Background Bacterial infections remain one of the most important clinical problems in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) causing significant morbidity and implicated in a third of all deaths among patients with CLL. Identification of bacterial infection by a culture is an important prognostic finding. Several studies have evaluated the incidence and type of bacterial infections in CLL, but often these have only evaluated bacteremia and patients who have been treated in a protocol. Aim The aim of the present study is to estimate incidence rates of- and risk factors for microbiologically verified bacterial infections in a nationwide cohort of treated as well as untreated patients with CLL. Methods We used the Danish National CLL registry to identify all patients diagnosed with CLL between 2008 and 2016. From the Danish National Microbiology database and the PERSIMUNE data warehouse we collected data on all microbiologically verified bacterial infections in these patients between January 2010 and April 2017. The study was approved by the Danish data protection agency and the Danish health authorities. Results We identified 3720 CLL patients with 12,833 person-years of follow-up (median 3.1 years). Within our study period 913 patients had received treatment for CLL. A total of 26562 cultures (12,987 blood, 8,607 urine, 658 airway) were collected among 2377 patients during the study period. Of the blood cultures, 755 (5.8 %) were positive and 229 (1.7 %) were defined as possibly contaminated. Among the 755 positive blood cultures the microorganisms identified were Escherichia coli (188, 24.9 %), Enterococcus faecium (81, 10.7 %), Staphylococcus aureus (73, 9.7%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (72, 9.5 %). The rates of positive blood cultures for untreated and treated patients were 0.03 and 0.16 per patient year, respectively. Conclusion We here report the largest study to date on bacterial infections in a nationwide cohort of consecutive CLL patients. By characterizing type of infection, we will be able to identify different patterns of infections in treated as well as untreated CLL patients and to identify risk factors for specific types of infections. This knowledge should be used to personalize prophylactic interventions as well as the initial treatment of infections in CLL patients. Further, results of this study could be used to guide prophylactic measures for specific subgroups of patients, which should be tested in prospective clinical trials. Disclosures Niemann: The Danish Cancer Society: Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy, Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Travel grant; Gilead: Consultancy, Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Travel grant; AbbVie: Consultancy, Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Travel grant, Research Funding; Novo Nordisk Foundation: Research Funding; Novartis: Other: Travel grant; Roche: Consultancy, Other: Travel grant.


Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The goal of this study is to determine if the way in which codemixed sentences are presented during experimental lab sessions affects the way they are processed, and how experimental design approximates (or not) patterns of language use in bilingual populations. Design/methodology/approach: An eye-tracking study was conducted comparing reading times on codemixed and unilingual Spanish sentences across two modes of presentation: (a) a blocked mode, where one block contained unilingual Spanish sentences and another one contained codemixed sentences; and (b) a mixed mode, where both unilingual and codemixed sentences were mixed together in a randomized fashion. Data and analysis: 20 heritage speakers of Spanish were tested. Four reading measures extracted from the eye-tracking data were subjected to linear mixed-effects regression, with significance determined via backwards likelihood ratio tests, to examine differences across modes of presentation. Findings/conclusions: Codemixes took significantly longer to process in the blocked mode than in the mixed mode. This is in line with corpus data suggesting that intra-sentential codemixing does not occur for long stretches of time and is broken up by unilingual discourse. Originality: While a few studies have hinted at the potential confounds related to the presentation of codemixed or language-switching stimuli, the direct effects of experimental manipulation coupled with insights from sociolinguistic or corpus-based studies have not been tested. Significance/implications: To better understand bilingual codemixing, as well as the cost (or lack thereof) associated with it, lab-based studies of codemixing should take insights from sociolinguistic and corpus-based research. The results of this study suggest that the experience that participants bring into the lab can interact with experimental design and result in unexpected results.


A dynamical model of soil phosphorus carryover in grazed pasture provides the basis for bioeconomic optimization of fertiliser rates. A linear constraint is introduced to optimise the allocation of limited funds to fertiliser on several farm blocks, each of which represents a different land and/or stock class. The optimal constrained maintenance application of fertiliser to each block is calculated, and an heuristic approach to this equilibrium is suggested. In some cases this involves withholding of fertiliser from unresponsive blocks. The dynamical model and economic optimisation method have been implemented in a commercial fertiliser planning decision support tool Outlook.


Targeting Induced Local Lesions In Genomes or TILLING® was first introduced in 2000, through the Arabidopsis genome project (1). The TILLING technique uses chemical mutagenesis with ethylmethanesulfonate (EMS) to induce point mutations throughout an entire genome. The mutagenized founder population is crossbred and the resultant population is analyzed for gene specific point mutations. EcoTILLING takes regular TILLING one step further in that it allows for haplotyping groups or species based on natural allele variation identified through SNP discovery. To start the TILLING procedure, the genes of interest are identified with gene specific primers and PCR amplified. The primers are labeled with two dye colors – the forward primer is labeled with a shorter wavelength wavelength fluorescent dye (LI-COR's IRDye® 700 blue) and the reverse primer is labeled with a longer wavelength fluorescent dye (LI-COR's IRDye 800 green). Fragments are then run through a thermal-cycler and heteroduplexes are formed at the point of the polymorphism between two hybridized DNA fragments. The hybridized fragments are then cleaved at the heteroduplex site by CEL I nuclease or SurveyorTM Nuclease. The DNA is denatured and the resulting shorter fragments are run through gel electrophoresis and a scanned image of the gel is produced (2, 3).


In this paper, vibration-based structural health monitoring methods that are suitable for caisson-type structures are examined by an experimental evaluation. To achieve the objective, four approaches are implemented. First, vibration-based structural health monitoring methods are selected to monitor the structural condition if caisson-type breakwaters. Second, a lab-scaled caisson structure is constructed to verify the selected monitoring methods. Third, the vibration characteristics are numerically analyzed using an FE model due to the change in the rubble mound condition. Finally, experimental vibration tests of the lab-scaled caisson structure are performed to monitor the vibration responses due to changes in rubble mound conditions and the performances if the selected methods are examined from the monitoring results.


Purpose This study aimed to examine the relationship between smartphone dependency (SD) and mental health (MH) in adolescents in order to develop and implement plans pertaining to SD control. Methods Raw data from the 16th Online Adolescent Health Behavior Survey in 2020 were analyzed. A total of 482 respondents were selected as study subjects based on their experience of smartphone overdependence (SO), specifically, 241 participants whose score for SO was 37 or higher (Group 2) and age- and gender-matched 241 participants whose score was lower than 10 (Group 1). Results Frequency analysis, cross-tab analysis (χ2 test), and multinomial logistic regression were performed Analysis shows that the MH affecting the increase in SO is the subjective perception of happiness, subjective perception of stress, sadness and despair, and experience of Loneliness. But, the variable affecting the reduction is the subjective evaluation of sleep quality. The likelihood of SO increased as adolescents felt unhappier [Exp (β) = 2.408] and more stressed [Exp (β) = 4.453] and more often felt lonely [Exp (β) = 8.149], but the likelihood decreased as they had neither sufficient nor insufficient sleep duration [Exp (β) = 0.344]. The findings suggest that it is necessary to develop aggressive measures for the prevention and management of MH in adolescents showing SO because mental health is closely linked to SD. In developing the measures, realistic approaches to widely pervasive SO among adolescents should be explored by taking into account MH factors, that is, predictors of SO, and the characteristics of youths, such that they can self-control smartphone use and form desirable life habits.


Muffin is one of the preferred foods by all groups of ages. Basically, wheat flour which is used in the muffin manufacturing are the medium flour and weak flour. Muffin is potential to be substituted with low protein flour such as pumpkin flour. Pumpkin flour has a different characteristic with wheat flour such as sugar content, fiber and carotenoid. Those component can determine muffin's physical properties such as color, browning, flavor, and organoleptic so it is important to determine the effect of substitution to the muffin's physical and organoleptic properties. The raw material used in this study are pumpkin flour and medium wheat flour. Other ingredients are butter, sugar, eggs, skim milk, vanilla and baking powder. Used research design was Randomized Block Design (RDB) with a single factor, namely the level of substitution of wheat flour by pumpkin flour with seven levels 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30% with four replications. The tested parameters were water content, water activity, volume expansion, texture (hardness, springiness, cohesiveness and chewiness), and organoleptic test (color, texture and flavor). Substitution of wheat flour with pumpkin flour influences the water content, water activity, volume expansion, hardness, springiness, chewiness and organoleptic test (color, texture and flavor) with significance level α=5%, but the substitution doesn't influence cohesiveness. The optimal substitution level is 15%.


In this study, we evaluated the usability, user experiences, and usefulness of digital game-based exercise called The Skiing game for the Finnish elderly people in Finland. The findings suggest that digital games are promising to be used as an alternative way of exercising for them. The findings also highlight usability recommendations for us to take into account in future study. The findings from this study can be insightful for health practitioners, policy makers, researchers, and game designers not only in Finland, but also in other countries for promoting elderly people's physical well-being through digital gameplay.


The present study is concerned with the digital redesign of an analog, nonlinear, state-feedback control system, such that the time-integrals of the analog and digital control inputs are approximately equal in the sense of the Principle of Equivalent Areas. Although stability is not guaranteed theoretically, simulation studies show that this approach yields better digital controllers than the traditional emulation method, where analog control gains are used and samplers and hold elements are simply inserted. Furthermore, the proposed method is simpler and generally has closer results to analog original, than a recently proposed method based on the Lyapunov method.


The magnetic anisotropy of europium iron garnet is caused by the combined effect of the crystalline field and anisotropic exchange, of which the latter proves to be the more important. Most of the parameters required for the analysis are derived in part A from the available experimental results on nuclear magnetic resonance, spectroscopy, magnetization and Mössbauer technique. The exchange parameters Gmn, n ≽ 4 (i. e. fourth and higher degree harmonics) cannot be obtained in this manner. When their values are set equal to zero the magnetic anisotropy constant K1 (or rather K1 + ⅓K2) coincides in sign and order of magnitude with the experimental result. From the present study, it becomes apparent that the value of K1 is very sensitive to small changes in the parameters Gm4. Consequently the calculations are repeated for different values of the Gm4 and it is then possible to satisfy simultaneously the experimental values of K1 + ⅓K2 and the available results on the ferromagnetic resonance of Eu i. g. (to be discussed in another paper). The formulae used to derive from the experimental results the parameters required in the calculation are presented in part B, together with a critical discussion of those used to describe the nuclear magnetic resonance of Eu in Eu i. g. The only apparent inconsistency in the theory relates to the quadrupolar substructure in the n. m. r. when averaged over the three principal local axes. It is half as large as predicted theoretically and the discrepancy cannot be blamed on higher order harmonics or uncertainty in the parameters. A possible explanation could be unexpectedly large biquadratic superexchange.


Abstract In 2020, the Mapula Embroidery Project were commissioned to produce a series of 14 artworks in cloth on the topic of Covid-19 and its impact on their community. However, as the article reveals, the relationship of the works to the actual lived experiences of project members turned out to be complex, indirect or even paradoxical. In their choice and treatment of subject matter, members of the project sometimes represent their aspirations rather than necessarily their difficulties. While sometimes exposing hardships people experience or illustrating their own fears, they also often represent scenarios that are suggestive of an aspiration to be part of an ordered society where difficulties are overcome. Furthermore, while the works include imagery drawn from designers' own perceptions of their everyday environment, they also at times incorporate motifs and text gleaned from online searches and television broadcasts, in effect recording messages and discourses about Covid-19 current at a particular historical juncture. Consequently, while not literal reflections of practices in the context of the pandemic, the cloths have an important "truth" value: they invoke people's fears and anxieties while also suggesting their capacity to sustain hope in a time of challenge and uncertainty.


The paper discusses the following topics: the importance of export controls; the uniqueness of nuclear weapons and their export control requirements; ``dual-use`` controls; and recent developments in nonproliferation beyond export control. Also discussed are some non-obvious challenges which include computer modeling and visualization, and fissile material availability and instant nukes. The author concludes by asking the Nuclear Suppliers Group to consider whether there are ways to make its controls more effective.


A spectroscopic fiber-based system with white light and coherent Raman contrast is demonstrated. Both modalities are used to identify the tissue types in different species (mice, rats, pigs and monkeys, humans). Results showing the differences between tissue types will be presented.


Artificial pancreas (AP) systems offer an important improvement in regulating blood glucose concentration for patients with type 1 diabetes, compared to current approaches. AP consists of sensors, control algorithms and an insulin pump. Different AP control algorithms such as proportional-integral-derivative, model-predictive control, adaptive control, and fuzzy logic control have been investigated in simulation and clinical studies in the past three decades. The variability over time and complexity of the dynamics of blood glucose concentration, unsteady disturbances such as meals, time-varying delays on measurements and insulin infusion, and noisy data from sensors create a challenging system to AP. Adaptive control is a powerful control technique that can deal with such challenges. In this paper, a review of adaptive control techniques for blood glucose regulation with an AP system is presented. The investigations and advances in technology produced impressive results, but there is still a need for a reliable AP system that is both commercially viable and appealing to patients with type 1 diabetes.


The effect of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRH-a) administration before gonadotropin super-ovulation on the stimulation characteristics of poor responder patients was assessed in an in vitro fertilization (IVF) program. Thirty consecutive patients who had exhibited low ovarian response (fewer than four retrieved oocytes) in at least two previous IVF cycles (control cycles, n = 60), were eligible for the study. GnRH-a (nafarelin) was administered daily for 7–10 days from the mid-luteal phase of the previous cycle until the first day of menstruation. Menotropin treatment was commenced on cycle day 3 (with no additional GnRH-a) (study cycles, n = 39). A significantly higher number of oocytes was retrieved (p < 0.0002) and a higher number of embryos transferred (p < 0.003) in the study cycles than in the control cycles. No cases of premature luteinizing hormone surge were recorded. Pregnancy rates per embryo transfer and per cycle were 10.4% and 7.7% for the study cycles and 2.8% and 1.6% for the control cycles, respectively. GnRH-a, administered prior to gonadotropin treatment, should be an additional option of ovulation induction protocol for poor responders in IVF programs.


Abstract:  Amphibians are facing extinctions worldwide as a result of numerous factors. Habitat alteration has long been implicated in the loss of biodiversity; however, we still do not know how different animal assemblages respond to habitat alteration. To investigate the impacts of anthropogenic habitat alteration on diversity, we studied amphibian assemblages across different habitats in the Chocó rainforest of northwest Ecuador. Amphibian diversity was estimated using intensive surveys along transects in primary and altered (historically logged) forest and riparian habitats, as well as along roads with varying levels of ongoing human activity. Our results suggest an interaction between habitat type and alteration on the diversity and composition of amphibian assemblages. Amphibian assemblages along rivers were the richest as well as the least impacted by habitat alteration. In addition, riparian zones harbored amphibian assemblages distinct from other habitat types, including rare and endangered species. Diversity and species richness were lower in secondary than in primary forest, suggesting that amphibian assemblages in interior forest habitat may be more vulnerable to alterations caused by logging. These findings suggest that amphibian assemblages in different habitat types (i.e., riparian vs. interior forest) may vary in vulnerability to habitat alteration. We discuss these findings in relation to land management plans that promote amphibian diversity in northwest Ecuador and recognize a good potential indicator species, Oophaga sylvatica, for identifying pristine habitat.


We report the analysis of elastic properties of a composite medium consisting of GaN nanowires embedded into a dielectric matrix, which constitutes the active material of nanowire-based piezogenerators. A non-invasive technique, Transient Grating Method, is used to generate and analyze the propagation of acoustic waves in the frequency range from a few tens of MHz to several GHz. The wave propagation is simulated using the time-efficient computer model based on the explicit integral and asymptotic representations for laser-generated surface acoustic waves in layered anisotropic waveguides. Effective parameters of the multilayered model are obtained via the minimization of the discrepancy between the measured and calculated wave characteristics. A comparison with a reference composed of a dielectric matrix without nanowires shows that the mechanical behavior is strongly influenced by the presence of the nanostructures.


Background and Aims:Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever can cause a fatal hemorrhagic syndrome. We aimed to investigate whether the presence of Helicobacter pylori increases the bleeding or severity of Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever. Materials and Methods:Forty-two patients with Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever who had dyspepsia and were hospitalized between April 2009 and July 2009 were included in the study. The patients were divided into two groups according to their fecal Helicobacter pylori antigen positivity. Clinical and laboratory severity criteria for Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever were investigated in both groups. Results:We could not find any difference between the two groups with regard to severity as defined by clinical and laboratory criteria. Conclusion: This is the first study in the literature investigating the role of Helicobacter pylori in the severity of Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever from a country in which both Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever and Helicobacter pylori are endemic. Further studies including a larger number of Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever patients are necessary to recommend Helicobacter pylori screening and eradication in Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever.


Objective: To report upon a case of toxic hepatitis in a worker exposed to chloroform. Methods: A 28-year-old female who had worked as chemical analysis engineer in a laboratory using chloroform was hospitalized due to nausea, vomiting and generalized weakness. The authors evaluated her using blood tests, abdominal CT scan and her occupational history. Results: The blood tests revealed acute toxic hepatitis. Other causes of hepatitis such as viral, drug induced or alcoholic hepatitis could be excluded. But autoimmune hepatitis couldn't be totally ruled out(ANA (++), IgG(serum) 1780 mg/dL). After admission, her symptoms improved and her liver enzyme levels(AST and ALT) were markedly reduced. She returned to her workplace after discharge. Afterwards, however, her liver enzyme levels increased again one week after returning to her workplace. Subsequent to a job change, her liver enzyme levels reduced and normalized after eight weeks. The airbone laboratory chloroform ranged from 3.155 to 9.037 ppm. Conclusions: The authors presume that this patient's liver injury was related to an interaction of chloroform toxicity and a predisposition to autoimmune hepatitis. The rapid improvement of the clinical symptoms and the progressive normalization of the liver function tests once the chloroform exposure eliminated supports the diagnosis.


PURPOSE
To determine near and intermediate vision areas of progressive addition lenses by means of a deflectometer.

METHODS
Twenty-two progressive addition lenses with +1.00 SD far power and two different additions (add 1.00 and 2.00; eleven subjects in each addition) were studied. Near and intermediate vision areas within 0.50 CD isoastigmatic lines were determined.

RESULTS
There are significant differences between near and intermediate vision areas of the studied lenses. There is also an inverse correlation between the addition and intermediate areas as well as direct relation between the vertical length of the corridor and its area.

CONCLUSION
Based on those findings, progressive addition lenses can be selected to suit the wearer's visual requirements.


Heart rate variability (HRV) training and EEG Biofeedback are techniques used to improve neurological disorders in both clinical and optimal performance populations. HRV training uses combined respiration and heart rate biofeedback to achieve synchrony between the changes in breathing and heart rate. This specific signature of synchronization of breathing and heart rate changes appears to correlate with a relaxed state and cognitive clarity. HRV may provide a promising index for both physical and emotional stress. Improvements in mental processing (Thayer, Hansen, Saus-Rose, & Johnson, 2009) and emotional stability (Applehans & Lueken, 2006) have been demonstrated as a result of HRV training. A similar mental state is the target of EEG biofeedback training when parameters are set to increase sensorimotor rhythm (SMR). SMR is usually trained using the frequency band 12–15 Hz. These frequencies are called SMR only when they are produced across the sensorimotor strip (C3, Cz, C4). In other locations, 12–15 Hz is simply called beta. SMR production has been closely linked to a state of calm, relaxed focus (Sterman, 1996). This article proposes that HRV training may be associated with increased levels of SMR. Preliminary data have been collected for 40 clients. Twenty clients were athletes training to improve performance, and 20 clients were from a clinical population aiming to increase SMR as a part of their program. A 3-min sample of EEG baseline data was compared to a 3-min sample of EEG data collected during HRV training. Mean microvolt values were collected for SMR during both the baseline recording and during the HRV training. T-test results show that there was a statistically significant increase in SMR during HRV training as compared to baseline (p<.001). This suggests that increased HRV leads to increases in production of SMR.


As the cost of electronic databases continues to rise, some educational institutions are being forced to cancel some of their electronic database subscriptions, including standards services. Standards databases might be cancelled because of high prices and narrow user applicability. This paper will address how the ILI Standards database may be used in lieu of other alternatives to continue to give the engineering faculty and students access to industry standards on-line, while at the same time lowering the library's overall costs.


An in-depth analysis of qualitative data regarding antecedents, consequences, and descriptions of delusions of persons with dementia (PwD) provided by family caregivers is presented. Three broad classifications of reasons given behind types of delusions are included, namely environmental factors, personal factors, and dementia, with dementia being the most prominent factor. We observed an overlap between known cognitive symptoms of dementia and the characteristics of the reported "delusions" in dementia. It therefore appears that what is often classified as a delusion of a seemingly psychotic nature is in fact the PwD's disorientation combined with an attempt to fill in gaps caused by cognitive deficiencies.


Due to the competitiveness in business world has been rising rapidly; the company must be able to enhance its performance in order to compete with other competitors. In measuring the performance, company should have a good performance measurement system that can assess the company's performance comprehensively and appropriately. Balanced scorecard assessed to become a comprehensive and appropriate performance measurement systems that help the organization not only measure the performance but also manage the strategies. In this research, the researchers aim to analyze the current performance measurement systems applied in PT. Yokatta Indonesia as a sample. The type of research method is qualitative research and uses descriptive qualitative. Questionnaire has been tested for validity and reliability by using SPSS for Windows Release 19.0. Data analysis is used triangulation in combining several qualitative and quantitative data. From the results, performance measurement system balanced scorecard is being implemented in PT. Yokatta Indonesia not appropriately with considering some factors related with management style, additional costs, and also company infrastructures.


ABSTRACTIn this study, we have used the Terra satellite onboard of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to investigate the spatial and temporal relationship between aerosol optical depth (AOD) and cloud parameters namely, water vapor (WV), cloud optical depth (COD), cloud fraction (CF), cloud effective radius (CER), cloud top pressure (CTP), and cloud top temperature (CTT) based on 10 years (from January 2004 to December 2013) of dataset over six locations in South Africa (SA). The obtained results indicated seasonal variation in AOD, with high values during spring (September to November) and low values in winter (June to August) in all locations of study. In terms of temporal variation, AOD was lowest at Bloemfontein 0.06 ± 0.04 followed by Cape Town 0.08 ± 0.02, then Potchefstroom 0.09 ± 0.05, Pretoria and Skukuza had 0.11 ± 0.05 each and with the highest at Durban 0.13 ± 0.05. The mean Angstrom exponent (AE) values for each location showed a general prevalence of fine-mode particles which dominates the AOD for most parts of the year. A hybrid single particle Lagrangian integrated trajectory (HYSPLIT) model was used for trajectory analysis in order to determine the origin of airmasses and to understand the variability of AOD. We then studied the relationship between AOD, cloud parameters and precipitation over selected locations of SA so as to provide a better understanding of aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions. All these correlations examined over six sites were observed to be depended on the large-scale meteorological variations.


The purpose of this study is to examine the dynamics between family characteristics and the psychological relationship of parents and children. The data are from a survey of 118 primary school students and their mothers in the Republic of Korea. The implications of the study for population policy developments are considered. (SUMMARY IN ENG)


Cloudy effluent is an important clinical finding in patients with continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis which is commonly related with peritonitis. The cloudy effluent is related with increased leukocytes which pass into the peritoneal fluid due to peritoneal infection or inflammation. However, there are several causes of cloudy effluents including eosinophil and/or erythrocyte involvement in the peritoneal fluid, malignant cells, trauma, increased fibrin structure and also drugs. Herein, we presented a case of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis patient admitted to hospital with abdominal pain and cloudy effluent after the use of lercanidipine for hypertension. In the absence of clinical course of peritonitis patients' turbidity of the peritoneal effluent has been cleared after the cessation of the drug.


The mean square amplitudes of atomic fluctuations for a polypeptide (decaglycine) alpha-helix evaluated from molecular dynamics simulations at seven temperatures between 5 and 300 K are compared with analytic harmonic results and with experimental values. Above 100 K the harmonic approximation significantly underestimates the amplitudes of the displacements. Analysis of the time dependence of the fluctuations shows that low-frequency modes (<75 cm(-1)) dominate the atomic fluctuations and that there is a contribution with a very long relaxation time (>10 ps). Quantum corrections to the amplitude of the fluctuations are found to be small above 50 K. The mean square amplitudes obtained from the molecular dynamics simulations are compared with the values derived from x-ray temperature (Debye-Waller) factors for metmyoglobin (80, 250, and 300 K) and ferrocytochrome c (300 K).


Munger, H., Vanasse, A., Rioux, S. and Légère, A. 2014. Bread wheat performance, fusarium head blight incidence and weed infestation response to low-input conservation tillage systems in eastern Canada. Can. J. Plant Sci. 94: 193-201. Bread wheat performance, the incidence of diseases like fusarium head blight (FHB) and weed infestations may be affected by low-input systems and conservation tillage practices. This 2-yr study assessed the effects of three 24-yr-old tillage treatments (MP: moldboard plow; CP: chisel plow; NT: no-till) and two cropping systems (high-input: herbicide and mineral fertilizer; low-input: mechanical weed control and organic fertilizer) on wheat productivity, deoxynivalenol (DON) content, Fusarium graminearum inoculum production, and weed infestation in hard red spring wheat. In 2009, low-input CP and NT yields were 13 and 31% lower, respectively, than low-input MP yield, which was comparable with all of the high-input treatment yields. In 2010, yields were 23% lower in CP and NT compared with MP, and 32% lower in low-input than in high-input systems. Optimum wheat yield in low-input systems appeared conditional to adequate weed control, which was achieved with MP and CP tillage. Protein content, test weight, and 1000-kernel weight were higher in the high-input system than in the low-input system, except for test weight in 2009. DON content was not affected by tillage in either year, and was lower in low-input system than in high-input system in 2009. Fusarium graminearum inoculum measured in 2009 was similar across tillage treatments in the high-input system, whereas in the low-input system, the inoculum was lower in NT than in MP. In 2010, DON content was not affected by any treatment. Hot and dry conditions were not conducive to pathogen development, and may explain the low level of DON and the lack of treatment effect.


The volume magnetic susceptibility of moist air ?m(ma) is needed to correct the results of certain experiments to vacuum conditions. This paper derives an appropriate equation for ?m(ma) for which pressure, temperature, relative humidity, and carbon dioxide content are variable parameters. The derived equation also depends sensitively on the molar susceptibility of oxygen, for which the handbook values are inconsistent by about 1.4%. The equation resolves this discrepancy in part.


Active learning is a label-efficient approach to train highly effective models while interactively selecting only small subsets of unlabelled data for labelling and training. In"open world"settings, the classes of interest can make up a small fraction of the overall dataset -- most of the data may be viewed as an out-of-distribution or irrelevant class. This leads to extreme class-imbalance, and our theory and methods focus on this core issue. We propose a new strategy for active learning called GALAXY (Graph-based Active Learning At the eXtrEme), which blends ideas from graph-based active learning and deep learning. GALAXY automatically and adaptively selects more class-balanced examples for labeling than most other methods for active learning. Our theory shows that GALAXY performs a refined form of uncertainty sampling that gathers a much more class-balanced dataset than vanilla uncertainty sampling. Experimentally, we demonstrate GALAXY's superiority over existing state-of-art deep active learning algorithms in unbalanced vision classification settings generated from popular datasets.


In this paper, the method that applied the neural network to the prediction method of the hand value was proposed. The cotton fabrics which made the structure of the textile and density change were woven, and the hand value was predicted by the information of the their textile structures. Also, it was examined about the validity of the prediction method. The information about the their textile structures are data about the ups and downs of warp and density, they are input data for neural network. It could be predicted comparatively precisely as a result of predicting the textile hand value which wasn't being learned in the neural network. The results that the textile hand value which made only density change was predicted could be predicted comparatively precisely, too.In addition, the estimation accuracy of prediction method by neural network is higher than that of the method by multiple regression analysis.


Ability To Be Flexible, Mangage Well And Keep High Profile Helps Firms Weather Economic Buffets The national recession and the consequent fallout for business is no longer news for people in Denver, Houston, Dallas and Oklahoma City. When the oil boom went bust in the early '80s, these cities and others were devastated. How public relations firms there survived is often a topic of conversation when practitioners share war stories. What's becoming obvious is that those firms that did survive learned a lot. While in some locations, public relations business is up, firms in other parts of the country that are now muddling through a recession are calling for the survivors' advice. A survey of several firm presidents provided a variety of helpful advice for others. The following tips are drawn from those interviews and my own experience. "When the competition gets tougher, an aggressive, well-directed communication strategy is a company's best chance to distinguish itself from competitors who are hoping to quietly wait out the recession," said Cheryl Gaston, APR, president of Gaston Public Relations in Flemington, NJ. Strangely enough, one common behavior among many firms in cities suffering heavy recession is to deny that the recession will affect them. And many refuse to reflect the seriousnes of the economic situation in their firm management. For example, some firms refuse to alter their billing rates, markups, number of full-time employees, benefits, product lines, billing procedures and other basic tenets of firm management. Their reasoning is based on the attitude that if you alter the way you do business, you may be perceived as delivering lower-quality services. The problem with this attitude is that firms have found it simply didn't fly with clients. When clients are facing equally tough times, layoffs or demands from their CEOs to cut back budgets, the attitude they least appreciate is the reverse reasoning from firms trying to get hired. The demise of one of Denver's largest advertising and public relations firms is attributed to this persistent attitude of refusing to bend with the market. Specialize or generalize? Many people ask if a firm should specialize or generalize during a recession. The economy often dictates the choice. In Colorado, I had hoped to specialize in health care, but because my firm could have only one general acute hospital client, one psychiatric hospital, one planned provider organization, and so on, we began running into conflicts of interest. Given our clientele, the speciality was ethically limited. To survive, we branched into other industries and became more of a generalist firm. Today, our partial client list is made up of a national retail grocery company, a national membership association, a regional brokerage firm, a statewide educational program, and a chain of senior health care centers. We ended up specializing more in public relations products and services than in an industry. Some firms that have found a niche in national special events, marketing communications or minority public relations have done very well. "We specialize in public relations and marketing communications to the Hispanic market," said Steve Moya, president of Moya Villanueva in Los Angeles, CA, a partner company with Manning, Selvage & Lee. "Our clients see this market for today, and more importantly for the future." When asked if he believes the national recession will jeopardize his specialty, Moya said: "Most of our clients are just now beginning to communicate with the Hispanic market, and they don't want to go back now." Focus on current clients A frequent recommendation is to create more work from existing clients. Every company anticipating change because of tough economic times is looking for resources to help them make this change successfully. The public relations firm that anticipates a company's anxiety and offers services that continue to help create and maintain relationships for the company, becomes a gold mine for its client. …


It is well known that a bandlimited signal can be uniquely recovered from nonuniformly spaced samples under certain conditions on the nonuniform grid and provided that the average sampling rate meets or exceeds the Nyquist rate. However, reconstruction of the continuous-time signal from nonuniform samples is typically more difficult to implement than from uniform samples. Motivated by the fact that sinc interpolation results in perfect reconstruction for uniform sampling, we develop a class of approximate reconstruction methods from nonuniform samples based on the use of time-invariant lowpass filtering, i.e., sinc interpolation. The methods discussed consist of four cases incorporated in a single framework. The case of sub-Nyquist sampling is also discussed and nonuniform sampling is shown as a possible approach to mitigating the impact of aliasing.


This paper asks how people finance life when displaced, as a precursor to building pathways to more inclusive and sustainable prosperity on the move. The approach taken seeks to examine both lived experiences of displacement and the actors, institutions and technologies shaping those lives. The paper selectively reviews existing literatures to explore two key foci: (1) the role that various technologies play in financing movement and (2) the obligatory relationships through which people make life on the move. The argument is structured around a series of problemsolution dyads through which finance and technology are presumed to solve displacement's problems: Governing displacement through outsourcing and offshoring; Governing the movement of money through legislation and data mining; Managing displaced people through financialization and techno-humanitarianism; Capitalizing (on) mobility networks through remittances and mobile money. The paper then examines potential methods for exploring these topics, before concluding with a set of key questions for future research.


Besides its typical halogen donor behavior (exhibiting a Cl σ-hole) in forming Cl···B halogen bonds (B is an electron-rich region), CF3Cl reveals a new interaction site in its complex with CO2 when explored by rotational spectroscopy. Experimental evidence and theoretical analyses point out irrefutably that CF3Cl prefers to link to CO2 through its Cl "equatorial belt" consisting of the lone pairs of the Cl atom, resulting in a C···Cl tetrel bond. In addition, a secondary plausible C···O tetrel bond and a F···O halogen bond might contribute to the relative orientation of the moieties forming the complex. The effects of the Cl "equatorial belt" present in perhalogenated molecules, such as CF3Cl, have been hitherto overlooked in describing the origin of noncovalent interactions. That left a significant void that the present study tries to fill by outlining its importance.


Asphaltenes, present in significant amounts in heavy crude oil, contains subfractions capable of stabilizing water-in-oil emulsions. Still, the composition of these subfractions is not known in detail, and the actual mechanism behind emulsion stability is dependent on perceived interfacial concentrations and compositions. This study aims at utilizing polyaromatic surfactants which contains an acidic moiety as model compounds for the surface-active subfraction of asphaltenes. A modified pulse-field gradient (PFG) NMR method has been used to study droplet sizes and stability of emulsions prepared with asphaltene model compounds. The method has been compared to the standard microscopy droplet counting method. Arithmetic and volumetric mean droplet sizes as a function of surfactant concentration and water content clearly showed that the interfacial area was dependent on the available surfactant at the emulsion interface. Adsorption of the model compounds onto hydrophilic silica has been investigated by UV depletion, and minor differences in the chemical structure of the model compounds caused significant differences in the affinity toward this highly polar surface. The cross-sectional areas obtained have been compared to areas from the surface-to-volume ratio found by NMR and gave similar results for one of the two model compounds. The mean molecular area for this compound suggested a tilted geometry of the aromatic core with respect to the interface, which has also been proposed for real asphaltenic samples. The film behavior was further investigated using a liquid-liquid Langmuir trough supporting the ability to form stable interfacial films. This study supports that acidic, or strong hydrogen-bonding fractions, can promote stable water-in-oil emulsion. The use of model compounds opens up for studying emulsion behavior and demulsifier efficiency based on true interfacial concentrations rather than perceived interfaces.


Gonorrhoea is currently the second most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection in England and Wales (Public Health Laboratory Service, 2002). Early initiation of treatment is important in the reduction of the onward transmission of infection and contributes to the overall control of the spread of gonorrhoea. A central tenet of this is the use of effective antimicrobial treatment. Both global and local surveillance programmes have successfully generated robust data, identifying the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance when using fluoroquinolones, formerly a first-line treatment for genital infection with Neisseria gonorrhoeae. As a result of this evidence base, the first-line treatment recommendations in England and Wales were changed. It is now recommended that anogenital gonorrhoea is treated with third generation cephalosporins, with either a 400 mg single oral dose of cefixime, or a single intramuscular dose of ceftriaxone 250 mg. This change in 2004 in first-line treatment exemplifies the application and delivery of evidence-based treatment and care.


. Transit-oriented Development(TOD) is widely regarded as a sustainable development paradigm for its sensible space planning and promotion of public transit access. Research in providing decision support tools of TOD may contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals, especially towards sustainable cities and communities (SDG goal 11).While the existing Geographic Information System(GIS) approach may well inform TOD planning, computational design, simulation, and visualisation techniques can further enhance this process. The research aims to provide a data-driven, computational-aided planning support system (PSS) to enhance the TOD decision-making process. The research adopts an action research methodology, which iteratively designs experiments and inquires through situating the research question in real-world practice. A work-in-progress prototype is provided - Transit-Oriented Development Assistive Interface (TODAI), along with an experiment in a newly proposed metro station in Sydney, Australia. TODAI provides real-time visualisation of urban forms and analytical data indicators reflecting key considerations relevant to TOD performance. A regressive machine learning model (XGBoost) is used to make predictions of analytical indicators, promptly producing outcomes that may otherwise require a costly computational operation.


immediately apparent since 'nee' as sentence operator involves the application of quantifiers to modal contexts which are not referentially opaque. I t is thus necessary to avoid the conclusions regarding the referential opacity of 'nee' as statement operator. This is indeed possible by dispensing with constant singular terms using Russell's theory of descriptions, and by adopting a line of argument similar to Smullyan's in XIII 149. Therefore, it is concluded that the third grade of modal involvement is not prima facie absurd, "if we accept some interference in the contextual definition of singular terms." Although not absurd, for Quine the third grade of modal involvement does entail the undesirable "metaphysical jungle of Aristotelian essentialism." Since the second grade tempts one in this same direction and is less elegant than the first, Quine remains partial to the first grade of modal involvement. The following is offered as proof that the third grade of modal involvement implies Aristotelian essentialism: (1) If modal logic is not pointless, then 'nee' is not a vacuous operator. (2) There exists a statement value for 'p' which is true but not necessarily true, otherwise 'nee' is a vacuous operator. (3) If Fx is x = x, and Gx is x=x • p, then we have (#)necF* • (x) Gx • (x)~necG*. (4) Consequently, there are open sentences Fx and Gx such that (x) {necFx • Gx • ~necG#). If this is the jungle of Aristotelian essentialism, then it is a jungle from which it is most difficult to escape. Since the modality involved is strict necessity and not physical necessity, one seems to be caught in the jungle as soon as any significance is attached to a distinction between statements which are true strictly on logical grounds and those which are true but not strictly on logical grounds. In fact, Quine's preference for first grade modality appears to be dictated by extra-logical considerations which involve a prior philosophical commitment antagonistic to Aristotelianism. Actually, Quine's logic demands little more than the rather neutral philosophical conclusion to the effect that third grade modal logic involves subtleties not to be found at lower grades. To those already committed to Aristotelianism, this would be a mere reflection of certain complex realities to which we all should adjust. A. R. TURQUETTE


This article explores the use of probabilistic classification, namely finite mixture modelling, for identification of complex disease phenotypes, given cross-sectional data. In particular, if focuses on posterior probabilities of subgroup membership, a standard output of finite mixture modelling, and how the quantification of uncertainty in these probabilities can lead to more detailed analyses. Using a Bayesian approach, we describe two practical uses of this uncertainty: (i) as a means of describing a person's membership to a single or multiple latent subgroups and (ii) as a means of describing identified subgroups by patient-centred covariates not included in model estimation. These proposed uses are demonstrated on a case study in Parkinson's disease (PD), where latent subgroups are identified using multiple symptoms from the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS).


This article sets out a consumer-based generic techno-business model foundation for future generations of wireless communications. It is proposed as an evolution of, and alternative to, the legacy subscriber-based model. Two key novel proposals are a person-centric IPv6 address enabling full number portability and an access-network-independent third-party authentication, authorization, and accounting (3P-AAA) service provision, which will empower users to opt out of their long-term subscriptions with access network providers and use advertised communication services from any consumer-centric wireless access network that is present to them. The wireless environment thus created is described as a ubiquitous consumer wireless world (UCWW). Its most characteristic attributes are consumer choice, consumer-driven "always best connected and served", consumer-driven integrated heterogeneous networking, elimination of roaming charges, a level "playing field" for new access network provider entrants, and a potential commercial ad hoc networking solution. New core UCWW infrastructural entities and functionalities proposed and described include 3P-AAA service provisioning; a universal CIM1 card; a personal IPv6 address class, wireless billboard channels; advertisement, discovery, and association services; and access-network-independent incoming call connection service providers. Typical interrelationships and operation of these entities are illustrated by means of an example. UCWW elements requiring standardization are noted


A damped oscillatory mode of the thermohaline circulation (THC), which may play a role in interdecadal climate variability, is identified in a global primitive equation model. This analysis is done under mixed boundary conditions using an adjoint of the primitive equation model. The linearized versus nonlinear stability behavior of the model is studied by comparing the adjoint analysis to runs of the fully nonlinear model. It is shown that a steady-state solution obtained under larger amplitude freshwater surface forcing (and hence with a weaker North Atlantic overturning) is unstable, while a steadystate solution with stronger THC is stable. In a certain intermediate parameter regime it is found that the full nonlinear model state may be unstable, while the linearized analysis indicates that the model state is stable. It is proposed that this may be because either the instability mechanism at this intermediate regime is nonlinear or, while the model is linearly stable at this regime, it allows for temporary growth of small perturbations due to the non-normal nature of the problem. A clear signal of variations is not found in the amplitude of the horizontal gyre circulation, possibly indicating that the gyre effect that was found in THC oscillations in some previous studies may not be essential for the existence of the THC oscillation. The long timescale of the oscillation in the present model also seems to indicate that the gyre effect may not be a main active participant in the thermohaline oscillation mechanism.


Background : Chronic diseases are responsible for over 70% of all deaths globally. While some self-management programs have been shown to be efficacious in preventing or altering trajectories for some chronic conditions, scaling-up and sustaining such programs beyond tightly-controlled study conditions remain a major challenge. The objective of the current study was to describe the profile of attendees and the level of engagement of participants in a new, region-wide cardiometabolic disease self-management program offered in Laval, Canada. Methods : CISSS-Laval partnered with the Cardiovascular Health Awareness Program team to co-develop Cible-santé and evaluate the first cohort of participants enrolled in the program, in order to better understand the program's implementation and scope. Trained volunteers (supervised by a nurse) assisted participants with physical measurements (blood pressure, height, weight and waist circumference), a questionnaire on healthy habits, and assessment of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk. Results : The evaluation of the first cohort of Cible-Santé participants showed very low attendance. Furthermore, only 1 in 10 of enrolled participants completed the full program. The program typically attracted adults with some risk factors associated with their chronic conditions (high waist circumference, obesity), but with an already high level of knowledge, skills and confidence to participate in self-management activities. Conclusion : A limitation of the study is the lack of data regarding the number of professionals who referred their patients to the program. This study provides a portrait of new participants to a self-management chronic disease program, which highlights the potential of supporting chronic disease patients ready to make changes but also exposes the difficulty of attracting a larger number and diversity of participants and in encouraging completion of the program.


Accessibility throughout society has been gaining interest on both international and national levels in order to meet the transportation needs of, for example, older people as pedestrians. The overall aim of this thesis is to examine the implementation process in municipal planning, and effects of measures taken, to achieve barrier-free outdoor environments the year round. Older peoples' perceptions as pedestrians in terms of usability, mobility, and perceived safety, as well as municipal employees' views, contribute to the findings presented. A mixed-method approach is applied involving qualitative (interviews, focus group interviews, and participant observations) and quantitative (questionnaires) studies, which are conducted before and after measures to improve accessibility in both bare-ground and snow/ice conditions are implemented. An index, developed within this thesis, shows a large variation in the implementation process concerning accessibility among Swedish municipalities. Thus, there is still much to do to accomplish a society accessible to all citizens. Knowing which measures to prioritise will likely benefit the implementation process. This thesis shows only minor effects of the implemented measures though. Nevertheless, difficulties reported in walking due to physical barriers have in fact decreased. In conclusion, removal of physical barriers the year round have potential for encouraging walking in old age, especially among older people with functional limitations and mobility devices. A travel-chain perspective on accessibility is essential though involving removal of physical barriers from indoor to outdoor environments, from one transport mode to another, from public to residential areas. Older peoples' needs as pedestrians are not completely fulfilled by current legislative directives on accessibility (BFS 2003:19 HIN1), which calls for a focus on other issues as well, e.g. problems with bicycles and cyclists on pavements and footpaths as well as the need for benches to rest on. In snow/ice conditions, it concerns improved ice prevention and snow removal, especially snow removal on detailed level. Safety/security-related issues are important as well; however, barrier-free environments are to be considered as a basic precondition for peoples' ability to use an environment at all. In the end, this thesis has implications for further research and for policy/planning at different levels in society. (Less)


The Lagrangian has been studied by several authors. Here we consider the case and build an analytic perturbation f such that has, for and suitably small, an orbit (Q,q) satisfying for . We will show that this `diffusion speed' is the best possible that can be obtained in this case.


Foot orthoses are widely used to treat various foot problems. A literature search revealed no publications on differences in plantar pressure distribution resulting from casting methods for foot orthoses. Four casting methods were used for construction of orthoses. Two foam box techniques were used: accommodative full weightbearing method (A) and functional semiweightbearing method (B). Also, two suspension plaster casting techniques were used: accommodative casting (C) and functional subtalar joint neutral position (Root) method (D). Their effects on contact area, plantar pressure, and walking convenience were evaluated. All orthoses increased the total contact area (mean, 17.4%) compared with shoes without orthoses. Differences in contact areas between orthoses for total plantar surface were statistically significant. Peak pressures for the total plantar surface were lower with orthoses than without orthoses (mean, 22.8%). Among orthoses, only the difference between orthoses A and B was statistically significant. Differences between orthoses for the forefoot were small and not statistically significant. The gait lines of the shoe without an insole and of the accommodative orthoses are more medially located than those of functional orthoses. Walking convenience in the shoe was better rated than that with orthoses. There were no differences in perception of walking convenience between orthoses A, B, and C. Orthosis D had the lowest convenience rating. The four casting methods resulted in differences between orthoses with respect to contact areas and walking convenience but only slight differences in peak pressures.


This paper presents the design of a novel low-voltage high-speed D-latch circuit suitable for nanometer CMOS technologies. The proposed topology is compared against the low-voltage triple-tail D-latch and its advantages are demonstrated both by simulations, under different performance/power consumption tradeoffs with a 40-nm CMOS technology, and theoretically, thanks to a simple model of the propagation delay derived for both low-voltage topologies. In order to further demonstrate the advantages of the proposed topology, it has also been used to design a D flip-flop (DFF), where thanks to the feature to need just 1 clock differential pair; a further speed improvement is achieved over the conventional triple-tail topology. Indeed, by comparing a two-stage frequency divider designed using both the triple-tail DFF and the proposed folded DFF, a 54% improvement in the maximum operating frequency is found when using the proposed folded DFF.


BACKGROUND
A relationship between Chlamydia pneumoniae infection and acute coronary syndromes has not been consistently found in published studies. It has been hypothesized that a bacteriophage-infected subset of C pneumoniae may be uniquely equipped to promote atherosclerosis and acute coronary syndromes through the expression of phage genes.

METHODS
The authors performed a pilot case-control study of acute coronary events. Case and control subjects were characterized demographically and according to recognized coronary risk factors. These subjects also provided serum for the detection of antibody to the elementary bodies of C pneumoniae and antibody to the Vp1 protein coded by the phage. Bivariate and multivariate comparisons were performed using statistics appropriate for paired analyses.

RESULTS
Antibodies to C pneumoniae, Vp1 protein or both were not associated with acute coronary events by bivariate or multivariate analysis. As expected, case subjects were significantly more likely to have hypertension, hypercholesterolemia or diabetes mellitus.

CONCLUSION
The present study adds to a growing body of literature that does not support the hypothesized relationship between C pneumoniae (or a phage-infected subset of C pneumoniae) and acute coronary syndromes.


There is evidence for PKC-dependent multisite phosphorylation of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) at Ser-23 and Ser-24 (also PKA sites) in the cardiac-specific N-terminal extension and at Thr-144, a unique residue in the inhibitory region. The functional effect of these phosphorylations in combination is of interest in view of data indicating intramolecular interaction between the N-terminal extension and the inhibitory region of cTnI. To determine the role of PKC-dependent phosphorylation of cTnI on sarcomeric function, we measured contractile regulation at multiple levels of complexity. Ca2+ binding to thin filaments reconstituted with either cTnI(wild-type) or pseudo-phosphorylated cTnI(S23D/S24D), cTnI(T144E), and cTnI(S23D/S24D/T144E) was determined. Compared with controls regulated by cTnI(wild-type), thin filaments with cTnI(S23D/S24D) and cTnI(S23D/S24D/T144E) exhibited decreased Ca2+ sensitivity. In contrast, there was no significant difference between Ca2+ binding to thin filaments with cTnI(wild-type) and with cTnI(T144E). Studies of the pCa-force relations in skinned papillary fibers regulated by these forms of cTnI yielded similar results. However, in both the Ca2+ binding measurements and the skinned fiber tension measurements, the presence of cTnI(S23D/S24D/T144E) induced a much lower Hill coefficient than either wild type, S23D/S24D, or T144E. These data highlight the importance of thin filament-based cooperative mechanisms in cardiac regulation, with implications for mechanisms of control of function in normal and pathological hearts.


This study was done to identify family burden, resilience, spiritual well-being and quality of life of primary caregivers of people with mental illness. Methods: Participants were 160 primary caregivers of people with mental illness being treated at one of three mental health clinics in Busan. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe test, Pearson`s correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression. Results: Quality of life was positively correlated with resilience (r=.55, p=.006), spiritual well-being (r=.41, p<.001), and negatively correlated with family burden (r=-.28, p<.001). Factors influencing quality of life were resilience (β=.36), family monthly income (β=.24), support from others (β=.20) and education (β=.18). The explanatory power of these factors for quality of life of primary caregivers of people with mental illness was 45%. Conclusion: Findings indicate that resilience is the most important factor affecting quality of life of primary caregivers of people with mental illness. Therefore, the development of nursing interventions to improve resilience and enhance the quality of life of primary caregivers is necessary.


Abstract Prominent U.S. police officials have advocated greater acknowledgement of the role of law enforcement in historical racial injustice, including violence, in hopes of transforming police community relations. While an encouraging development, these calls for transformative justice understate the scope of this historical and contemporary problem, neglecting the often extralegal nature of police involved violence and injustice, its array of spectacular and more subtle forms, and the layered roles of state and non-state actors in perpetrating and sanctioning White supremacist violence. Drawing on historical records of racist violence implicating police, this paper analyzes overlapping aspects of White supremacy in policing, including racist ideologies and political acts of law enforcement officers and officials, and more routine underpolicing of White supremacism by legal authorities. This backdrop of normative racist violence - physical, cultural, and structural – must inform a contemporary transformative justice agenda, including demands for explicit and robust protection from White supremacism in policing.


Tuberculosis (TB) has high prevalence and is considered a world emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO), being the greatest cause of death from infectious diseases in adults. It is directly associated with access to health services and socio-economic factors. A reform of Primary Care in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro began in 2010, with coverage increasing from 7% in that year to 48.2% in 2014. This article compares the proportion of cures of TB, coverage by the Family Health Strategy (FHS), how long it has been in place, and socio-economic and demographic factors in the municipality of Rio, based on new cases notified in the year 2012. An association was found between cure of TB and the variable gender, being 40% greater in females - odds ratio 1.4 (CI95% 1.21-1.62); and with residence in favelas - OR 0.86 (CI95% 0.73-1.02), but there was no association with coverage of the FHS (OR 1.06; CI95% 0.92-1.22), nor with the time for which the teams had been in place. FHS coverage in the municipality of Rio was put in place as priority in areas of greater vulnerability; at the time of this study, more than 91% of the teams had been in place for less than five years before the date of diagnosis. These factors probably contributed to it not being possible to detect better results in the cure of tuberculosis in areas covered by the FHS in the year 2012.


Nonvolatile memory devices based on solution-processed thin film transistors (TFTs) of sol–gel-derived undoped ZnO and ZnO doped with Hf and NaF incorporating Ag nanowires (AgNWs) as charge trapping media between the ZnO and insulator interface are demonstrated. The transfer characteristics of the devices exhibited a large clockwise hysteresis due to the carrier trapping at the AgNWs between the ZnO and dielectric interface. The memory devices showed a remarkable, wide, programmable memory window during program/erase operations, which is attributed to the charge carrier trapping and de-trapping in the ZnO/AgNW/SiO2 structure. The device based on Hf-doped ZnO exhibited a larger memory window compared to the device based on NaF-doped ZnO. The threshold voltage shifts of these devices measured over various durations exhibited a large memory window. The fabricated transistor memory devices showed long term retention time characteristics, indicating excellent electrical reliability and stability.


Forty patients with advanced transitional cell cancer (TCC) of the bladder were treated with cisplatin, epirubicin, methotrexate (PEM, every 3-4 weeks). If creatinine clearance was reduced to 40 ml/min, the usual full doses of cisplatin and methotrexate, 50 mg/m2, were proportionally reduced. 23 patients had full-dose (FD) therapy, 17 had reduced dose (RD) (40-20 mg/m2). Two patients achieved complete response and 17 partial response. The overall response rate was 19/40 (47.5%), 11/23 (48%) for FD and 8/17 (47%) for RD (p = 1.000). 17/40 pts (42.5%) had no-change and 4/40 (10%) had disease progression. The median duration of CR and PR was 32 weeks, range 4-82 (22 weeks, range 12-52 for FD; 32 weeks, range 4-82 for RD, cisplatin p = .7362). The main side effect was vomiting (35/40 pts, 87.5%, 20/23 = 87% for FD, 15/17 = 90% for RD, p = 1.000). Leukopenia was observed in 12 patients (30%, nadir 3,240 range 900-3,800, 6/23 = 26% for FD, 6/17 = 35% for RD, p = .7285), alopecia in 18 patients (45%, 15/23 = 65% for FD, 3/17 = 18% for RD, p = .004). The results of this study show that a dose escalation to 50 mg/m2 for cisplatin, epirubicin and methotrexate in the PEM regimen results in an increase in overall response (OR) (19/40 = 47.5%) with respect to a historical control using the same drugs at doses of 40 mg/m2 (12/35 = 34%). In patients with normal renal function the escalated dose was tolerated without a corresponding increase in toxicity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Germanium (Ge) has been attracting considerable attention as a high mobility channel material to enhance the performance of CMOS circuits. One of the most important issues for realization of practical Ge-MOSFET devices with superior performances is requirement to improve qualities of gate dielectric/Ge interfaces. In this work, Al2O3/Ge structures are fabricated by direct atomic layer deposition (ALD) on epitaxialy grown Ge. We indicate that ALD incubation time is fully suppressed by the ALD on a completely clean Ge surface created by Ge epitaxy on a Ge substrate. Moreover, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses reveal that unintentional formation of a GeO2 at the Al2O3/Ge interface can be almost avoided by the ALD on the epitaxial Ge whereas the interfacial GeO2 layer is present for samples exposed to the air before ALD. These results clearly indicate that direct ALD on epitaxial Ge is a very promising method to significantly improve Ge MOSFET performances.


Endostatin, a 20‐kDa C‐terminal proteolytic fragment of collagen XVIII, is a specific endogenous angiogenesis inhibitor discovered more than a decade. The structure, stability, and mechanism of actions of endostatin have been extensively investigated during the past 12 years, among which controversial reports remain unclarified. The mysteries include the following: 1) Why controversial efficacies were observed with endostatin regarding tumor inhibition? Particularly, why does an N‐terminal modified endostatin show good clinical responses in China, whereas the clinical trials of the wild type endostatin were terminated at the early stage of phase II in the USA? 2) What is the contribution of zinc‐binding to the stability and biological functions of endostatin? 3) Why does insoluble endostatin shrink tumors? 4) How to ensure that endostatin is correctly refolded? 5) How does endostatin exert its biological functions? Recent progress regarding the biophysical properties, biological functions, signaling pathways, and clinical trials of endostatin are reviewed here. Surprising findings show that the integrity of the N‐terminal sequence, the capability of zinc‐binding, and the correct folding are three essential elements for assurance of structural stability and biological functions of endostatin. This review provides clues to understand the mysteries of endostatin and its derivatives. © 2009 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 61(6): 613–626, 2009


In several practical cases, the ultimate ductile fracture strain determined with tensile test is accepted as a material plasticity measure 1 . In this case, the plasticity has to be defined as an ability of a material to accommodate high permanent strains until fracture appears where this strain reaches certain value called ultimate fracture strain p. The strain value until fracture depends not only on the material type, but also on other several factors, as: strain speed, strain history, material starting structure, temperature, specimen geometry, etc. It is impossible to account for all factors in a single mathematical description, due to a complexity of phenomena and an insufficient state of the art, mainly for phenomena present during a plastic strain. Several experiments 2-5 have demonstrated that the material fracture process strongly depends on the hydrostatic stress. This conclusion has been independently induced based on experiments 6-8 . Recently, several different fracture criteria, including the state of hydrostatic stress, have been developed 8-10 . However, the practical application of above criteria to forecast the fracture during the metal forming process has been feasible thanks the numerical computing methods, which enable to determine the material's state of stress during the plastic forming process. Currently, the ductile fracture criteria are commonly used when simulating various plastic processing processes 10-13 . However, the practical application of the criteria requires the experimental determination of the ductile fracture strain p value for a given material. This strain is usually determined based on the tensile test, but the determination method indeed is not so obvious, and in several cases even doubtful. In most cases, the tensile test is performed against circular or rectangular cross-section specimens. Considering that the ductile fracture strain p around the fracture zone equals the equivalent strain z in this zone, it can be calculated using the equation:


In this paper we introduce a fully end-to-end approach for visual tracking in videos that learns to predict the bounding box locations of a target object at every frame. An important insight is that the tracking problem can be considered as a sequential decision-making process and historical semantics encode highly relevant information for future decisions. Based on this intuition, we formulate our model as a recurrent convolutional neural network agent that interacts with a video overtime, and our model can be trained with reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms to learn good tracking policies that pay attention to continuous, inter-frame correlation and maximize tracking performance in the long run. The proposed tracking algorithm achieves state-of-the-art performance in an existing tracking benchmark and operates at frame-rates faster than real-time. To the best of our knowledge, our tracker is the first neural-network tracker that combines convolutional and recurrent networks with RL algorithms.


Conditional Restricted Boltzmann Machines (CRBMs) are rich probabilistic models that have recently been applied to a wide range of problems, including collaborative filtering, classification, and modeling motion capture data. While much progress has been made in training non-conditional RBMs, these algorithms are not applicable to conditional models and there has been almost no work on training and generating predictions from conditional RBMs for structured output problems. We first argue that standard Contrastive Divergence-based learning may not be suitable for training CRBMs. We then identify two distinct types of structured output prediction problems and propose an improved learning algorithm for each. The first problem type is one where the output space has arbitrary structure but the set of likely output configurations is relatively small, such as in multi-label classification. The second problem is one where the output space is arbitrarily structured but where the output space variability is much greater, such as in image denoising or pixel labeling. We show that the new learning algorithms can work much better than Contrastive Divergence on both types of problems.


The objective of this study was to determine the effects of two plant growth regulators (PGR) and two soil moisture levels (SML) on the evapotranspiration (ET) rate, leaf extension rate (LER), and visual turfgrass quality of 'Texas Common' St. Augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze) grown under glasshouse conditions in black plastic minilysimeters. Treatments included mefluidide at 0.42 kg·ha -1 , flurprimidol at 0.84 kg·ha -1 , and no PGR, each grown under optimal ( - 0.01 MPa) or suboptimal (- 0.8 MPa) SML. Both flurprimidol and mefluidide significantly af- fected ET rate, LER, and turfgrass quality, whereas the durations of the responses to both PGR treatments were affected by SML. For both SML, the durations of significant reduction in ET rate, LER, and turfgrass quality were longer for flurprimidol than for mefluidide. Application of either PGR at either SML caused a significant reduction in ET rate averaging 18% and a significant reduction in LER averaging 83%. Flur- primidol was more effective than metluidide in terms of ET rate and LER reduction. However, the considerably longer duration of reduced turfgrass quality of flurprimidol- treated turf was a negative effect. Chemical names used: α-(1 -methylethyl)- α -(4-tri- fluoromethoxy)phenyl)-5-pyrimidinemethanol (flurprimidol) and N- (2,4-dimethyl-5- (((trifluoromethyl) sulfonyl)amino)phenyI) acetamide (mefluidide).


Objective: This research was conducted to prove and estimate the activity of the newly designed compound by applying quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) study using Vlife molecular design suite (MDS) 2 software on various purine derivatives. These novels scaffolds/candidates, which could have the potential to inhibit 5FSO would represent promising starting points as lead compounds and certainly aid the experimental designing of anticancer drugs. Materials and Methods: Purine derivatives are studied and based on the QSAR study new structures are drawn and predicted the biological activity using the Vlife MDS Software-Module Name: QSAR Plus. Auto dock 1.2.6 software is a suite of automated docking tools. It is designed to predict how small molecules, such a substrate or drug candidates, bind to receptors of the known 3D structure. 5FSO protein preparation and optimization, ligand preparation and optimization, and docking simulations were carried out by using biological databases such as PubChem, Drug Bank, Protein Data Bank. Results: To estimate the activity, computational studies had been applied. In addition, the newly designed compound can be used as a scaffold to design more purine compounds which may be a potent inhibitor of 5FSO protein. Conclusion: The results depict as the newly designed molecules has better binding energy than standard drug and these compounds may possess better anticancer activity.


The innovations given by rapid development of science and technology may bless the society in handling environmental issues efficiently. The main driving force behind environmental issues is population growth. As the population is increasing, the management of waste is becoming a difficult and challenging task for the concerned authorities. The utilization and deployment of advanced technologies namely Internet of Things, Cloud Computing and Image processing may aid the authorities to timely manage the garbage and keep the environment clean. In time management of waste will help the society to meet the alarming situations like inhaling of toxic gases and various health diseases. This paper discusses the state-of-art technologies that have been employed in literature for waste management. Also, the authors proposed a novel architecture for waste management that utilizes the concept of IoT and image processing. The proposed architecture acts as a surveillance system to monitor the overflow of the garbage and delivers a message to the concerned authorities to take the necessary and immediate action.


By means of the Glauber's coherent state method combined with multiple-scale method, this paper investigates the localized modes in a quantum one-dimensional Klein–Gordon chain and finds that the equation of motion of annihilation operator is reduced to the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Interestingly, the model can support both bright and dark small amplitude travelling and non-travelling nonlinear localized modes in different parameter spaces.


Contemporary African fiction is a source of dystopian urban images juxtaposed with the kinds of 'good cities' to which the wielders of political or economic power subscribe. This article examines the dominant representations of the 'good city' and how they are contested or subverted from various narrative perspectives. It focuses on inscriptions of the city in fictional narratives and on inscriptions such as street signs and place names found in cities in order to explore the tensions and the contradictions in images of urban experience in Africa.


Abstract In the eyes of many Western entrepreneurs, the newly independent nations in Asia and Africa presented promising export markets for industrial and consumer goods, and they demonstrated an active interest in 'developing' those largely 'untapped' markets. Their entrepreneurial goals overlapped with the new nations' effort to industrialize as quickly as possible. To achieve industrialization, many of them relied on the transfer of technologies and know-how as well as on credits from the industrial nations. Development aid provided such technical and financial help. It also allowed economically strong, exportoriented nations like the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States to promote their own economic interests abroad. Further, in the context of the Cold War, international trade and aid were used by the industrialized countries to influence the development paths of the former colonies, many of which were trying to follow a policy of non-alignment to stay free from political and economic dependencies. This article looks at the interconnection between development, trade, and aid by studying trade and aid relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States with India in the 1950s and 1960s. The overarching interest lies in the question of how trade between the 'First' and the 'Third' World was influenced by and helped to shape the relations between North and South in the context of decolonization and the Cold War.


Use of traditional methods to improve reliability differs in the impact on the standard reliability indices (CAIDI, SAIDI, and SAIFI) from automated approaches. The traditional methods such as tree trimming, shield wire, lightning arresters, and different types of line construction address the root cause of distribution circuit faults. The automated approaches mainly reduce the duration of the outages through the addition of remote control. More robust applications of automation can reduce the number of customers interrupted as well as the duration of the customer outages. As deregulation in the electric utility industry expands, state utility commissions are looking to measure and control the reliability of electric service to all customers in their state. Automated approaches have been presented as a quick fix to reliability problems. The focus of this presentation is to set appropriate expectations for each approach to improving electric distribution reliability.


This paper analyzes the entry into the European Community (EC) impacts on Spain and Portugal external Trade Balance (ETE). It points out that the dramatic increase of Iberian countries ETB deficit, since their adhesion to the EC, first January 1986, is mainly due to the strong growth of capital goods imports, in particular those from EC, in a context characterized by the gradual application of Customs Union mechanisms and the rise of internal demand. Then, it examines principal short and medium term measures susceptible to adjust Spain and Portugal ETB, especially restrictive economic policies and structural programs of modernization.


This paper presents an infrastructure and a monitoring and control approach for systems with wind farms that enables coordination of the operation of wind farms with the bulk power system and maximizes the utilization of the available wind energy at the wind farm locations. A hierarchical optimization scheme is proposed in this work. In particular, a system level optimization defines the optimal operating point for the wind farms, the thermal generating units and other controllable devices in the system. At each wind farm, a lower level optimization procedure is performed which defines the operating condition of each wind turbine at the wind farm. The proposed infrastructure is enabled by a distributed state estimation procedure that evaluates the real time model of the system and the wind farms, used by the hierarchical optimization scheme, continuously with speeds of 60 times per second.


This study aims to describe the psychosocial strengths and challenges related to work among persons with intellectual disabilities. The instrument used for this purpose was the Swedish version of the Worker Role Interview. Thirty people with moderate to mild intellectual disability participated in the study. The findings indicate that the participants have many psychosocial strengths that positively affect their worker role. For most of the participants, work is a highly valued life domain and something to which they feel a commitment. It is also shown that the participants have well-developed work habits and a supportive social environment. The main problem area for some participants was in the area of personal causation. Overall, MOHO and the WRI provided useful concepts and a practical method of assessment for understanding strengths and challenges in persons with intellectual disabilities related to work.


The antischistosomal drug niridazole, known to selectively depress cell-mediated immune function, was assessed in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in mice. EAE results from an immune attack by activated T lymphocytes on the central nervous system. Niridazole given orally at a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight three times a week and starting either before or after immunization caused a significant suppression of signs and histological lesions of EAE, lasting up to ten weeks after cessation of treatment. There was no effect of niridazole on either release of macrophage migration inhibition factor in response to specific neural antigen, production of antibody, or on the nonspecific inflammatory reaction to adjuvant. Niridazole presumably acts by preventing release of lymphokines by activated T cells after contact with antigens.


In this paper, we aim to design an efficient real-time object detector that exceeds the YOLO series and is easily extensible for many object recognition tasks such as instance segmentation and rotated object detection. To obtain a more efficient model architecture, we explore an architecture that has compatible capacities in the backbone and neck, constructed by a basic building block that consists of large-kernel depth-wise convolutions. We further introduce soft labels when calculating matching costs in the dynamic label assignment to improve accuracy. Together with better training techniques, the resulting object detector, named RTMDet, achieves 52.8% AP on COCO with 300+ FPS on an NVIDIA 3090 GPU, outperforming the current mainstream industrial detectors. RTMDet achieves the best parameter-accuracy trade-off with tiny/small/medium/large/extra-large model sizes for various application scenarios, and obtains new state-of-the-art performance on real-time instance segmentation and rotated object detection. We hope the experimental results can provide new insights into designing versatile real-time object detectors for many object recognition tasks. Code and models are released at https://github.com/open-mmlab/mmdetection/tree/3.x/configs/rtmdet.


Here we present a novel spectroscopic approach to capturing, with unprecedented time resolution and accuracy, volcanic SO2 fluxes. This is based on two USB2000 spectrometers, coupled to cylindrical lens telescopes, each collecting light which has transited horizontal sections of the rising plume. We report on field data from Stromboli volcano, in which the entire emission rate from the volcano was measured, as well as flux signatures associated with individual crater explosions. The latter were integrated with seismic and thermal data, demonstrating correlations in both cases, and representing the first such geophysical‐geochemical data corroboration on this timescale. Such a holistic empirical capability could significantly expedite our understanding of explosive volcanic processes.


Background: accurate prognostic tools are relevant for decision-making in cancer care. Objective measures, such as bioelectrical impedance (BI), have the potential to improve prognostic accuracy for these patients. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate whether phase angle (PhA) derived from the electrical properties of the body tissues is a predictor of muscular strength in breast cancer survivors (BCS). Methods: a total of 41 BCS (age 54.6 ± 9.2 years) were evaluated. PhA, obtained at frequency 50 kHz, was assessed with BI spectroscopy, and muscular strength with a handgrip dynamometer. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Measurements were performed in the morning after an overnight fast. Results: linear regression analysis showed that PhA accounted for 22% (r2 = 0.22) of muscular strength variance. PhA remained a borderline predictor of muscular strength variance independently of age and MVPA. Conclusions: the findings of this study suggest that PhA is a significant predictor of maximal forearm isometric strength and a potential indicator of disease-related functionality in BCS.


BACKGROUND
In the setting of elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-guided PCI is associated with a reduction in the incidence of target vessel revascularization (TVR), but the impact of IVUS on long-term clinical outcome in the setting of emergency PCI for ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction (STEMI) is still unclear.

METHODSANDRESULTS
The subjects consisted of 3,028 STEMI patients who underwent primary PCI within 24 h of symptom onset in the CREDO-Kyoto acute myocardial infarction registry. Of these, 932 patients (31%) underwent IVUS-guided PCI. Compared with the angiography-guided PCI without IVUS, IVUS-guided PCI was associated with significantly lower incidences of TVR (primary outcome measure; 22% vs. 27%, log-rank P<0.001) and definite stent thrombosis (ST; 1.2% vs. 3.1%, log-rank P=0.003). The cumulative incidence of all-cause death was not significantly different between the 2 groups. After adjusting for confounders, however, there were no significant differences between the 2 groups in risk for TVR (adjusted HR, 1.14; 95% CI: 0.86-1.51, P=0.38) and definite ST (adjusted HR, 0.58; 95% CI: 0.19-1.72, P=0.33).

CONCLUSIONS
IVUS-guided PCI was not associated with a lower risk for TVR or ST in STEMI patients undergoing primary PCI.


We introduce convenient model and an optimization scheme to optimize the signal-to-crosstalk ratio (SCR) in a free space optical interconnects (FSOIs) system that uses microlenses with finite circular apertures. In this model, we consider both the stray light crosstalk and the crosstalk due to the diffraction at the microlens apertures to evaluate the SCR. Using cylindrical form of Collins diffraction integral and the Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) beam model, we derive an approximate closed form formula for the optical field of a multimode LG beam propagating through circular apertured FSOIs by expanding the hard edge circular aperture function of the microlens in terms of complex Gaussian functions. The analyses indicate that the size of the detector is an important factor to optimize the SCR for both the apertured and the unapertured misaligned FSOIs system. The effect of higher order mode of the laser source on the SCR is also considered.


Programmable valves are often used for ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunts with the shunt valve positioned on the chest wall. Three cases of shunt problems occurred due to placement of the valve on the chest wall. A 43-year-old male was treated with a VP shunt, and suffered shunt malfunction due to dislocation of the ventricular tube. A 21-year-old male was treated with a VP shunt, and suffered shunt malfunction due to disconnection of the shunt tube. A 4-day-old female neonate was treated with a VP shunt, and suffered migration of the shunt valve. The shunt system has two anchor sites on the head and chest wall, with the neck between the two anchor sites. High tension is sometimes caused in the shunt tube between the two points due to movement of the neck or growth, and may induce such dislocation and disconnection of the shunt tube. We recommend a longer shunt tube in such cases.


Abstract Purpose: An approach for describing cell killing with sparsely ionizing radiation in normoxic and hypoxic conditions based on the initial number of randomly distributed DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) is proposed. An extension of the model to high linear energy transfer (LET) radiation is also presented. Materials and methods: The model is based on the probabilities that a given DNA giant loop has one DSB or at least two DSB. A linear combination of these two classes of damage gives the mean number of lethal lesions. When coupled with a proper modelling of the spatial distribution of DSB from ion tracks, the formalism can be used to predict cell response to high LET radiation in aerobic conditions. Results: Survival data for sparsely ionizing radiation of cell lines in normoxic/hypoxic conditions were satisfactorily fitted with the proposed parametrization. It is shown that for dose ranges up to about 10 Gy, the model describes tested experimental survival data as good as the linear-quadratic model does. The high LET extension yields a reasonable agreement with data in aerobic conditions. Conclusions: A new survival model has been introduced that is able to describe the most relevant features of cellular dose-response postulating two damage classes.


As-grown crystallized superconducting thin films of Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O have been prepared on MgO (100) at 700 degrees C by DC magnetron sputtering using a single target. The as-grown process, followed by quenching, yielded c-axis oriented superconducting thin films with smooth surfaces. These films displayed the three-layer phase with a c-axis lattice constant of about 37 AA. Although the superconducting properties of the films were very sensitive to the oxygen pressure during the quenching process, reproducible results were obtained. The best film showed zero resistivity at 81 K and the critical current density increased from 8*104 A cm-2 at 77 K to 3*106 A cm-2 at 4.2 K.


Two Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic strains are isolated from the symptomatic tissue of willow bark canker. The cells grow at 4–41 ℃, pH 5.0–10.0, with optimal growth occuring at 30 °C and pH 7.0. Two novel strains share the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Brenneria nigrifluens LMG 2694T (98.8%). In the phylogenetic trees based on sequences of 16S rRNA gene and four housekeeping genes (gyrB, rpoB, atpD and infB), two novel strains form a distinct branch from Brenneria species, indicating that two novel strains should belong to a novel species in the genus Brenneria, which is confirmed by the results of average nucleotide identity analysis and Digital DNA–DNA hybridization. Two novel strains have 81.9–85.0 % average nucleotide identity values with its closely relatives, B. nigrifluens LMG 2694T, B. alni DSM 11811T, B.corticis CFCC11842T, B. populi CFCC 11963T and B. corticis gBX10-1-2T, respectively, lower than the proposed species boundary cut-off for ANI (95-96 %). The main fatty acids are C16:0, C16:1 ω7c and C18:1 ω7c. The DNA G+C content is 53.5 -53.7 %. Based on these data, two novel strains represent a novel species within the genus Brenneria. The name Brenneria yuansilingia sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is hezel4-2-4T (=CFCC 15597T = LMG 31719T).


The infection status of marine fish and cephalopods with Anisakis simplex third stage larva (L3) was studied over a period of 1 year. A total of 2,537 specimens, which consisted of 40 species of fish and 3 species of cephalopods, were purchased from the Cooperative Fish Market in Busan, Korea, from August 2006 to July 2007. They were examined for A. simplex L3 from the whole body cavity, viscera, and muscles. A. simplex L3 were confirmed by light microscopy. The overall infection rate reached 34.3%, and average 17.1 larvae were parasitized per infected fish. Fish that recorded the highest infection rate was Lophiomus setigerus (100%), followed by Liparis tessellates (90%), Pleurogrammus azonus (90%), and Scomber japonicus (88.7%). The intensity of infection was the highest in Gadus macrocephalus (117.7 larvae per fish), followed by S. japonicus (103.9 larvae) and L. setigerus (54.2 larvae). Although abundance of A. simplex L3 was not seasonal in most of the fish species, 10 of the 16 selected species showed the highest abundance in February and April. A positive correlation between the intensity of L3 infection and the fish length was obvious in S. japonicus and G. macrocephalus. It was likely that A. simplex L3 are more frequently infected during the spring season in some species of fish. Our study revealed that eating raw or undercooked fish or cephalopods could still be a source of human infection with A. simplex L3 in Korea.