Background: Phosphoinositide 3-kinase alpha (PI3Kα) H1047R mutations are activating oncogenic events that occur in ~15% of breast cancers (BC). Available PI3Kα inhibitors target both wild-type (WT) and mutant PI3Kα and, as a result, their efficacy may be limited by on-target WT PI3Kα-mediated toxicities, including hyperglycemia, skin rash, and diarrhea. LOXO-783 is an oral, potent and highly mutant-selective, brain-penetrant allosteric PI3Kα H1047R inhibitor. Preclinically, LOXO-783 is highly selective for PI3Kα H1047R over WT PI3Kα and other PI3K isoforms and induces single-agent tumor regressions in ER+, HER2- PI3Kα H1047R-mutant BC models without causing hyperglycemia or increases in plasma insulin/C-peptide. LOXO-783 also demonstrates brain penetration in vivo with dose-dependent tumor growth inhibition in brain metastasis models. This trial investigates LOXO-783 alone and in combination with other anticancer therapies in patients with PIK3CA H1047R-mutant aBC and other solid tumors.
 Trial Design: This global, first-in-human phase 1a/b study of LOXO-783 includes dose escalation of LOXO-783 monotherapy followed by dose expansion of LOXO-783 alone and in combination with other anticancer therapies (Table). Monotherapy dose escalation will be evaluated using a modified toxicity probability interval-2 (mTPI-2) design. In dose expansion (Parts A-E), each combination cohort will include a safety lead-in of 3-6 patients. Men and premenopausal women with ER+ aBC must receive concomitant treatment with a GnRH agonist. An optional pharmacodynamic (PD) biomarker sub-study will be conducted at select dose levels during dose escalation in patients with ER+, HER2- aBC with soft tissue disease amenable to safe repeat tumor biopsies.
 Eligibility criteria: Eligible patients must have PIK3CA H1047R-mutant aBC or other solid tumors with measurable disease or non-measurable bone-only disease (aBC patients only). In dose escalation, patients may have received up to 5 prior regimens. In dose expansion, prior therapy requirements are outlined in the Table below. Key exclusion criteria include prior inhibitor(s) of PI3K/AKT/mTOR (except in dose escalation or in select patients with prior intolerance of these inhibitors), colorectal cancer, endometrial cancer with concurrent PI3K/AKT/mTOR and/or RAS/RAF alterations and diabetes mellitus (DM) requiring medication (except in Part C).
 Study objectives: Recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D) determination; safety and tolerability assessment, PK and PD evaluation, objective response rate and clinical benefit rate assessment per RECIST v1.1. Recruitment is ongoing (PIKASSO-01, NCT05307705).
 Table. Dose Expansion (Phase 1b)
 Citation Format: Dejan Juric, Komal Jhaveri, Muralidhar Beeram, Erika Hamilton, Vincent Chau, Matthew P. Hanley, Shiyao Liu, Lillian M. Smyth, Funda Meric-Bernstam. A phase 1 trial of LOXO-783, a potent, highly mutant-selective, brain-penetrant allosteric PI3Kα H1047R inhibitor in PIK3CA H1047R-mutant advanced breast cancer (aBC) and other solid tumors (PIKASSO-01, trial in progress) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr OT3-08-01.


Rehabilitation centres in Mpumalanga recently experienced a sharp increase in the admission of younger patients for the treatment of alcohol and drug dependence. This phenomenon gives rise to the question of the prevalence and awareness of substance abuse, as well as the awareness of substance abuse prevention programmes in secondary schools in Mpumalanga. By investigating learners' awareness of drugs, the role their parents play in educating them, as well as the availability of prevention programmes, recommendations could be made regarding prevention and prevention programmes.


Synthesis of metal and semiconductor nanoparticles through biological route offers a few advantages over the common chemical and physical procedures as it is an easy, fast and eco-friendly alternative that doesn't involve any costly instruments and hazardous chemicals as well. In this study, we report the biological synthesis of silver nanoparticles from silver nitrate solution using fruit extract of cucumber (Cucumis sativus). Formation of nano-silver was investigated at regular intervals by scanning the mixture using UV-Vis spectroscope. Crystallinity and different phases of biosynthesized Ag nanoparticles was verified by x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Size, shape and morphology of silver nanoparticles were studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy was performed to detect the bioactive molecules liable for reduction and capping of biogenic silver nanoparticles. Photocatalytic activity of these silver nanoparticles was examined by degradation of methylene blue dye under solar irradiation. The antibacterial efficacy of these nanoparticles was tested against three bacteria- Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli. These biosynthesized Ag nanoparticles showed effective photocatalytic and antibacterial property by degrading the dye and inhibiting the bacterial growth respectively.


ABSTRACT We used bone marrow/liver/thymus (BLT) humanized mice to establish the effect of semen on vaginal HIV infection and on the efficacy of topically applied maraviroc. Our results demonstrate that vaginal transmission of cell-free HIV occurs efficiently in the presence of semen and that topically applied maraviroc efficiently prevents HIV transmission in the presence of semen. We also show that semen has no significant effect on the transmission of transmitted/founder viruses or cell-associated viruses.


Objective: The objective of the study was to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics found in personnel screened during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. Materials and methods: Nasal and oropharyngeal swab samples were collected in the period between May 11 and May 26, 2020, from 496 people. They were followed up by means of a questionnaire at 0, 7, and 14 days. Results: 449 people answered the surveys (73 excluded); age range: 21-63 years, mean of 39.4 years. About 77% had contact with patients with coronavirus infection, (32% had an exposure time of < 8 h a week, 24% 8-16 h a week and 20% more than 16 h a week). The most frequent comorbidity in the population was obesity (13.8%), followed by asthma (8%) and DM2 (1%). The most common symptom was headache (34%), followed by nasal obstruction (25%) and odynophagia in third place (22%); 16% presented alterations in the perception of odors. Among the surveyed personnel, 17 (4.5%) tested positive for SARS-COV2 by means of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Conclusions: In line with this pandemic, a screening protocol was started for asymptomatic health-care personnel for the recognition of infections caused by this virus to establish barriers that will prevent the spread and provide the basis for the standardization of this practice and the protection of healthcare personnel.


Development of material processing methods is a promising application area for the mm-wave technology. Order-of-magnitude reductions in process duration and energy consumption determine high industrial potential of mm-based methods. Specific features in the interaction of the electromagnetic field with materials during processing open prospects for engineering novel materials with enhanced properties.


In 1987, an East Berlin punk concert was attacked by Skinheads. This event and others like it provoked sustained outcry in the German Democratic Republic in the last years of the 1980s. The political opposition transformed public outrage over Skinhead violence into broader critiques about 'real-existing socialism', especially by using the Western media to circumvent the state's information monopoly. Thus dialogue opened up by violence going public helped to undermine the political legitimacy of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) by giving ordinary Easterners channels to express their disappointments over state policy. In the end, the SED felt compelled to make decisions concerning state youth policy which opened up new avenues for oppositional activity, pointing to the ways in which the SED responded to momentum from below in ways which only weakened its political hegemony further. By exploring how manifestations of public violence were used to chip away at the political authority of the SED, I suggest that the 'Krawall in der Zionskirche' and events like it help to explain why a small dissident movement was able to spread its message of discontent much more broadly.


Effective targeting and in situ imaging-guided treatment are particularly important for accurate clinical photodynamic therapy (PDT) of malignant tumors. Herein, we propose a single molecule, named IMC-DAH-SQ, which possesses dual-targeting components, including structure-inherent targeting (SIT) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) targeting units, and controllable turn-on near infrared (NIR) fluorescence. Due to its amphiphilicity, IMC-DAH-SQ assembles into a nanoprobe with low background fluorescence. After incubation with tumor cells, the SIT and COX-2 recognition characteristics of IMC-DAH-SQ endow it with preferential tumor-targeting activity. The strong binding with overexpressed COX-2 can collapse the nanoprobe to monomers after accumulation in tumor cells, leading to turn-on NIR fluorescence that is completely different from normal cells. Additionally, benefiting from the single molecular model tactic, the nanoprobe has the advantages of simple synthesis without ever considering the loading rate and separation between the photosensitizer and targeting unit. Other favorite features, including superior biocompatibility, weak dark toxicity, and mitochondria enrichment capability, are implemented. All these traits not only afford nanoprobe precision tumor cell targeting capability but also provide promising imaging-guided antitumor therapy. We believe that the single molecular protocol will establish a novel strategy for simultaneous diagnosis and anticancer medicine treatment utilizing versatile but small compounds.


We present "The Wall", the first web-based platform that animates the Earth in true natural color and close to real-time. The living planet is displayed both during day and night with a pixel resolution of approximately 1 km and a time frequency of 10 min. The automatic processing chains use the synchronized measurements provided by three geostationary satellites: the METEOSAT Second Generation (MSG2), Himawari-8, and GOES-16. A Rayleigh scattering correction is applied, and a cloud of artificial neural networks, chosen to render "true natural color" RBG composites, is used to recreate the missing daytime bands in the visible spectrum. The reconstruction methodology is validated by means of the TERRA/AQUA "Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer" (MODIS) instrument reflectance values. "The Wall" is a dynamic broadcasting platform from which the scientific community and the public can trace local and Earth-wide phenomena and assess their impact on the globe.


Between 1-1-85 and 6-30-86, 17 patients suffering from metastatic malignant melanoma received total doses of 30-40 I.U. IFN-gamma given i.v. in a daily fractionation of 1.0-2.6 X 10(6) I.U. The only side effect was fever grade I-II (WHO). In four of these patients a regression of the disease was obtained (two complete remissions and two partial remissions, according to UICC criteria). Thus, the overall response rate was 23.5%. The average duration of remission was 8.9 months (range from 1.5 to 21 + months), the average survival time 12.4 months (range from 1.5 to 21 + months, also). Two other patients showed no change lasting for two and five months respectively. In all, systemic interferon-gamma treatment applied in the manner described seems to be able to induce remissions in single cases without showing severe toxicity.


This article presents the data on the prevalence, clinical and roentgenological features of the course and etiological factors of segmentary pneumonia development in children of different age.


Mixed methods research is a robust and growing methodology in many fields, including education. We drew upon the influential work of Greene et al., Ivankova and Kawamura, and Alise and Teddlie to explore the landscape of published mixed methods research in special education. We conducted a systematic literature review of 15 top-ranked journals in special education from 2007 to July 2019. Specifically, we used the seminal work of Greene et al. as a conceptual framework for describing how researchers designed and implemented their mixed methods research studies. We found a very small proportion of the total number of original research studies purported to use mixed methods (0.62%; N = 43). Within this small set of mixed methods research studies, very few explicitly articulated and defended how they addressed the recommended components identified by Greene et al. Implications for applying mixed methods to special education research are discussed.


I Fundamentals.- Fundamentals of Sputtering..- Sputtered Atom Yields and Ionization Probabilities of Binary Alloys Under O2+ Bombardment..- Sputtering and Secondary Ion Yields of Ti-Al Alloys Subjected to Oxygen Ion Bombardment..- Outermost Surface Composition of Au-Cu Alloys Under Ion Bombardment of Different Current Densities of Ar+ Ions..- Secondary Dimer Ion Emission Probability in Sputtering Cu-Ni Alloy.- Empirical Formula for Sputtering Yield and Z2 Dependence of Its Q Values.- Molecular Dynamics Computer Simulation Investigation of Target Damage Created by Ion Bombardment..- Simulation of Ion Sputtering Process on the Binary Alloy.- Secondary Ion Emission from Si Subjected to Oxygen Ion Bombardment.- Surface Structure of Oxidized Metals Bombarded by Incident Ions.- The Effect of Energetic Electrons on the Secondary Ion Emission.- Influence of Alkali Metals on the Negative Secondary Ion Emission from Silicon..- Secondary Ion Emission Peculiarities at Metal Interfaces.- Intensities and Energy Spectra of Secondary Ions Sputtered from Fe-Al Alloys by Ar+ Ion Bombardment in Ultrahigh Vacuum.- CF3+: An Alternative Primary Beam Source for the Sensitive Detection of Electropositive Elements in SIMS..- Hydrogen Ion Bombardment in Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry.- Electron Tunneling and the Emission of Secondary Ions from Silicon Surfaces.- Detection of Sputtered Neutrals by Multiphoton Resonance Ionization.- The Energy Dependence of the Ionisation Coefficient in SIMS.- Accurate Measurement of Energy Distribution Curves of Secondary Ions by UHV-IMMA..- Energy Distribution of Positive Secondary Ions from Pure Elements and Amorphous Alloys..- Energy Distribution of Secondary Ions Emitted from Silicate Minerals.- A Retarding-Accelerating Energy Analyser for SIMS..- II Quantification.- Current Status of Sputtered Ion Emission Models..- LTE Quantification of SIMS of Ni-Cr Alloy.- Simplified IMISR Method with Computer Data Acquisition..- Relative Sensitivity Factor of Compound Semiconductor by SIMS.- Quantitative Ion Probe Analysis of Oxidized Surface Using N2+ Primary Ion..- Oxygen Effect on Secondary Ion Yield in Oxygen-Doped Silicon.- The Role of Standards in Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry.- SIMS Quantitative Analysis of Impurities in GaAs Using Multi-Element-Doped GaAs..- SIMS Quantitative Analysis of Gallium in Silicon by Using Ion-Implanted Samples for Standards..- III Instrumentation.- Ion Gun Systems for Submicron SIMS..- Submicron Ion Probes..- Optimization of High Brightness Cs Ion Source and Ion Optics for UHV-IMMA..- A New Type Surface Ionization Source with an Additional Mode of Electrohydrodynamic Ionization for SIMS..- A Study of Argon Ion Gun in SIMS..- Liquid Metal Ion Sources for Scanning SIMS.- SIMS with Very High Spatial Resolution Using Liquid Metal Ion Sources.- Development of High Performance Ion Microanalyzer..- MIQ-156 MARK II A Highly Advanced and Versatile Quadrupole SIMS Instrument, with Dual Primary Ion Source.- Development of Shielded Ion Microprobe Analyser for Irradiated Fast Reactor Fuel and Material Examination..- Parameters Influencing Ion Intensities for Quadrupole SIMS Instruments.- Isotopic Measurements at High Mass Resolution by Electrostatic Peak Switching..- Laser Microprobe Mass Spectrometry..- Metastable Molecular Ion Emission from Semiconductor Surfaces Under N2 Laser Irradiation..- Laser-Induced Sputtering from CdS and GaAs..- SIMS at Higher Energies..- The Radiocarbon Measurement with the Tandem Accelerator at Nagoya University..- Image Processing SIMS..- Evaluation of Metal Interaction by Color Display SIMS Technique.- A Comparison of Camera-Based and Quantized Detectors for Image Processing on an Ion Microscope..- Automation of an Ion Microprobe Mass Analyzer.- IV Combined and Static SIMS.- Ultra-High Vacuum SIMS: A Pilgrim's Journey Through History.- Single Crystal Surface Structure Studies with Static SIMS.- Ion Dose Effect in Thin Film Formation on Nb(100).- A Low-Energy SIMS Investigation on Thermal Diffusion on Vapor-Deposited Nickel on Copper Substrate.- SIMS Combined with Other Methods of Surface Analysis..- Combined SIMS and Electron Spectroscopy Investigation of the Chemical State of Some Ion-Implanted Transition Metals and Steels.- SIMS-Auger Analysis of Organic Films on Gallium Arsenide.- SIMS and AES Studies of Ni-Zn Alloys..- The Application of SIMS and other Surface Techniques to the Study of Antimony-Doped Tin oxide Surfaces..- Silver Catalyst for Partial oxidation of Methanol. Reaction Path and Catalyst Poisoning by Iron. A Combined SIMS, TDMS, AES, XPS and ISS Study..- Behavior of Inorganic Materials on Catalysts Used for Coal Liquefaction.- Quantitative Investigation of As Segregation at the SiO2/Si Interface by SIMS and RBS..- Low Energy Oxygen Ion Implantation and Ion-Bombardment Induced oxidation of Silicon, Studied by SIMS, AES and XPS.- The Effects of Ion Beam Sputtering on the Chemical State of Metal oxide Surfaces..- Combined Spectrometer with the Techniques of SIMS, ISS, AES and XPS.- V Application to Semiconductor and Depth Profiling.- The Use of SIMS for Semiconductor Processing Technology: The Influence of Oxygen at Depth Profiling..- Photon Radiation Annealing of Ion-Implanted Silicon.- Quantification of Silicon Wafer Cleaning Using Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy..- SIMS Study of Surface Contamination Due to Ion Implantation.- Quantitative Analysis of Amorphous Silicon Nitride Using SIMS.- The Contribution of SIMS to the Characterization of III-V Compounds.- Effects of Donor Impurities on the Redistribution of Mn Acceptors in In1?XGaXAs..- Residual Donor Impurities in Undoped LEC SI-GaAs Crystals.- Quantitative Depth Profile Analysis by Secondary Neutral Mass Spectrometry (SNMS)..- Practical Limitations in Depth Profiling of Low Energy Implants into Amorphised and Crystalline Silicon..- Depth Profiling of Dopant Distribution in Small Area Transistors.- Comparison of Oxygen and Indium Primary Ion Beams for SIMS-Depth Profiling..- Application of Computer-Controlled SIMS to Depth Profiling of Impurities Implanted in Silicon with High Dose of B+ or BF2+ Ions.- Improvements in the Routine Depth Profiling of Doping Elements.- Aspects of SIMS Evaluation of Tracer Diffusion and Its Isotope Effect..- High-Performance Depth Profiling with a Quadrupole-Based SIMS Instrument..- Depth Profiling of Evaporated Se-Te Films with SIMS..- Depth Profiling of Heat-Treated Mo Films on SiO2/Si Substrates.- SIMS Depth Profiling of Shallow As Implants in Si and SiO2.- Depth Profiling by SIMS to Minimize Charging Effects.- Quantitative Depth Profiling of B and P in Borophosphosilicate Glass.- Investigation of Gas Phase Ions with a Quadrupole SIMS Instrument.- VI Organic SIMS.- Organic Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry..- Characteristics of Molecular Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry.- Mechanisms of Organic Molecule Ejection in SIMS and FABMS Experiments.- Comparison of the Laser Mass Spectra and SIMS Spectra of Amino Acids.- Laser Desorption Mass Spectrometry of Complex Biomolecules at High Laser Power Density..- Organic SIMS Studies with a Hollow Anode Ion Source..- An Apparatus for Studying Liquid Matrix Assisted Organic Secondary Ion Processes..- Comparison of Three Source Geometries for Cs+ Liquid SIMS.- Study of Metastable Ions from Molecular Species Produced by Molecular Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry..- Monte Carlo Simulation of an Ion Sputtering Process of Polymer Materials..- Depth Profiling of Polymer Blends and Optical Fiber with the Aid of SIMS..- Application of SIMS Technique to Organic Polymers..- Analysis of Molecular Species of Organic Compounds Dispersed in Polymer Layer Using LDMS and SIMS..- Cesium Ion Liquid Matrix Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry and Its Impact on the Characterization of Free Labile Biological Substances.- A New Time-of-Flight Instrument for SIMS and Its Application to Organic Compounds..- Analysis of CsI and Peptide Mixture by Molecular SIMS..- Sequencing of Peptides by SIMS from the C or N Terminus.- Secondary Ion Mass Spectra of Triterpenoidal Oligoglycoside.- Structural Characterization of Naturally Occurring Oligosaccharides by Matrix-Assisted Molecular Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry.- Characteristics of Peptide Fragmentation Patterns in Molecular Secondary Ion (SI) Mass Spectra.- VII Application.- Metallic and Inorganic Materials.- Detection of Hydrogen in Steel Using SIMS.- Surface Analysis Applied to Cold Rolled Steel Sheets..- Effects of Atmosphere Upon SIMS Analysis of Oxygen Isotopes in Oxides and Accurate Determination of Tracer Diffusivity of Oxygen.- Tracer Diffusion Coefficient of Oxide Ions in LaFeO3 by SIMS Measurement..- A Study by Low Energy SIMS of Chromium Behavior in an Oxide Film of Low-Chromium Steel..- FAB-SIMS Study for Analysis of Insulators.- Geology.- Geological Applications of SIMS..- Mineral/Groundmass Partitioning for Chrome Spinel in Boninite.- Quantitative SIMS Analysis of Metastable Plagioclase in Boggild Intergrowth..- SIMS Study on Ion Impact Desorption of Water from Silica Gel.- Molecular Ion Suppression in the Secondary Ion Mass Spectra of Minerals..- Self-Diffusion of Silicon and Oxygen in Silicate Melts: An Experimental Study..- Quantitative Analysis of Metallic Ions Associated with Fluid Inclusion.- SIMS Measurement of Magnesium Isotopic Ratios in Primitive Meteorites.- Biology.- Sensitivity and Quantitation of SIMS as Applied to Biomineralizations.- SIMS in Biology and Medicine..- Cell Cultures: An Alternative in Biological Ion Microscopy.- Secondary Ion Emission Microanalysis Applied to the Uranium Detection in Aquatic Organisms..- Tissue Microlocalization of Isotopes by Ion Microscopy and by Microautoradiography..- An Empirical Approach to Quantitative Analysis of Biological Samples by Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS).- Index of Contributors.


The Coronavirus (Covid-19) continues to reshape many lives socially, politically, and economically. Choreographic practice, performance, and those involved in dance are also affected in different ways. This article investigates the research question: How might the event of Covid-19 prompt the transformation of freelance dancers' identities? Through a qualitative narrative inquiry, three freelance contemporary dancers from Aotearoa/New Zealand were interviewed. From a thematic analysis of the data, the theme of alienation and adaptability were drawn out. This research reveals that the event of Covid-19 has caused freelance dancers to question their identity and precarity within their communities and shifted their position to advance a sense of security. The stories shared by the dancers revealed that industry practices and conditions for freelance contemporary dancers in Aotearoa/New Zealand need redevelopment for greater sustainability, relevance and inclusion, which could pave the way for industry changes to occur post-covid-19.


Eco-industrialism embraces the concept of spatially-concentrated and inter-connected industrial activities that collectively are eco-efficient in the use of resources, though not necessarily premised on renewable resources. One area of activity that has potential for renewable eco-industrialism is that of bio-plastics; specifically in this case the production of plastic feedstock from sugarcane ethanol along with downstream products manufactured from bio-plastic feedstock for industrial or consumer markets. Eco-industrialism, in addition, has little to say about the subject of inclusive growth – an important element in the social and economic dimensions of sustainability. Inclusive growth means bringing some of the wealth created by growth to the marginal elements of society. This paper examines the nascent sugarcane ethanol bio-plastic industry in Brazil with a view to understanding the potential of the sector for renewable eco-industrialism in general, and for inclusive growth to mitigate rural poverty in particular. It is concluded that while the sector and the underlying technology is only in the formative stages, there are reasons to suppose that there is potential for inclusive growth and alleviating rural poverty by broadening income flows and reducing income volatility risk to rural areas. The paper explains that the concept of ecoindustrialism has thus far been limited in that it is not based on renewable resources per se. Hence in theoretical terms the paper seeks to explain the significance of two possible developments of the concept: a basis of on renewable resources; and an extension with 'inclusive growth'. The analysis is grounded in an understanding of contemporary definitions of bio-plastic and why it might be important e.g. in the automotive industry. Information on the technology and scale of production, etc. is used to compare the bio-plastic sector with the mainstream petrochemical plastic sector. We then present a case study of Brazil in which it is shown that an embryonic bio-plastic industry exists, though it is far from being an ecoindustrial cluster. The subsequent analysis argues that there is a strong sustainability basis for developing a Brazilian bio-plastic eco-industrial complex based on sugarcane ethanol, and outlines some potential policy frameworks to further encourage the development of such a sector. It is concluded that there are broad social and economic benefits, such as greater inclusive growth and higher retention of added value within Brazil, alongside the environmental advantages of using sugarcane such as lower carbon emissions. The wider theoretical conclusions are that eco-industrialism based on renewable resources could be the foundation of a new form of materialism in modern society.


Psychologic personality features influenced the participation of male subjects, aged 40-59, from Kaunas, in preventive procedures aiming to control hypercholesterolemia within a many-factor prophylactic program against coronary heart disease (CHD). A negative attitude to the recommendation to give up smoking and change dietary habits and physical behavior, demonstrated prior to the first medical examination, was indicative of a tendency to abstain from preventive procedures. According to the first medical check-up data, the abstaining individuals showed signs of somatic discomfort and psychologic stress more frequently. Unlike the voluntary participants, they had more marked difficulties in psychologic adaptation as assessed by the MMPI scale. The effectiveness of cholesterol-controlling measures also depended on the psychological makeup of the personality. A lower MMPI profile prevailed in those men whose increased cholesterol levels were eventually controlled.


Cognitive radio is a capable technology, which has provided a different way to increase the efficiency of the electromagnetic spectrum utilization. CR allows unlicensed users or secondary users (SUs) to use the licensed spectrum through dynamic channel assignment strategies or spectrum access when the primary users (PUs) are in a dormant state to improve the spectrum utilization and hence avoid spectrum scarcity. For this we need intelligent spectrum sensing techniques which can detect the presence of spectrum holes and allocate them to the secondary users without interfering with the activities of the primary users. This thesis specifically investigates the Cyclo-stationary detector, the energy detector and their simulation in MATLAB to know the presence of licensed users. Energy detector is a semi blind spectrum sensing technique, which do not need any prior information about the signal to know the presence of primary users. It is simple and easy to implement, but requires high SNR conditions for optimal performance, which is in accordance with our simulation results. The poor performance of ED in low SNR conditions provides option for new spectrum sensing techniques which performs better in LOW SNR conditions. In that Sense the Cyclo-stationary detector overcomes the problem as it gives optimal performance even at low SNR conditions. The wireless microphone signal which is specified in IEEE 802.22 standard (first standard based on cognitive radio) is used as the test signal for the performance evaluation of the energy detector as well as the cyclo-stationary detector.


Ferranti and Merz were the architects of power transmission system design in Britain. Ferranti's design concept broke through the parochial model of electricity supply inherent in the Electricity Lighting Acts of 1882 and 1888. Although the concept of a remote high-power central station with high-voltage transmission and large-area distribution was not realised by Ferranti in 1889, it was realised by the power companies. Merz was foremost in using the Ferranti design concept in 1901 for the Newcastle, later the North East, Electric Supply Company (NESCo.). Later Merz introduced a new radical concept by the interconnection of a number of power stations. He did this first for NESCo. And in 1916 he proposed this as a model to be adopted for British electrification. Merz was unique in first solving the technical problems of power station interconnection and then realising that such a transmission system best suited an electricity supply for the industrial areas of Britain.


Turkey is one of the orange producing countries which are located at north border of orange growing region. Because of the climatic conditions many products are waste material. Annually 12% of citrus production is scrapped among 3.6 million productions in Turkey. In addition to this citrus peels are by-products of the juice extraction industry. Therefore the study aims to search the possible way to valorise orange peel use as feedstock. In the study, orange (Valencia) peel was dried in microwave oven and drying parameters and its mathematical models were investigated. The selected microwave power levels were (180, 360, 540, 720 and 900 W) and behaviour's on drying time, drying rate of orange peels were investigated. The drying data were applied to nine different mathematical models, namely, Newton, Page, Modified Page, Henderson and Pabis, Logarithmic, Wang and Singh, Diffusion Approach, Verma, Two Term Exponential, Midilli-Kucuk Equation Models. The performances of these models were compared according to the coefficient of determination (R2), standard error of estimate (SEE) and residual sum of squares (RSS), between the observed and predicted moisture ratios. It was found that the Midilli-Kucuk model described the drying curve best in all drying methods (R2 =0.9995-1.0000, SEE=0.00330.0173, RSS=0.0001-0.0060).


Oxidative stress (OS) is considered a risk factor for neurodegenerative disorders. Iron concentrations have been related to OS; however, the effect of iron deficiency (ID) on the induction of OS in the central nervous system (CNS) is unknown. A murine model of chronic diet-induced ID using 2 month-old male BALB/c mice (6 specimen), was used to determine its role in OS induction. Lipid peroxidation was determined by measuring thiobarbituric acid-reactive species (TBARS) in the CNS, using the spleen for comparison. A decrease of peroxidation products in the CNS of the ID group (ID CNS), compared to controls fed on a regular diet, was found. The spleen showed a significant increase of lipid peroxidation in the ID group. Our results suggest that chronic ID may have differential effects on OS in the CNS and peripheral tissues. A decreased amount of reactive oxygen species in the basal state may be related to alterations on normal CNS metabolism and functions under chronic ID.


Iron-based amorphous alloys have attracted technological and scientific interest due to their soft magnetic properties. Recently it was found that amorphous alloys like Fe73.5Cu1Nb3Si13.5B9 undergo a transition to the nanocrystalline state after proper annealing, thus exhibiting excellent magnetic properties. Laser surface treatment of amorphous soft magnetic materials is known to have a strong influence on their spin texture. Laser treatment of crystalline alloys can induce changes in their phase structure, as for example the amorphization of surface layers. In this study, the authors report on the reaction of both Fe- and Co-based amorphous alloys as well as nanocrystalline and crystalline Fe73.5Cu1Nb3Si13.5B9 on excimer laser treatment. Simultaneous triple radiation Mossbauer spectroscopy (STRMS) is a powerful tool for the study of these phenomena. In order to estimate the depths of origin of the spectral information, simple analytical expressions for the depth profiles of the involved techniques are calculated.


Quantum Cellular Automata (QCA) represents an emerging technology at the nanotechnology level. Nowadays, many applications of QCA technology are introduced and cryptography can be an interesting application of QCA technology. Substitution boxes are important components in many modern day block and stream ciphers. Therefore, we have implemented a 4×4 S-Box using QCA technology. Simulation results are obtained from QCADesigner software.


https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/11/11/1344 PDF Version: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/11/11/1344/pdf https://www.researchgate.net/project/Simplified-and-Robust-Surface-Reflectance-Estimation-Method-SREM Retrieved from https://encyclopedia.pub/203 Surface reflectance (SR) estimation is the most critical preprocessing step for deriving geophysical parameters in multi-sensor remote sensing. Most state-of-the-art SR estimation methods, such as the vector version of the Second Simulation of the Satellite Signal in the Solar Spectrum (6SV) radiative transfer (RT) model, depend on accurate information on aerosol and atmospheric gases. In this study, a Simplified and Robust Surface Reflectance Estimation Method (SREM) based on the equations from 6SV RT model, without integrating information of aerosol particles and atmospheric gasses, is proposed and tested using Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+), and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) data from 2000 to 2018. For evaluation purposes, (i) the SREM SR retrievals are validated against in situ SR measurements collected by Analytical Spectral Devices (ASD) from the South Dakota State University (SDSU) site, USA; (ii) cross-comparison between the SREM and Landsat spectral SR products, i.e., Landsat Ecosystem Disturbance Adaptive Processing System (LEDAPS) and Landsat 8 Surface Reflectance Code (LaSRC), are conducted over 11 urban (2013–2018), 13 vegetated (2013–2018), and 11 desert/arid (2000 to 2018) sites located over different climatic zones at a global scale; (iii) the performance of the SREM spectral SR retrievals for low to high aerosol loadings is evaluated; (iv) spatio-temporal cross-comparison is conducted for six Landsat paths/rows located in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the United States of America from 2013 to 2018 to consider a large variety of land surfaces and atmospheric conditions; (v) cross-comparison is also performed for the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), and the Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) calculated from both the SREM and Landsat SR data; (vi) the SREM is also applied to the Sentinel-2A and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) data to explore its applicability; and (vii) errors in the SR retrievals are reported using the mean bias error (MBE), root mean squared deviation (RMSD), and mean systematic error (MSE). Results depict significant and strong positive Pearson's correlation (r), small MBE, RMSD, and MSE for each spectral band against in situ ASD data and Landsat (LEDAPS and LaSRC) SR products. Consistency in SREM performance against Sentinel-2A (r = 0.994, MBE = −0.009, and RMSD = 0.014) and MODIS (r = 0.925, MBE = 0.007, and RMSD = 0.014) data suggests that SREM can be applied to other multispectral satellites data. Overall, the findings demonstrate the potential and promise of SREM for use over diverse surfaces and under varying atmospheric conditions using multi-sensor data on a global scale.


As top predators in marine environments, seabirds frequently respond to the presence of their main prey, and both predators and prey are usually associated with specific environmental features. We investigated the variability in the presence and density of flying seabirds (mostly Procellariiformes and Charadriiformes) and Magellanic penguinsSpheniscus magellanicusalong the southwestern (SW) Atlantic continental shelf. Five acoustic assessment surveys were conducted to determine the biomass of the Argentine anchovyEngraulis anchoita, and seabird counts and the collection of oceanographic data were conducted simultaneously with the surveys between June and October 2010. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) were fitted to test the effect of anchovy density and environmental variables on seabird density. Sea surface temperature was significant for the presence of flying seabirds. Bottom water temperature and anchovy density were key variables affecting the presence and density of penguins, while bottom water salinity was also important for penguin presence. Based on Akaike's information criterion, the most important factor explaining the density of flying seabirds was the difference between surface and bottom salinity (ΔS), while for penguin density, the most important factor was anchovy density. These results highlight that the subtropical shelf front in the SW Atlantic Ocean is a key feature influencing the aggregation of flying seabirds and confirm the close association of penguins and anchovies. Bottom water intrusion, originating from the sub-Antarctic shelf water, is an important factor explaining the presence of penguins, which tend to aggregate in areas with high anchovy densities on the SW Atlantic continental shelf.


Treebanks, such as the Penn Treebank (PTB), offer a simple approach to obtaining a broad coverage grammar: one can simply read the grammar off the parse trees in the treebank. While such a grammar is easy to obtain, a square-root rate of growth of the rule set with corpus size suggests that the derived grammar is far from complete and that much more treebanked text would be required to obtain a complete grammar, if one exists at some limit. However, we offer an alternative explanation in terms of the underspecification of structures within the treebank. This hypothesis is explored by applying an algorithm to compact the derived grammar by eliminating redundant rules - rules whose right hand sides can be parsed by other rules. The size of the resulting compacted grammar, which is significantly less than that of the full treebank grammar, is shown to approach a limit. However, such a compacted grammar does not yield very good performance figures. A version of the compaction algorithm taking rule probabilities into account is proposed, which is argued to be more linguistically motivated. Combined with simple thresholding, this method can be used to give a 58% reduction in grammar size without significant change in parsing performance, and can produce a 69% reduction with some gain in recall, but a loss in precision.


We present a quantitative star formation history of the nearby dwarf galaxy UGCA 92. This irregular dwarf is situated in the vicinity of the Local Group of galaxies in a zone of strong Galactic extinction (IC 342 group of galaxies). The galaxy was resolved into stars, including the old red giant branch, with HST/ACS. We constructed a model of the resolved stellar populations and measured the star formation rate and metallicity as functions of time. The main star formation activity period occurred about 8–14 Gyr ago. These stars are mostly metal-poor, with a mean metallicity [Fe/H] ∼−1.5 to −2.0 dex. About 84 per cent of the total stellar mass was formed during this event. There are also indications of recent star formation starting about 1.5 Gyr ago and continuing to the present. The star formation in this event shows moderate enhancement from ∼200 to 300 Myr ago. It is very likely that the ongoing star formation period has a higher metallicity of about −0.6 to −0.3 dex. UGCA 92 is often considered to be the companion to the starburst galaxy NGC 1569. A comparison of our star formation history of UGCA 92 with that of NGC 1569 reveals no causal or temporal connection between recent star formation events in these two galaxies. We suggest that the starburst phenomenon in NGC 1569 is not related to the galaxy's closest dwarf neighbours and does not affect their star formation history.


In 2017, Hurricane María left more than a third of Puerto Rican households without water services. Cascading failures—including the simultaneous collapse of water, electricity, and transportation sectors—presented serious challenges to the timely restoration of governmental services. In response, families across Puerto Rico adopted self-organized coping strategies to obtain the basic resources they needed, including safe and sufficient water. Drawing on the fast-growing literature on household water sharing, we examine how Puerto Rican families shared water as a response to disaster. Using participant-observation data, interviews, and social network data, we studied water-sharing networks in three municipalities—urban, peri-urban, and rural—in western Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane María. We found that extensive water sharing (in 85% of households) spontaneously emerged in the wake of disaster, in previously water-secure rural, peri-urban, and urban communities. Households relied primarily on kin and neighbors, and women had more extensive sharing networks than men. Water-sharing arrangements were typically a form of generalized reciprocity, with little expectation of direct payback. We conclude that water-sharing networks are an important—but understudied and underutilized—component of disaster response. Our research indicates that water sharing should be more explicitly planned for and included in disaster preparedness plans. If water sharing is the dominant approach for coping with disaster-induced water insecurity, we argue, it must be at the core of disaster response.


Introduction: In 2006, there were over 1 million hospital admissions for heart failure (HF), and the estimated cost to the U.S. in 2009 was over $37.2 billion. Better models to target aggressive therapy to patients at the highest risk for readmission are clearly needed. Methods: We studied 3631 consecutive admissions for HF based on discharge diagnosis codes between October 2007 and August 2011 from a single academic center. We randomly generated derivation and validation sets in a 3:1 ratio. We used generalized estimating equations to develop and test our models, accounting for repeated hospitalizations. Results: The 30-day readmission rate in both sets was 25%. Among 25 candidate variables, the best fitting model included creatinine level and hyponatremia at discharge; race; zipcode of residence; suspicion of ischemia; discharge hour; and number of hospitalizations in the previous year. Insignificant variables included IV diuretic use on day of discharge, discharge service, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, age, and sex. Among the subset of patients with measured BNP levels, change in BNP during admission also tended to be associated with readmission. Men, but not women, who were married had a lower risk of readmission. The predicted / observed risks of readmission across ascending tertiles of predicted risk were 14%/13%, 21%/24%, 33%/37% in the derivation set and 14%/18%, 22%/29%, and 35%/38% in the validation set. The area under the ROC curve for the model was 0.67 in the derivation set and 0.65 in the validation set. Conclusions: We derived and validated a simple model relating discharge-specific characteristics with risk of 30-day readmission. The model was well-calibrated and yielded better discrimination than most models in the literature. Application of this approach may facilitate targeted intervention to reduce the burden of rehospitalization among patients with HF.


In this paper, results of an empirical comparison of objects-first vs. objects-later are presented and discussed. The study was carefully designed to align the two approaches so that the comparison is focused on the main difference between the two approaches; that is the different sequence in which topics are taught: object oriented topics from the beginning or not. The study with duration of one year was carried out in a secondary school. In the end, both groups showed the same increase in learning gain, but perceived the difficulty of topics differently. We discuss study design, results and pedagogical implications. Categories' and' Su34ect' Descri7tors:' K3.2 [Com7uters' :' Education]: Computer and Information Science Education – !"#$%&'( *!+',!' '-%!.&+",/ +,0"(#.&+", *1*&'#* '-%!.&+",.' General'Terms:'Experimentation, Human Factors.'


: Enzyme inhibitors are an important therapeutic agent in drug discovery, as they can be used
to manipulate biochemical pathways to treat a wide range of diseases. Current strategies for enzyme inhibition involve the use of small molecule inhibitors, natural products, or peptide-based inhibitors. These inhibitors can be used to target and modulate the activity of enzymes, which in turn can affect the
progression of a particular disease. The future of enzyme inhibitor-based drug discovery lies in the development of more selective and potent inhibitors, as well as the ability to target enzymes that are involved in multiple pathways. Additionally, there is significant potential for the use of enzyme inhibitors
in combination with other therapeutic strategies, such as gene therapy. Finally, the development of novel computational strategies for the design and optimization of enzyme inhibitor-based drugs is an exciting area of research. Such strategies could lead to the discovery of new and more effective inhibitors,
which would facilitate the development of improved treatments for a variety of diseases. Hence, this review focuses on some techniques for the discovery of enzyme inhibitors and their applications as various therapeutic agents.


Abstract Background African American MSM (AAMSM) living with HIV are less likely to have viral suppression than other racial groups. Wisepill, a wireless pill bottle, transmits a cellular signal to a server when opened and is designed to measure antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence. The objective of this study was to explore the acceptability of a proposed intervention in these young AAMSM using the Wisepill device opening data to trigger a real-time text alert that ART may not have been taken during a planned time to either the user, a trusted social contact, or a healthcare worker, depending on the duration of consecutively missed doses (1 dose, 3 doses, 7 doses, respectively). Methods From December 2016 – May 2017, AAMSM living with HIV age 18–34 years (N = 25) participated in a study that included five focus groups (n = 23) and one on one interviews (n = 2). We performed theory-based discussion grounded in the Technology Acceptance Model. Specifically, we explored usefulness, convenience, concerns, and intention to use. Results Fifty-two percent missed at least one dose in the 4 days prior to the focus group meeting. Almost all participants (94%) favored the idea of a wireless pill bottle monitor and linked text message notification that ART may have been missed. The device was considered convenient for use at home or in a backpack, but too large for a pocket. Stigma and privacy were common concerns. For example, participants did not want to carry the device with them if the pills would "sound like a walking pharmacy" and did not want a text message that said, "You missed your HIV meds." They preferred text message notifications that ranged from emoji icons to cryptic short texts and wanted to receive an email as a backup plan. Most believed that the device appearance would not gain unwanted attention. Thirty percent of the participants identified a partner as a social contact to whom the 3-day missed dose reminders would be sent whereas others designated their mother, aunt, brother, friend, pastor, and case-manager. Conclusion An adherence intervention using a wireless pill bottle monitoring device linked to text notifications was acceptable to most of the young AAMSM in this study. Acceptability may be enhanced by personalization of the responsive text messages and a backup email option. Disclosures J. E. Haberer, Merck: Consultant, Consulting fee; Natera: Shareholder, Stock ownership


This study investigated student teachers' perspectives on their experiences regarding the relevance and effectiveness of Vygotsky's Theory in Early Childhood Education. The researcher examines whether or not training in a high quality grow professionally in learning through Early childhood education (ECE) theory to classroom practice. Sixteen student -teachers were placed in ECE classrooms. A 10-item survey was used as pre-test and post-test. The results show that the student teaching experience provided at the ECE lab school was highly effective in helping student teachers achieve experience with NAEYC standards and yielded positive outcomes for the student teachers. An aspect that requires more attention is the student teachers' need for more feedback from classroom teachers to enhance their preparation for teaching IndexTerms Early childhood, Vygotsky's Theory, quality practice, student teacher, written reflection, project activities, teacher effectiveness


PURPOSE: Traditionally, homeownership is a sector where women face severe constraints in access and participation because of the existing structures of gender relations despite a lot of benefits to it. This paper thus examined the benefits of women participation in homeownership in Nigeria with a view to improving women status.DESIGN: The study purposively administered one hundred and seventy (170) questionnaires to females' staff of the Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Nigeria, that is a Federal established Institution with all the major tribes represented. The study grouped the benefits in homeownership under four main headings; economics, social, physiological health and better family connection. Both descriptive and inferential techniques were used to analyze the data.FINDINGS: The findings showed that good investments opportunity was the most beneficial factors of women participating in homeownership under economics benefits. Under social benefits; life satisfaction was the most significant benefit while self esteem/prestige was the most significant benefit under physiological health. Improve children education achievement was the most beneficial factor under better family connection. Also, economic benefit top the list of the four main groups ranked.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The study recommended that government should encourage women to participate in homeownership by accord them easy access to lands and soft loans for the development.ORIGINALITY: Women's equal rights to adequate housing, land and property are well elaborated under international human rights law but are often elusive in practice. This paper empirically examined the benefits of women participating in homeownership in Nigeria.


The authors summarized the experiences of management for 15 patients with thyroid cancer from 1964 to 1992. Nine patients were incorrectly diagnosed. Among them, 7 patients actually had one or several dominant masses of thyroid gland, unfortunately, these masses had not been found by doctors who ignored to examine thyroid gland before these patients were performed the first operation. All patients had been operated and follow-up postoperatively. This paper mainly discussed the reason of incorrect diagnosis, method of therapy and result of treatment for 15 patients suffering from thyroid cancer in our department.


A wire brushing and annealing process is developed and utilized to modify the surface layer microstructure of AZ31 magnesium sheet material and assess its effect on uniaxial tensile ductility and bendability. Wire brushing process utilizing fine brass wires is optimized to minimize deterioration in original surface quality by varying spindle rotational speed and depth of cut per wire brushing pass. Wire brushed material is then subjected to annealing to recrystallize the severely deformed surface layer. Rotational speed of 2800 RPM, feed rate of 1 mm/s, and a very small depth of cut coupled with annealing at 200 °C for 60 minutes results in a refined grain layer of grain size 5.5 μm and depth 30 μm on the surface. A texture study of wire brushed and annealed surface by X-ray diffraction reveals a randomized texture on the surface. Refined grain size and randomized texture result in about 38% enhancement in uniaxial tensile elongation in AZ31 compared to non-wire brushed annealed material. The role of surface microstructure and texture in improving sheet tensile ductility and bendability is discussed.


Single Grain Thin-film transistors (SG-TFTs) fabricated inside a location-controlled grain by µ-Czochralski process have as high as SOI performance. To model them, BSIMSOI with a proper modification of the mobility is proposed. The model has been verified for n- and p-channel DC and low frequency AC conditions by comparison with measurement results. Furthermore, preliminary circuit simulations are executed.


Electromyographic activity of the bulbocavernosus (BC), ischiocavernosus (IC), and ischiourethral (IU) muscles was recorded during copulation in male dogs to examine the role of these muscles in the vascular engorgement process as related to the mechanisms responsible for initiating and maintaining the genital lock. In other dogs the IU muscle was severed to ascertain the influence this would have on the genital lock. No particular function in the engorgement process could be assigned to the IC muscle. Recordings from the BC muscle are consistent with the suggestion that rhythmic contraction of this muscle plays a role in pumping blood from the proximal parts of the corpus spongiosum into more distal parts of this cavernous erectile body. This would facilitate rapid engorgement of the bulbus glandis which is the structure that locks the dogs together. Recordings from the IU muscle reveal that this muscle contracts tonically just after intromission apparently also facilitating erection of the bulb by occluding venous return. Section of this muscle prevented engorgement of the bulb and eliminated the genital lock.


Abstract The complexities of chemical composition and crystal structure are fundamental characteristics of minerals that have high relevance to the understanding of their stability, occurrence and evolution. This review summarises recent developments in the field of mineral complexity and outlines possible directions for its future elaboration. The database of structural and chemical complexity parameters of minerals is updated by H-correction of structures with unknown H positions and the inclusion of new data. The revised average complexity values (arithmetic means) for all minerals are 3.54(2) bits/atom and 345(10) bits/cell (based upon 4443 structure reports). The distributions of atomic information amounts, chemIG and strIG, versus the number of mineral species fit the normal modes, whereas the distributions of total complexities, chemIG,total and strIG,total, along with numbers of atoms per formula and per unit cell are log normal. The three most complex mineral species known today are ewingite, morrisonite and ilmajokite, all either discovered or structurally characterised within the last five years. The most important complexity-generating mechanisms in minerals are: (1) the presence of isolated large clusters; (2) the presence of large clusters linked together to form three-dimensional frameworks; (3) formation of complex three-dimensional modular frameworks; (4) formation of complex modular layers; (5) high hydration state in salts with complex heteropolyhedral units; and (6) formation of ordered superstructures of relatively simple structure types. The relations between symmetry and complexity are considered. The analysis of temporal dynamics of mineralogical discoveries since 1875 with the step of 25 years show the increasing chemical and structural complexities of human knowledge of the mineral kingdom in the history of mineralogy. In the Earth's history, both diversity and complexity of minerals experience dramatic increases associated with the formation of Earth's continental crust, initiation of plate tectonics and the Great Oxidation event.


Abstract The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Clinical Guideline 156 advises that transvaginal ultrasonography (TVUS) should be used in the first cycle of treatment with clomifene citrate, to assess for multifollicular development and hence the risk of multiple pregnancy. This guidance is based on expert opinion rather than research evidence. We conducted a cross-sectional online and postal survey among UK-based consultant gynaecologists and fertility specialists, to explore compliance with this guideline. A total of 110 responses met the inclusion criteria. During first-cycle treatment with clomifene, 50.9% of respondents were not always using TVUS, and 21.8% never were. Clinicians who did not have immediate access to TVUS were significantly less likely to scan (p < 0.01). Other key factors influencing practice were, personal experience of the clinician, lack of an evidence base to support the guideline and a willingness to accept the risk of multiple pregnancy. Several respondents questioned the value of scanning the first cycle only and highlighted that over-response may be seen in subsequent cycles. This study confirms that there is variation in adherence to the guideline and uncertainty about the clinical need for scan monitoring. Further evidence to support or refute the guideline is required.


This study was conducted to provide a philosophical and ethical description of the development of genetics and genomics nursing science and the importance of its incorporation into nursing education in Indonesia. Researchers have adopted five of the seven steps of the Heideggerian hermeneutics. All data has been obtained from literature research. The qualitative analysis of secondary data has applied the data analysis. The Coherence theory of truth criteria has been applied to maintain the consistency of scientific truth. The consistent statement system has used the principle of logic as a guide to interpreting the facts and opinions of others adequately. Nursing genetics and genomics is an ethical, philosophical product of nursing science development and a new scope of science as an adaptation to global health issues. The areas of science in nursing need to be developed further by placing genetics and genomics issues that can be adapted into the curriculum of the nursing higher education curriculum in Indonesia.


The experiments described lead to a better understanding not only of the holographic method of producing images, but also of optical imaging by other optical systems. Holography may be used as an attractive means of teaching the principles of optics, especially in the newer physics courses.


Ichneumonid wasps (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) from the forests of Northern Iran is preliminary studied in this paper. A total of eleven species from ten genera (including Cylloceria, Ichneumon, Ischnus, Lissonata, Phaestacoenitus, Perithorus, Polysphincta, Protichneumon, Scambus, Temelucha) and seven subfamilies (including Banchinae, Cremastinae, Cryptinae, Cyllocerinae, Ichneumoninae, Phrudinae and Pimplinae) were collected. All species are new records for Iranian fauna.


Central vein stenosis is commonly encountered in end stage renal disease patients on hemodialysis. Most are manageable with repeated procedures and venoplasty, however in some cases, venoplasty may not be successful. We discuss a rare case of persistent upper limb swelling due to severe central vein stenosis from compression of an aortic arch stent. Despite attempt at prolonged balloon inflation during venoplasty of the central vein, the stenosis still persisted. The arteriovenous fistula was then ligated and other forms of vascular access for hemodialysis were sought after. Central venograms may be useful in end stage renal failure patients as part of pre-operative arteriovenous fistula creation so as to anticipate the possibility of central vein stenosis and its associated complications.


This study provides an overview of the didactic focus areas in educational research in biology, chemistry and physics, seeking to identify the focus areas that are investigated frequently and those that have been studied rarely or not at all. We applied the didactic focus-based categorization analysis method (DFCM), which is based on an extension of the didactic triangle. As the data set, we used 250 papers published in the Nordic Studies in Science Education (NorDiNa) between 2005 and 2013, and the European Science Education Research Association (ESERA) 2013 conference proceedings covering education at upper secondary and tertiary levels. The results show that the teacher's pedagogical actions and the student–content relationship were the most frequently studied aspects. On the other hand, teachers' reflections on the students' perceptions and attitudes about goals and content, and teachers' conceptions of the students' actions towards achieving the goals were studied least. Irrespective of the publication forum, the distributions of foci to different categories were quite similar. Our historical analysis completes the recent studies in the field as it is based on the theory driven categorization system instead of the data driven approaches used by the previous researchers. Moreover, our further observations on more recent publications suggest that no significant changes have taken place, and therefore wider discussion about the scope and the coverage of the research in science education is needed.


Materials migration in fusion plasma devices and fuel retention in plasma-facing components are issues of great importance for the safe operation of fusion devices. The underlying mechanisms require a good understanding in order to make predictions regarding the lifetime of wall components and to assess the amount of fuel retained in the machine mainly in co-deposited layers. To reduce fuel inventory and to investigate plasma-wall interactions a large-scale experiment at the JET (Joint European Torus) tokamak is realized: operation with the ITER-Like Wall (JET-ILW) which comprises beryllium and tungsten. The current work reports on the post-mortem analysis of W/CFC tiles retrieved after the first deuterium-deuterium campaign at JET-ILW. Specimens from different areas of the divertor have been analyzed by means of several techniques including nuclear reaction analysis and Rutherford backscattering employing a deuterium beam. In addition, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis are used to assess the sample surface morphology and analyze the stoichiometry of the surface of the samples in order to compare with the results from the ion beam analytical techniques.


This paper describes a neural network speech enhancement system using a noise cancellation technique. Clean speech signals of each uttered digit in the Malay language are sampled from a single speaker in an almost noise free environment. Noisy speech signals are obtained by adding random noise to the clean signals. Noise cancellation is then performed on the noisy signals by using the ADALINE. Performance evaluation of the ADALINE is based on two methods: the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and by visual and audio checking. The effectiveness of the ADALINE to perform noise cancellation is also compared to the multilayer perceptron (MLP) network speech enhancement system.


Hate speech detection is a common downstream application of natural language processing (NLP) in the real world. In spite of the increasing accuracy, current data-driven approaches could easily learn biases from the imbalanced data distributions originating from humans. The deployment of biased models could further enhance the existing social biases. But unlike handling tabular data, defining and mitigating biases in text classifiers, which deal with unstructured data, are more challenging. A popular solution for improving machine learning fairness in NLP is to conduct the debiasing process with a list of potentially discriminated words given by human annotators. In addition to suffering from the risks of overlooking the biased terms, exhaustively identifying bias with human annotators are unsustainable since discrimination is variable among different datasets and may evolve over time. To this end, we propose an automatic misuse detector (MiD) relying on an explanation method for detecting potential bias. And built upon that, an end-to-end debiasing framework with the proposed staged correction is designed for text classifiers without any external resources required.


Introduction: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative and chronic disease of central nervous system which affected the middle aged people. The disabling nature of this disease can limit the daily activities, restrict the society roles, unemployment and finally lead to decline the quality of life (QoL) in MS patients. So, the main purpose of this study was to determine association between disability and quality of life among MS patients in Ahvaz, Iran. Materials and Methods: One hundred and one MS patients who living in Khouzestan participated in the cross-sectional study. Two questionnaires include the MSQoL-54 and World Health Organization disability assessment schedule 2.0 (WHODAS2.0) were used in order to measure the QoL and disability severity. Descriptive statistics as well as Pearson correlation coefficient and simple linear regression were used to analysis the data. Results: The respondent rate was 100 percent. The disability showed a large and negative association with QoL (p<0.001) but QoL was not significantly associated with EDSS score. Social participation and cognition subscales recognized as QoL predictors according to simple regression results. Conclusion: The cognition and participation, disability subscales, were the most important predicators for QoL. Therefore, increasing employment opportunities, changing society's attitude and using the psychotherapy programs might improve the MS patient's QoL.


Kenneth Arrow's General Possibility Theorem virtually created the academic field of specialization known as social choice theory and can reasonably be claimed as one of the handful of basic new ideas produced in the last thirty years, along with generative grammar, the quark theory, the structure of DNA, and not too many more. But, although there is no difficulty in seeing that the theorem is an extraordinary intellectual tour de force, it took a long time before it was accepted that it could not be evaded by a slight reformulation of the axioms, and even now it is hard to keep clear in one's mind just what it establishes and why it works. The two articles comprising this symposium mark, in my view, a major step forward in making the significance of Arrow's results plainer and throwing light on his proof. The article by MacKay shows how a crucial part of the proof of Arrow's theorem can be cast in a way that links it to the more familiar and perspicuous notion of infinite regress. Hardin's companion piece sets MacKay's article in a broader context and gives a slow-motion demonstration of the key move in Arrow's own version of the proof. It is my hope that even readers who have not previously acquainted themselves with this kind of work will find these articles both accessible and rewarding.


Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a significant medical problem and has become one of the lead - ing causes of chronic liver disease. HCV replicates at a high rate, and due to inherently inaccurate nucleotide incorporation and lack of proofreading and post-replication repair, mutations are inevitable. In the era of direct acting antivirals (DAAs), treatment for HCV has become highly effective, but there are still about 5–10% of treated patients who do not achieve sustained virological response (SVR). There are many factors that affect SVR rates including the absorption and metabolism of DAAs, genetic make-up, the presence or absence of cirrhosis, and severity and resistance of HCV to DAAs. An important factor influencing treatment failure is HCV resistance. The majority of treatment failures while on DAAs are not due to on-treatment failures, but due to relapses. The exact mechanism for mutation-associated relapse is unclear, but possible theories include persistent intra - hepatocytic viral replication and/or differences in the levels of host immune response. to responders.


For a linear response in a competitive bioaffinity assay of a ligand, an optimized system requires CRT greater than 3-fold of CPT, CPT greater than 50-fold of KdR, and KdR greater than 260-fold of KdX, based on chemometrics for bioaffinity interactions (CRT and CPT are the concentrations of the probe and the biomacromolecule and KdX and KdR are the dissociation constants of complexes with the ligand and the probe, respectively). These criteria were tested for a competitive bioaffinity assay of biotin. The probe was a conjugate of monomethyl-poly-(ethylene glycol)-5000, 1-naphthyl-ethylenediamine and biotin. The complex of the probe with streptavidin was quantified by the fluorescence at 430 nm based on Forster resonance energy transfer with tryptophan residues as the intrinsic donors. By fluorometric titration, KdR of the probe was 5.4 ± 1.4 nM (n = 4). At 1.5 μM probe plus 0.50 μM streptavidin, there was a linear decrease of fluorescence at 430 nm for biotin concentrations ranging from ∼36 to ∼500 nM; the linear response slope was consistent with that for the fluorescence at 430 nm to the concentration of the complex of streptavidin and the probe. Biotin at 81 and 414 nM was estimated with variation coefficients below 7%. These proposed criteria may be universally applicable for linear responses in competitive assays of ligands.


This paper reports the VSWR (Voltage Standing Wave Ratio) ruggedness and aging measurements of two power amplifiers designed in 22FDX and 45RFSOI technologies. The PA is one of the most critical function in a front-end module as it is operating at high power and directly impacted by mismatch load. De-rating of 20% is applied on the supply voltage to ensure the operation and durability of the power amplifiers for a 10 years lifetime. The measured and modelled degradation versus time are presented and show excellent results on both technologies.


Direct-coupled field-effect transistor (FET) logic inverters and 501-stage ring oscillators (ROs) are fabricated using highly scaled GaN heterojunction FET with gate lengths of 20 and 40 nm. A 40-nm gate-length E/D inverter has logic-low and logic-high noise margins of 0.465 and 1.59 V, respectively, and a logic voltage swing of 2.38 V measured at Vdd = 2.5 V. The corresponding 40-nm 501-stage RO frequency and stage delay are 0.067 GHz and 15 ps, whereas the frequency and stage delay of a 20-nm RO are 0.133 GHz and 7.5 ps. The yield of the 20-nm 501-stage RO circuits is 52% across a 3-in diameter wafer. With 1006 transistors, the 501-stage ROs represent the highest level of transistor integration to date for a GaN circuit, whereas the stage delay is the shortest reported for a GaN digital circuit.


CONTEXT
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) legislation requires that member institutions have policies to guide the recognition and management of sport-related concussions. Identifying the nature of these policies and the mechanisms of their implementation can help identify areas of needed improvement.

OBJECTIVE
To estimate the characteristics and prevalence of concussion-related protocols and preparticipation assessments used for incoming NCAA student-athletes.

DESIGN
Cross-sectional study.

SETTING
Web-based survey.

PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS
Head athletic trainers from all 1113 NCAA member institutions were contacted; 327 (29.4%) completed the survey.

INTERVENTION(S)
Participants received an e-mail link to the Web-based survey. Weekly reminders were sent during the 4-week window.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S)
Respondents described concussion-related protocols and preparticipation assessments (eg, concussion history, neurocognitive testing, balance testing, symptom checklists). Descriptive statistics were compared by division and football program status.

RESULTS
Most universities provided concussion education to student-athletes (95.4%), had return-to-play policies (96.6%), and obtained the number of previous concussions sustained by incoming student-athletes (97.9%). Fewer had return-to-learn policies (63.3%). Other concussion-history-related information (e.g., symptoms, hospitalization) was more often collected by Division I universities. Common preparticipation neurocognitive and balance tests were the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT; 77.1%) and Balance Error Scoring System (46.5%). In total, 43.7% complied with recommendations for preparticipation assessments that included concussion history, neurocognitive testing, balance testing, and symptom checklists. This was due to moderate use of balance testing (56.6%); larger proportions used concussion history (99.7%), neurocognitive testing (83.2%), and symptom checklists (91.7%). More Division I universities (55.2%) complied with baseline assessment recommendations than Division II (38.2%, χ2 = 5.49, P = .02) and Division III (36.1%, χ2 = 9.11, P = .002) universities.

CONCLUSIONS
National Collegiate Athletic Association member institutions implement numerous strategies to monitor student-athletes. Division II and III universities may need additional assistance to collect in-depth concussion histories and conduct balance testing. Universities should continue developing or adapting (or both) return-to-learn policies.


Background In Switzerland, 51% of deaths are preceded by an end-of-life decision. Hospital health teams are frequently confronted with elderly demented patients having no more their discernment capacity and without advance directives. Recomposing these patients' presumed will represents an ethical challenge. Aim We propose a method applied by our interdisciplinary team of Geriatric Medicine, allowing to recompose these patients' presumed will. Methods Mr. H. suffers from dementia and he is hospitalised after a fall. He does not have his capacity of discernment and violently refuses the care. Family and health team are profoundly uneasy and ask themselves if the care plan is adequate. Applying an interdisciplinary bio-psycho-socio and spiritual model of care, each health team's specialist carries out an assessment with the patient's family members using questions arising from the model's four dimensions. These assessments are confronted during an ethical debate aiming to recompose Mr. H. presumed will. The result is discussed with the patient's family members to make a new care plan. Results According to this decision, care plan is changed for palliative care. Discussion Demented patients with no more discernment capacity have frequently no advance directives. In such cases, our solution is to recompose their presumed will with the family, a structured process during which many ethical questions can arise. This process is more complicated when family is absent or has conflict within members or with the health team. Conclusion Using such a structured procedure often allows the health team to recompose the patient's presumed will.


vaccine would ideally be given around 15 months of age, its incorporation into the present programme of measles and mumps vaccination would seem to be logical. To achieve adequate immunization levels extensive public education (and even legislation) would be necessary. However, in addition to the probable elimination of congenital rubella other obvious benefits would be a reduction in the sequelae of measles such as subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. As Fox et al. have said, "[the] success of a systematic immunization programme requires knowledge of the age and subgroup distribution of the susceptibles and maximum effort to reduce their concentration throughout the community rather than aiming to reach any specified overall proportion of the population"," David Schell, MB BS Neonatal Fellow Howard Chilton, MRCP(UK) Director of Newborn Care Royal Hospital for Women 188 Oxford Street Paddington, NSW 2021 I. Robertson PW, Meerkin M. Rubella warning. Med J Aust 1984; 141: 680. 2. Rubella and congenital rubella United States, 1980-1983. MMWR 1983; 32: 505-509. 3. Hinman AR. Prevention of congenital rubella infection: symposium summary. Pediatrics 1985; 75: 1162-1165. 4. Fox lP, Elveback L,Scott W, et aI. Herd immunity: basic concept andrelevance to public health immunization practices. Am J EpidemioI1971; 94: 179-189.


Imaging of HIFU-induced lesions provides non-invasive, real-time treatment monitoring and control. This work presents results obtained with HIFU-induced lesion detection algorithms specifically designed for multiple lesion detection. Algorithms sensitive to relative tissue changes during HIFU -measuring signal energy, tissue displacement, entropy, and tissue attenuation are compared for their ability to detect the creation of multiple and adjacent HIFU lesions. In vivo (N=4) canine prostate backscattered RF data was acquired with a custom Sonablate/spl reg/500 HIFU device during 7 treatments. A total of 815 sites were treated, forming the algorithm evaluation dataset. It was found that the algorithm based on signal energy performed best, detecting 82% of all HIFU lesions created, while showing false-alarm rates below 5%. All methods are completely non-invasive, and make use of tissue reference/normalization information obtained before, during, and after the HIFU treatment. Algorithm specifics, data acquisition methodologies, in vivo experimental results, and algorithm comparison results are shown.


Vestibular migraine (VM) is one of the common vestibular diseases characterized by recurrent vertigo and migraine. Studies have shown that the sleep structure of VM patients is similar to that of migraine patients, and they have a common pathophysiological pathogenesis. There is a strong correlation between VM and the clinical symptoms of sleep disorders. Sleep disorders can trigger VM. On the contrary, VM can affect sleep regulatory centers and lead to structural sleep disorders. In addition, there is a common relationship between VM and sleep disorders in neuroanatomy, neurotransmitters and neural pathways. A correct understanding of the relationship between vestibular migraine and sleep disorders can provide some help for clinical diagnosis and treatment. This article reviews the relationship between vestibular migraine and the pathogenesis of sleep disorders.


Local corrosion of refractory at slag–gas and slag–metal interfaces is caused by active motion of slag film formed by the wettability between the refractory and slag. In the systems of SiO2(s)–(PbO–SiO2) slag and SiO2(s)–Pb(l)–(PbO–SiO2) slag, where dissolved components from refractory into the slag increases the interfacial tension of the slag or slag–metal, continuous washing of the refractory wall with thin fresh slag film supplied from the bulk slag phase by the Marangoni effect causes the local corrosion of refractory above the slag level or below the metal level. When the dissolved component from refractory into the slag reduces interfacial tension, for example, in the system of SiO2(s)–(FetO–SiO2) slag, the local corrosion is induced by the active slag–film motion with alternative formation and disappearance in cyclic mode due to the Marangoni effect, and change in the form of slag film due to the variation of interfacial tension and density of the slag film. Local corrosion of oxide refractories for practical use, containing trough materials, at slag–gas and slag–metal interfaces is classified into the above two types. The Maragoni flow of the slag film is also considered to play an important role in the local corrosion of oxide–graphite refractories such as Al2O3–C and MgO–C at the slag–metal interface during the stage of the oxide phase corrosion in the refractory.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
To determine the in vitro activity of rifabutin against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and the cross-resistance rate between rifampin and rifabutin.

METHODS
A total of 56 clinical isolates of MTB, including 23 multidrug-resistant (MDR) isolates and 33 susceptible isolates, were tested for susceptibility to rifampin and rifabutin using the absolute concentration method. The concentrations of drugs tested were 2.5 and 5 mg/mL for rifampin and 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2.5, 5, and 10 mg/mL for rifabutin.

RESULTS
All 33 MTB isolates that were susceptible to rifampin were also susceptible to rifabutin. None of the 23 MDR-MTB isolates were inhibited by rifabutin at a concentration of 0.1 mg/mL. Among these 23 MDR isolates, three were susceptible to rifabutin at concentrations > or = 0.5 mg/mL, six were susceptible to rifabutin at concentrations > or = 5 mg/mL, 18 were susceptible to rifabutin at concentrations > or = 10 mg/mL and five were not inhibited at any of the concentrations tested. The cross-resistance rate between rifampin and rifabutin was 87%.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that the in vitro activity of rifabutin against drug-susceptible MTB isolates is greater than that of rifampin. For MDR-MTB isolates, the cross-resistance is high between rifampin and rifabutin.


In the modern world the usage of Power Line Carrier (PLC) is spreading as it is cheap, simple, easy to deployment. Using the existing power transmission line and infrastructure this can be achieved at lower cost in every where of the country especially in remote rural areas as the extra networking system and equipments are not needed. This paper provides a development of Power Line Carrier (PLC) in Automated Meter Reading (AMR) Systems and Evaluating Non-Technical Loss (Detection of Illegal Electricity Usage). If an AMR system via PLC is set in a power delivery system, a detection system for illegal electricity usage may be easily added in the existing PLC network. The AMR Systems can also provide quick and reliable meter reading collection with less error, few technical people's involvement and completely eliminates the need for physically reading the meters. In recent days illegal electricity usage has been a major problem in some of the countries. The utilization of PLC in Remote Detection of Illegal Electricity Usage can be a novel solution in this respect. It will also increase the revenue earning of power distribution authorities.


The treatment of the acute inflammatory manifestations of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) refers to the utilization of anti-inflammatory agents. Based upon clinical experience, acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) has been traditionally accepted as the first-line therapy for arthritis. However, various scientific sources indicate different schedules for the administration of ASA treatment and such differences may cause misunderstandings.
This student study aims to investigate the approaches for the ASA treatment that have been adopted by the pediatric cardiologists in the treatment of ARF arthritis by means of a pre-designed questionnaire.


We give a combinatorial description of the Legendrian contact homology algebra associated to a Legendrian link in $S^1\times S^2$ or any connected sum $\#^k(S^1\times S^2)$, viewed as the contact boundary of the Weinstein manifold obtained by attaching 1-handles to the 4-ball. In view of the surgery formula for symplectic homology, this gives a combinatorial description of the symplectic homology of any 4-dimensional Weinstein manifold (and of the linearized contact homology of its boundary). We also study examples and discuss the invariance of the Legendrian homology algebra under deformations, from both the combinatorial and the analytical perspectives.


The existence of quantum correlations affects both microscopic and macroscopic systems. On macroscopic systems, they are difficult to observe and usually irrelevant for the system's evolution due to the frequent energy exchange with the environment. The world-wide network of gravitational-wave (GW) observatories exploits optical as well as mechanical systems that are highly macroscopic and largely decoupled from the environment. The quasi-monochromatic light fields in the kilometer-scale arm resonators have photon excitation numbers larger than 1019, and the mirrors that are quasi-free falling in propagation direction of the light fields have masses of around 40 kg. Recent observations on the GW observatories LIGO and Virgo clearly showed that the quantum uncertainty of one system affected the uncertainty of the other. Here, we review these observations and provide links to research goals targeted with mesoscopic optomechanical systems in other fields of fundamental physical research. These may have Gaussian quantum uncertainties as the ones in GW observatories or even non-Gaussian ones, such as Schrödinger cat states.


Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are an emerging and very active frontier in clinical oncology, with hundred molecules currently in use or being tested. These treatments have already revolutionized clinical outcomes in both solid and hematological malignancies. However, identifying patients who are most likely to benefit from mAbs treatment is currently challenging and limiting the impact of such therapies. To overcome this issue, and to fulfill the expectations of mAbs therapies, it is urgently required to develop proper culture models capable of faithfully reproducing the interactions between tumor and its surrounding native microenvironment (TME). Three-dimensional (3D) models which allow the assessment of the impact of drugs on tumors within its TME in a patient-specific context are promising avenues to progressively fill the gap between conventional 2D cultures and animal models, substantially contributing to the achievement of personalized medicine. This review aims to give a brief overview of the currently available 3D models, together with their specific exploitation for therapeutic mAbs testing, underlying advantages and current limitations to a broader use in preclinical oncology.


The relative concentration of erbium ions undergoing nonradiative relaxation from the metastable to the ground level is measured in aluminosilicate glass fibres doped with erbium ions at concentration between 3×1018 and 1020 cm-3. The dependence of the fraction of such ions on the Er3+ concentration is determined for fibres containing different amounts of aluminium oxide in a core. It is shown that the fraction of erbium ions not involved in amplification substantially decreases with increasing the Al2O3 concentration. It is found that clustering leads to a considerable decrease in the gain in heavily Er3+-doped active fibres. The dependence of the quantum efficiency of a fibre amplifier on the erbium ion concentration is obtained based on the measurements performed. This dependence can be used for optimising the parameters of erbium-doped fibre amplifiers.


Background The insect predator, Arma chinensis, is capable of effectively controlling many pests, such as Colorado potato beetle, cotton bollworm, and mirid bugs. Our previous study demonstrated several life history parameters were diminished for A. chinensis reared on an artificial diet compared to a natural food source like the Chinese oak silk moth pupae. The molecular mechanisms underlying the nutritive impact of the artificial diet on A. chinensis health are unclear. So we utilized transcriptome information to better understand the impact of the artificial diet on A. chinensis at the molecular level. Methodology/Principal Findings Illumina HiSeq2000 was used to sequence 4.79 and 4.70 Gb of the transcriptome from pupae-fed and artificial diet-fed A. chinensis libraries, respectively, and a de novo transcriptome assembly was performed (Trinity short read assembler). This resulted in 112,029 and 98,724 contigs, clustered into 54,083 and 54,169 unigenes for pupae-fed and diet-fed A. chinensis, respectively. Unigenes from each sample's assembly underwent sequence splicing and redundancy removal to acquire non-redundant unigenes. We obtained 55,189 unigenes of A. chinensis, including 12,046 distinct clusters and 43,143 distinct singletons. Unigene sequences were aligned by BLASTx to nr, Swiss-Prot, KEGG and COG (E-value <10−5), and further aligned by BLASTn to nt (E-value <10−5), retrieving proteins of highest sequence similarity with the given unigenes along with their protein functional annotations. Totally, 22,964, 7,898, 18,069, 15,416, 8,066 and 5,341 unigenes were annotated in nr, nt, Swiss-Prot, KEGG, COG and GO, respectively. We compared gene expression variations and found thousands of genes were differentially expressed between pupae-fed and diet-fed A. chinensis. Conclusions/Significance Our study provides abundant genomic data and offers comprehensive sequence information for studying A. chinensis. Additionally, the physiological roles of the differentially expressed genes enable us to predict effects of some dietary ingredients and subsequently propose formulation improvements to artificial diets.


Biofortification and ingredient substitution are strategies for promoting cassava in Africa and Asia. Acceptance of a biofortified cassava crop rich in provitamin A was tested in traditional products (gari, fufu in Nigeria); products made with substituted cassava flour to imported wheat flour in snack products (chinchin in Nigeria), bread (in Vietnam), and in traditional dough products (ugali) in Tanzania. Consumer acceptance was evaluated using a Central Location Method. We used a mixture of methods: Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) approach using a locally recruited and semi-trained sensory panellists, but also worked with consumer based sensory descriptive methods such as Just-About-Right (JAR) and Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) to relate sensory description of the products to consumer acceptability. In all cases novel products were tested against commonly and locally available products. Novel cassava products from biofortified crops or substitution of wheat flour were found acceptable. For each product, consumers could be segmented in different classes based on their liking preferences for the novel or local product. The sensory properties could explain some of the liking. The difference colour (yellow) of the biofortified cassava products was not found to be a hindrance to acceptance. Wheat flour substitution resulted in products that were in some cases perceived almost similar (i.e. snack; bread) although some of the consumers were more perceptive than others and in these cases acceptance was slightly altered. These various studies shows that there is potential for the introduction of products from biofortified cassava and substitution of wheat flour by high quality cassava flour. (Resume d'auteur)


Abstract.  The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve is a tool of extensive use to analyse the discrimination capability of a diagnostic variable in medical studies. In certain situations, the presence of a covariate related to the diagnostic variable can increase the discriminating power of the ROC curve. In this article, we model the effect of the covariate over the diagnostic variable by means of non‐parametric location‐scale regression models. We propose a new non‐parametric estimator of the conditional ROC curve and study its asymptotic properties. We also present some simulations and an illustration to a data set concerning diagnosis of diabetes.


Complex event processing (CEP) is widely employed to detect occurrences of predefined combinations (patterns) of events in massive data streams. As new events are accepted, they are matched using some type of evaluation structure, commonly optimized according to the statistical properties of the data items in the input stream. However, in many real-life scenarios the data characteristics are never known in advance or are subject to frequent on-the-fly changes. To modify the evaluation structure as a reaction to such changes, adaptation mechanisms are employed. These mechanisms typically function by monitoring a set of properties and applying a new evaluation plan when significant deviation from the initial values is observed. This strategy often leads to missing important input changes or it may incur substantial computational overhead by over-adapting.
 In this paper, we present an efficient and precise method for dynamically deciding whether and how the evaluation structure should be reoptimized. This method is based on a small set of constraints to be satisfied by the monitored values, defined such that a better evaluation plan is guaranteed if any of the constraints is violated. To the best of our knowledge, our proposed mechanism is the first to provably avoid false positives on reoptimization decisions. We formally prove this claim and demonstrate how our method can be applied on known algorithms for evaluation plan generation. Our extensive experimental evaluation on real-world datasets confirms the superiority of our strategy over existing methods in terms of performance and accuracy.


Natural language is a flexible and intuitive modality for conveying directions and commands to a robot but presents a number of computational challenges. Diverse words and phrases must be mapped into structures that the robot can understand, and elements in those structures must be grounded in an uncertain environment. In this paper we present a micro-air vehicle (MAV) capable of following natural language directions through a previously mapped and labeled environment. We extend our previous work in understanding 2D natural language directions to three dimensions, accommodating new verb modifiers such as go up and go down, and commands such as turn around and face the windows. We demonstrate the robot following directions created by a human for another human, and interactively executing commands in the context of surveillance and search and rescue in confined spaces. In an informal study, 71% of the paths computed from directions given by one user terminated within 10m of the desired destination.


Increasingly, corpus linguists have begun using the World Wide Web as a corpus for conducting linguistic analyses. The Web, however, is really a very different kind of corpus: we do not know, for instance, precisely how large it is or what kinds of texts are on it. In this chapter, we evaluate the Web as a linguistic corpus, providing estimates of its size and composition. In addition, we conduct a series of sample analyses of the Web, demonstrating that while commonly available search engines have definite limitations, they can in a matter of seconds retrieve extremely large volumes of data that are very relevant to a corpus analysis, and also provide frequency information that may not be entirely accurate but suggestive of how frequently particular words and grammatical constructions occur.


Abstract An explicit assumption of studies that employ a mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) molecular clock is that mtDNA evolves independently of morphology. Here we report a very strong correlation between egg size divergence and cytochrome c oxidase-1 (CO1) amino acid sequence divergence among sister species of bivalve molluscs separated by the Central American Isthmus (i.e., "geminate" species). Analyses of the molecular data reveal that CO1 sequences likely did not diverge as a function of time or evolve in response to positive natural selection. Given that an excess of CO1 amino acid polymorphism exists within species (as expected if most mutations are only slightly deleterious), a third hypothesis is that reductions in effective population size could simultaneously increase the fixation rate of nearly neutral mtDNA polymorphisms and in some way also facilitate egg size evolution. The remarkable strength of the relationship between egg size and CO1 amino acid sequence demonstrates that, even in the absence of an obvious functional relationship or clock-like evolution, the amounts of molecular and morphological change can be tightly correlated, and therefore may reflect common processes. Accordingly, the assumption that the evolutionary divergence of molecules and morphology are independent must always be carefully examined.


Football is a common playground for grassroots players, fans, spectators and those whose profession consists of writing about football. I am interested in how non-professional football participants talk about gay (especially male) players and homophobia in football. Moreover, I ask further questions like "how do such talks, conversations and discussions affect sports journalists' views on football fans and grassroots players?". The first half of this research took place between 2008 and 2011 and is based on 24 group discussions mainly with non-professional players. The participants cover a broad spectrum from appreciation towards gay football players to hidden and overt homophobia. In 2016, another 24 interviews with 25 German sport (football) journalists in broadcast, radio, print and online media were conducted. All of them acknowledge the acceptance of gay football players in society. This acknowledgement has a timely correlation with the coming out of a German national football player (Thomas Hitzlsperger) in 2014. Media showed the utmost respect for his decision. However, ambivalence between openness and exclusion can also be found in the way journalists position themselves. Their articulation still includes uncertainty towards the right way of dealing with homosexuality in football. As a result, their attitude is shifting between tolerance and acceptance.