Introduction: Gene expression signatures from large cohorts of lung tumors suggest that distinct neuroendocrine (NE) cancers with poor prognosis appear in ~10% of otherwise pathologically unremarkable NSCLCs. However, a complete molecular characterization is lacking because a similar subtype has yet to be identified in a significant number of lung cancer cell lines. Our goal is to develop a pre-clinical model for NSCLC-NE and use it to rationale targeted therapy for this important subtype of lung cancer. We are developing targeted siRNA-based synthetic lethal screens to identify acquired vulnerabilities in lung cancers by using "mini-libraries" of putative cancer stem cell genes (CSC, N = 40), nuclear receptors and their co-regulators (NR/CoReg, N = 120), chromatin remodelers (CR, N = 102), and ASCL1-regulated druggable genes (N = 40). The siRNA libraries were derived from multiple studies while the ASCL1-targeted library was developed from our own ChIP-Seq data. Identifying NSCLC-NE Cell Lines: Using mRNA expression signatures from 207 lung cell lines (NSCLC/SCLC/HBEC) we identified a cluster of NSCLC cell lines (9% of NSCLC) that express genes indicative of a neuroendocrine phenotype (NSCLC-NE). A highly expressed gene in this class of cell lines is the lineage-specific transcription factor ASCL1, which is required for the development of pulmonary neuroendocrine cells. ASCL1 loss-of-function studies demonstrate dramatic cell death compared to controls, suggesting these cells are addicted to ASCL1 for survival. ASCL1 ChIP-Seq Analysis: To better understand the molecular pathogenesis of ASCL1-dependent NSCLC-NEs and identify druggable therapeutic downstream targets, we performed ChIP-Seq analysis on six ASCL1+ and two ASCL1- cell lines. A 125-member "ASCL1-signature" was generated and tested on multiple resected NSCLC datasets (N > 800 patients) for prognostic utility and tumors that exhibited the "ASCL1 signature" had significantly worse prognosis. A target of ASCL1 as determined by ChIP-Seq analysis is the anti-apoptotic regulator BCL2. BCL2 knockdown using siRNA as well as inhibition of BCL2 using a small molecule (ABT-263) results in cell death that is specific to ASCL1+/BCL2+ cells. ASCL1 Upstream Regulation: A separate therapeutic avenue is to determine upstream regulators of ASCL1 and we have demonstrated that ASCL1 participates in a double-negative feedback loop with the MEK/ERK pathway. Pharmacological activation of the MEK/ERK pathway results in loss of ASCL1 mRNA and protein, and induces apoptosis in ASCL1-dependent NSCLC-NE lines. Additionally, siRNA-mediated knockdown of ASCL1 results in reciprocal activation of the MEK/ERK pathway even in the presence of an siRNA targeting MEK1. Combining MEK/ERK activators with ABT-263 results in dramatic induction of apoptosis in NSCLC-NE while sparing normal immortalized HBEC cells suggesting the possibility of a synthetic lethal combination therapy for this subset of tumors. Synthetic Lethal Screens: We have completed synthetic lethal siRNA screens for the CSC, NR/CoReg, and CR mini-libraries using a panel of lung cancer lines. Optimal transfection conditions were established for each line and siRNA pools were used with multiple (n = 9) replicates providing great reproducibility (r > 0.9). From these screens, preliminary data demonstrates that the NSCLC-NE tumor lines have response phenotypes distinct from all other classes of lung cancer. Conclusions: We show that NE gene expression in NSCLC is of clinical relevance, and ASCL1 appears to be a lineage-dependent oncogene for NSCLC-NE. ASCL1 ChIP-Seq and siRNA screen data provide a roadmap for systematically searching for therapeutic targets such as BCL2 while work focused on targeting pathways upstream of ASCL1 also demonstrates clinical potential for NSCLC with neuroendocrine features. Our results indicate that lung cancers driven by ASCL1 have distinct acquired vulnerabilities. (Supported by NCI SPORE P50CA70907, CPRIT) Citation Format: Alexander Augustyn, Mark Borromeo, Tao Wang, Chunli Shao, Patrick Dospoy, Kenneth Huffman, Ryan Carstens, Luc Girard, Carmen Behrens, Ignacio Wistuba, Yang Xie, Jane Johnson, Adi Gazdar, John Minna. Targeted synthetic lethal screens to identify acquired vulnerabilities in a novel class of ASCL1-dependent neuroendocrine non-small cell lung cancers. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Precision Medicine Series: Synthetic Lethal Approaches to Cancer Vulnerabilities; May 17-20, 2013; Bellevue, WA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(5 Suppl):Abstract nr A24.


Overwintering is a critical part of the annual cycle for species that live in temperate, polar, and alpine regions. As a result, low-temperature biology is a key determinant of temperate species distribution. Termites distribute predominantly in tropical regions, and only a few species are found in the temperate zone. As with other social insects, termites are characterized by the division of labor between reproductive and non-reproductive castes in which the survival of reproductives is crucial to maintaining their society. Here, in the termite Reticulitermes speratus, we report the discovery of an underground royal chamber that kings and queens use to survive the winter, which is separate from the one they use during the warmer breeding season. Our investigation of field colonies indicates that in the spring the royals are localized in decayed logs on the ground, then move to their underground royal chamber located in the roots of stumps in the fall. The winter minimum temperature measured in the royal chamber was higher than the ground surface temperature. In overwintering termites, the kings and queens had higher cold tolerance than workers and soldiers. The kings and queens were at risk of mortality from −8 °C, compared to the workers and soldiers at −4 °C. Air temperatures dropped below this critical temperature of −8 °C multiple times, as evidenced from the past 140 years of weather records in Kyoto. This suggests that the underground movement of the royal chamber may contribute to avoiding the risk of overwintering mortality. These results demonstrate the social strategies implemented to overcome the environment met while living at the latitudinal limits. This study sheds light on one of the most important aspects of the biology of termites in terms of predicting their geographic distribution and spread by climate change. This work also helps further the understanding of the termite's social system, seasonal phenology, long-term survivorship, and life cycle, and contributes to the development of pest control strategies.


In West Africa, is located the Niger River Basin (NRB). Dry and wet conditions were investigated in this basin during the rainy (May-October) and dry (November-April) seasons, from 1980 to 2014. To do this was, calculated the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) at the time scale of 6-months for the whole NRB. The Lagrangian model FLEXPART v9.0 has been used to compute over the main semi-annual climatological moisture sources of the NRB, the budget of evaporation minus precipitation (E-P) over 10-day backward trajectories from the NRB itself. Positive (negative) (E-P) values indicate moisture uptake (loss). This permit evaluating the role of continental and oceanic sources of moisture separately for composites of extremely and severely dry and wet conditions in the basin. The results show for the dry season the negative trend of the April-SPEI6 values and the (E-P)>0 values obtained over the tropical east-north Atlantic Ocean (NAtl), the western Sahel and the Mediterranean region. Over these sources, the anomalies of (E-P) for driest and wettest composites indicate their direct response. On the contrary, for the rainy season, the October-SPEI6 values trend is positive, as well it occurs for the moisture uptake over the South Sahel (SSah) and the NRB itself. The anomalies of the (E-P) values for driest and wettest rainy seasons composites suggest a direct relationship with those obtained mainly over SSah, SAtl and the NRB itself.


The purpose of the study was to compare two teaching methodologies for an integrated agricultural biotechnology course at the postsecondary level. The two teaching methods tested were the explanation of the scientific basis for content (comparison treatment) versus the application of content to a real–world agricultural context (experimental treatment). The study was implemented with two different classes over two semesters. The comparison treatment was administered to 22 students during the spring semester of 2009, and the experimental treatment was administered to 16 students during the fall semester of 2009. The research design used was a quasi–experimental non–equivalent control–group design with an identical pre/posttest given to each group as a means of assessing content achievement. The experimental treatment, based on the principles of contextual teaching and learning, was not statistically significant (p >.05), so the study's null hypothesis was not rejected. Based on these results, compared with traditional methods, a curriculum of contextualized teaching and learning can be implemented while maintaining a comparable level of student mastery of scientific concepts related to agricultural biotechnology.


The division of the Book of Psalms into five books in line with the Torah was first created by the doxology of Ps cvi 48 which repeats Ps xli 14 verbatim and combines it with a quotation of Dtn xxvii 16ff. (cf. Neh viii 1-6). The three other doxologies which divide the Book of Psalms relate to the former separate collections: Ps xli 14 concludes the first Davidic Psalter Pss iii-xli, Ps lxxii 18-19 rounds off the 'elohistic' Davidic Psalter Pss li-lxxii, and Ps lxxxix 53 concludes the 'messianic' Psalter Pss ii-lxxxix.


Purpose: Triple negative breast carcinoma (TNBC) is currently being required to be classified pluralistically in order to provide the most appropriate therapy to the patients. We attempted to subclassify TNBC cases into subgroups based on clinical outcome or prognosis of the patients with TNBC using archival specimens. Materials and Methods: We analyzed 102 Japanese cases of invasive TNBC who underwent surgery between January 1998 and December 2007. The clinicopathological factors and clinical information of these patients were retrospectively retrieved from charts of the patients. Immunohistochemical staining was performed for estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), epidermal growth factor receptor 1 (EGFR1), CK5/6, Ki-67 and CD31 for microvessel density (MVD). Results: Median follow-up time of the patients was 68.5 months. Multivariable analysis demonstrated that the pathologic node status was the most significantly associated with relapse-free survival (RFS) and breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) of the patients. Pathological tumor size, basal-like type, Ki-67 labeling index (LI) and MVD were also independently associated with RFS and BCSS. Based on these results, we devised the Risk Score system reflecting Hazard ratios (HRs) of these prognostic factors above. Multivariate analysis and the Risk Score for TNBC patients. With this system, TNBC patients in this study were classified into three subgroups; patients with score 0-3 are in low risk group, score 4-7 in intermediate risk group and score 8- in high risk group. These three groups had statistically significant differences for risk of relapse and breast cancer-specific death, respectively. Conclusions: We propose the Risk Score system, which incorporated pathologic nodal status, size of the primary tumor, the presence or absence of basal-like features, Ki67 LI and MVD of the patients in order to predict postoperative clinical course of the Japanese patients with TNBC. Such a classification which can be performed in diagnostic pathology laboratory can be useful as a decision-making tool for triple negative patients. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2010;70(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-10-38.


Services of general economic interest: Credit Mutuel decision - not overcompensated* This article concerns the Commission's assessment of a service of general economic interest (SGEI) in the…


INTRODUCTION
Using software for self-management interventions can improve health outcomes for individuals with low back pain, but there is a dearth of research to confirm its effectiveness. Additionally, no known research has evaluated the effective elements of software-based interventions for low back pain self-management components. This study aimed to synthesize the effectiveness of software-based interventions to promote self-management health outcomes among individuals with low back pain.

DESIGN
A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted.

METHODS
Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Statement, relevant studies up to July 2022 were searched via four electronic databases: PubMed, Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Web of Science.

RESULTS
4908 adults with low back pain who participated in 23 studies were included. Software-based interventions were effective in reducing fear avoidance (mean difference [MD] = -0.95, 95% CI: -1.45 to -0.44), pain catastrophizing (MD = -1.31, 95% CI: -1.84 to -0.78), disability (MD = -8.21, 95% CI: -13.02 to -3.39), and pain intensity (MD = -0.86, 95% CI: -1.17 to -0.55). Specifically, interventions that included an exercise component were more effective in reducing pain and disability. Additionally, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention significantly reduced fear avoidance and pain catastrophizing but had no noticeable impact on disability and pain compared to standard treatment. The certainty of the evidence in this review varied from very low to high across outcomes. The heterogeneity of the study results was significant, suggesting that future studies in this area could optimize the design, time points, measures, and outcomes to strengthen the evidence.

CONCLUSIONS
Low back pain self-management interventions delivered through software-based programs effectively reduce pain intensity, disability, fear avoidance, and pain catastrophizing.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Low back pain is among the most common reasons for seeking healthcare visits. Combining exercise and counseling through soft-based programs may effectively address this issue and its associated suffering and disability.


Quantification of stream macrobenthos populations has remained a perplexing problem in rivbrine ecology, despite numerous attempts at improvement. This is in part due to well documented variations in chemical and physical parameters locally and geographically, and resultant adapted macrobenthos populations. Southwood (1968) and Hynes (1970a) have reviewed the various sampling techniques developed'for the census of lotic macrobenthos populations. Needham and Usinger (1956), Chutter (1969), and others have pointed out the difficulty in obtaining adequate numbers of samples which will yield population estimates with desired statistical confidence, and still maintain some degree of sampling economy. Needham and Usinger (1956) and Gaufin et al. (1956) mentioned the "patchy" distribution of aquatic insect populations as the primary source of this difficulty. The concept of patchy distribution in insect populations was originally discussed by Andrewartha (1961). Attempts to improve confidence through improved sampling devices and techniques have led to development of numerous types of samplers. Cummins (1962) indicated that there were almost as many samplers as there were researchers.


Cancer treatment has been transformed by checkpoint blockade therapies, with the highest anti-tumor activity of anti-programmed death 1 (PD-1) antibody therapy seen in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). Disappointingly, response rates have been low in the non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs), with no activity seen in relapsed/refractory (R/R) chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with PD-1 blockade. Thus, identifying more powerful combination therapy is required for these patients. Here, we pre-clinically demonstrate enhanced anti-CLL activity following combinational therapy with anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-1 ligand (PD-L1) and avadomide, a cereblon E3 ligase modulator (CELMoD). Avadomide induced type I and II interferon (IFN) signaling in patient T cells, triggering a feedforward cascade of reinvigorated T cell responses. Immune modeling assays demonstrated that avadomide stimulated T cell activation, chemokine expression, motility and lytic synapses with CLL cells, as well as IFN-inducible feedback inhibition through upregulation of PD-L1. Patient-derived xenograft tumors treated with avadomide were converted to CD8 + T cell-inflamed tumor microenvironments (TMEs) that responded to anti-PD-L1/PD-1-based combination therapy. Notably, clinical analyses showed increased PD-L1 expression on T cells, as well as intratumoral expression of chemokine signaling genes in B cell malignancy patients receiving avadomide-based therapy. These data illustrate the importance of overcoming a low inflammatory T cell state to successfully sensitize CLL to checkpoint blockade-based combination therapy. CLL can harbor noninflamed TMEs pre-existing cytolytic CD8 + T cells low expression of PD-L1. why to clinically (re)-activate anti-CLL T cell activity. 8 PD-L1 on tumor cells 5 immune cells, can be predictive of to checkpoint inhibitors across types. show PD-L1, as well as PD-1, are predominately by a proportion of T cells in the immunosuppressive CLL TME, rather than on tumor cells. Interestingly, targeting T cell-associated PD-L1 enhanced their cytolytic activity and migratory function. These findings indicate that T cell PD-L1 signaling in cis 66,67 and/or in trans between surrounding T cells and CLL cells, 23,68,69 contributes to the negative regulation of T cell responses in CLL, in addition to the known interactions of PD-1 + T cells with PD-L1 + tumor and other TME cells. 9,70,71 However, in vitro and in vivo assays showed that anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 monotherapies were largely ineffective at overcoming T cell tolerance in CLL. therapy show increased expression of PD-L1 on circulating T cells, confirming our laboratory findings that avadomide unleashes IFN responses in this immune compartment. We also show that avadomide can induce intratumoral chemokine gene expression in treated DLBCL patients, further supporting the induction of IFN-inducible biology. Clinical correlative studies of avadomide cell and TME, our cell-rich TMEs baseline has to induce IFN-stimulated genes in DLBCL tumor cells resulting in their apoptosis. In contrast, we show that avadomide has an anti-proliferative effect on CLL cells but did not induce direct tumor B cell apoptosis. Blocking proliferation is likely to be a direct IFN- a signaling effect in CLL tumor cells; however, this concept was not pursued in this study. Instead, we reveal for the first time that avadomide can elicit both type I and type II IFN-induced inflammatory signaling in previously exhausted patient T cells. Ikaros has been shown to be a critical repressor of the gene program associated with the response to type I IFN in mature T cells using a knock-out murine model, that is in keeping with our data revealing the ability of avadomide to derepress type I IFN and inflammatory signaling in previously exhausted patient T cells. In contrast, predominantly type II IFN g associated T cell responses have been reported for lenalidomide treatment, 72 that could reflect the reduced depth of Ikaros degradation induced by this immunomodulatory drug compared with avadomide. Our data using avadomide supports the concept of therapeutically reshaping noninflamed CLL and NHL tumors into T cell-inflamed TMEs, 22,56 that could engage both innate and adaptive immunity, to overcome resistance to checkpoint blockade. There is substantial evidence demonstrating that type I and II IFN signaling is required within TMEs to prevent development of an immunosuppressive state. 73,74 In line with impaired IFN signaling in T cells representing a common immune defect in cancer, 75 our analysis of T cells from treatment naïve CLL patients showed that they express deregulated IFN type I and II signaling genes compared to healthy age-matched control T cells. Our study supports the ability of avadomide to normalize dysfunctional IFN signaling, PD-L1, IDO and LAG-3. Our transcriptome and functional data revealed that avadomide induced these negative-feedback molecules including increased PD-L1 expression on re-activated T cells and CLL cells. Our in vitro and in vivo data demonstrated improved anti-CLL efficacy when avadomide was combined with PD-L1/PD-1 blockade, supporting combination approaches that bypass IFN-induced negative feedback and optimally activate cytolytic T cells. Type I IFN modulating drugs and lenalidomide have shown efficacy against hematological malignancies but a major barrier has been dose-limiting toxicity. is significantly upregulated by avadomide treatment. This data supports normalization of deregulated IFN gene expression in previously exhausted patient T cells towards a healthy T cell transcriptome profile. (baseline) and following avadomide therapy (on-treatment, Cycle 1, day 10/15) (clinical trial: NCT01421524). The heatmap shows the relative expression and significant enrichment ( P < .05) of chemokine signaling pathway genes (KEGG_CHEMOKINE_SIGNALING_PATHWAY) following avadomide therapy in DLBCL.


We introduce a new paradigm for constructing accurate analytic waveforms (and fluxes) for eccentric compact binaries. Our recipe builds on the standard Post-Newtonian (PN) approach but (i) retains implicit time-derivatives of the phase space variables in the instantaneous part of the noncircular waveform, and then (ii) suitably factorizes and resums this partly PN-implicit waveform using effective-one-body (EOB) procedures. We test our prescription against the exact results obtained by solving the Teukolsky equation with a test-mass source orbiting a Kerr black hole, and compare the use of the exact vs PN equations of motion for the time derivatives computation. Focusing only on the quadrupole contribution, we find that the use of the exact equations of motion yields an analytical/numerical agreement of the (averaged) angular momentum fluxes that is improved by at least 45% with respect to previous work, with 4% fractional difference for eccentricity e = 0 . 9 and black hole dimensionless spin − 0 . 9 ≤ ˆ a ≤ +0 . 9. We also find a remarkable convergence trend between Newtonian, 1PN and 2PN results. Our approach carries over to the comparable mass case using the resummed EOB equations of motion and paves the way to faithful EOB-based waveform model for long-inspiral eccentric binaries for current and future gravitational wave detectors.


The growing concern for women and women's rights has been reflected in an increasing amount of research on women. As counselors may be unaware of the results of this research and its implications for counseling, the author surveys some of the recent investigations in four areas: counselor bias, demographic changes, sex differences, and sex-role stereotypes. After providing a review of the research in each area, she discusses implications of the findings. The author also makes specific suggestions for counselors who wish to confront some of the issues raised by recent research on women.


Heavy-ion fusion reactions are important and essential to express the dynamical properties of colliding nuclei, and to address the tunneling effect in quantum mechanics. In the fusion process, the ion-ion potential plays an important role in approaching the measured cross section with the experimental value by influencing the tunneling probability of interacting nuclei. In this work, the fusion cross-sections of closed-shell heavy-ion fusion systems have been calculated and analyzed in the framework of coupled channel theory, using the code CCFULL, by fixing the potential depth value = 102.9 MeV and the fusion radius = 1.096 , while, the diffuseness parameter of Wood--Saxon potential is varied from 0.6 to 1.1 to fitting the fusion cross-section data at energies near and below the Coulomb barrier. It was observed that our approach is able to estimating the experimentally observed cross-sections of closed-shell colliding nuclei.


Molecular marker analysis is becoming increasingly capable of identifying informative genetic variation. Amplified fragment length polymorphism markers (AFLPs) are among the recent innovations in genetic marker technologies, and provide a greater capacity for genome coverage and more reproducible results than previous technologies. We have investigated the usefulness of AFLP, which is based on the selective amplification of genomic restriction fragments by PCR, to differentiate between geographical unrelated Microcystis strains. In total 23 strains were subjected to the AFLP fingerprinting. After analysis of the data on the basis of the average linkage method, known as the Unweighted Pair Group Method using Arithmetic averages (UPGMA), a dendrogram with four clusters was obtained. Cluster 1 consisted mainly of the NIES strains that originated from Japan, while in cluster 2 the European strains grouped together. The South African strains that originated from the northern part of the country group together in cluster 3, while the strains collected from the central and southern regions group together with the US strains in cluster 4. The study had reveals extensive evidence for the applicability of AFLP in cyanobacterial taxonomy, and furthermore clearly demonstrates the superior discriminative power of AFLP towards the differentiation of geographical unrelated Microcystis aeruginosa strains that belong to the same species, as well as highlighting the potential of this fingerprinting method in evolutionary studies. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (5), pp. 389-399, 2005


A STANDARDIZED METHOD FOR 3D CAROTID ARTERY IMAGING USING FREEHAND ULTRASOUND SCANNING Rumman Mahmud, M.S. George Mason University, 2011 Thesis Director: Dr. Siddhartha Sikdar Stroke is the third leading cause of death in USA and second leading cause worldwide. Current diagnosis of stroke involves ultrasound duplex Doppler examination of the carotid arteries, which gives information on the severity of luminal stenosis caused by atherosclerotic plaque. Recent research shows that rupture-prone carotid plaques associated with stroke not only narrow the artery lumen, but by progress along the artery wall as well, thus the total plaque burden may be of clinical significance. This thesis presents a standardized system to enable reproducing carotid artery plaque volumes so that the progression can be monitored in longitudinal studies using freehand 3D Ultrasound (US) grayscale imaging. Two aims of this work are to develop methods to reproduce freehand US scanned images and to reconstruct the 3D plaque volume. The system integrates US imaging and an electromagnetic position tracking device to guide the observer of the study to reproduce the US image, the position of the study subject in longitudinal studies, and the 3D position and orientation of ultrasound image frames to reconstruct the carotid plaque volume. Positioning accuracy was found to be around 7.09±2.32mm. Calibration of the images was done using a string phantom with 1.39 mm, 1.36mm, 1.37mm, 1.42 mm, and 1.43mm accuracy for depth settings from 35mm to 55mm in 5mm increment. Reconstruction of the volume was performed using a software application called Stradwin.


We would assume that mass newspaperdom which is slowly introduced by the end of the XlXth century was tributary to the dominant conception of liberties which attributed rights to the householder and garanteed the privacy of the home. The evocation of these rights would then give rise to hesitations to intervene publicly in family quarrels. But, a documentary research of the Quebec daily La Presse reveals, on the contrary, that it proceeded to expose virulently cases of domestic violence in such a way that husbands became the main target of sarcasm. Therefore, unlike the ideological positions generally conceded to the Victorian project, the general tendancy to reduce the Victorian moralism to two main angles — being the purification of sexual behaviors and the promotion of a holy, asexual and family image of women — is questioned. The social project of the XlXth century appears more complex than what is generally thought since it proceeds not only to subject women but looks concurrently to "civilize" and moral-he the conduct of men.


As a first endeavor, a mixed power series expansions and Galerkin's method in the context of linear buckling and free vibration analyses of non-uniform beams is presented. For this aim, the governing equilibrium and motion equations are first obtained from the stationary condition of the total potential energy. The power series approximation is then applied to solve the fourth order differential equilibrium equation, since in the presence of variable cross-section, geometrical properties are variable. Regarding aforementioned method, the expression of deflected shape of the buckled member is identified. Afterwards, the critical buckling loads can be acquired by imposing the boundary conditions and solving the eigenvalue problem. Note that the buckling mode shapes of an elastic member are similar to the vibrational ones. Therefore, the obtained deformation shape of the considered non-prismatic columns under linear stability analysis can be used as vibrational shape of member. The natural frequencies of beams with varying cross-section can be estimated by adopting Galerkin's method based on the energy principle. In order to illustrate the correctness and performance of this method, one comprehensive example of non-uniform beams with various end conditions is presented. Review History: Received: 1 January Revised: 1 August 2017 Accepted: 9 March 2016 Available Online: 23 October 2017


We used a free vascularized small periosteal bone graft to treat scaphoid nonunion. The graft consisted of periosteum, full-thickness cortex, and the underlying cancellous bone and was harvested from the supracondylar region of the femur. The graft was nourished by the articular branch of the descending geniculate artery and vein. Unlike the currently used vascularized bone grafts, this graft can be easily harvested and shaped to accommodate the bone defect of the scaphoid without disturbing its vascularity and can then be transferred with microvascular anastomosis of the nutrient vessels to the radial artery and its venae commitantes. Ten patients with longstanding nonunion of the scaphoid secondary to avascular necrosis, confirmed by radiologic and intraoperative findings, were treated with this vascularized bone graft. Union was achieved in all 10 patients at an average of 12 weeks after surgery. The average follow-up period for all fractures was 3.5 years. The scores for overall outcome, according to the Mayo wrist scoring system, were excellent in 4 patients, good in 4, and fair in 2. Two unsatisfied patients had preoperative signs of early periscaphoid osteoarthrosis. This free vascularized small bone graft from the supracondylar region of the femur is an attractive alternative to the conventional vascularized bone grafting procedures.


We assessed the importance of flow regime to the success of native and non‐native fish species by analysing winter/spring seining data collected from 1987 to 1997 on the resident fish communities of the lower Tuolumne River, California. The data were analysed using regression models to predict the percentage of non‐native fish at a site. The regression models included various combinations of the variables longitudinal location of the site, mean April/May stream discharge in the year of sampling, and mean April/May stream discharge in the previous year. Comparison of the models indicated that the best model included longitudinal location and stream discharge in the previous year. This model is consistent with the hypothesis that flow in the previous year differentially affects reproductive success of native and non‐native species and thus the resulting community sampled in the following winter/spring. A detrended correspondence analysis of percentage abundance species data identified a co‐occurring group of native species and a co‐occurring group of non‐native species with the non‐native red shiner (Cyprinella lutrensis) grouping separately. The differing reproductive strategies of the species were consistent with the hypothesis concerning spawning success. Our results indicate that flow regime is an important determinant of the reproductive success of native and non‐native fish species in regulated rivers. Manipulations of flow regime are a potentially powerful tool for managing native fish species, but should be considered in combination with other restoration efforts and in the context of ecosystem restoration. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In many applications of Wireless Sensor Networks a Sink is interested in aggregated data instead of exact values from all sensors. To send aggregated data, it is also helpful to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted and thereby conserve energy. Indeed current in-network aggregation schemes are helpful to conserve energy but they are designed without considering possible security issues related to data privacy. Often we find wireless sensor networks designed with neighbouring nodes sharing keys or with decryption at aggregator nodes. In either situation the potential for aggregator nodes to be physically compromised means data privacy is at high risk. Therefore secure data aggregation is desirable where data can be aggregated without the need for decryption at aggregator nodes. Aggregation becomes especially challenging if end-to-end privacy between a source and a destination (sink or group leader) is required. In this paper we extend our Structure and Density Independent Group Based Key Management Protocol with the additional feature of secure data aggregation to provide better data privacy to every single node in a large scale Wireless Sensor Network.


My ten publications submitted here are offered for validation as a PhD by Publication. They represent a sample of my on-going research into elements of the medieval material culture of Scotland, set in a European context. The main body of evidence on which they draw is the archaeology (both excavated material and stray finds) of the medieval burgh of Perth. This material comprises a vital element of the archaeological collections of Perth Museum & Art Gallery, where I have been based for 22 years as the curator of the archaeology collections. This collection not only provided many of the key strands of evidence I have explored but also the wider inspiration to look at further examples and contrasts from Scotland and Europe. The submitted papers explore this evidence through three overlapping or entangled contexts – medieval Perth, medieval Scotland and medieval Europe –and through three overlapping themes: play, performance (encompassing belief and magic) and biographical trajectories. This work (which also connects to other published research of mine, including Hall 2001a-b; 2003; 2005c-e; 2006; 2011a; 2012a; 2013a and b; 2014a; 2015a-b; 2016b; 2017 and forthcoming a and b) is underpinned by the recognition that museum collections of medieval material culture exist as trace elements of biographical trajectories and that they are always amenable to fresh understanding. Their preservation in museum collections creates the facility to study both neglected objects, for example the general run of board game kit discussed in Publications 1 and 3, and objects which might seem to be fully known, for example the Lewis chessmen or medieval coinage discussed in Publications 4 and 10 respectively.
The following synopsis of these publications outlines their themes and issues in the context of the wider debates to which they contribute. The discussion focuses upon the contribution that my publications have sought to make to the key, overlapping and interwoven themes that are their focus: play and performance (Publications 1, 2, 3 and 4, published respectively as Hall 2007; 2016a; 2014b and 2014c), sacrality, magic and performance with particular respect to the town and country debate (Publications 5, 6 and 7, published respectively as Hall 2011b; 2005a and 2005b) and biographical trajectories and performance (Publications 8, 9 and10, published respectively as Hall 2012b; 2014d and 2012c).


It is well known that copper-based perovskite oxides rightly enjoy consensus as high-temperature superconductors on the basis of two signatures: the resistive transition and the Meissner effect. We show that the resistive transitions in carbon nanotubes agree quantitatively with the LangerAmbegaokar-McCumber-Halperin (LAMH) theory for quasi-1D superconductors although the superconducting transition temperatures can vary from 0.4 K to 750 K for different samples. We have also identified the Meissner effect in the field parallel to the tube axis up to room temperature for aligned and physically separated multi-walled nanotubes (MWNTs). The magnitude of the Meissner effect is in quantitative agreement with the predicted penetration depth from the measured carrier density. Furthermore, the bundling of individual MWNTs into closely packed bundles leads to a large enhancement in the diamagnetic susceptibility, which is the hallmark of the Josephson coupling among the tubes in bundles. These results consistently indicate quasi-1D high-temperature superconductivity in carbon nanotubes.


Activity of the immediate early gene c-fos was compared in rats with neurotoxic lesions of the anterior thalamic nuclei and in surgical controls. Fos levels were measured after rats had been placed in a novel room and allowed to run up and down preselected arms of a radial maze. An additional control group showed that in normal rats, this exposure to a novel room leads to a Fos increase in a number of structures, including the anterior thalamic nuclei and hippocampus. In contrast, rats with anterior thalamic lesions were found to have significantly less Fos-positive cells in an array of sites, including the hippocampus (dorsal and ventral), retrosplenial cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and prelimbic cortex. These results show that anterior thalamic lesions disrupt multiple limbic brain regions, producing hypoactivity in sites associated in rats with spatial memory. Because many of the same sites are implicated in memory processes in humans (e.g., the hippocampus and retrosplenial cortex), this hypoactivity might contribute to diencephalic amnesia.


Acrokeratoelastoidosis (AKE) is a rare skin disorder characterized by a papular eruption and fragmentation of elastic tissue that primarily involves the margins of the hands and feet. The most common histopathologic findings of AKE are hyperkeratosis and degeneration of elastic fibers. Various treatment options have been tried with little help or without success. We report the third case of acrokeratoelastoidosis in an Arabic woman localized exclusively to the feet.


The spermatozoa of the giant octopus of the North Pacific, freshly removed from spermatophores, showed very little motility, but on dilution with sea-water or 2.7 % NaCl, followed by dialysis against either of these two media, they became intensely motile and remained so for several days at 2 to 10 °C. At higher temperatures, particularly above 25 °C, octopus spermatozoa lost their motility rapidly. At 35 °C, complete and irreversible loss of motility occurred within less than 1 min. The motility of octopus spermatozoa at 2 to 10 °C persisted under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions and did not require the presence of exogenous glycolysable sugar. The addition of spermatophoric plasma to a motile sperm suspension inhibited motility. Other inhibitors were sodium azide, 2, 4-dinitrophenol and ethylenediaminetetra-acetate, at 0.001 M concentrations. ATP, ADP and arginine phosphate have been identified and quantitatively measured in octopus spermatozoa. On prolonged incubation of motile sperm suspensions a t 3 °C, ATP and ADP did not decline appreciably, whilst arginine phosphate decreased considerably. The decrease was even more pronounced in sperm suspensions which had first been inactivated by short exposure to 35 °C, prior to prolonged incubation at 3 °C. Glycogen, the main carbohydrate store of octopus spermatozoa, remained at a high concentration even in sperm suspensions kept for 5 days at 3 °C, and there was no appreciable difference in that respect between a sample containing motile spermatozoa and one in which, at the outset of incubation, the spermatozoa were immobilized by heating to 35 °C.


The purpose of this study was to explore the frequency, nature and extent of workplace bullying in a health care organisation in New South Wales. The survey methodology achieved a 79% response rate (n = 311). Overall, 155 respondents (50%) reported that they had experienced one or more forms of bullying behaviour in the past 12 months. The largest reported source of workplace bullying was peers or fellow workers (49%), followed by clients (42%) and managers or supervisors (38%). Only 36% of respondents who had been bullied had formally reported the episode. The level of bullying reported was unexpectedly high and will require development of strategies to address the issue.


Cross-presentation is the process by which professional antigen presenting cells (APCs) (B cells, dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages) present endocytosed antigens (Ags) via MHC-I to CD8+ T cells. This process is crucial for induction of adaptive immune responses against tumors and infected cells. The pathways and cellular compartments involved in cross-presentation are unresolved and controversial. Among the cells with cross-presenting capacity, DCs are the most efficient, which was proposed to depend on prevention of endosomal acidification to block degradation of the epitopes. Contrary to this view, we show in this report that some cargoes induce strong endosomal acidification following uptake by human DCs, while others not. Moreover, processing of the tumor-associated antigen HER2/neu delivered in nanoparticles (NP) for cross-presentation of the epitope HER2/neu369–377 on HLA-A2 depended on endosomal acidification and cathepsin activity as well as proteasomes, and newly synthesized HLA class I. However, the HLA-A*0201/HER2/neu369–377 complexes were not found in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) nor in endolysosomes but in hitherto not described vesicles. The data thus indicate spatial separation of antigen processing and loading of MHC-I for cross-presentation: antigen processing occurs in the uptake compartment and the cytosol whereas MHC-I loading with peptide takes place in a distinct subcellular compartment. The findings further elucidate the cellular pathways involved in the cross-presentation of a full-length, clinically relevant tumor-associated antigen by human DCs, and the impact of the vaccine formulation on antigen processing and CD8+ T cell induction.


The authors describe and analyze water resources reform and decentralization of river basin management in the state of Ceara, Northeast Brazil, the poorest part of the country. The Jaguaribe river basin is located entirely within the state of Ceara. With a drainage area of 72,560 square kilometers, it covers almost half of the state's territory. The basin has 80 municipalities and more than 2 million people, about half rural and half urban, in primarily small towns, representing about a third of Ceara's population. Precipitation in the basin is highly variable, ranging from 400 mm in the hinterland to 1,200 mm along the coast. Rivers in the basin are ephemeral and only flow during the rainy season. The key water management challenge is to capture the water in reservoirs in rainy years and to manage it such that it will last for several years, in case the following years are drought years. The other important challenge is the increasing dependence of the state capital Fortaleza, located in a different basin, on water from the Jaguaribe basin. Decentralization of decisionmaking has taken place at two levels. Devolution from the federal to the state level in the past 15 years was highly successful. The state has created its own Water Resources Management Company (COGERH) which is responsible for water resources management throughout the state. Decentralization from state to local level has been more partial. Although COGERH has decentralized the allocation of strategic reservoir waters to local institutions, many traditional water management attributions continue under its and the state's purview, such as water permits, bulk water pricing, planning, operation and maintenance of hydraulic infrastructure, groundwater management, and control. The creation of sub-basin committees and user commissions has increased stakeholder participation of all types. Although so far stakeholder involvement has been limited largely to the negotiated allocation of water and to conflict resolution, these experiences represent a radical transformation in management practices, transforming water users from uninformed takers of water management decisions to informed and aware participants in the management process. That said, local stakeholders still have no say in some decisionmaking processes that affect them directly, such as bulk water pricing or inter-basin transfers to Greater Fortaleza, which continue solely under the control of state government agencies. The case of the Jaguaribe basin shows that (1) long-standing political support is of major importance in the development and implementation of water resources management reform, (2) that institutional arrangements for water resources management can successfully be adapted to local conditions to achieve positive outcomes, and (3) that even with initial conditions that seem to not favor change, decentralization can be achieved.


The enzyme ferrochelatase (EC 220.127.116.11) is the terminal enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway of heme b and catalyzes the insertion of Fe(II) into protoporphyrin IX. In this dissertation ferrochelatase from Bacillus subtilis was studied. A new purification method via inclusion bodies was developed that enabled simple purification of recombinant enzyme without tags or modifications that might affect the enzymatic properties. Ferrochelatases in general have the inherent ability to catalyze the incorporation of various divalent metal ions into different porphyrins in vitro. All characterized ferrochelatases can incorporate Zn(II), as well as Fe(II). The first X-ray structure with the substrate metal Fe bound at the active site is presented in this dissertation. It showed that Fe was coordinated by the same amino acid residues as in a previously observed Zn(II) containing ferrochelatase structure. The role of different amino acid residues in metal binding could hence be extrapolated from Zn(II) affinity estimations that were performed on a series of ferrochelatase variants. His183 and Glu264 were found to be responsible for metal binding. The affinity was determined using fluorescence quenching and the intrinsic flourophore responsive to the observed quenching was identified as Trp230. Fluorescence quenching was also used to directly measure the effect of the alkaline earth metal Mg(II), which previously had been shown to increase activity: it lowered the affinity of the Zn(II) to be inserted by the enzyme. Several other novel X-ray structures of modified ferrochelatases were solved and using time-resolved crystallography the metallation of N-methylmesoporphyrin (N-MeMP), a strong transition-state inhibitor, could be monitored. The specificity of the binding pocket was further validated by co-crystallization of an inactive ferrochelatase variant with another isomeric form of N-MeMP, and the wild-type enzyme with deuteroporphyrin IX 2,4-disulfonic acid, a weak inhibitor. Apart from Fe(II) and Zn(II), B. subtilis ferrochelatase also accelerates the insertion of Cu(II) into porphyrin, in contrast to most other characterized ferrochelatases, which prefer Co(II). In this dissertation a modified ferrochelatase was designed, constructed, and shown to have a reversed metal preference, i.e. the Co(II) activity at steady state had increased at the expense of Cu(II) insertion ability. The structure of this variant was solved and the association of free Cu(II) and Co(II) to the wild-type and the modified ferrochelatase were measured using electron paramagnetic resonance. The results suggested that the apparent divergence in metal specificity between ferrochelatases could be explained by product release rather than the affinity for the metal substrate. (Less)


Background: Diet of pregnant women is a major challenge because fetal development and resulting obstetric depend on the nutritional status of pregnant women. This study aims to describe the diet quality and lifestyle of pregnant women. Method: This descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study involved 305 pregnant from the 2nd quarter, identified by the convenience of 29 September to 26 October 2015 at CHU-MEL in Cotonou. Nutritional status was assessed by measuring arm circumference. Eating habits and diet quality of pregnant were assessed using the food frequency questionnaire and 24-hour dietary recall. Lifestyle, including physical activity, consumption of alcohol and tobacco was appreciated using a questionnaire. Results: The diet of pregnant women is characterized by a lack of daily consumption of fruits (35.4%), vegetables (7.2%), leafy green vegetables (10.2%), meat (4.3%), poultry (5.6%) and legumes (1.6%). However, high consumption of cereals (87.2%), fats (96.4%) and fish (75.1%) were observed. Frequent consumption of non-food substances such as clay and cola were observed respectively in 10.5% and 6.6% pregnant. Energy protein intakes are lower than the nutritional recommendations for pregnant women 15.4% while intakes of carbohydrates and fats are higher respectively for 54.1% and 8.9% pregnant. Energy intake for all three macronutrients is inadequate for 80.3% of pregnant. The prevalence of physical inactivity is 72.8%. No pregnant women use tobacco, while 9.8% of pregnant consume alcohol and 17.7% of coffee. Conclusion: It appears from this study that diet quality is not adequate for most pregnant., providing inadequate micronutrient and micronutrients intake. Actions aiming to nutritional education of pregnant women need to be set in this hospital. Before that, it's needed to explore the knowledge level, motivation and implication of health care staff in such activities.


The rapid growth of the medical technologies and constant renewal of medical facilities, electrocardiography (ECG) provides an effective and easy to use means for arrhythmia classification and heart rate variability (HRV) analysis. Most of the existing ECG device have the disadvantage of poor local signal processing ability. After thorough investigation, Android platform is adopted to develop an ECG signal processing application for real-time arrhythmia classification and HRV analysis. The ECG data acquired are transmitted to the Android smart phone or tablet via Bluetooth. ECG simulator is connected to signal conditional unit. The received analog signals are converted to the digital values and then passed to the microcontroller. From the microcontroller data will be transmitted with the help of Bluetooth and it will be received from the mobiles phones. Android application for interface with ECG kit for monitoring patient health status is created. For this process, first Bluetooth connection with ECG Bluetooth device is established, once the connection is success, data from established connection is received through mobile phones.


The 0.01M two-photon absorption dye trans-4-[p-(N-hydroxyethyl-N-methylamino)styryl]-N-methyl-pyridinium p-toluene sulfonate (HMASPS) doped polymer has been prepared. When pumped by the picosecond pulse from the pulsed mode-locked Nd:YAG laser, the polymer emits more intense upconverted fluorescence and superradiance compared to the solution sample of the dye. The two-photon pumped lasing with oscillating pulses has also been obtained. Compared to the dye in its solution state, the emission spectra of the polymer are all blueshifted. The polymer has a long upconverted fluorescent lifetime of about 4.041?0.04?ns.


Summary The immunological relationships among three hamster-specific sarcoma viruses and a non-sarcomagenic virus were determined by neutralization and interference tests. These viruses were all derived from hamster tumours induced originally by murine sarcoma viruses but were no longer capable of growth on mouse cells. The four viruses shared at least one envelope antigen responsible for neutralization reactions. Specific interference for the sarcoma viruses was obtained in cultures infected with the non-sarcomagenic virus. In both assays these viruses were clearly distinguishable from murine C-type viruses.


MP2, DFT, and molecular mechanics (AMBER, CVFF, and CFF91) geometry optimizations were performed on the cyclic dipeptide cyclo(L-Pro-L-Pro) starting from crystal structure data. Three stable conformations were identified as energy minima by all methods, but assignment of relative energy varied between the methods. The pi-pi transition feature of the UV circular dichroic (CD) spectrum was predicted for each minimized structure using the classical physics method of the dipole interaction model. The model was sensitive to the different conformations. The UV-CD predictions were compared individually and as a Boltzmann-weighted composite with published experimental CD spectra [Bowman, R. L.; Kellerman, M.; Johnson, W. C., Jr. Biopolymers 1983, 22, 1045]. For all structures, the original parameters of Applequist [Applequist, J. J. Chem. Phys. 1979, 71, 4324] with a bandwidth of 3000 cm(-1) most accurately replicated experiment, except for the CFF91 structures, which matched experiment best with a bandwidth of 4000 cm(-1). The inclusion of solvent by a continuum model did not significantly alter the minimized geometries obtained by molecular or quantum mechanics, but it did have an effect on the relative predicted energies of CFF91 and B3LYP conformations. The overall effect of solvent inclusion was negligible when Boltzmann-weighted spectra were considered. Gas-phase CFF91 structures were also reasonably good for prediction of CD spectra, and when water was included via a continuum model for energy calculations, the weighting scheme resembled that of the higher-level weightings. The CD calculated using the MP2/6-311G structures and energies for weighting were most descriptive of the 180 nm negative band in the experimental CD, but red-shifted the location of the 205 nm band. DFT structures were comparably, though not identically, as descriptive of the first pi-pi band, and did a better job with placement of the second (positive) pi-pi band. DFT calculations were less sensitive to basis set effect than the MP2 calculations, with 6-31G results in close agreement with 6-311G. The results suggest that it is possible to use geometries obtained from a variety of different methods (molecular mechanical or quantum mechanical) with the classical physics dipole interaction model to qualitatively reproduce the UV CD of model amides.


Meta-learning enables models to adapt to new environments rapidly with a few training examples. Current gradient-based meta-learning methods concentrate on finding good model-agnostic initialization (meta-weights) for learners. In this paper, we aim to obtain better meta-learners by co-optimizing the architecture and meta-weights simultaneously. Existing NAS-based meta-learning methods apply a two-stage strategy, i.e., first searching architectures and then re-training meta-weights on the searched architecture. However, this two-stage strategy would break the mutual impact of the architecture and meta-weights since they are optimized separately. Differently, we propose progressive connection consolidation, fixing the architecture layer by layer, in which the layer with the largest weight value would be fixed first. In this way, we can jointly search architectures and train the meta-weights on fixed layers. Besides, to improve the generalization performance of the searched meta-learner on all tasks, we propose a more effective rule for co-optimization, namely Connection-Adaptive Meta-learning (CAML). By searching only once, we can obtain both adaptive architecture and meta-weights for meta-learning. Extensive experiments show that our method achieves state-of-the-art performance with 3x less computational cost, revealing our method's effectiveness and efficiency.


Background A key outcome of successful advance care planning is consistency between patient goals of care and the care provided. However, assessing consistency is methodologically challenging due to conceptual and logistical barriers as well as practice limitations. Methods The team reviewed the literature and identified key methodological barriers to measuring care consistency with patient preferences and goals of care. Strategies to overcome these barriers are proposed. Results Key methodological barriers include: 1) the specificity and relevance of documentation about preferences and goals of care; 2) the availability of documentation about preferences and goals of care; 3) the stability of documented preferences and goals of care; 4) the timing of treatments provided and identifying decisions not to treat ("non- events"); and 5) calculating rates of consistency. Strategies to address these methodological barriers include using tools to document specific preferences, incorporation into electronic health records, period reassessment of preferences, prospective data collection, and using percent agreement to report consistency. Discussion There are clear challenges to assessing care consistency with preferences and goals of care. The ability to assess and report on this important outcome of successful advance care planning requires focused efforts to improve practice.


ABSTRACT Studies have demonstrated the need for innovative and creative teaching methodologies in the field of social work education; some have pointed to the photovoice model of qualitative research in the social work classroom as a model that embodies these criteria. This paper presents implementations of the photovoice model used in three different courses for social work students: 1) International Social Work; 2) Community Work; 3) Orientation to Social Work. The paper presents four different examples, demonstrating photovoice's potential as a creative tool in student learning processes. These examples are discussed with reference to the value of creativity in the social work education framework: facilitating the internalization of the values, professional goals, modes of action of the social work; and phenomenological examination of social realities, in a way that allows the student to "freeze" certain moments in the learning experience, and to critically examine different interpretations and meanings of these realities.


The systemic effect of heparin fractions with mean molecular masses of 2.5, 5.0 and 16.4 kD on angiogenesis induced by vascular endothelial growth factor isoform 165 was studied using the truly quantitative rat mesenteric-window angiogenesis assay. The angiogenic treatment with 5 ml of VEGF165 at 480 pM was given intraperitoneally on days 0-4 and heparin fractions were given subcutaneously on days 0-13; animals were sacrificed on day 14. As the overlaps between the molecular mass distributions of the three fractions were relatively small, they essentially represent three different populations of heparin molecules. The doses of the heparins given were equal in terms of weight, but different in terms of the number of molecules and biologic activity. Angiogenesis was assessed in terms of vascularized area (VA), a measurement of microvascular spatial extension, and microvascular length (MVL), a measurement of microvascular density, using technically independent variables and image analysis. The total microvascular length was computed from VA x MVL. Treatment with the 5.0-kD fraction suppressed angiogenesis significantly in statistical terms compared with treatment with 2.5- and 16.4-kD heparins and the saline in controls. Interestingly, the 2.5-kD heparin fraction which was used here has previously been shown statistically significantly to suppress angiogenesis mediated by basic fibroblast growth factor in the same experimental system. Our data thus suggest that the systemic angiosuppressive effect of heparin in different mammalian angiogenic reactions is distinctly related to structural features such as molecular size.


The International Conference on Harmonization considers older people a 'special population', as they differ from younger adults in terms of comorbidity, polypharmacy, pharmacokinetics and greater vulnerability to adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Medical practice is often based on single disease guidelines derived from clinical trials that have not included frail older people or those with multiple morbidities. This presents a challenge caring for older people, as drug doses in trials may not be achievable in real world patients and risks of ADRs are underestimated in clinical trial populations. The majority of ADRs in older people are Type A, potentially avoidable and associated with commonly prescribed medications. Several ADRs are particularly associated with major adverse consequences in the elderly and their reduction is therefore a clinical priority. Falls are strongly associated with benzodiazepines, neuroleptics, antidepressants and antihypertensives. There is good evidence for medication review as part of a multifactorial intervention to reduce falls risk in community dwelling elderly. Multiple medications also contribute to delirium, another multifactorial syndrome resulting in excess mortality particularly in frail older people. Clostridium difficile associated with use of broad spectrum antibiotics mainly affects frail older people and results in prolonged hospital stay with substantial morbidity and mortality. Antipsychotics increase the risk of stroke by more than three-fold in patients with dementia. Inappropriate prescribing can be reduced by adherence to prescribing guidelines, suitable monitoring and regular medication review. Given the heterogeneity within the older population, providing individualized care is pivotal to preventing ADRs.


Working capital level determines whether a firm is aggressive or conservative in its operations. Aggressiveness in application of working capital management brings about improved financial performance but at the same time increases the level of risk. The paper looks at the influence of working level on performance in the industrial firms in Kenya.A sample was determined through stratified sampling method in order to include all different types of industries in Kenya. A questionnaire was used to collect data from chief Finance Officers of industrial firms in Kenya. Both descriptive and inferential analyses were done. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and regression analysis were used to test the hypothesis. The results show that there is a positive relationship between performance and working capital levels inindustrial firms in Kenya (0.544). Working Capital Levels explain 29.6% of the performance in the industrial firms in Kenya. 60.4% of the variation in performance is explained by other factors. The findings of the study revealed that the finance managers are cautious in the use of working capital items. They apply moderate financing and investment strategies.Therefore, we recommend the finance managers to be trained on issues of better utilization of working capital items for improved performance.


Modern automobiles are complex distributed systems in which virtually all functionality--from acceleration and braking to lighting and HVAC -- is mediated by computerized controllers. The interconnected nature of these systems raises obvious security concerns and prior work has demonstrated that a vulnerability in any single component may provide the means to compromise the system as a whole. Thus, the addition of new components, and especially new components with external networking capability, creates risks that must be carefully considered.

In this paper we examine a popular aftermarket telematics control unit (TCU) which connects to a vehicle via the standard OBD-II port. We show that these devices can be discovered, targeted, and compromised by a remote attacker and we demonstrate that such a compromise allows arbitrary remote control of the vehicle. This problem is particularly challenging because, since this is aftermarket equipment, it cannot be well addressed by automobile manufacturers themselves.


In this paper the results of precipitation observed by Chung-Li VHF radar during the passage of typhoon Susan through the Taiwan area on June 2, 1988, are presented. We find that VHF radar can not only observe the falling speed of the rain drops but can also detect that of the ice particles. The observational results show that the former is about 6–8 m/s, while the latter is about 1 m/s, consistent with those observed by the conventional Doppler meteorological radar. The echo power due to precipitation is generally far smaller than that due to atmospheric refractivity fluctuations. However, it is enhanced strikingly at the height of melting layer (about 5 km in Taiwan area), and its value can be greater than that due to refractivity fluctuations by about 5 dB. Moreover, it also shows that the feature of bright band only occurs in the echo power profile of precipitation, and it cannot be observed in that of atmospheric refractivity. The echo power profiles of the vertical and oblique beams (with zenith angle 17°) are also examined. They indicate that there is no aspect sensitivity for the echoes scattered from the atmospheric refractivity fluctuations during the precipitating environment. However, for the echo power of precipitation the feature of aspect sensitivity does exist above the melting layer and disappears below this altitude. The correlation between the horizontal wind speed and the Doppler spectral width of precipitation is found to be fairly high, with a correlation coefficient of 0.86. This suggests that the beam-broadening effect due to the advection of horizontal wind may be one of the important factors contributed to the precipitation spectral width and has to be taken into consideration when the precipitation spectra are analyzed.


Study Design: Retrospective radiographic study. Objectives: T1 slope is an important parameter of sagittal spinal balance. However, the T1 superior endplate can be difficult to visualize on radiographs due to overlying anatomical structures. C7 slope has been proposed as a potential substitute for T1 slope when the T1 superior endplate is not well visualized. The objective of this study was 2-fold: (1) to assess the correlation between C7 and T1 slopes on upright cervical spine radiographs and (2) to evaluate the interrater reliability of C7 slope. Methods: Cervical spine radiographs taken between December 2017 and June 2018 at a single institution were reviewed. Two observers measured upper C7 slope, lower C7 slope, and T1 slope. The correlations between upper and lower C7 slope and T1 slope were evaluated, and linear regression analyses were performed. Interrater reliability of C7 slope was also assessed. Results: In this cohort of 152 patients, there was a strong correlation between upper C7 slope and T1 slope (r = 0.91, P < .001), as well as between lower C7 slope and T1 slope (r = 0.90, P < .001). T1 slope could be estimated from the linear regression equation, T1 slope = 0.87 × C7 slope + 7, with an overall model fit of R 2 = 0.8. There was strong interrater reliability for upper (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = 0.95, P < .001) and lower C7 slope (ICC = 0.96, P < .001). Conclusions: Both the upper and lower C7 slope are strongly correlated with T1 slope and can be used as a substitute to estimate T1 slope when the superior endplate of T1 is not well visualized.


Background

Although recent work using observational data has shown survival benefits for breast conserving surgery plus radiation (BCS+RT) over mastectomy in early stage breast cancer for elderly women, only one report has compared all four treatment modalities available to these women: BCS+RT, BCS without radiation (BCS-RT), mastectomy with radiation (M+RT), and mastectomy without radiation (M-RT). This study utilized risk adjustment (RA) methods to control for variation in observed characteristics. However, RA methods may result in biased estimates if unobserved characteristics affect both the probability of receiving treatment and survival. Other statistical methods have been developed to address this issue. When valid, Instrumental Variable (IV) analysis can mitigate this bias by effectively randomizing patients into treatment through instruments. Thus our objective is to use IV methods to assess the comparative effectiveness of these treatment modalities on overall survival for elderly women with early stage breast cancer.

Methods

Using SEER-Medicare data, we identified 35,452 patients diagnosed 1992-1998 with Stage I or II breast cancer. We classified primary therapy as M+RT, M-RT, BCS+RT and BCS-RT using registry data and claims and estimated the effect of primary therapy on 7-year overall survival, with 6 and 8 years as robustness checks. We utilized an instrumental variables (IV) approach to address unobserved confounding. First, we estimated treatment rates for each treatment in an area by including the 50 patients closest to each beneficiary's zip code and adjusting for patient and area characteristics. These areas were then ranked and divided into quintiles, which formed the instruments for our IV analysis. In addition, we control for a number of patient (age, race, comorbidity, chemotherapy use, marital status, urban/rural residence, SEER area, diagnosis year), tumor (size, stage, grade, histology, use ER/PR status, # of positive nodes), physician (sex, specialty, medical school graduation year, foreign graduate status), and hospital characteristics (bed size, ownership, urban/rural location, teaching status, medical school affiliation, cancer center, participation in clinical trials).

Results

Our IV analysis showed overall survival benefits for elderly women who received BCS+RT compared to M-RT (Table 1). We estimate a 17.5% increase in the probability of surviving 7 years for those who were affected by our instrument. No survival benefit was shown for any other treatment.

Conclusion

We use IV analysis to address unobserved confounding in treatment and survival for elderly, early stage breast cancer patients. Consistent with previous RA estimates, we find that BCS+RT provides 7-year survival benefits over M-RT. The magnitude of the survival benefits continue to grow, even after 8 years. We find no difference in overall survival for those who received M+RT or BCS-RT compared to M-RT.

View this table:

Table 1. Instrumental Variables results reporting percent change in overall survival by treatment type

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2013;73(24 Suppl): Abstract nr P5-15-01.


Reducing complexity in Information Systems is a main concern in both research and industry. One strategy for reducing complexity is separation of concerns. This strategy advocates separating various concerns, like security and privacy, from the main concern. It results in less complex, easily maintainable, and more reusable Information Systems. Separation of concerns is addressed through the Aspect Oriented paradigm. This paradigm has been well researched and implemented in programming, where languages such as AspectJ have been developed. However, the rsearch on aspect orientation for Business Process Management is still at its beginning. While some efforts have been made proposing Aspect Oriented Business Process Modelling, it has not yet been investigated how to enact such process models in a Workflow Management System. In this paper, we define a set of requirements that specifies the execution of aspect oriented business process models. We create a Coloured Petri Net specification for the semantics of so-called Aspect Service that fulfils these requirements. Such a service extends the capability of a Workflow Management System with support for execution of aspect oriented business process models. The design specification of the Aspect Service is also inspected through state space analysis.


The Cr abundances in magnetite separates from the Main Magnetite layer, 1 magnetite layers 1 and 2, and the intervening anorthositic horizons have been determined from two widely spaced localities in the eastern Bushveld Complex. Chromium abundance is greatest at the base of the Main Magnetite layer (around 7,000 ppm) and decreases rapidly with height through this layer and the overlying anorthositic horizon. The base of layer 1 is associated with a high Cr content (about 1,500 ppm), which is followed by a steady upward decrease. The base of layer 2 is also characterized by a high Cr abundance (about 900 ppm) and detailed studies indicate a slight rise in Cr near the base of this layer.Chromium abundance profiles are examined in the light of several models which have been proposed for the origin of mineralogical layering. The general features of the abundance profiles are compatible with a variety of models; however, it appears that the detailed features of these profiles are best accounted for by a model involving bottom growth, with a slow and variable rate of supply of Cr to the crystallization zone.


Recent experimental work on "natural" kind terms has shown evidence of both descriptive and nondescriptive reference determination. This has led some to propose ambiguity or hybrid theories, as opposed to traditional description and causal-historical theories of reference. Many of those experiments tested theories against referential intuitions. We reject this method, urging that reference should be tested against usage, preferably by elicited production. Our tests of the usage of a biological kind term confirm that there are indeed both descriptive and causal-historical elements to the reference determination of some natural kind terms. We argue that to accommodate our results and earlier ones, we should abandon the common assumption that any one theory of reference fits all natural kind terms. Rather, it is likely that some terms are descriptive, some causal-historical, some ambiguous, and some hybrid. This substantive conclusion is accompanied by a methodological one. Our experiments, like some earlier ones, found participants contradicting both each other and themselves. We argue that these contradictions indicate a lack of linguistic competence with the term. We conclude that these experiments have been faulty, because they test terms that are novel to participants and/or use fantastical vignettes. We provide some suggestions for future research.


INTRODUCTION
Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy of utilizing in situ anterior vaginal wall sling in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence (SUI).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study included 11 women with a median age of 50 years (range, 36 to 60 years) who were operated on during the period of November 2005 to August 2006. They were diagnosed with SUI and were operated on using placard-shaped in situ anterior vaginal wall sling technique. Nine patients underwent surgical treatment for the first time, while 2 patients had postoperative recurrent SUI. In all of the patients, urethral hypermobility with or without cystocele was observed. The mean follow-up period was 22.5 months (range, 17 to 28 months).

RESULTS
Ten patients (90.9%) were considered cured and 1 (9.1%) started leakage of urine after 1 month during the postoperative period. One patient (9.1%) had urinary retention. Three patients (27.3%) had evidence of wound infection which was treated by appropriate oral medical therapy.

CONCLUSION
In situ anterior vaginal wall sling technique is accredited with a good success rate and low incidence of complications. It is easy to learn and cost-effective, making it a suitable technique for SUI. Longer follow-up and larger number of patients are needed before final conclusion could be drawn.


In this study, a numerical code with enthalpy method in upwind scheme is proposed to estimate the distribution of thermal stress in the molten pool, which is primarily determined by the type of the input power and travel speed of heating source. To predict the cracker deficit inside the workpiece, a simulated program satisfying the diagonal domination and Scarborough criterion provides a stable iteration. Meanwhile, an experimental performance, operated by robot arm "DR-400" to provide a steady and continuous arc welding, was also conducted to verify the simulated result. By surveying the consistence of molten pool bounded by contrast shade and simulated melting contour on the surface of work-piece, the validity of model proposed to predict the thermal cracker has been successfully identified.


Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis was performed on 62 mammary tumors that were induced in (BALB/c x C57BL/6)F1 mouse mammary tumor virus/neu transgenic mice. Eighty-six simple sequence length polymorphism markers were used to cover all of the somatic chromosomes. Frequency of LOH was observed to be significant for chromosomes 4 (50%), 19 (32%), and 8 (21%). On chromosome 4, at least three distinct regions of allelic deletions could be identified: one proximal to 22 cM; the second close to the p16INK4a/p15INK4b locus, which is commonly deleted in various tumors; and the third one in the proximity of Mom1. The frequency of LOH on chromosome 19 was the same for the four markers used. Our data suggested the presence of two distinct LOH loci, one proximal to 47 cM and the other at the distal region. On chromosome 8, possibly two distinct LOH loci could be recognized, one around 52 cM and the other one at 67 cM or distal to it. These regions map close to E-cadherin (Cdh1) and M-cadherin (Cdh15) loci, respectively. Because LOH sites are thought to harbor tumor suppressor genes, this allelotype screening has allowed the mapping of putative tumor suppressor genes that may be implicated, in collaboration with the erbB-2/neu oncogene, in the development of mammary tumors in these transgenic mice.


BACKGROUND
Suppression of response to command commonly indicates unconsciousness and generally occurs at anesthetic concentrations that suppress or eliminate memory formation. The authors sought midlatency auditory evoked potential indices that successfully differentiated wakeful responsiveness and unconsciousness.

METHODS
The authors correlated midlatency auditory evoked potential indices with anesthetic concentrations permitting and suppressing response in 22 volunteers anesthetized twice (5 days apart), with desflurane or propofol. They applied stepwise increases of 0.5 vol% end-tidal desflurane or 0.5 microg/ml target plasma concentration of propofol to achieve sedation levels just bracketing wakeful response. Midlatency auditory evoked potentials were recorded, and wakeful response was tested by asking volunteers to squeeze the investigator's hand. The authors measured latencies and amplitudes from raw waveforms and calculated indices from the frequency spectrum and the joint time-frequency spectrogram. They used prediction probability (PK) to rate midlatency auditory evoked potential indices and concentrations of end-tidal desflurane and arterial propofol for prediction of responsiveness. A PK value of 1.00 means perfect prediction and a PK of 0.50 means a correct prediction 50% of the time (e.g., by chance).

RESULTS
The approximately 40-Hz power of the frequency spectrum predicted wakefulness better than all latency or amplitude indices, although not all differences were statistically significant. The PK values for approximately 40-Hz power were 0.96 during both desflurane and propofol anesthesia, whereas the PK values for the best-performing latency and amplitude index, latency of the Nb wave, were 0.86 and 0.88 during desflurane and propofol (P = 0.10 for -40-Hz power compared with Nb latency), and for the next highest, latency of the Pb wave, were 0.82 and 0.84 (P < 0.05). The performance of the best combination of amplitude and latency variables was nearly equal to that of approximately 40-Hz power. The approximately 40-Hz power did not provide a significantly better prediction than anesthetic concentration; the PK values for concentrations of desflurane and propofol were 0.91 and 0.94. Changes of 40-Hz power values of 20% (during desflurane) and 16% (during propofol) were associated with a change in probability of nonresponsiveness from 50% to 95%.

CONCLUSIONS
The approximately 40-Hz power index and the best combination of amplitude and latency variables perform as well as predictors of response to command during desflurane and propofol anesthesia as the steady-state concentrations of these anesthetic agents. Because clinical conditions may limit measurement of steady-state anesthetic concentrations, or comparable estimates of cerebral concentration, the approximately 40-Hz power could offer advantages for predicting wakeful responsiveness.


Potential trans-generational influence of diethylstilbestrol (DES) exposure emerged with reports of effects in grandchildren of DES-treated pregnant women and of reproductive tract tumors in offspring of mice exposed in utero to DES. Accordingly, we examined the trans-generational influence of DES on development of external genitalia (ExG) and compared effects of in utero DES exposure in CD-1 and C57BL/6 mice injected with oil or DES every other day from gestational days 12 to 18. Mice were examined at birth, and on 5–120 days postnatal to evaluate ExG malformations. Of 23 adult (460 days) prenatally DES-exposed males, features indicative of urethral meatal hypospadias (see text for definitions) ranged from 18% to 100% in prenatally DES-exposed CD-1 males and 31% to 100% in prenatally DES-exposed C57BL/6 males. Thus, the strains differed in the incidence of male urethral hypospadias. Ninety-one percent of DES-exposed CD-1 females and 100% of DES-exposed C57BL/6 females had urethral–vaginal fistula. All DES-exposed CD-1 and C57BL/6 females lacked an os clitoris. None of the prenatally oil-treated CD-1 and C57BL/6 male and female mice had ExG malformations. For the second-generation study, 10 adult CD-1 males and females, from oiland DES-exposed groups, respectively, were paired with untreated CD-1 mice for 30 days, and their offspring evaluated for ExG malformations. None of the F1 DES-treated females were fertile. Nine of 10 prenatally DES-exposed CD-1 males sired offspring with untreated females, producing 55 male and 42 female pups. Of the F2 DESlineage adult males, 20% had exposed urethral flaps, a criterion of urethral meatal hypospadias. Five of 42 (11.9%) F2 DES lineage females had urethral–vaginal fistula. In contrast, all F2 oil-lineage males and all oil-lineage females were normal. Thus, prenatal DES exposure induces malformations of ExG in both sexes and strains of mice, and certain malformations are transmitted to the second-generation. & 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of International Society of Differentiation


Several experiments containing 2 field, 2 pot and I rhizotron were conducted to develop a low input agricultural practice (pelleting seed) for production of soybean plant (cv. Tidar) on heavily acid soils of Sitiung, West Sumatra. The field and pol experiments were conducted in Sitiung and in the greenhouse at the Agriculture Division, Center for the Application of Isotopes and Radiation Technology, National Nuclear Energy Agency, Jakarta, respectively, in 1990 1992. The rhizotron experiment was conducted in 1994 at the Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Agrotechnology and Food Sciences. Wageningen University. Wageningen, The Netherlands. Lime-pel/eting seeds with the equivalent of 50 kg lime ha· increased nodulation, growth and yield both in unlimed and limed soils. Considerable increases in nodulatio, growth and yield were obtained when a small amount of P fertiliser (J 0 kg TSP ha· ) was incorporated in the lime-pellet. The beneficial effects of both lime-pelleting and [lime+TSPj-pelleting were more pronounced on nodulation than on growth and yield. and greater in umimed soils than in limed soils. Large effects were obtained in nodulation, growth and yield of soybean in field experi1ltl!nts by pelleting seeds with lime or with lime + TSP. However, the pel/eted soybean plants grown in unlimed soils remained small and yields were negligible. To sustain growth and production of soybean in these acid soils, adequate quantities of lime and of P fertiliser would be necessary. In the present study, a combination of broadcast lime at 2.0 t haI with [lime+TSPj-pelleting of inoculated seeds was found superior to the application of 7.0 t haof lime with inoculated seeds only. A I toxicity and P deficiency were the main problems in these acid soils. For the low-input production of soybeans considerations shOllld be directed to the correction of these factors.


Abstract : At the end of an extended crisis-simulation game examining Middle East regional security challenges, which RAND Corporation researchers developed and managed, participants noted that neither the player teams nor the control team conceived of a significant role for Israel in the crisis. The chaos along Israels borders-centered in Syria but affecting Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and southern Turkey-had not significantly affected Israel to date, but its principal regional adversaries, Iran and Hezbollah, have been among the primary drivers of the conflict in the Levant. Participants believed that any effort Israel makes to insert itself into the conflict could have a significant impact on its direction; conversely, they believed that an Israeli unwillingness to get involved could signal a reticence to challenge Iran or Russia (which had recently deployed troops to Syria) unless these countries were to pose critical threats to Israels interests. Participants in the simulation concluded that an assessment of Israels interests, objectives, and policy options in the Syrian conflict and its main actors would be of interest. Thisperspective provides that assessment. The idea for this perspective emerged from a weeks-long crisis simulation involving dozens of Middle East analysts from government agencies, RAND, and outside institutions. Naming all of the participants in this event would be difficult, but their discussions, insights, and brainstorming identified the need for further research about Israels interests and objectives regarding the Syria conflict. Richard Girven of the RAND Intelligence Policy Center provided encouragement and support, and both he and Kathleen Reedy, also of RAND, offered perceptive comments on an early draft. David Johnson of RAND and Brian Katulis of the Center for American Progress, who served as peer reviewers, offered valuable insights that dramaticallyimproved the papers arguments and enhanced its usefulness for analysts and policymakers.


BUILDING THE HIGHLAND EMPIRE: THE HIGHLAND SOCIETY OF LONDON AND THE FORMATION OF CHARITABLE NETWORKS IN GREAT BRITAIN AND CANADA, 1778-1857 Katie Louise McCullough Advisor: University of Guelph, 2014 Graeme Morton This dissertation explores the development of charitable networks by the Highland Society of London (est. 1778) in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries—a period of rapid social and economic change in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The Highland Society of London (HSL), a voluntary association, was formed exclusively for elite Highlanders living, working, and visiting in London. At this time, members of the HSL were able to exploit the expanding British fiscal-military state through active political lobbying, socializing, charity work, and the development of an institutional network for elite Highlanders. This was achieved first by attaching to sister societies, notably the Highland Society of Scotland (est. 1784), opening subsidiary joint-stock companies to undertake specific improvement projects, such as the British Fisheries Society (est. 1786), and developing a network of branch societies throughout the British Empire linking Highlanders in London to Highlanders in Scotland, India, and British North America. Through the development of these networks members of the HSL and their colleagues were able to lead social and economic development projects in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, help to preserve Highland culture, and provide charity for members of their own communities on their own terms. In the process, Highland elites found in HSL circles developed the notion of a 'Highland Empire', which linked the charitable networks they formed to a wider conceptual Imperial framework. This framework was one in which Highland Scots influenced their own communities, whether in Great Britain or abroad, as well as the broader sociopolitical British imperial community through political lobbying and garnering subscriptions for improvement projects from the general public that both supported Highland culture and Highland people. This directly challenges the idea that Highland Scottish elites were more than willing to sacrifice their own culture in order to integrate themselves into the dominant Anglo-Scottish elite in order to benefit from participation in the British Empire.


Background Paraplegia is a devastating complication following operations on the thoracoabdominal aorta. We investigated whether histidine-tryptophan-ketoglutarate (HTK) solution could reduce the extent of ischemia/reperfusion (IR) spinal cord injuries in a rat model using a direct delivery method. Methods Twenty-four Sprague-Dawley male rats were randomly divided into four groups. The sham group (n=6) underwent a sham operation, the IR group (n=6) underwent only an aortic occlusion, the saline infusion group (saline group, n=6) underwent an aortic occlusion and direct infusion of cold saline into the occluded aortic segment, and the HTK infusion group (HTK group, n=6) underwent an aortic occlusion and direct infusion of cold HTK solution into the occluded aortic segment. An IR spinal cord injury was induced by transabdominal clamping of the aorta distally to the left renal artery and proximally to the aortic bifurcation for 60 minutes. A neurological evaluation of locomotor function was performed using the modified Tarlov score after 48 hours of reperfusion. The spinal cord was harvested for histopathological and immunohistochemical examinations. Results The spinal cord IR model using direct drug delivery in rats was highly reproducible. The Tarlov score was 4.0 in the sham group, 1.17±0.75 in the IR group, 1.33±1.03 in the saline group, and 2.67±0.81 in the HTK group (p=0.04). The histopathological analysis of the HTK group showed reduced neuronal cell death. Conclusion Direct infusion of cold HTK solution into the occluded aortic segment may reduce the extent of spinal cord injuries in an IR model in rats.


Perceiving the position and orientation of objects (i.e., pose estimation) is a crucial prerequisite for robots acting within their natural environment. We present a hardware acceleration approach to enable real-time and energy efficient articulated pose estimation for robots operating in unstructured environments. Our hardware accelerator implements Nonparametric Belief Propagation (NBP) to infer the belief distribution of articulated object poses. Our approach is on average, 26X more energy efficient than a high-end GPU and 11X faster than an embedded low-power GPU implementation. Moreover, we present a Monte-Carlo Perception Library generated from high-level synthesis to enable reconfigurable hardware designs on FPGA fabrics that are better tuned to user-specified scene, resource, and performance constraints.


We describe a computerized aid to the study of the cost-effectiveness of medical practices. CE-TREE is a conversational system allowing the user to define and manipulate decision trees for comparing alternative clinical strategies. In contrast to the usual medical application of decision analysis, CE-TREE encourages the simultaneous comparison of strategies using several different outcome measures, which are specified by the user. This mode of comparison makes explicit the trade-offs involved in choosing one strategy over another.

CE-TREE provides a number of useful functions for the management and analysis of decision trees. The system is written in Standard MUMPS, and runs on popular minicomputers or microprocessors. It has been used by several physician investigators to study a number of clinical problems and public health issues.


Access control plays an important role in protecting sensitive data of an organization, by employing a mechanism that grants or revokes access to the organizational resources. It is implemented with the help of different access control models either traditional or hybrid models. In this paper, we discuss DAC, MAC, RBAC and ABAC models briefly. In addition, we propose a hybrid model that is based on reverse authorization in ABAC model. The concept of negative attributes is implemented in ABAC model that directly restricts unauthorized users. Previously, several approaches to authorized users and their authority domain in ABAC model have been implemented in literature. Though, the proposed model is unique due to a different implementation of access control in the domain of Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). This work is also discussed with respect to an example scenario. In this way, the concept of negative attributes is elaborated for implementing the negative authorization in ABAC. The comparative analysis shows that this work can perform better in some scenarios by taking advantage of negative authorization.


Introduction Cervical spinal stenosis is a common disease that results in considerable morbidity and disability. To avoid long-term disability caused by irreversible spinal cord damage, quick diagnosis and treatment are required. To our knowledge, until recently, there has been no report or study evaluating the cervical canal stenosis and associated facet joint arthrosis as the major cause of neck pain, so the current study used computed tomography (CT) scans to determine the prevalence of cervical canal stenosis and facet joint osteoarthrosis in patients who presented with neck pain, including its relationship with age, sex, and cervical spinal levels (C3-C7). Methods The current clinical descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Anatomy and Radiodiagnosis at Santosh Medical College, Ghaziabad, for a period of 24 months among newly diagnosed outpatient department (OPD) cases of neck pain (18 years or older) with suspected cervical canal stenosis and facet joint arthrosis. Clinical history, patient-specific clinical examination, and relevant information were obtained in a structured data collection schedule through interviews during OPD hours. All of the participants underwent a CT scan of the cervical region. The independent factors (age, gender, height, and weight) were used in a multiple linear regression analysis of neck pain grading, Torg ratio (TR), and right and left facet joint degeneration, which were expressed as R-squared (R2) and adjusted R-squared (aR2). Statistical tests were executed at a 5% level of significance; an association was considered significant if the p-value was <0.05. Results A total of 83 subjects were enrolled in this study with equal representation from both sexes, i.e., males (49.4%) and females (50.6%). The transverse vertebral canal (T-VC) diameter was narrowest at the level of C3 (25.00 ± 1.13) and gradually increased at the level of C6 (25.18 ± 1.14) in this study. The mean TR of cervical vertebrae C3-C4 dropped gradually from C3 (0.78 ± 0.05) to C7 (0.76 ± 0.05) in this study. Severe left and right facet joint degeneration were observed in 13.3% and 10.5% of study subjects, respectively. In almost every subject, neck pain was a neurological symptom, so multiple linear regression analysis of neck pain grading was carried out with the independent variables (age, gender, height, and weight) and it was found to be not significant (R2 = 0.0617, aR2 = 0.0136, p = 0.2842). Conclusion The articulations of the posterior arch of the vertebrae are known as facet joints. They are a vital component of the vertebral column's structural stability. The superior and inner articular facets of the vertebrae are joined by these joints, which are encased in a fibrous capsule.


Background Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) is a multifunctional enzyme involved in neuronal development, maturation and survival. CDK5 activity is tightly regulated by association with regulatory proteins p35 and p39. Upon neuronal insults, increased intracellular calcium activates calpain, cleaving p35 into p25, which has a higher affinity for CDK5. p25 hyperactivates CDK5, initiating apoptotic cascades that lead to significant dopaminergic (DAergic) loss that can leads to neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease (PD). Objective This study investigates hyperactivation of CDK5/p25 in the 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) rat model of PD and specific inhibition of CDK5/p25 by truncated peptide 5 (TP5). TP5 was investigated for amelioration of 6-OHDA induced behaviour impairments and significant protection of dopamine neurons through tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). Methods 6-OHDA induced motor impairments and reduced TH. Motor assessments included locomotor activity, beam transversal, fixed speed rotarod and amphetamine-induced rotations. Immunohistochemistry investigated DAergic neurodegeneration using TH levels and immunoprecipitation and assay investigated CDK5 activity. Results Pre-administration of TP5 maintained locomotor activity, preserved beam transversal scores, protected motor coordination and attenuated amphetamine induced rotations in 6-OHDA lesioned rats, all indicative of neuroprotection by TP5. 6-OHDA without pretreatment of TP increased CDK5 activation. CDK5 activity in TP5+6-OHDA animals was not significantly different from artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF) treated sham surgery controls. Immunohistochemistry revealed significant TH protection within the substantia nigra (SN) of TP5 pretreated animals. Conclusions 6-OHDA increases CDK5 activity. Hyperactive CDK5/p25 inhibition in the 6-OHDA model has neuroprotective capability, protecting against the development of a toxin-based induction of PD-like motor phenotypes and pathology. This supports CDK5/p25 specific inhibition as a target for further neuroprotective therapeutic development.