. Results demonstrated that there was no significant difference for or against fecundity but that experimental disruption of serine endopeptidase activity led to increased fecundity. However, experimental females did show a significant rise in egg production when compared to control females, on the first few days of egg laying. These results show that CG18125 expression does not affect fecundity numbers, but instead that it downregulates fertility. It is possible that CG18125 plays a role in physiological female protection by allotting a balance of egg production, and/or that males prosper from a shorter offspring generation time when the gene does not function correctly.


Taking education as a mediation element, this essay refers to the relationship among society, State and law. It begins defining distinct and remarkable moments of social policy in the XXthcentury, in Brazil: 1) Social policy as a control upon politics (1930-1954); 2) Social policy as control policy (1964-1988); 3) Social policy with no social rights (from 1988 on). The ideas of civil society, citizenship, civil, political and social rights are then reviewed to characterize the so-called democratic Rule of Law and pinpoint some basic elements of democracy. The 1988 Federal Constitution establishes the democratic Rule of Law and clarifies the educational policy to be implemented in Brazil. Based on the numberless articles throughout the constitutional text and on their connection to international treaties, in the field of education, that either precede, are contemporary or follow its promulgation, this educational policy is widely commented. As a matter of fact, the Federal Constitution reinforces the juridical tradition of education in the Brazilian constitutional texts, thus assuming its constitutionality. Actually, through different articles scattered within it, the 1988 Constitution defines the juridical regulation of education, transforming it into a subjective public right. This is a crucial point, since Brazilians have the right to petition the State for education, as the competent authorities cannot be exonerated from their liability. This essay shows that the Educational Law goes beyond a mere exposition of the teaching legislation, inasmuch as education becomes an individual and collective, juridical asset, even though the constitutional determinations are not always enforced.


'lost', 'empty', 'forgotten', ... are terms that people with Alzheimer's disease wrestle with. Understanding our past, present, and future within time and the environment plays an integral role in giving us confidence, identity, and purpose. A vital task of architecture is to help us to situate ourselves in the world, but one's ability to navigate and situate in a space is greatly hampered by Alzheimer's disease.
The thesis aims to propose a space that provides assisted and independent living for people with varying degrees of Alzheimer's disease while incorporating music, as a therapeutic process and intervention means. The project is developed from the investigation of music and its restorative powers. The amalgamation of day-to-day living and music, creates moments of active participation, where residents, caregivers, and family members, interact to form new memories and reflect on old ones.


High-performance concrete is defined as concrete that meets special combinations of performance and uniformity requirements that cannot always be achieved routinely using conventional constituents and normal mixing, placing, and curing practices. Ever since the term high-performance concrete was introduced into the industry, it had widely used in large-scale concrete construction that demands high strength, high flowability, and high durability. A high-strength concrete is always a high-performance concrete, but a high-performance concrete is not always a highstrength concrete. Durable concrete Specifying a high-strength concrete does not ensure that a durable concrete will be achieved. It is very difficult to get a product which simultaneously fulfill all of the properties. So the different pozzolanic materials like Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBS), silica fume, Rice husk ash, Fly ash, High Reactive Metakaolin, are some of the pozzolanic materials which can be used in concrete as partial replacement of cement, which are very essential ingredients to produce high performance concrete. So we have performed XRD tests of these above mentioned materials to know the variation of different constituent within it. Also it is very important to maintain the water cement ratio within the minimal range, for that we have to use the water reducing admixture i.e superplasticizer, which plays an important role for the production of high performance concrete. So we herein the project have tested on different materials like rice husk ash, Ground granulated blast furnace slag, silica fume to obtain the desired needs. Also X-ray diffraction test was conducted on different pozzolanic material used to analyse their content ingredients. We used synthetic fiber (i.e Recron fibe) in different percentage i.e 0.0%, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3% to that of total weight of concrete and casting was done. Finally we used different percentage of silica fume with the replacement of cement keeping constant fiber content and concrete was casted. In our study it was used two types of cement, Portland slag cement and ordinary Portland


Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) is advantageous for separation of polar compounds and sensitive detection in mass spectrometry. Sample dilution can negatively affect separation. We previously reported that separation efficiency in HILIC is affected by sample water content and perhaps the wash solution used in the injector sample loop. In this study, the effects of sample composition, sample volume, and wash solutions, on separation in HILIC was investigated using a mixture of catechol compounds including basic, acidic, and zwitterionic analogs. A ZIC-cHILIC column with a phosphorylcholine stationary phase was used for analysis. In the investigation of the effect of sample composition and volume, it was shown that separation efficiency was dependent on the amount of water injected into the column. Furthermore, we found that the most distorted peaks had similar elution times to water. We also investigated the effect of the sample loop wash solution, with separation efficiency reduced by increasing water content in the wash solutions. These results indicated that the water content of both sample and washing solutions should be kept to a minimum in HILIC separation.


This paper addresses the hyperlink prediction problem in hypernetworks. Different from the traditional link prediction problem where only pairwise relations are considered as links, our task here is to predict the linkage of multiple nodes, i.e., hyperlink. Each hyperlink is a set of an arbitrary number of nodes which together form a multiway relationship. Hyperlink prediction is challenging---since the cardinality of a hyperlink is variable, existing classifiers based on a fixed number of input features become infeasible. Heuristic methods, such as the common neighbors and Katz index, do not work for hyperlink prediction, since they are restricted to pairwise similarities. In this paper, we formally define the hyperlink prediction problem, and propose a new algorithm called Coordinated Matrix Minimization (CMM), which alternately performs nonnegative matrix factorization and least square matching in the vertex adjacency space of the hypernetwork, in order to infer a subset of candidate hyperlinks that are most suitable to fill the training hypernetwork. We evaluate CMM on two novel tasks: predicting recipes of Chinese food, and finding missing reactions of metabolic networks. Experimental results demonstrate the superior performance of our method over many seemingly promising baselines.


Recent proposals have leveraged Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) to achieve high throughput low latency data center network (DCN) transport. However, most of them implicitly assume each switch port has one queue, making the ECN schemes they designed inapplicable to production DCNs where multiple service queues per port are employed to isolate different traffic classes through weighted fair sharing.

In this paper, we reveal this problem by leveraging extensive testbed experiments to explore the intrinsic tradeoffs between throughput, latency, and weighted fair sharing in multi-queue scenarios. Using the guideline learned from the exploration, we design MQ-ECN, a simple yet effective solution to enable ECN for multi-service multiqueue production DCNs. Through a series of testbed experiments and large-scale simulations, we show that MQ-ECN breaks the tradeoffs by delivering both high throughput and low latency simultaneously, while still preserving weighted fair sharing.


Ground glass hepatocytes (GGHs) are the historic hallmarks for the hepatocytes in the late and non-replicative stages of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. We have identified type I and type II GGHs that contain two mutant types of large HBV surface antigens (HBsAg) with deletions over the pre-S1 and pre-S2 regions, respectively. These pre-S mutant HBVsAg accumulate in endoplasmic reticulum (ER), resulting in strong ER stress. Type II GGHs often appear in hepatic nodules in the late phases of HBV infection and proliferate in clusters, suggesting that these mutant pre-S1/S2 HBsAg may be involved in HBV-related hepatocarcinogenesis, associated with ER stress. In this study, we investigated the potential genomic instability imposed by pre-S mutant HBsAg. Based on the analysis of comet assays, we found that the pre-S1 and pre-S2 mutant HBsAg caused oxidative stress and DNA damage. The DNA repair gene ogg1 was greatly induced by over-expression of pre-S mutant HBsAg. Induction of the DNA repair gene ogg1 was also detected in the pre-S2 HBsAg transgenic mice, as well as the type II GGHs from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, strongly suggesting that the pre-S mutant HBsAg contributes to the oxidative DNA damage to hepatocytes. In addition, the mutation rates in the X-linked hprt gene were enhanced in mouse hepatoma ML1-4a cells, which constitutively expressed the pre-S1/S2 HBsAg. These results indicate that pre-S1/S2 mutant HBsAg, which make up GGHs, induce oxidative DNA damage and mutations in hepatocytes in the late stages of HBV infection.


Disparities in income and living standards across countries and between regions within countries (spatial inequality) have been the subject of much debate and research in recent years. Spatial inequality is a construct arising out of variations in economic endowments, geography and, socio-political structure across the relevant economic space. It is typically measured as an outcome of differences in mean income or consumption levels across the economic space. The extant literature has examined some of its causes. These include globalisation, variations in availability and quality of infrastructure, and, persistent conflicts. If a significant proportion of overall inequality is spatial in nature then this can produce the preconditions for chronic poverty. Persistent spatial inequality reduces household level mobility in terms of income, occupation etc. Policies aimed at reducing chronic poverty will then have to focus on structural rather than household specific factors. This paper contributes to the literature in number of ways. First, it helps focus attention on the fact that meaningful comparison of incomes across space can be done in the context of representing these incomes as pure returns to location. Differences in income can then be described as resulting from different neighbourhood structures. Second, it is able to control for a wide range of village-level structural variables, thereby overcoming the common problem of unobserved heterogeneity. In the cross-country and cross-region inequality among broad geographic entities, such as states or districts Indian villages mimic small countries that operate in relative autarky (Foster and Rosenweig 2003). Finally, this paper shows that local endowments matter in so far as the local economies interact with a wider geographic space. Such interactions could produce positive as well as negative externalities, some of which are responsive to policy.


With the development and deployment of lightweight vehicles to the market, inclusive of autonomous pods, a review of advanced crashworthy structures and the design methodology has been conducted as it is thought that super-lightweight vehicles may pose significant risk to the occupants if they are involved in a crash. It is suggested that tests should include oblique and multiple velocity impacts to cater for the effects of assisted driving systems of future vehicles. A review of current crash structures and design methodologies revealed that the most recent research do not cater to multiple crash scenarios, nor a shorter crush allowance, therefore resulting in poor crashworthiness performance. In addition, the arbitrary seat positioning shown in autonomous pods' concepts vastly increases the risk to occupants. Greater enhancements to passive crashworthiness are imperative. To this end, functionally graded vehicle structures should be designed as it has been found that these can provide optimized solutions. Research into nonlinear optimization methods for computationally expensive problems will become central to this.


We present the appearance of nearly flat band states with nonzero Chern numbers in a two-dimensional "diamond-octagon" lattice model comprising two kinds of elementary plaquette geometries, diamond and octagon, respectively. We show that the origin of such nontrivial topological nearly flat bands can be described by a short-ranged tight-binding Hamiltonian. By considering an additional diagonal hopping parameter in the diamond plaquettes along with an externally fine-tuned magnetic flux, it leads to the emergence of such nearly flat band states with nonzero Chern numbers for our simple lattice model. Such topologically nontrivial nearly flat bands can be very useful to realize the fractional topological phenomena in lattice models when the interaction is taken into consideration. In addition, we also show that perfect band flattening for certain energy bands, leading to compact localized states can be accomplished by fine-tuning the parameters of the Hamiltonian of the system. We compute the density of states and the wavefunction amplitude distribution at different lattice sites to corroborate the formation of such perfectly flat band states in the energy spectrum. Considering the structural homology between a diamond-octagon lattice and a kagome lattice, we strongly believe that one can experimentally realize a diamond-octagon lattice using ultracold quantum gases in an optical lattice setting. A possible application of our lattice model could be to design a photonic lattice using single-mode laser-induced photonic waveguides and study the corresponding photonic flat bands.


Needle-like apatite-leucite glass-ceramics were synthesized in the SiO2-Al2O3-Na2O-K2O-P2O5 CaO-CaF2 system. Four glass batches were prepared by varying SiO2/P2O5 ratio, then melted and quenched. Crystallization was studied in compacted powder samples at different temperatures. Glasses were characterized for chemical bonding by FT-IR, phases and crystal structure by XRD, microstructure by SEM and hardness and fracture toughness by Vickers microhardness.


Background: The evidence suggests that obesity causes the chronic inflammation. Chemerin is a new adipokine which is associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome. The effects of combined training on levels of inflammatory markers specialy chemerin and serum amyloid-A has been less studied.The present study aims to examine the effect of six weeks combined training on plasma levels of chemerin, CRP and SAA and plasma lipid in obese men. Materials and Methods: 18 obese men were divided into control and experimental groups. General characteristics of subjects serum levels of chemerin, CRP and SAA were examined (by ELISA method), before and after one session training. Endurance training protocol was performed on the large muscles included in 6 weeks running around the track with 60 to 75% HRmax, 4 sessions per week, intense resistance training for 25 to 30 minutes with 50 to 70% of one repetition maximum of 6 stations (2 sets, 12 Reps). Data analysis was performed by T-independent test for comparison of two control and training groups, T-paired test for comparison of two groups before and after the test and significant level of p≤0.05 was considered. Results: The results show that 6 weeks combined training significantly decrease the plasma levels of chemerin (p=0.004), and SAA (p=0.009), but there was not any significant decrease on CRP levels(p=0. 476). So, it can be concluded that combined training will affect on some inflammatory markers in obese men and improve them. Conclusion: One session combined training for 6 weeks significantly affects on plasma levels of chemerin and serum amyloid-A, however, it doesn't decrease the plasma levels of C-reactive protein (CRP).


Abstract:Set in the Second Sino-Japanese War, Shan Sa's award-winning novel La joueuse de go features the cross-cultural love between her protagonists-narrators: a Chinese teenage girl and a Japanese soldier. Since its publication in 2001, the novel has received divergent remarks from literary critics, especially for its contentious portrayals of sexuality. Viewing Shan's representation of sexuality as a battle of eroticism and abstinence, this essay focuses on how the protagonists' respective sexual explorations reflect and influence their identity-quests and their reciprocal yet untold love. In the book, abstinence, a defining feature of their cross-cultural love, is depicted as eroticism in disguise. While the Chinese girl's sexual awakening empowers her to embrace her womanhood, the Japanese soldier's love encounters enable him to live for and as himself. Throughout the narrative, Shan creates various forms of duality, whether it be structuring the text as a game of Go or presenting the characters as doubles. As the most crucial metaphor of duality, Go serves as a site of reflection and introspection. Through their interactions on the grid, the protagonists complete the liberating process of self-rediscovery by letting the strangers within themselves emerge. Drawing on critical theories of écriture féminine and platonic love, as well as celebrated creative works, such as Alain Resnais' film Hiroshima, mon amour (1959), my analysis seeks to shed new light on the central issues of sexuality, identity, and cross-cultural love in Shan's sentimental tale.


The research was conducted between August 1993 - June 1996 in Tokyo The research tests the ubiquity of an emerging individualism in Japan in the aftermath of the speculative Bubble collapse. The thesis seeks to demonstrate that an individualism is emerging in Japan and being legitimated in two complementary dynamic processes. One is a 'top-down' process whereby individuality is being engendered, legitimated and institutionalized through planned company organisational restructuring. The other is a 'bottom-up' process where increasing unemployment and a burgeoning flexible economy requires individuals to show initiative and independence. Both these processes can be seen to be occurring against a general trend of 'individuation' (Dore 1992) which has gathered momentum since the oil crises of 1973 and 1974 (Sengoku 1991). In both cases, the emergence of this individualism is plotted by focusing primarily on the economically driven changes between those ethics and practices generally regarded as typical of 'the group model of Japanese society', as described by Nakane (1970) and critiqued by Befu (1980a, 1980b, 1990), and those ethics and practices emerging to characterize what I term a 'new individualism'. Through an ethnographic analysis of two case studies: one a software company, to study the 'top-down' process, the other among people who attend Techno music parties, to study the 'bottom- up' process, it emerged that a primary ethic of 'group models of Japanese society' (Befu 1980b, 1990) is that the individual self should 'suppress itself or 'deny itself, and conform to uniform standards of thought and behaviour set at the collective level. This was in marked contrast to the ethics and practice of the two case studies, where the individual self is expected to 'express itself. This 'redefinition' of the individual self engenders and is engendered by a complementary redefinition of ethics and practice at the collective level, where the requirement to conform to particular uniform sets of standards for thought and action associated with group models of Japanese society, are absent. In order to apprehend changes to the self at the individual and collective level, the little understood concepts of seken and sekentei were used. The research demonstrates that sekeii is the moral framework of 'the group model of Japanese society', while sekentei is the 'public self of this model of society, and that, as individuality emerges and becomes legitimated within society as a whole, seken and sekentei, and associated situational ethics and 'multiple' senses of the individual self associated with these concepts, lose their moral and social legitimacy, giving way to a unified sense of self within a single, nuanced, universal public domain. The research also demonstrates that this new individualism is not primarily a colonization by Western individualism, but is an identifiably Japanese individualism grounded in well- documented aspects of the Japanese self and Japanese society, and best understood as a departure from, and redefinition of these aspects of the Japanese self and of Japanese society.


Resistive RAM (RRAM) has been presented as a promising memory technology toward deep neural network (DNN) hardware design, with nonvolatility, high density, high ON/OFF ratio, and compatibility with logic process. However, prior RRAM works for DNNs have shown limitations on parallelism for in-memory computing, array efficiency with large peripheral circuits, multilevel analog operation, and demonstration of monolithic integration. In this article, we propose circuit-/device-level optimizations to improve the energy and density of RRAM-based in-memory computing architectures. We report experimental results based on prototype chip design of 128 × 64 RRAM arrays and CMOS peripheral circuits, where RRAM devices are monolithically integrated in a commercial 90-nm CMOS technology. We demonstrate the CMOS peripheral circuit optimization using input-splitting scheme and investigate the implication of higher low resistance state on energy efficiency and robustness. Employing the proposed techniques, we demonstrate RRAM-based in-memory computing with up to 116.0 TOPS/W energy efficiency and 84.2% CIFAR-10 accuracy. Furthermore, we investigate four-level programming with single RRAM device, and report the system-level performance and DNN accuracy results using circuit-level benchmark simulator NeuroSim.


Non-electrocardiographic (ECG)-gated computed tomography (CT) of the chest is one of the most commonly performed imaging studies. Although the heart is included in every CT study, cardiac findings are commonly underreported in radiology reports. Left ventricular size is one of the most important prognostic markers in multiple cardiac diseases and can be measured on almost all non-ECG-gated multidetector chest CT studies. This review will discuss the available evidence on different measurements of left ventricular size obtained on non-ECG-gated CT of the chest. Measurement thresholds, technical issues, and potential problems are emphasized, with practical recommendations.


A new methodology for determining the radial elastic modulus of a one-dimensional nanostructure laid on a substrate has been developed. The methodology consists of the combination of contact resonance atomic force microscopy (AFM) with finite element analysis, and we illustrate it for the case of faceted AlN nanotubes with triangular cross-sections. By making precision measurements of the resonance frequencies of the AFM cantilever-probe first in air and then in contact with the AlN nanotubes, we determine the contact stiffness at different locations on the nanotubes, i.e. on edges, inner surfaces, and outer facets. From the contact stiffness we have extracted the indentation modulus and found that this modulus depends strongly on the apex angle of the nanotube, varying from 250 to 400 GPa for indentation on the edges of the nanotubes investigated.


Increased sensitivity to proactive interference(PI) was widely observed in patients with memory impairment. There were two competing theories proposed to account for the susceptible PI effect in amnesia patients, with one holds that PI occurs at encoding stage, and the other believes that PI occurs at retrieval stage, however, its underlying mechanism was still unclear. Moreover, the results from patient study may be confounded by the differences of age, gender, education level and intelligence between patients and controls. The present study focused on this issue by in combination using neuropsychopharmacological experiment and computational cognitive modeling technique. Based on the recent findings from amnesic mild cognitive impairments(aMCI) that encoding impairment and susceptible PI effect coexisted in aMCI, and susceptible PI effect still remained in the absence of response competition, we hypothesized that the susceptible PI effect in amnesic patients might be primarily due to encoding deficits. 20 healthy adults(11 females) voluntarily participated in a double-blind, between-subject, placebocontrolled experiment, with a 2(drug: midazolam, saline) × 3(list: list1, list2, list3) ×3(word pairs: control, interference, practice) factorial design. Subjects were required to participate the experiment twice, one week apart, under midazolam(0.03mg/kg) or saline. In each day, subjects went through 3 lists of word-pair associative learning tasks and a final cued-recall test. For each list, subjects were asked to remember 45 word pairs firstly, and then each word pair was tested twice. Three kinds of word pairs were designed, with control pairs studied on only one list, practice pairs practiced on all three lists, and interference pairs involved recombining cue and response terms from one list to the next. An ANOVA statistical analysis was run on behavioral data and SAC(Source of Action Confusion) models were constructed accordingly. It was found that, episodic memory was significantly reduced after midazolam injection, as contrast to saline injection. In list2, the list directly followed the injection, the PI effect was detected both under midazolam and saline, but the PI magnitude under midazolam was significantly higher than that under saline. The similar pattern was also observed in list3, although not to be significant. The output of the SAC model was fitted well with the experimental data. In conclusion, by using drug studies, we replicated and further demonstrated the susceptible PI effect in amnesic subjects. Moreover, with SAC, the present findings suggested that the increased sensitivity of PI under midazolam, as compared with saline, may be due to the encoding impairment under midazolam. The present finding implies that the sensitive PI effect in amnesic patients, such as aMCI and Alzheimer's Disease(AD), may be due to encoding deficit, and thus may contribute to the diagnosis and cognitive training of these patients.


Low power dissipation and maximum battery runtime are crucial in portable electronics. With accurate and efficient circuit and battery models in hand, circuit designers can predict and optimize battery runtime and circuit performance. In this paper, an accurate, intuitive, and comprehensive electrical battery model is proposed and implemented in a Cadence environment. This model accounts for all dynamic characteristics of the battery, from nonlinear open-circuit voltage, current-, temperature-, cycle number-, and storage time-dependent capacity to transient response. A simplified model neglecting the effects of self-discharge, cycle number, and temperature, which are nonconsequential in low-power Li-ion-supplied applications, is validated with experimental data on NiMH and polymer Li-ion batteries. Less than 0.4% runtime error and 30-mV maximum error voltage show that the proposed model predicts both the battery runtime and I-V performance accurately. The model can also be easily extended to other battery and power sourcing technologies.


The inter-annual variations in the sea surface temperatures (SSTs) of the tropical and subtropical Pacific Ocean have been widely investigated, largely due to their importance in achieving the sustainable development of marine ecosystems under a changing climate. The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a widely recognized variability. In the subpolar region in the southern hemisphere, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is one of the main sources of the Peru Current. A change in the SST in the Southern Ocean may change the physical properties of the seawater in the tropical and subtropical Pacific Ocean. However, the variations in the SST in the Southern Ocean have rarely been addressed. This study uses a 147-year (1870–2016) dataset from the Met Office Hadley Centre to show that the SST anomalies (SSTAs) in the oceans west and east of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula have strong positive (R = 0.56) and negative (R = −0.67) correlations with the Niño 3.4 SSTA, respectively. Such correlations are likely related to the changes in circulations of the ACC. We further show that, statistically, the temporal variations in the SSTAs of the ACC lead the Niño 3.4 SSTA by four to six months. Such findings imply that change in the strength of ENSO or circulation under the changing climate could change the climate in regions at higher latitudes as well.


This article presents the concept of social capital and highlights its use in the economic performance of Ukrainian entrepreneurs in Czechia. The social capital stands as one of the important resources, which can be used by migrant entrepreneurs in creating their own businesses and ethnic economies. The concept of social capital with its different approaches, roles and impact on society is a frequent topic of current scientific debate, particularly in connection with mass immigration to the Western countries. In our analysis we use the individual approach of social capital that goes in line with personal ties, and thus it is closely connected to mutual trust, cooperation, contacts as well as mutual aid and solidarity. Our main research question is whether the Ukrainian entrepreneurs poses social capital and how they use it in their business activities. The article is founded on qualitative research based on 16 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Ukrainian entrepreneurs and key actors of the Ukrainian community in Czechia. We conclude that the Ukrainians do not use their social capital to the available extent. The networks of contacts exist among the Ukrainian entrepreneurs, but their use for economic cooperation is rather limited, which seems to be caused by their low level of trust. The mutual solidarity presented in private life and in economic activities does not play a significant role. Moreover, due to the absence of social capital, Ukrainian entrepreneurs have not yet developed their ethnic economy in Czechia.


CerberaManghas is a plant that is often used as urban greening so that this plant has the potential to be developed into a source of alternative fuel in Indonesia. The material of solid fuel briquette is waste leaves of CerberaManghas tree and tapioca flour are used as binder material. The composition of this briquette is 10% mass of tapioca flour and 90% mass of CerberaManghas waste leaves. The highest heating value (HHV) of this briquette is 4167 Kcal/kg. The particle size of this briquette affects the physical and burning characteristics. This optimizes research particle size and pressure of the press machine during the briquette forming process. The two parameters were evaluated for the combustion characteristics include Flame temperature, Ignition timing, Burning time, and Combustion rate. The higher value of flame temperature, ignition time and burning time are caused by the greater the hydraulic pressure. Besides better the briquettes'quality are obtained the smaller of combustion rate, so that the briquettes are more durable and required the ignition time length. The best briquettes of Cerbera Manghas leaves are those with particle size of 60 mesh and forming pressure of 2 MPa, which have a flame temperature of 522 °C, an ignition time 268 second, a burning time of 7293 second, and a combustion rate of 0.0026 gr/s.


Early childhood care and education (ECCE) is commonly understood in Malaysia as providing care and education for young children from the age of newborn until about six years old, before they enter formal elementary education. Various curriculum and teaching approaches were developed to enhance children's learning experiences based on their needs, age, and ability to support all three main developmental aspects: cognitive (language development and problem-solving skills), physical (development of gross and fine motor skills), and social-emotional (interaction with others). This paper will provide an overview of Malaysia's ECCE from its early implementation until today based on literature review of related research conducted in Malaysia. The definition of ECCE in Malaysia, its history and development, ECCE providers and type of institutions, current ECCE curriculum, and ECCE related acts in Malaysia are presented. In addition, the challenges faced, its consequences, and future course of ECCE in Malaysia are also discussed. It is envisaged that this article would be a platform for the relevant stakeholders worldwide to gain an insight on the Malaysian ECCE, serve as a benchmark and act as a reference for their respective ECCE settings.


ABSTRACT The pathogenic yeast Candidaalbicans can undergo a dramatic change in morphology from round yeast cells to long filamentous cells called hyphae. We have cloned the CaMYO5 gene encoding the only myosin I in C. albicans. A strain with a deletion of both copies of CaMYO5 is viable but cannot form hyphae under all hypha-inducing conditions tested. This mutant exhibits a higher frequency of random budding and a depolarized distribution of cortical actin patches relative to the wild-type strain. We found that polar budding, polarized localization of cortical actin patches, and hypha formation are dependent on a specific phosphorylation site on myosin I, called the "TEDS-rule" site. Mutation of this serine 366 to alanine gives rise to the null mutant phenotype, while a S366D mutation, the product of which mimics a phosphorylated serine, allows hypha formation. However, the S366D mutation still causes a depolarized distribution of cortical actin patches in budding cells, similar to that in the null mutant. The localization of CaMyo5-GFP together with cortical actin patches at the bud and hyphal tips is also dependent on serine 366. Intriguingly, the cortical actin patches in the majority of the hyphae of the mutant expressing Camyo5S366D were depolarized, suggesting that although their distribution is dependent on myosin I localization, polarized cortical actin patches may not be required for hypha formation.


Generalised anxiety disorder affects about 4.4% of the adult population in England.1 It is characterised by worry and apprehension. Worries are typically widespread, involving everyday issues and a shifting focus of concern; a person with this disorder finds it difficult to control their worries.2 3 Like other anxiety disorders, it is often chronic if untreated,2 and it is associated with substantial disability equivalent to other chronic physical health problems such as arthritis and diabetes.4 People with generalised anxiety disorder have high levels of service use (visits to general practitioners and hospital), a consequence of somatic symptoms and worries commonly associated with the disorder and because it commonly coexists with chronic physical health problems.5 6 7

This article summarises the most recent recommendations from the partially updated guideline from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on generalised anxiety disorder and panic disorder (with or without agoraphobia) in adults.8 Only recommendations for the management of generalised anxiety disorder have been updated, and these are described here.

NICE recommendations are based on systematic reviews of best available evidence and explicit consideration of cost effectiveness. When minimal evidence is available, recommendations are based on the Guideline Development Group's experience and opinion of what constitutes good practice. Evidence levels for the recommendations are given in italic in square brackets.

A "stepped care" model is used to organise and integrate the provision of care by general practices and community services and to help in choosing the most effective interventions. With this approach, patients are first offered the least intrusive intervention that might be effective, with a "step up" to more intensive interventions if they do not improve.

### Identification, assessment, and initial treatment


Abstract Rao and Bayless [18] empirically investigated the stabilities of estimators of the population total and stabilities of their variance estimators for several methods of unequal probability sampling of two units (n =2) per stratum. In this article, after deriving the variances of variance estimators for general n for the following methods: (a) the I.P.P.S. (inclusion probabilities proportional to size) methods of Fellegi, Sampford and Carroll-Hartley, (b) Des Raj's and Murthy's methods, (c) the Rao-Hartley-Cochran method, (d) Lahiri's method using a ratio estimator and (e) p.p.s. sampling with replacement using the customary estimator, we perform empirical studies for n = 3 and 4 along the lines of our previous article. A major conclusion is that Murthy's method may be preferable over the other methods when a stable estimator as well as a stable variance estimator are required.


The Internet of Things (IoT) brings a fundamental transformation by augmenting its conventional sensor networks with more advanced devices, such as smart meters. This fusion of embedded and industry (utility) domains promises to deliver unprecedented benefits for both sectors. On the one hand, connected metering devices become capable of transmitting the data without the need for human interaction i.e., Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication pattern. Also, the re-configuration of meters can be done remotely as the cost savings related to device management stand for the key point from the decision makers point of view. On the other hand, especially these days, the question how to treat with obtained data remains unanswered. In particular, we consider to use of the recently standardized Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) radio technology and offering the real evaluation of created visualization platform. In role of sensor, we use our "from the scratch" designed and programmed NB-IoT prototype.


Background Histomorphological grading of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) is crucial for clinical management. CIN grading is however subjective and affected by substantial rates of discordance among pathologists, which may lead to overtreatment. To minimise this problem, a histology review of CIN lesions by a consensus panel of pathologists is often used. Diffuse strong p16INK4a immunostaining has been proposed to aid the identification of true high-grade cervical lesions (ie, CIN2/3). Aim To assess the value of additional interpretation of p16INK4a immunostains for making a more reproducible diagnosis of CIN2/3 lesions. Methods The authors used a series of 406 biopsies of cervical lesions, with known HPV status, stained for both H&E- and p16INK4a. First, in a randomly selected set of 49 biopsies, we examined the effect of additional interpretation of p16INK4a immunostained slides, on the agreement of CIN diagnosis among three pathologists. Second, the full series of samples was used to assess the accuracy of p16INK4a-supported lesion grading by a single pathologist, by evaluating the degree of diagnostic agreement with the consensus diagnosis of expert pathologists based on H&E-stained sections only. Results The study shows that the interobserver agreement between three pathologists for the routine H&E-based diagnosis ranged from fair (weighted kappa 0.44 (95% CI 0.19 to 0.64)) to moderate (weighted kappa 0.66 (95% CI 0.47 to 0.79)). The concordance increased substantially for p16INK4a-supported grading (mean weighted kappa 0.80 (95% CI 0.66 to 0.89)). Furthermore, an almost perfect agreement was found between the p16INK4a-supported diagnosis of a single pathologist and the consensus diagnosis of an expert pathology panel (kappa 0.88 (95% CI 0.85 to 0.89)). Conclusions These data demonstrate that additive use of p16INK4a immunohistochemistry significantly improves the accuracy of grading CIN lesions by a single pathologist, equalling an expert consensus diagnosis. Hence, the authors advocate the combined use of p16INK4a-stained slides and conventional H&E sections in routine histopathology to improve accuracy of diagnosis.


This study was undertaken to examine the dependence of the regulatory enzymes of photosynthetic induction on photon flux density (PFD) exposure in soybean (Glycine max L.). The induction state varies as a function of both the magnitude and duration of the PFD levels experienced prior to an increase in PFD. The photosynthetic induction state results from the combined activity of separate processes that each in turn depend on prior PFD environment in different ways. Direct measurement of enzyme activities coupled with determination of in situ metabolite pool sizes indicated that the fast-induction component was associated with the activation state of stromal fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase, EC 188.8.131.52) and showed rapid deactivation in the dark and at low PFD. The fast-induction component was activated at low PFD levels, around 70 [mu]mol photons m-2 s-1. Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco, EC 22.214.171.124) deactivated very slowly in the dark and required higher PFD for activation. Both enzymes saturated at lower PFD than did photosynthesis, around 400 [mu]mol photons m-2 s-1. Ribulose-5-phosphate kinase (EC 220.127.116.11) appeared never to be limiting to photosynthesis, and saturated at much lower PFD than either FBPase or Rubisco. Determination of photosynthetic metabolite pool sizes from leaves at different positions within a soybean canopy showed a limitation to carbon uptake at the stromal FBPase and possibly the sedoheptulose-1,7-bisphosphatase (EC 18.104.22.168) in shade leaves upon initial illumination at saturating PFD levels.


The purpose of this research was to develop and test a standardized instrument for clinical nurse anesthesia faculty evaluation. Twenty-eight instructor behaviors had been previously identified by a sample of nurse anesthesia students, employing the critical incident technique. Behaviors were grouped into five domains using a logical criterion method: involvement/receptivity, professional competence, teaching practices, evaluation practices, and personal characteristics. The clinical instructor evaluation instrument (CIEI) employed behaviors as items and used a five-point Likert adjective rating scale which identified the degree to which an instructor exhibited particular behaviors. Rating scales ranged from 1 (almost never) to 5 (almost always). The CIEI was tested on U.S. Air Force nurse anesthesia students, who indicated that the standardized form was understandable and that the frequency-of-behavior scale could discern the best from the worst instructors. Application of the CIEI with U.S. Army nurse anesthesia students was conducted to determine the reliability of the developed instrument. Results detected statistically significant differences among 28 behaviors and 46 clinical instructors and produced a reliability coefficient of .935. Potential uses of the CIEI are discussed.


Stock returns volatility of daily closing prices of the Uganda Securities Exchange(USE) all share index over a period of 04/01/2005 to 18/12/2013 is Modelled. We employ different univariate Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedastic(GARCH) models; both symmetric and asymmetric. The models include; GARCH(1,1), GARCH-M, EGARCH(1,1) and TGARCH(1,1). Quasi Maximum Likelihood(QML) method was used to estimate the models and then the best performing model obtained using two model selection criteria; Akaike Information criterion(AIC) and Bayesian Information criterion(BIC). Overall, the GARCH(1, 1) model outperformed the other competing models. This result is analogous with other studies, that GARCH(1, 1) is best.


This doctoral dissertation is an overview of the recently arisen Sango language spoken in the Central African Republic. The overview contains a sociolinguistic and linguistic dimension with a lexical-semantic focus. The study is set within a multidisciplinary framework including a functional-typological perspective, language change induced by contact, and language planning. The study shows that the diachronic sociolinguistic context of Sango has greatly influenced its structures, while little language-internal development has taken place. It is justified to treat Sango as an Ubangi language both from a sociolinguistic and typological point of view. Sango arose in the Upper Ubangi area, probably before the arrival of the Europeans, as the outcome of intense contact between the Ngbandi people and other ethnic groups speaking different languages. These contacts gave rise to several simplified varieties based on the Ngbandi language which have developed to present day Sango under strong influence from other Ubangi languages in close contact. This is evident from, for instance, the clause-final position of negation and the encoding of 'take' and 'give' in the same verb – features which occur in Ubangi languages but which are rare elsewhere. The language has also been influenced by language-planning activities which have led to the emergence of both general and standardised varieties. The vocabulary is composed of words from primarily Ngbandi and from French. The 20 most frequent verbs are characterised by a number of criteria for unmarked lexical items in general. Lexical patterns of some of the 20 verbs are studied, as are verbs of motion with regard to kind of motion, syntactic frames, and conflation of components. The verbs show general tendencies but also parallels with other Ubangi languages and culture-specific tendencies. The study also showed that lexicalisation processes involving conflation of components are going on. The study is based on a wide range of sources, including a tape-recorded corpus of approximately 52,000 running words (the most important source), and observations made under my eleven-year stay between 1970 and 1991 in the western part of the CAR. (Less)


This paper presents a toolkit for generating optimal policy projections. It makes five contributions. First, the toolkit requires a minimal set of inputs: only a baseline projection for target and instrument variables and impulse responses of those variables to policy shocks. Second, it solves optimal policy projections under commitment, limited-time commitment, and discretion. Third, it handles multiple policy instruments. Fourth, it handles multiple constraints on policy instruments such as a lower bound on the policy rate and an upper bound on asset purchases. Fifth, it allows alternative approaches to address the forward guidance puzzle. The toolkit that accompanies this paper is Dynare compatible, which facilitates its use. Examples replicate existing results in the optimal monetary policy literature and illustrate the usefulness of the toolkit for highlighting policy trade-offs. We use the toolkit to analyse US monetary policy at the height of the Great Financial Crisis. Given the Fed's early-2009 baseline macroeconomic projections, we find the Fed's planned use of the policy rate was close to optimal whereas a more aggressive QE program would have been beneficial.


In his second year at the University of California, Berkeley, Arthur William Ryder (1877–1938), the Ohio-born Harvard scholar of Sanskrit language and literature, collaborated with the campus English Club and Garnet Holme, an English actor, to stage Ryder's translation of the Sanskrit classic Mrichchhakatikam, by Shudraka, as The Little Clay Cart. The 1907 production was described as "presented in true Hindu style. Under the direction of Garnet Holme, who … studied with Swamis of San Francisco … [and] the assistance of many Indian students of the university." However, in the twenty-five-plus cast, there was not a single Indian actor with a speaking part. The intended objective was grandeur, and the production achieved that with elaborate sets and costumes, two live zebras, and elephants. Seven years later, the Ryder–Holme team returned with Ryder's translation of Kalidasa's Shakuntala, "bear cubs, a fawn, peacocks, and an onstage lotus pool with two real waterfalls." While the archival materials do not indicate the involvement of any Indian actors (barring one Gobind B. Lal, who enacted the Prologue), its importance is evinced by the coverage it received in the Oakland Tribune, the Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times.


The bioactive lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) plays a well‐known role in atherosclerotic disease, whereas its role in myocardial function remains virtually unexplored. Following acute myocardial infarction, serum LPA concentration rises by six‐fold over control human subjects, suggesting LPA may contribute to the pathogenesis of myocardial infarction. LPA production involves hydrolysis of lysophosphatidylcholine by the secreted enzyme autotaxin, whereas lipid phosphate phosphatase‐3 (LPP3) catalyzes LPA dephosphorylation to generate lipid products that are not receptor active. We present the first evidence that cardiac ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury enhances myocardial autotaxin levels and decreases myocardial LPP3 expression, and this is associated with increased serum LPA levels. Upon reperfusion, reactive oxygen species production arises as a burst of superoxide from mitochondria following I/R injury. The redox‐sensitive transcription factor NFAT has been shown to bind to the autotaxin promoter and induce its expression. Therefore, we looked at the autotaxin and LPP3 regulation in mice following I/R injury in the myocardium. After 1h ligation followed by 3h reperfusion in the myocardium, we observed a 3 fold increase in the autotaxin protein levels, whereas LPP3 protein levels were significantly downregulated as observed through Western blot analysis in these myocardial ischemic tissues. Autotaxin and miR‐92a mRNA expression levels were significantly upregulated, whereas KLF2 and LPP3 mRNA expressions were significantly downregulated following I/R injury at 24 hours. Western blot analysis showed a 3 fold increase autotaxin protein levels and immunohistochemistry of human infarct tissues at 24 hours showed disruption of the sarcomere with decreased LPP3 staining. We found that I/R injury transactivates miR‐92a, and inhibit KLF2, an upstream activator of LPP3. Taken together, our in vivo data, from the myocardial I/R injury and human infarct tissues, suggest that regulation of autotaxin and LPP3 activity might cause the rise in serum LPA levels as reported with acute myocardial infarct patients.


This work contributes towards optimizing edge analytics in Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) systems. We consider requests for computing tasks that are generated from users and can be satisfied either locally at their devices, or they can be offloaded to an edge server in their proximity for remote execution. We study a multi-user MEC system with limited energy autonomy for the mobile devices and with limitations on the computing capability of both mobile devices and at an edge server, where users can offload part of their computation load. We define a utility over "resource residuals", that capture the difference between the resources assigned through our decisions, and those needed in practice, and we aim at the minimization of regret, i.e., of the difference between the utility obtained by an optimal offline benchmark that knows the system evolution in hindsight, and our online decision policy. We design an algorithm that jointly learns policies for offloading computations and scheduling them for execution at the shared MEC server. We prove that our algorithm is asymptotically optimal, i.e., it has no regret over the optimal static offline benchmark, and that its performance is independent of the number of devices in the system. From our numerical evaluation we conclude that our algorithm adapts to unpredictable demand changes, it learns to identify resource-limited devices, and it learns to share the server's resources.


This article aims to present the impacts of the Brazilian Program of Scholarships to Teaching Initiation - PIBID on the teacher training of Geography in Brazil, focusing on the intervention on the professional identity for the teaching profession, and redetermination of the role and place of co-trainers and knowledges of training in the exercise of practical rationality in the development of curricular components, and in the construction of topophilic relations with the School and with geography as a school discipline, considering its multiple languages and potentialities. The birth of PIBID in the early 2000's results from the recognition by the Brazilian Ministry of Education of the challenges posed by global political in education. The PIBID, along with other programs of professional training and teaching valorization, goes through a redefinition in the national agenda. The drastic reduction of quotas interrupts the continuity of already consolidated subprojects. These are difficult times for Geography, in the context of the crisis of Basic and Secondary Education in Brazil, and for teacher professionalization, whose most evident challenges are related to practical rationality in the formative process and to the centralization of places, knowledge and subjects essential to training. When a program that begins to reap the first positive results of an introduction to teaching in Geography, and collaboration of the spaces and protagonists involved in the initial formation, is being experienced in an unprecedented way, giving feedback to the desired reflection-in-action cycle, the uncertain future of this policy leads us to reflect on when and how initial teacher training will be a permanent and priority agenda in our actions.